A Comparative Study on Subtitle Translation of Animated Films From the Perspective of Reception Theory: A Case Study of Zootopia

Abstract

Animated films, viewed as constant and faithful companions of children in their growth, play an important role in the development of their character, so subtitle translation of animated films accordingly draws the due attention from the translation circles. Sometimes there are more than one translated version for a single film and a comparative study is of academic significance. Reception Aesthetics Theory is mainly a literary criticism theory which changed the traditional perceptions of author-centeredness and text-centeredness, presenting reader-centered paradigm on the stage. Based on an analysis of the linguistic features of animated films and the children audience and taking Zootopia as an example, the author conducts a comparative study of the two versions of subtitle translation from the lexical, syntactic and rhetorical levels, in the hope of finding some applicable rules for subtitle translation of animated films from the perspective of Reception Aesthetics Theory and shedding some new light on future subtitle translation practice and research.