Subtitling Arabic profanities into English and that aggro: the case of West Beirut

<p dir="ltr">The present article explores one of the most unexpected and unpredictable changes of taboo language by language users and its translation into English as can be illustrated in the analysis of a Lebanese movie entitled <i>West Beirut.</i> The article first arg...

وصف كامل

محفوظ في:
التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
المؤلف الرئيسي: Mohammad Ahmad Thawabteh (17337799) (author)
مؤلفون آخرون: Amer Al-Adwan (17316982) (author), Amna Shqair (17337802) (author)
منشور في: 2022
الموضوعات:
الوسوم: إضافة وسم
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author Mohammad Ahmad Thawabteh (17337799)
author2 Amer Al-Adwan (17316982)
Amna Shqair (17337802)
author2_role author
author
author_facet Mohammad Ahmad Thawabteh (17337799)
Amer Al-Adwan (17316982)
Amna Shqair (17337802)
author_role author
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Mohammad Ahmad Thawabteh (17337799)
Amer Al-Adwan (17316982)
Amna Shqair (17337802)
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022-11-28T15:00:00Z
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11953
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Subtitling_Arabic_profanities_into_English_and_that_aggro_the_case_of_West_Beirut/24501121
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv CC BY 4.0
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Creative arts and writing
Creative and professional writing
Screen and digital media
Language, communication and culture
Language studies
Linguistics
Audiovisual translation
Subtitling
Taboo language
Subtitling strategies
DTS
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Subtitling Arabic profanities into English and that aggro: the case of West Beirut
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Text
Journal contribution
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
text
contribution to journal
description <p dir="ltr">The present article explores one of the most unexpected and unpredictable changes of taboo language by language users and its translation into English as can be illustrated in the analysis of a Lebanese movie entitled <i>West Beirut.</i> The article first argues that taboo language is surely far more difficult than any other types of language to deal with in subtitling. Such a language is inelegant, but so confusing insofar as subtitlers are concerned, apparently due to the degree of social acceptability of the profanities by various cultures on the one hand, and to the technical restrictions related to the subtitling process on the other. The article shows that in an attempt to ensure mastery of the intricacies resulted from the use of obscene-loaded language and technical constraints associated to them, subtitlers use a considerable number of translation strategies. The article adopts a two-integrated approach: Toury's (1995) product-oriented Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) and ‘coupled pairsʼ to analyze the original dialogue and its English equivalent. The findings reveal that the subtitlers have resorted to six translation strategies while dealing with excessive taboo language density, namely cultural substitution (adaptation), literal translation, euphemism, omission, reformulation and change in the semantic field. It might then be concluded that utilizing some of these strategies have resulted in distortions of the original dialogue, while others have managed to reach its intended audience. Finally, the article highlights that cultural considerations play a major role in determining the translation strategies and their frequency in communicating taboo language into other cultures.</p><h2>Other Information</h2><p dir="ltr">Published in: Heliyon<br>License: <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a><br>See article on publisher's website: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11953" target="_blank">https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11953</a></p>
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network_acronym_str Manara2
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oai_identifier_str oai:figshare.com:article/24501121
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spelling Subtitling Arabic profanities into English and that aggro: the case of West BeirutMohammad Ahmad Thawabteh (17337799)Amer Al-Adwan (17316982)Amna Shqair (17337802)Creative arts and writingCreative and professional writingScreen and digital mediaLanguage, communication and cultureLanguage studiesLinguisticsAudiovisual translationSubtitlingTaboo languageSubtitling strategiesDTS<p dir="ltr">The present article explores one of the most unexpected and unpredictable changes of taboo language by language users and its translation into English as can be illustrated in the analysis of a Lebanese movie entitled <i>West Beirut.</i> The article first argues that taboo language is surely far more difficult than any other types of language to deal with in subtitling. Such a language is inelegant, but so confusing insofar as subtitlers are concerned, apparently due to the degree of social acceptability of the profanities by various cultures on the one hand, and to the technical restrictions related to the subtitling process on the other. The article shows that in an attempt to ensure mastery of the intricacies resulted from the use of obscene-loaded language and technical constraints associated to them, subtitlers use a considerable number of translation strategies. The article adopts a two-integrated approach: Toury's (1995) product-oriented Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) and ‘coupled pairsʼ to analyze the original dialogue and its English equivalent. The findings reveal that the subtitlers have resorted to six translation strategies while dealing with excessive taboo language density, namely cultural substitution (adaptation), literal translation, euphemism, omission, reformulation and change in the semantic field. It might then be concluded that utilizing some of these strategies have resulted in distortions of the original dialogue, while others have managed to reach its intended audience. Finally, the article highlights that cultural considerations play a major role in determining the translation strategies and their frequency in communicating taboo language into other cultures.</p><h2>Other Information</h2><p dir="ltr">Published in: Heliyon<br>License: <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a><br>See article on publisher's website: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11953" target="_blank">https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11953</a></p>2022-11-28T15:00:00ZTextJournal contributioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersiontextcontribution to journal10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11953https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Subtitling_Arabic_profanities_into_English_and_that_aggro_the_case_of_West_Beirut/24501121CC BY 4.0info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:figshare.com:article/245011212022-11-28T15:00:00Z
spellingShingle Subtitling Arabic profanities into English and that aggro: the case of West Beirut
Mohammad Ahmad Thawabteh (17337799)
Creative arts and writing
Creative and professional writing
Screen and digital media
Language, communication and culture
Language studies
Linguistics
Audiovisual translation
Subtitling
Taboo language
Subtitling strategies
DTS
status_str publishedVersion
title Subtitling Arabic profanities into English and that aggro: the case of West Beirut
title_full Subtitling Arabic profanities into English and that aggro: the case of West Beirut
title_fullStr Subtitling Arabic profanities into English and that aggro: the case of West Beirut
title_full_unstemmed Subtitling Arabic profanities into English and that aggro: the case of West Beirut
title_short Subtitling Arabic profanities into English and that aggro: the case of West Beirut
title_sort Subtitling Arabic profanities into English and that aggro: the case of West Beirut
topic Creative arts and writing
Creative and professional writing
Screen and digital media
Language, communication and culture
Language studies
Linguistics
Audiovisual translation
Subtitling
Taboo language
Subtitling strategies
DTS