As an emerging field of translation, the translation of the Chinese elements in the film subtitles has achieved some remarkable results. Because of the specificity of the language patterns in Europe, the theoretical research is more extensive and thorough, and there is certain consensus in the aspects of translation strategies, translation norms and quality control. However, this special field of translation of the Chinese elements in the film subtitles is not studied sufficiently at present.

Subtitle translation, as a kind of intercultural communication, is not only a conversion between two different languages but also a way of conveying the culture contained in subtitles accurately and effectively. It is necessary to pay attention to the differences between the two cultures and to understand them from different perspectives so as to promote the communication between different cultures. Films enrich people’s entertainment life, at the same time they provide opportunities for people to meet new things and enrich the world. But the first thing we need to do is to overcome the language barriers so as to get the audience to appreciate these exotic localities and accept the films. Therefore, subtitle translation is particularly important.

Early in 1960, Babel, the important Western Academic Journals, has published some papers related to the study on the film subtitles translation and launched the development of the study on the film subtitles translation, especially in Europe. In 1974, Dollerup conducted a research on the subtitles translation on the Babel in his article: On Subtitles in Television Programme. Later, Titford (1982) came up with the concept of “constrained translation” in his article: Subtitling: Constrained Translation and thought that the main problem which the translators faced was that they were limited by the medium itself. In his article, Titford came up with the theory of Constrained Translation on the issue: “derive essentially from the constraints imposed on the translator by the medium itself”.

Until the 1990s, there is a breakthrough in the theory of western film subtitles translation. 1992, Ivarsson, the Swedish subtitle translator, published the first comprehensive study of subtitle translation in Europe: Subtitling for the Media: A Handbook of an Art, which introduces the technological development of subtitle translation in detail.

Compared with the western countries, China has a relatively late start in the study on the theory of film subtitle translation. Before the 1980s, China’s development of film subtitle translation is slow. After the reform and opening up and with the introduction of a large number of foreign films and television works, dubbing and subtitle translation are flourishing. Among them, Qian Shaochang and Zhang chunbai are more influential. Zhang Chunbai concluded two characteristics of instantaneity and popularity about the medium language. The oral character of the film language is deeply analyzed. Qian Shaochang pointed out the five features of the film language different from the written literary language: listening, comprehensiveness, intentness, popularity and no note. Based on these points, Qian Shaochang introduced seven personal experiences and emphasized that for the medium translation, “expressiveness” is the most important among the three principles of “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” in translation. Some scholars have further summarized and expanded the traits and relevant strategies of the subtitle translation(Li Yunxing, 2001:39). In recent years, there are more and more articles about the film subtitle translation.

The Skopos Theory of translation originated in the late 1970s in Germany and was proposed by Hans Vermeer, one of the representatives of “functionalism”. The development of the Skopos Theory of translation can be pided into three stages. Katharina Reiss put forward the functionalist in his work: Translation Criticism: The Potentials and Limitations, published in 1971. Later, Hans Vermeer was freed from the constraint of the equivalence theory centered on the source language and set up the foundation theory of functionalism: the Skopos Theory of translation. After that, the theory of “translation action” was put forward by Justa Holz Manttari, which refers to a variety of cross-cultural transformations using information to transfer as a complex activity to achieve a specific purpose. Christian Nord inherited Reiss’s “Text Analysis Theory”, Manttari’s “Translation Action Theory” and Vermeer’s “Skopos Theory” and put forward the “Translation Discourse Analysis” model. Nord pided the functions of the translation into two categories: one was the means of communication in the translation culture, and the other was the culture in the process of reflecting the culture transmission of the source language. There are two kinds of translation methods: instrumental translation and literary translation. I would like to give readers a deep impression with full and logical analysis so that people could improve their expressions about the translation of the Chinese elements in the film subtitles from the perspective of the Skopos Theory (Mona Bake,2009).