An Account of the Subtitling of Offensive and Taboo Language in Tarantino’s Screenplays. Sendebar 26, 37-56 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Subtitling Tarantino’s offensive and taboo dialogue exchanges into european spanish: the case of Pulp Fiction, 2015
Resumen: La manera en la que el lenguaje ofensivo y tabú se subtitula representa una práctica delicada y polémica pues este lenguaje funciona como vehículo léxico que aporta información sobre la personalidad, clase social y entorno de los personajes, pudiendo provocar una reacción fuerte en la audiencia . Se podría decir que la omisión de términos ofensivos y tabú implica la pérdida de la función comunicativa de los mismos. Partiendo de un enfoque basado en los Estudios Descriptivos de Traducción, los objetivos de este artículo se centran en arrojar luz sobre la forma en la que el filme Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) se subtituló a español europeo, explorando así pues: (1) las estrategias traductológicas empleadas por el subtitulador; (2) la manera en la que los diálogos ofensivos/tabú fueron transferidos a la pantalla; (3) la posible influencia técnica de aquellos casos en los que la carga ofensiva y tabú queda neutralizada u omitida.
2016
Offensive and taboo exchanges are very recurrent in Quentin Tarantino's films, whose screenplays are full of characters who swear, curse and make ample use of taboo terms. The way subtitlers deal with such terms can cause a greater impact on the audience than oral speech . This paper aims to provide some insights, from a Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) approach, into the subtitling of offensive and taboo language into Spanish by examining Tarantino's first blockbuster, Reservoir Dogs (1992), and making use of a multistrategy design, which enhances triangulation . The ultimate goal is to shed some light on the way this film has been subtitled in Spain, by assessing whether the dialogue exchanges have been rendered in the subtitles in a close way to the source text or, by contrast, some type of censorship (i.e. ideological manipulation) may have taken place. key words: Interlingual subtitling, offensive and taboo language, translation strategies, multi-strategy design, ideological manipulation.
Swearing and Translation: A Study of the insults in the filims of Quentin Tarantino
2011
This thesis analyses the insults in Quentin Tarantino’s films and their translation into Spanish. The insults in Tarantino’s films can be considered very interesting from a social point of view as I have gradually developed during this research. First, I have highlighted the possible problems when translating insults into Spanish. Secondly, I have provided the reader with specific examples in English of the insults collected from the seven films I have analysed [Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill vol. I and II, Death Proof and Inglorious Basterds]. Finally, my intention was to demonstrate that the level of swearing in Spanish was inferior by showing the translation of these insults in Spanish as they appeared in the films. Then, I divided my work into two sections, the first one being theoretical: Quentin Tarantino (chapter 1); Characterization of Swearwords (chapter 2); and Translation Studies: The Singularity of Audiovisual Translation (chapter 3), w...
Subtitling multilingual films: the case of Inglourious Basterds, 2013
Rooted in the Descriptive Translation Studies paradigm, this paper starts by discussing some of the main subtitling constraints that impinge on the translator's task and moves on to analyse the various strategies employed in the subtitled Spanish version of Tarantino's multilingual film Inglourious Basterds. Bearing in mind that the film was made with English, as the predominant language, and is peppered with German, French and Italian scenes, this analysis aims to examine how the combination of the SLs is reflected through subtitles. In order to resort to triangulation, a quantitative analysis of data is contrasted with a subtitler's interview of the Spanish version, analysed qualitatively. In doing so, it is hoped to shed some light on what the final product received by the audience is like as far as multilingual films are concerned.
2013
The kind of swearing which references sexual acts has been construed as the most obscene of all, perhaps because it reminds us of “a time when all sex was unholy, except as necessary for procreative purposes between married couples” (Allan and Burridge, 2006: 144). That is why the translation of sexual terms in film has not always been an easy task since the translator has had to face the predicament of trying to simultaneously please disparate audiences and distributors. In Reservoir Dogs (1992), a young Tarantino used a proliferation of sex-related terms, perhaps as a way of proclaiming and conveying his own style. The purpose of this article is threefold. First, I will introduce the concepts of taboo and obscenity and then move on to a linguistic taboo: swearing. Secondly, I will deal with issues such as verbal violence and (self)censorship with a focus on the sexual language in Reservoir Dogs. Finally, I will show some selective examples of the dubbing of the f-word as it appear...
Language and identity representation in the English subtitles of Almodóvar ’ s films
2019
Language in Almodóvar’s films is very frequently used as an important characterization method and as an identity constructor. In this sense, the main objective of the present paper is to analyse language and identity representation in twelve films by the Manchego filmmaker and in the English subtitles for DVD. More specifically, the article focuses on aspects of language and identity representation both in ST and TT, such as dialectal features, characteristics of gayspeak and use of swearwords. It has been observed that in the English subtitles there is a tendency to standardization of dialectal features and of sanitization of swearwords. Moreover, certain features of gayspeak –such as the reversal of derogatory terms or the use of cross-gender reference or girl talk– tend to be omitted in the English TT as well. These observed tendencies have an obvious effect both on identity representation and on characterization, and consequently, on the way in which monolingual English viewers ...
Publication: Translation and Interpreting Studies. The Journal of the American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association. John Benjamins Publishing Company. No. 11.2. (June 2016) ISSN 1932-2798 Abstract: This article examines the decisions involved in translating swear words and sexually explicit language in Pedro Almodóvar’s film ¡Átame! (“Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down!”) from Spanish into English and Polish. Possible motivations for specific renditions will be suggested via a comparison of the source and target language versions. This analysis aims to investigate how the target culture and the film industry can influence the sometimes-delicate task of translating obscene and strong language. Beyond the mere transfer of words from one language into another, translating is, above all, an intercultural activity in which ideology and social values play an important role in the translation process. Therefore, the characteristics of the target culture must be considered before analyzing the translation product. Moreover, the cost-benefit criterion is a crucial component of audiovisual translation, especially in the film industry. Reflection on the circumstances in which the film was released in the United States and in Poland allows for predictions about what to expect from the translation and also establishes a hypothesis for testing. This article calls for reflection on translation decisions and the author’s influence on how closely the translation follows the original. Likewise, the article examines the extent to which economic interests prevail over socio-cultural values. Keywords: Almodóvar, audiovisual translation, profanity, sociocultural values, audience expectations.
Letras Raras, 2018
This article aims to analyze the translator's modes of subjectification and how they reflect in the subtitle translation process of the movie Clandestine Childhood. To do so, two subtitle versions were selected to be then compared-the official subtitles (A) taken from the DVD, and the subtitles produced by fansubbers (B), from download. In the analyses, we sought to identify polysemy in the dialogs in order to identify the meanings selected by the subtitling translator and to discuss if they were oriented by the literality or by the adequacy between languages during the enunciation moment. After the analysis, we verified that the translator's mode of subjectification had influenced during the subtitling translation process. Moreover, we concluded that, in general, the translator (A) used a literal approach and, at the enunciation moment, it was translated code by code. On the other hand, the fansubber (B) translated in a peculiar way, evidencing the subjectivity in the subtitles. The fansubber (B) was not able to fully match the meanings between the translated subtitles and what the audio, the images and the dialogs represented in the movie scenes. However, we believe that the version (B) has not interfered in the general comprehension of the movie. RESUMO O presente trabalho objetivou analisar como os modos de subjetivação do tradutor repercutem no processo de construção das legendas de determinadas cenas do filme Infancia Clandestina. Para tanto, foram selecionadas duas versões da obra-uma em DVD com as legendas oficiais (A) e a outra em download com legendas de fansubbing (B)-, escolhidas justamente para que houvesse um processo de comparação entre traduções. Nas análises, procurou-se identificar a polissemia presente nos diálogos das cenas, com o intuito de reconhecer os sentidos selecionados pelo tradutor das legendas e discutir se esses sentidos foram orientados pela literalidade ou se pela adequação entre as línguas no momento da enunciação. Após as análises, verificou-se que os modos de subjetivação do tradutor repercutiram no processo de construção das legendas selecionadas do filme. É possível concluir que o tradutor (A) utilizou, em sua enunciação, de uma abordagem mais literal, na maioria dos casos, traduzindo código por código. Por sua vez, o fansubber (B) enunciou quase sempre de modo peculiar, evidenciando a subjetividade em suas legendas. Na maioria das cenas selecionadas, o fansubber (B) não conseguiu equivaler totalmente os sentidos entre as legendas traduzidas e aquilo que o áudio representa nesses 1 Translated by: Emily Arcego and Maria Cândida Figueiredo Moura da Silva. Attending the Master and Ph.D. Degree Program in Translation Studies at