The translation of wordplay in interlingual subtitling

Babel ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Williamson ◽  
Raquel De Pedro Ricoy

It is frequently said that humor does not travel well, and wordplay, which is inseparably connected to humor, poses particular problems for the translator as it is intrinsically linked to the source language and culture, and consequently is often described as untranslatable. The translator’s task is further complicated when instances of wordplay are encountered in audiovisual texts due to the constrained and semiotic nature of the medium. The aim of this paper is to examine the translation strategies applied to wordplay in the English subtitles of the French film Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis [Boon 2008]. To do this, instances of wordplay in the source text and the target text were classified according to the typology of wordplay as proposed by Delabastita (1996), and subsequently analyzed using the General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH) (Attardo and Raskin 1991) in order to contrast the differences between source text and target text instances of wordplay. The findings show the trends in the application of translation strategies and demonstrate that GTVH, albeit with some modifications, is a useful analytical tool in the context of audiovisual translation in that it could show how the puns evolved in translation and therefore give a better understanding of wordplay to aid the choice of translation strategy. As long as a narrow view of equivalence is avoided, this study demonstrates that the translation of wordplay is possible even within the polysemiotic structures of audiovisual texts.

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Elyan Wijaya

Annotated translation is a study that provides annotations or notes on the chosen equivalents of a number of translated words as a form of translator’s accountability. Using a comparative model, this qualitative study aims to describe the problems that were encountered when translating the source text and finding the right translation strategy to be used for addressing the existing translation problems. In this research, the source text is a children literature (tale) titled Le Fils à la recherche de sa mère by Senegalese author. The problems that were encountered when translating this tale were issues related to language and culture, such as idioms, metaphors, and cultural words. The translation problems were then addressed by using translation strategies (methods and procedures) according to Newmark (1988). In generating translations and annotations, this research referred to various dictionaries and websites. The findings of this research are expected to enrich the French children literature translations from African countries that are rarely found in Indonesia.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Isabelle Collombat

This article sets out to show that translation, far from being a mere impersonation, is an activity involving a complex form of rational empathy. In order to do their work to the best of their abilities, translators must adopt an empathetic attitude not only toward the author of the source text, but also toward the text and the future reader whose knowledge skills he needs to consider in the same way the original author did. Our text situates the translation process in a functionalist perspective and subordinates it to the preliminary establishment of a translation postulate (“postulat traductif”) in accordance with which the translator lays down a translation strategy based on the type of text, the origin of the text, for whom the text is intended as well the function of the text. At this stage, the translator seeks to achieve maximum objectivity based on rational empathy. As a rule, empathy in translation is associated with literary translation, in keeping with a lyrical view of the latter and with an inordinate focusing on the author. We will try to show that the empathy factor is a constant, whether the text be literary or pragmatic, and that rational empathy is an indispensable tool for all translators since few of them are in a position to both choose their texts and hope to feel a spontaneous emotional empathy with their author or text. Lastly, we will see that a broad general culture, including both a knowledge of the source language and culture, combined with an acute awareness of one’s own culture, is an essential basis for rational empathy, and conditions the intercultural and communication skills of the translator. Seen from this angle, the translator must master the various linguistic codes, namely language levels and diatopic variations, which he must use in order to best fulfil his role as a translator according to the most efficient translation postulate.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-145
Author(s):  
Ely Hayati Nasution ◽  
Roswita Silalahi ◽  
Vivi Adryani Nasution

The translation is a representation of the effect of developing technology on language. Translated website or website localization with the easiness of accessibility is considered as the most efficient space for transferring the information nowadays. It certainly involves the appropriate translation strategies in order to provide reliable information required. This research aims to identify the translation strategy involved under foreignization and domestication reference in the official website localization of Ministry of Health of Republic of Indonesia, to find out the most dominant translation strategy used, and to analyze the reasons to what extent foreignization and domestication applied, by referring the classifications proposed by Venuti (2008). The source of data was taken from five (5) popular news along 2018 which were broken down into 191 data analyzed, consisting of 5 headlines in the form of phrases and sentences, contents totally written in 161 sentences, and 25 sub-contents in the form of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. The research found that the translator used all eight (8) translation strategies under domestication and foreignization reference including literal translation, transliteration, borrowing, transference, transposition, omission, addition, and adaptation, simultaneously or separately. Literal translation becomes the most dominant translation strategy used and it can indicate that the website localization is translated into source text-oriented.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 172-177
Author(s):  
Dellia Erdita

This research aims to find out the similes found in the novel “Game of Thrones” and its Indonesian translation “Perebutan Tahta”, and to investigate what translation strategies are used in translating the similes from the source text to the target text. The method applied in this research is descriptive qualitative which is used to describe the phenomena occuring in the translation of similes from English into Indonesian. The data were collected from the first three chapters of the novel Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin and its Indonesian version entitled Perebutan Tahta. The similes are identified by using the theories of similes proposed by Israel (2014), Harding (2017), Knowles and Moon (2006), and Kridalaksana (2013). In analyzing the data, the translation strategies proposed by Chesterman (2016) are used. The result shows that there are 32 data found, 28 of them are similes translated into similes, while 4 of them are similes translated into non-similes. The translation strategy used to translate similes into similes is trope change type A, while the translation strategy used to translate similes into non-similes are trope change type C. The findings show that the translation of similes into similes are dominant in the first three chapter of the novel with the percentage 87,5% from out of 32 data found, while the translation from similes to non-similes is only 12,5%. The findings also show that there is secondary strategy found while analyzing the data, namely compression. Nevertheless, regardless of the fact that the similes in the source text are translated into similes and non-similes in the target text, the main translation strategy used is still trope change, although the types are different. For the reason that the trope change strategy is specifically stated by Chesterman to translate figurative expressions, which includes simile. Furthermore, the secondary strategy, compression, occurred because due to the structure of Indonesian language, the translation in the target text tends to be shorter than the original source text in English.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-48
Author(s):  
Monicha Destaria ◽  
Yulan Puspita Rini

Transferring meaning embedded by English idiom is not an easy way to do. The meaning contained by English Idiom cannot be comprehended by merely knowing the meaning from each word arranging the idiom. Dealing with English idiom in translation is quite hard because the translator has to transfer the meaning of English idiom into Bahasa Indonesia rightly. On the other hand, it is quite difficult to find the equivalence term in Bahasa Indonesia reflecting the same meaning as it is reflected in the source text. To manage this problem, the translation strategies need to be applied. This research focuses on analyzing the translation strategies used by the translator in transferring the meaning of English idioms into Bahasa Indonesia in the subtitle of  Pitch Perfect 3 Movie. The research method is descriptive qualitative method.. Baker’s translation strategies is used as guideline in classifying the translation strategies used. After finding the type of translation strategies employed, further identifying whether the meaning of English idiom is transferred rightly in Bahasa Indonesia. According to the finding, translation by using idiom in similar meaning and disimilar form was not used by the translator to translate the idioms. The frequency of  translation by using idiom in similar meaning but disimilar form strategy is 4 idioms. 46 idioms were translated by using paraphrased strategy. It is only 1 idiom was translated by using omission strategy. that the meaning of 36 idioms are transferred accurately. The meaning of four idioms were transferred Less-accurately. The meaning of 11 idioms were classified as inaccurate translation


Babel ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng-Lin Chen

Abstract Research on Goldblatt’s translation of Red Sorghum has attracted more attention in recent years after its author Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize for this work. This translation study has addressed the imagery and symbolism in this classic Chinese work, an area that has yet to be investigated with the use of empirical data. The study employed the corpus-based approach, and analysed the translation of images and symbols based on a parallel translation corpus of Chapters 1 and 2 found in the text of Red Sorghum. Most important images and symbols are represented by 30 distinct nouns in the novel as successfully translated into English as a result of the translator’s adoption of a literal translation strategy. A more focused examination of a translation of the most prominent key word, sorghum, finds that the translator has faithfully adopted the imagery and symbolism techniques in the source text whenever conveying the images and symbols of sorghum across cultures. Based on the findings, this study argues that images and symbols in the source text may present themselves in the translation of novels if translators adopt a source-oriented translation strategy. Our analyses of the translation of figures of speech, namely similes, personifications and repetitions further highlight the importance of taking concert and literal translation strategies into the realm of literary translation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 105 ◽  
pp. 03007
Author(s):  
Mariia Sevastiuk

The article focuses on the use of invective in political texts and specifics of its rendering in the English-Ukrainian translation. It aims to define possible strategies for invective translation and factors that influence translator’s choice. Since the use of invective by political leaders is aimed primarily at provoking a certain reaction from their opponents and the public, the main criterion of equivalence in the translation of such units is pragmatics, which stipulates the translator’s task as trying to make the invective perform the same function in the translation and be perceived in the same way as in the original, often regardless of its language component in the source language. The paper suggests that it becomes possible with the help of pragmatic adaptation, which implies various manipulations with the source text aimed to ensure its better understanding by the receptors of translation. Three main translation strategies of pragmatic adaptation are proposed: neutralization, substitution and stylistic amplification. These strategies dictate the further choice of translator’s decisions and the application of translation transformations aiming to preserve the emotional and evaluative load of invective in translation.


Author(s):  
Dhini Aulia

Translation is a process to render the meaning from the source text into the target text. A translator, however, will find some problems during translation process. Equivalence is the case which often appears (i.e. culture specific concept, the source-language concept is not lexicalized in the target language, source-language word is semantically complex, etc). To cope with equivalnce problems in translation process, some experts suggest some strategies which can be applied in doing translation. Some strategies are transference, naturalization, cultural equivalent, etc. The strategies which often appears in the example texts in this paper are transference, naturalization, descriptive equivalent, couplet and  through-translation. It is recomended that translator apply the strategies if only there is no equivalence problem in target language. 


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Atikah Wati

The aim of this paper is to find out the important of cultural filtering that used by translator in language translation. As we know that language and culture being inextricably interwoven, the transference of the linguistic expression is precisely an attempt to integrate elements of one culture into another. Translation, thus, becomes a cross cultural event and the translator has to formulate his translation strategies to translate source culture into target culture. To deal with these cultural problems, translator is supposed to insert cultural filter in the initial stage of understanding and analyzing codification of the source text in the first stance. Here the cultural filter helps translator in obtain various elements of source culture which cannot go as they are in the target culture because of cultural differences.


2010 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Ahmad Thawabteh

This paper examines the translatability of Arabic interjections into English subtitling, illustrated with a subtitled Egyptian film, State Security subtitled by Arab Radio and Television (ART). Theoretical framework regarding both Audiovisual Translation (AVT) and interjections is first discussed. The significance of interjections is approached from the perspective of technical and translation paradigms. The study shows that although technical issues limit the subtitler’s choices, they have very little to do with translating interjections because they are typically short words. With regard to translation, the study shows that the subtitler may opt for three major translation strategies: 1) an avoidance of source language (SL) interjection whereby a SL interjectional utterance is translated into a target language (TL) interjection-free utterance; 2) a retention of SL interjection in which SL interjection is rendered into a TL interjection; and 3) an addition of interjection whereby SL interjection-free utterance is translated into a TL interjection.


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