Subtitling Jordanian cultural expressions into English on Netflix: a case study of AlRawabi School for Girls Season 2

Mona Malkawi (), Sara Hudaib and Ahmad Al-Harahsheh
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Mona Malkawi: Yarmouk University
Sara Hudaib: Yarmouk University
Ahmad Al-Harahsheh: Yarmouk University

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2025, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-28

Abstract: Abstract The present study is a descriptive analysis of subtitling in the Jordanian Netflix show, AlRawabi School for Girls Season 2, specifically, the translation of Jordanian cultural expressions from Arabic to English. It focuses on the role of multimodal elements in conveying meaning and the challenges subtitlers face in the process. The authors examine the strategies proposed by various scholars to address these challenges. This study used 50 examples from the show with accompanying footage of each example to analyze how multimodal elements impacted meaning in translation. The relation between verbal and non-verbal elements in each example identifies four types of intermodal relations in translation: complementary, reinforced, parallel, and contradictory. Three major conclusions are drawn from the analysis of AlRawabi School for Girls. First, reinforcement is the most frequent intermodal relation between the source text and non-verbal elements (43%), with complementary (6%) and parallel (1%) being less frequent. In comparison, the most frequent intermodal relation between the subtitling and non-verbal elements is reinforcement (25%), followed by complementary (24%) and parallel (1%) relations. Second, paraphrasing is the most frequently used subtitling strategy, while resignation and transcription are the least frequently used. Finally, while the most frequent intermodal relation between the subtitling and non-verbal elements is reinforced, implying successful transmission of meaning, the significant presence of complementary intermodal relations suggests that the cultural nuances of the original language are often lost in the subtitles.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-05877-7

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