Subtitling the f-word into Arabic in Hollywood films: a corpus-based study

Yousef Sahari ()
Additional contact information
Yousef Sahari: University of Bisha

Palgrave Communications, 2024, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract This study investigates the prevailing strategies used by Arab translators when translating the f-word in subtitles. The study also determines whether these strategies are source-language-oriented or target-language-oriented. To address these research questions, a corpus of 90 Hollywood films released between 2000 and 2018 is analysed quantitatively and qualitatively, with a particular focus on their subtitles. Insights from descriptive translation studies (henceforth DTS), particularly Toury (2012), are also incorporated. The findings indicate that the functions of the f-word significantly influence the choice of subtitling strategies. Also, the use of Modern Standard Arabic in Arabic subtitles restricts the subtitlers’ linguistic options. Additionally, the nature of audiovisual translation plays a role in subtitler choices since the meaning of a word can be conveyed through gestures, images, or sounds on screen. In addition, the f-word is often translated into religious expressions, and omission is commonly used for certain functions as, for instance, an emphatic intensifier or idiomatic ‘set phrase’.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-024-03190-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-024-03190-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/palcomms/about

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-024-03190-3

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Palgrave Communications from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().