ArticleOpen Access http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2026.07.015
Three-dimensional Transformations in the Chinese Subtitling of Animated Films: A Case Study of Zootopia 2
Chenhui Liu, Weidong Zhang*
Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 256600, Shandong, China.
*Corresponding author: Weidong Zhang
Published: July 31, 2026
Abstract
Subtitle translation is not merely a transfer of verbal content but a form of creative cross-cultural adaptation carried out under temporal, spatial, visual, and audience-related constraints. Taking the theatrical Chinese subtitles of Disney’s animated film Zootopia 2 as its object of study, this article applies the eco-translatological principle of three-dimensional transformation to examine how translators make adaptive selections in the linguistic, cultural, and communicative dimensions. Thirteen representative examples are discussed, including phonetic wordplay, coined names, animal-based collective nouns, idiomatic expressions, and character-specific dialogue. The analysis shows that successful subtitle solutions normally result from a negotiated balance rather than from formal equivalence alone. At the linguistic level, condensation, restructuring, and recreation help accommodate differences between English and Chinese. At the cultural level, explicitation, substitution, and audience-oriented naming make unfamiliar associations accessible to Chinese viewers, especially younger audiences. At the communicative level, the decisive criterion is whether the target subtitle preserves narrative clarity, humor, characterization, and emotional force. The study also identifies cases in which a formally inventive subtitle weakens the original intention, demonstrating that gains in one dimension may entail losses in another. The three-dimensional framework therefore provides a practical and nuanced basis for evaluating animated-film subtitles and extends the application of eco-translatology to audiovisual translation.
Keyword
Eco-translatology; Zootopia 2; subtitle translation; three-dimensional transformation; animated film
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Copyright
© 2026 by the author(s).
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not modified or adapted.
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How to cite this paper
Three-dimensional Transformations in the Chinese Subtitling of Animated Films: A Case Study of Zootopia 2
How to cite this paper: Chenhui Liu, Weidong Zhang. (2026) Three-dimensional Transformations in the Chinese Subtitling of Animated Films: A Case Study of Zootopia 2. Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, 10(7), 833-838.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2026.07.015