Strategies of translating swear words into Arabic: a case study of a parallel corpus of Netflix English-Arabic movie subtitles

Abu-Rayyash, Hussein; Haider, Ahmad S.; Al-Adwan, Amer

doi:10.1057/s41599-023-01506-3

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Roughly, the same results were found by Abu-Rayyash et al (2023), who investigated translation strategies chosen by Netflix subtitlers to render 1564 swearwords from English into Arabic. Noticeably, these studies and other further ones (see Al-Zgoul and Al-Salman, 2022;Debbas and Haider, 2020;Al-Yasin and Rabab'ah, 2019;Al-Jabri, 2021) stress the fact that, in most cases, subtitlers' acts are marked by opting for omission and euphemism strategies.…”

Section: Empirical Studiessupporting

confidence: 69%

“…This load varies significantly due to different linguistic, historical, and cultural contexts. Accordingly, translators are accountable for dealing with the translational burden triggered by such cultural nuances and communicating them thoughtfully, taking into consideration the most appropriate translation norms of the translating language (Abu Rayyash et al, 2023).…”

Section: Empirical Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Netflix English Subtitling of the Jordanian Movie 'The Alleys': Challenges and Strategies

Saideen,

Thalji,

Lababaneh

et al. 2024

RJAH

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Purpose: This study examined the translation strategies employed in subtitling the Jordanian Movie The Alleys from Jordanian vernacular into English, with special attention to culture-specific items (CSIs) and swear words. Design/Methodology: The selected movie was produced in 2022 and aired on Netflix. After watching the movie and examining the subtitles, the researchers grouped them into two main categories: culture-specific items (CSIs) and Swear Words. The themes subcategorized under CSIs include i) idioms and proverbs, ii) terms of address, iii) religious expressions, iv) oaths, and v) food and drinks. The themes identified in the movie and subcategorized under Swear Words include i) relative-related, ii) sex-related, iii) animal-related, iv) excretion, and v) rudeness and disrespect. The study utilized the translation strategies proposed by Baker (2001), Gottlieb (1992), and Mughazy (2016). Findings: The findings showed that the strategies used in translating idioms and proverbs are metaphorical approximation (idiom to idiom), metaphorization, and literalization (paraphrase). The strategies used in rendering terms of address, religious expressions, food & drinks are cultural adaptation, deletion, substitution, and generalization. Swear words were translated using various strategies: substitution, addition, deletion, or literal translation. Practical Implications: The study concluded that language could be creatively and strategically altered to capture cultural contexts, feelings, and underlying meanings. These translation choices might not be merely linguistic tweaks but calculated efforts to accurately capture the essence of the original expressions with clarity and emotional resonance in the target language.

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Section: Empirical Studiessupporting

confidence: 69%

Section: Empirical Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Netflix English Subtitling of the Jordanian Movie 'The Alleys': Challenges and Strategies

Saideen,

Thalji,

Lababaneh

et al. 2024

RJAH

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show abstract

“…The study concluded that the majority of metaphorical expressions in the subtitles are lexicalized and conventional, aiming to enhance reader accessibility. Additionally, Abu-Rayyash et al . (2023) utilized a corpus-assisted approach to examine the translation strategies employed by Netflix subtitlers when rendering 1,564 English swear words into Arabic.…”

Section: Review Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

A corpus-based study of translating idioms from English into Arabic using audio-visual translation

Mahdi,

Sahari

2024

IJILT

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PurposeAudio-visual translation (AVT) is recognized as the most vibrant type of translation. While AVT plays a vital function in the field of translation, its significance within cultural studies hasn’t been thoroughly investigated. This research aims to uncover the predominant techniques employed in translating idiomatic expressions found in subtitled movies from English to Arabic.Design/methodology/approachThe corpus utilized in the current study consisted of five movies. The dialog in the chosen English films was examined to identify idiomatic expressions. The occurrence and proportion of each approach employed in translating English idioms into Arabic were calculated.FindingsThe findings of this investigation unveiled that the most common technique employed by translators to render idioms was retaining both similar meaning and similar form. The second approach involved maintaining a similar meaning while altering the form. The third method involved paraphrasing for translation. The fourth strategy was compensation-based translation. When dealing with verb and object idioms as well as similes, the predominant techniques were retaining both similar meaning and similar form, followed by a similar meaning but different form approach. Compound idioms were translated using paraphrasing, similar meaning but different form and similar meaning but different form strategies.Originality/valueThe research was constrained to examining the utilization of subtitles for the translation of five films. The films and corresponding Arabic subtitles were obtained and saved in plain text formats. Solely idiomatic expressions were scrutinized to determine the translation approaches employed through the use of subtitles.

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“…The presence of taboo words, e.g., expletives, swear words and vulgarisms, can be attested in the majority of languages and cultures worldwide (Abu-Rayyash, Haider, and Al-Adwan 2023). They are to be avoided entirely, especially in mixed or polite company.…”

Section: 1mentioning

confidence: 99%

Subtitling Taboo Expressions from a Conservative to a More Liberal Culture

Haider

Saideen

Hussein

2023

Middle East J. Cult. Commun.

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Subtitling involves constraints about differences between cultures. This requires a set of translation strategies, especially when subtitling from relatively conservative to more liberal cultures. This study explores subtitlers’ strategies when translating the Jordanian Arabic vernacular series Jinn into English. Jinn has been selected because it’s Netflix’s first Arabic-Jordanian series containing explicit scenes and inappropriate language. Further culture-bound expressions were classified according to their connotative functions. The findings demonstrated that subtitlers used various strategies to render culture-bound expressions from Arabic into English. These include translating the source culture taboo to a target culture taboo of the same, higher or lower intensity levels. The findings also revealed that ‘unfriendly suggestions’ and ‘noun supports’ were the most frequently targeted connotative functions of the swear words. The research recommends additional studies on subtitling movies and series cross-culture.

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Strategies of translating swear words into Arabic: a case study of a parallel corpus of Netflix English-Arabic movie subtitles

Cited by 16 publications

References 50 publications

Netflix English Subtitling of the Jordanian Movie 'The Alleys': Challenges and Strategies

Netflix English Subtitling of the Jordanian Movie 'The Alleys': Challenges and Strategies

A corpus-based study of translating idioms from English into Arabic using audio-visual translation

Subtitling Taboo Expressions from a Conservative to a More Liberal Culture

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