抄録
This paper aims to identify the expectations of film audiences for Japanese subtitles and
explores measures subtitlers can take to meet those expectations. According to a survey
conducted on a group of 50 audiences, even though the use of subtitles is widely accepted,
people tend to have a rather negative opinion regarding the quality of subtitles. This is
because they attach great importance to the dialogue coming from the screen. Subtitlers are
aware of people’s mistrust of the quality of subtitles but it is not easy for them to cope with
such issues because of the time and space constraints associated with subtitling. However,
film subtitles for DVDs are gradually changing by adopting some fansub features (subtitling
by fans for fans), such as glosses and headnotes, and this trend could lead the way to meeting
audiences’ expectations for subtitles.
