scholarly journals "Facci Lei!": Subtitling Humour in 'Fantozzi' (1975)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rory McKenzie
Keyword(s):  
Translation Studies ◽  
Italian Cinema ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Economic Miracle ◽  
Limited Space ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
Italian Culture ◽  
The Media ◽  
Complete Translation ◽  
Culture And Language

<p>Subtitling provides scholars and translators alike with the challenge of negotiating meaning across languages and cultures in an extremely limited space. The subtitler faces many restrictions than can severely affect a translation. However, subtitles are central to making films more widely and easily accessible. These difficulties are challenging at the best of times and are compounded by the specific difficulties of translating comedy. Humour is both universal and at the same time culturally specific. Anthropologists, sociologists, literary theorists and scholars have amply demonstrated how deeply intertwined humour, culture, and language are. It is for this reason that the current project will expand on the literature of subtitling humour, applying the relevant theories associated with both subtitling and translating humour to the Italian film classic Fantozzi (1975).  The character Ugo Fantozzi has been a cult figure in Italian culture and society since his appearance in Italian cinema and literature in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the films in particular he has come to represent the average Italian of the post-economic miracle, whose life does not quite match the dreams of wealth and prosperity emphasized by the media. Fantozzi epitomises the average, and while his character has received little academic attention to date more credible academic studies are emerging since the death of his creator, Paolo Villaggio, in 2017. Fantozzi, therefore, provides the perfect cultural product for a discussion of what it means to translate Italian culture and humour, combining this with considerations about the emerging field of translation studies of subtitling.  By providing a complete translation of Fantozzi in English, accompanied by a critical commentary, in this thesis I attempt to show how, despite all the restrictions imposed by the field of subtitling, as well as the difficulties of translating humour, a subtitler can still produce well thought out and reliable subtitles that convey the cultural and comedic aspects of film, and more specifically of this beloved Italian icon.</p>

scholarly journals "Facci Lei!": Subtitling Humour in 'Fantozzi' (1975)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rory McKenzie
Keyword(s):  
Translation Studies ◽  
Italian Cinema ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Economic Miracle ◽  
Limited Space ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
Italian Culture ◽  
The Media ◽  
Complete Translation ◽  
Culture And Language

<p>Subtitling provides scholars and translators alike with the challenge of negotiating meaning across languages and cultures in an extremely limited space. The subtitler faces many restrictions than can severely affect a translation. However, subtitles are central to making films more widely and easily accessible. These difficulties are challenging at the best of times and are compounded by the specific difficulties of translating comedy. Humour is both universal and at the same time culturally specific. Anthropologists, sociologists, literary theorists and scholars have amply demonstrated how deeply intertwined humour, culture, and language are. It is for this reason that the current project will expand on the literature of subtitling humour, applying the relevant theories associated with both subtitling and translating humour to the Italian film classic Fantozzi (1975).  The character Ugo Fantozzi has been a cult figure in Italian culture and society since his appearance in Italian cinema and literature in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the films in particular he has come to represent the average Italian of the post-economic miracle, whose life does not quite match the dreams of wealth and prosperity emphasized by the media. Fantozzi epitomises the average, and while his character has received little academic attention to date more credible academic studies are emerging since the death of his creator, Paolo Villaggio, in 2017. Fantozzi, therefore, provides the perfect cultural product for a discussion of what it means to translate Italian culture and humour, combining this with considerations about the emerging field of translation studies of subtitling.  By providing a complete translation of Fantozzi in English, accompanied by a critical commentary, in this thesis I attempt to show how, despite all the restrictions imposed by the field of subtitling, as well as the difficulties of translating humour, a subtitler can still produce well thought out and reliable subtitles that convey the cultural and comedic aspects of film, and more specifically of this beloved Italian icon.</p>

Winner of the 2011 ASMI PG essay prize: Popular Italian cinema, the media, and the economic miracle: rethinkingcommedia all'italiana

Modern Italy ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Fullwood
Keyword(s):  
Italian Society ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Media Industries ◽  
Media Production ◽  
Italian Cinema ◽  
Economic Miracle ◽  
The Media ◽  
Consumer Lifestyles ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

This article seeks to reposition the popular cinematic genrecommedia all'italianawithin the context of the rapid expansion of the media industries which accompanied Italy's postwar economic miracle. The article looks at three distinct aspects of the relationship betweencommedia all'italianaand other media. First, it outlines the important role played by the media during the boom in disseminating images of consumer lifestyles, and highlights the way in whichcommedia all'italianaparticipated in this process. Second, through a discussion of media appearances by Vittorio Gassman and Nino Manfredi, the article emphasises the extent to which theircommedia all'italianastar personas were constructed and circulated in a multimedia context. Finally, it examines how the genre represented other media, focusing in particular on the representation of gender in advertising scenes. Through close readings ofcommedia all'italianaadvertising scenes, the article notes points of continuity with and difference from advertising imagery that was circulating at the time. The article argues that in order to further our understanding ofcommedia all'italianaand its relationship to Italian society, it is essential to understand the genre's relationship to other media production of the period, which both influenced the comedies' representations and was influenced by them in turn.

Language and Translation in an International Business Context

Target ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Steyaert ◽  
Maddy Janssens
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
International Business ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Technical Skill ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Management Literature ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Culture And Language

Abstract This article discusses the role of language and translation in the business context. Drawing on management literature, we identify two different perspectives on culture and language, and discuss their implications for translation and language learning. Within the first perspective of culture as a variable and language as representation, translation becomes a neutral act and language learning a technical skill. Within the second perspective of culture as a metaphor and language as action, translation becomes a managerial act and language learning a cultural production. We conclude by formulating research questions whereby the domains of management and translation studies interface each other.

The Simpsons

Babel ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo A. Rodríguez Martín
Keyword(s):  
Translation Studies ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Correct Interpretation ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Visual Elements ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Simpsons ◽  
Specific Meaning ◽  
Common Device

Phraseological Units rank high among the most complex linguistic segments for translators, whether because of their figurative nature, their culturally specific meaning or their pragmatic peculiarities. Such difficulties increase exponentially when PUs are expressed in a multimodal fictional environment, especially if the situated meaning of the unit relies on visual elements for its correct interpretation: the so-called visual phraseological units (PUs). In these cases, the literal wording of a PU is portrayed physically, thus making both the phraseological and literal meanings overlap. These visual PUs have progressively become a common device in TV programs such as sitcoms and cartoon series — this paper, in particular, uses the case-study of the well-known American cartoon series The Simpsons. However, their ubiquity has not triggered a comparable scholarly response, either from the field of phraseology or from that of translation studies, with some notable exceptions. The combination of a limited theoretical framework and the inherent traductological obstacles these units pose accounts for the poor or, at times, non-existent solutions when it comes to rendering them in other languages. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the felicity of the Spanish translations of visual PUs appearing in The Simpsons. Some tentative traductological solutions will also be provided alongside the inevitable shortcomings of the target language versions, in an attempt to provide practical ground with which to foster further research on the question.

scholarly journals Soft power „kínai módra”

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2019/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Csikó
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Considerable Influence ◽  
Confucius Institutes ◽  
The Media ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Culture And Language

This paper introduces and examines Confucius Institutes (CI) as part of China’s soft power – with a special focus on the problems regarding the CI’s in Hungary. I also intend to analyse what kind of picture of the CI’s the mediapresents and how realistic this image is. I will discuss in two separate chapters the most serious accusations made against the CI’s (spreading Chinese propaganda, violation of human rights and academic freedom and spying forChina) because I consider that these topics provide valuable insights into the considerable influence exercised by the media even in the case of assessing educational and cultural institutions. The term “soft power” was introduced by Joseph Nye in 1990, referring to the ability to make the image of one’s country desirable abroad by using culture, ideology or institutions. But China had already discovered in the 80s how important culture and language can be as means to obtain power without recourse to “hard” methods. In 1987 China established Hanban; the first experimental CI was set up in 2004 in Uzbekistan and the first official CI was founded in South Korea in the same year. As of April, 2020 there are 540 CI’s world-wide, according to Hanban’s website, which clearly indicates that the CI’s are hugely successful. In Hungary there are currently 5 CI’s.

scholarly journals La traduzione degli elementi culturali nella letteratura per bambini

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helene Johansen
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Place Names ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Personal Names ◽  
Different Types

Culture is often transmitted in a text through lexemes termed realia words. These words are used to denominate culturally specific objects, but because they are culturally oriented they are very difficult to translate: various strategies are used by translators and are described in translation studies. This paper analyzes realia words used in the book Vaffelhjarte (Waffle Hearts) by the Norwegian children’s writer Maria Parr and translated into Italian. The study distinguishes different types of realia (personal names, place names, names of foods and drinks, names of holidays, and other names describing material culture) and the various strategies used to translate each type.

scholarly journals Child Grooming and Sexual Exploitation: Are South Asian Men the UK Media’s New Folk Devils?

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 34-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aisha K Gill ◽  
Karen Harrison
Keyword(s):  
South Asian ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Newspaper Coverage ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
White Girls ◽  
Asian Men ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Shed Light

In May 2012, nine men from the Rochdale area of Manchester were found guilty of sexually exploiting a number of underage girls. Media reporting on the trial focused on the fact that eight of the men were of Pakistani descent, while all the girls were white. Framing similar cases in Preston, Rotherham, Derby, Shropshire, Oxford, Telford and Middlesbrough as ethnically motivated, the media incited moral panic over South Asian grooming gangs preying on white girls. While these cases shed light on the broader problem of sexual exploitation in Britain, they also reveal continuing misconceptions that stereotype South Asian men as ‘natural’ perpetrators of these crimes due to culturally-specific notions of hegemonic masculinity. Examining newspaper coverage from 2012 to 2013, this article discusses the discourse of the British media’s portrayal of South Asian men as perpetrators of sexual violence against white victims, inadvertently construing ‘South Asian men’ as ‘folk devils’.

scholarly journals Transatlantic Quechuañol: Reading Race through Colonial Translations

PMLA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 134 (2) ◽  
pp. 242-259
Author(s):  
Allison Margaret Bigelow
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Atlantic World ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Scientific Texts ◽  
Technical Writers ◽  
New Research

Translation is often described with opposed terms like loyalty and betrayal, even though the work of translation defies such a description. New research in translation studies argues for the value of mistranslation and untranslatables, especially in recovering Indigenous knowledge production. This study joins these efforts by documenting how technical writers in the colonial Andes used Quechua terms to form a patois called “Quechuañol” (Quechua plus español) and how this hybrid Andean language was obscured in translations of scientific texts in early modern England, Germany, and France. As translators reinterpreted metallic classifications in Quechuañol, including “Pacos, Mulatos y Negrillos” (“paco, mulato, and negrillo metals”), they chose terms that communicated their own, culturally specific ideas about color and categories. Tracing mistranslations in the Atlantic world allows us to document both the Indigenous intellectual contributions to the technical arts and the development of early modern racial classifications.

Contemporary Ghosts

2019 ◽  
pp. 131-143
Author(s):  
Murray Leeder
Keyword(s):  
Reality Television ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Horror Films ◽  
First Century ◽  
Ghost Story ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
The Media ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Western Media

This chapter tracks the dominant trends of the twenty-first-century ghost. It argues that Sadako, the techno-onryō from Ringu (1998), has proved a model that would spread in countless ways, cementing the idea of the media ghost in both Asian and western media, sometimes focused on new technology but with a surprising tendency to evoke ‘outdated’ media as haunted/haunting residue. It also discusses the availability of the ghost not only to popular media like reality television and to middlebrow horror films such as those of Blumhouse Pictures, but also to ‘legitimate’ art, like Sarah Water’s The Little Stranger (2007) and works by films like film auteurs like ApichatpongWeerasethakul, Guillermo del Toro and Guy Maddin. It proposes that many of these works provide their own critical commentary on the ghost story itself.

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