This study aims to investigate and identify the connotative equivalence of taboo words in American hip hop/musical movies and their Arabic correspondence in the subtitle/Audiovisual Translation (AVT). The sample of this study consists of English subtitles and their Arabic fansubs of three of the most profane American hip hop movies: 8 Mile, Straight Outta Compton, and All Eyez on Me. The study analyzed the data qualitatively and quantitatively. The researchers adopted Ljung’s (2011) typology of swearing to identify the connotative functions of the English taboo words and examine how the corresponding Arabic translation conforms to them. The findings revealed that the Arab fan subtitler managed to translate these tabooed terms in Arabic using certain translation techniques, viz. euphemisms and omission. These are both mainly used for the same reason, i.e. cultural constraints. The subtitler used the ‘euphemistic swearing’ technique where the word remains a swear-word but the degree of offense and insult is milder and toned down (Montagu 1967). The Arabic subtitles in the selected sample correspond to the connotative functions of English taboo words to a significant extent only when the translator used the euphemism technique. But the connotative functions misfired when the translator resorted to omission. Finally, the research provides some implications for translators when facing such hurdles in translation.

Egyptian Vernacular Arabic is often used when Disney animated movies are dubbed in Arabic. Since vernacular varieties reflect culture, the present article aims to study the translation procedures used in dubbing culture-bound expressions in Disney animated movies. Three Disney animated movies were selected for this purpose, The Lion King, Toy Story 2, and Finding Nemo. To analyse the dubbed culture-bound expressions, I adopted Tomaszkiewicz’s procedures of dubbing and subtitling. The study revealed that the most frequently used dubbing procedures were adaptation taken from the target language and providing cultural equivalents. These two procedures are recommended by previous scholars who suggested that culture cannot be translated literally and translators should always find an equivalent that the viewer understands in the target language. The procedure literal translation was seldom used, whereas omission, generalisation, and replacement were not used at all. It has also been concluded that manipulation of the original text was done by using dubbing procedures that mainly aim to make the text closer to the viewer in terms of adjusting to their native language and culture. The article concludes with recommendations for further research.

Using a mixed-method approach, this study examines the pragmatic functions of the discourse marker walak and its variants in Spoken Jordanian Arabic. It also explores the differences in the use of this discourse marker according to the speakers’ gender. The data was collected from a sample of 200 native speakers of Jordanian Arabic, using informal interviews and a validation questionnaire. The results showed that walak and its variants perform six language functions: warning, insulting, addressing/vocative, endearment, threatening, and denial.  As far as gender differences are concerned, the findings indicated that there were statistically significant differences between males and females in the use of walak and its variants in favour of males. This indicates that males agreed more with the sentences expressing each pragmatic function in the validation questionnaire. The study concludes with some pedagogical implications for learners of Arabic as a second language, teachers and syllabus designers.