Issues and strategies of subtitling cultural references : Harry Potter movies in Arabic

Altahri, ARM

Abstract

Subtitling, as all other types of audiovisual translation, has always been influenced by cultural factors, and in turn subtitles have influenced their target readers. The close interrelation between language and culture in interlingual subtitling may raise problems, or challenging issues in translating cultural references from oral dialogue into written subtitles. The aim of this study is to investigate the problems and strategies involved in the Arabic subtitling of the cultural references in the Harry Potter movies in Arabic. Special focus will be laid on different types of cultural references such as names of people, mythological creatures, magical objects, place names, food items, neologisms, etc., which are characteristic of J. K. Rowling’s book on which the movies are based. These cultural references pose challenges for the subtitlers.
The main objective of this study is to determine which factors and strategies play a significant role when subtitling Harry Potter movies for children in the Arab world. In order to achieve this aim, a descriptive approach within the discipline of translation studies has been adopted. More specifically, this approach will examine the possibility to observe any kind of consistency in the strategies applied for the subtitling of cultural references. Díaz Cintas’s model is proposed as a theoretical framework that helps in understanding and explaining the strategies available to the subtitler when subtitling cultural references.
The study concludes that there is a complex of cultural, ideological, and technical aspects which have significant influence on subtitlers when subtitling for children, in particular from English into Arabic. The analysis shows that the Arabic subtitlers tend to use more strategies than others in dealing with cultural references. The conclusion attempts an explanation of the frequency of the strategies used.

Citation

Altahri, A. Issues and strategies of subtitling cultural references : Harry Potter movies in Arabic. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jul 22, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 22, 2013
• Additional Information: Funders : Almergab University (Libya)
• Award Date: Jun 16, 2013