ABSTRACT:Translation is an important communicative tool between different languages and cultures. Film, as a culture carrier, is to some extent better spread with involvement of translation. So, its translation has become a more and more important field as the globalization of economy and culture is increasingly developed in the new century and a wealth of foreign films flock into Chinese film market. Good translations can help to enhance audience’s experience of appreciating foreign films and make culture communication more effective.

　　Subtitle translation has its own features like time and space constraints, and translated version of subtitles is also affected by the audience's acceptance and cross-cultural factors. As the  cultural intermediary, translators must give full attention to the artistic element a language conveys by taking appropriate strategies, so as to promote cultural exchange and abridge   cultural barriers.

Keywords: film subtitles; constraints; translation; strategies

摘要:翻译是不同语言文化之间的重要沟通手段。电影作为一种文化载体，同样需要翻译这个环节。随着经济和文化全球化趋势的不断发展，国外影片大批涌入中国市场，电影字幕翻译作为获取信息、享受娱乐的重要工具，地位越来越重要。高质量的电影字幕翻译能为外语片锦上添花，吸引更多的观众，不仅让观众得到更好的享受，而且也能更好地促进不同文化的传播和交流。

　　　字幕翻译既具有其他翻译领域的共性，同时又有其独特性。字幕翻译在很大程度上受时间和空间的制约。此外，字幕翻译还受观众的接受程度和文化因素的制约。作为文化交流的中介，译者必须充分注意语言的艺术性，并且采取相应的策略，以促进不同文化的交流，减少文化差距。

关键词：电影字幕；制约；翻译；策略

　　With a wide spread of English films in China, subtitle translation has become an urgent task for giving the audience access to film appreciation. However, actually subtitle translation is still largely unexplored in the field of translation studies. There is an obvious inconsistency between the apparent importance and prevalence of film subtitle translation. 

　　Film is a kind of art with integration of picture and sound. Compared with written materials, people can get information more easily by watching film, so film has much broader viewers than other media forms. Translation of films is necessary in getting information about foreign countries and in cultural communication. Cultural elements in English film dialogue reflect natural environment, religious belief, cultural values and ways of thinking, which are alien to Chinese people, so these cultural elements pose great obstacles to translators who try to bridge the gap between understanding and appreciation of original language audiences and that of target language audiences.

This paper makes a tentative study on strategies for English film subtitle translation. Based on the translation of some well-known films' subtitles, domestication is usually used in dealing with cultural elements, in view of characteristics of subtitle translation. Translators should give full play to their creativity, use various translation strategies, and ensure the audience with minimal effort to obtain information,. Therefore, with the increasingly frequent cross-cultural communication on nowadays, subtitle translation needs to be further studies and discussed.