Overcoming Cultural Constraints in Translating English Series: A Case Study of Subtitling Family Guy into Arabic

Overcoming Cultural Constraints in Translating English Series: A Case Study of Subtitling Family Guy into Arabic

Subtitling and dubbing foreign animation in Arabic have been growing since TV screens reached Arab homes. This imposes stricter control and ethical supervision of the used language. This study examines the cultural constraints in subtitling the American animated sitcom Family Guy into Arabic. Family...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of language teaching, linguistics, and literature Vol. 26; no. 1; pp. 1 - 17
Main Authors: Debbas, Manar, S Haider, Ahmad
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Selangor Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 01-01-2020
Subjects:
Arabic language
Audiences
Culture
English language
Ethics
Euphemism
Families & family life
Humor
Ideology
Politics
Proper nouns
Religion
Subtitles & subtitling
Taboos
Television
Television programs
Translation methods and strategies
Translators
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Summary:Subtitling and dubbing foreign animation in Arabic have been growing since TV screens reached Arab homes. This imposes stricter control and ethical supervision of the used language. This study examines the cultural constraints in subtitling the American animated sitcom Family Guy into Arabic. Family Guy addresses sensitive matters, such as sex, alcohol, religion, and politics, and so it is viewed with concern and caution in the Arab world. The researchers classified the cultural constraints in translation into three main categories: religious remarks, jokes & humour that revolve around proper nouns, and taboos. The analysis shows that the strategies used in translating religious remarks were scene deletion, words omission, and words omission with justifications. For jokes and humour, the translator opted for three strategies, namely, retain unchanged, retain unchanged with added guidance and retain unchanged with detailed explanation. Euphemistic expressions and word omission were the two strategies followed in translating taboos. The study concludes that the target audience has a vital role in determining the appropriate constraints on translation that go in line with their ideology and culture.
ISSN:0128-5157
2550-2247
0128-5157
DOI:10.17576/3L-2020-2601-01