Linguistic and cultural aspects of the translation of swearing: The Spanish version of Pulp Fiction. (original) (raw)
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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...
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...
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.
Estudio sobre la subtitulación del lenguaje ofensivo y tabú en los guiones de Tarantino, 2015
Offensive and taboo language presents a challenge for subtitlers, given the impact that it can have on an audience, particularly in its written form (Díaz Cintas 2001b). The present paper contains a descriptive analysis of the subtitling of offensive and taboo language, mainly from English into Spanish, from a translational, linguistic and technical point of view. Based on three of Quentin Tarantino's films -Reservoir Dogs ), Pulp Fiction (1994 and Inglourious Basterds (2009) -, particular attention is paid to the way in which these terms and expressions were subtitled for the benefit of a Spanish audience. By using a multi-strategy design in which mostly quantitative and some qualitative data are combined, the main goal of the paper is to look into the way this type of language was subtitled in these films, thereby enabling other scholars to use this same methodology when undertaking research on similar projects, in the same or in different language combinations.
Swearing and the vulgarization hypothesis in Spanish audiovisual translation
Journal of Pragmatics, 2020
This article has been accepted for publication in Journal of Pragmatics. Drawing on the insights of pragmatics and translation studies, this article discusses the so-called vulgarization hypothesis in audiovisual translation (AVT) of Anglophone products into Spanish and aims to test it for the period 2006-2016. The hypothesis posits that contemporary American and British programs dubbed into European Spanish tend to increase the use of swearwords. To test this hypothesis I selected four different series, a sitcom (The IT Crowd), a police drama (Chicago PD), a family drama (Brothers & Sisters) and a thriller (Eyewitness). After identifying a total of 412 coupled pairs in which swearwords were used in English, Spanish or both, I analysed the translation strategies used. The analysis shows that the number of swearwords is increased by means of three main strategies (addition, replacement of neutral words/expressions by swearword, intensification) in 53.14% of the cases. In contrast, toning down and omission strategies occur in 13.88% of the coupled pairs, thus supporting the hypothesis that AVT in Spain tends to vulgarize the original in the dubbed version.
The pragmatic dimensions of swearing in films: Searching for coherence in dubbing strategies
Journal of Pragmatics, 2023
Swearing is exploited to release strong emotions, attack the interlocutor's face and build interpersonal solidarity, both in spontaneous interactions and in film. In audiovisual translation, it tends to be toned down or omitted, with research mostly explaining neutralisation as censorship-driven and treating the translation of taboo language as an internally-undifferentiated, arbitrary procedure. In the present corpus-based study we move away from the external, socio-cultural motivations for loss to assess whether specific pragmatic, structural-functional and textual dimensions of swearing account for preferred translational strategies and impact the translational outcomes. All occurrences of F-words in a parallel corpus of Anglophone films and their Italian translations are examined in their bilingual concordances at the utterance level and in the wider multimodal context. The quantitative and qualitative analyses outline the interaction between structural-functional patterns and pragmatic functions with reference to the translation strategies of full translation, mitigation, de-swearing and omission. The findings unveil coherence in Italian translators' preferences for pragmatically-motivated cross-linguistically viable language patterns which foreground the heightened emotional charge and the abusive dimensions of taboo words, thus pointing to a principled approach to translational solutions which boost the conflictuality intrinsic to film.
Prologue: Journal on Language and Literature, 2023
This article examines swear word translation in Eka Kurniawan's Indonesian novel, Seperti Dendam, and its English version, Vengeance. The study analyzes swearing expressions and translation strategies using a qualitative approach. Data from both novels reveals seventeen swear words across eight themes. Swear words are classified into four function types and a mixed function. The translator employed five main strategies, maintaining function and theme being the most common. The findings show the translator aimed to preserve the original function and theme while adapting to the target text's style. Indonesian swear words share similarities with English counterparts in function and theme.
The dubbing process of swearwords and insults into Italian: Translator versus dialogue writer
In English-Italian film translation swearing has always been a problem In English-Italian film translation swearing has always been a problem that has often been dealt with via self-censorship. Issues regarding self-censorship in the translation of imported audiovisual fictional products in Italy have been discussed by several authors, most notably Pavesi (2000) and Azzaro (2006). These studies have revealed that taboo terms and coarse language are either suppressed or reduced in dubbed films. In Italy dubbing is often carried out by two different professional figures, especially in the case of TV series. These are: the translator, who provides a preliminary translation, and the adapter, who is responsible for the final version. The aim of the present descriptive study is to identify a hierarchy of factors that determine the translation product. The examples presented in this paper confirm the results of previous research in the field and show that the translator usually prefers not to tone down taboos and terms of insult, whereas the adapter prefers to mitigate them.
International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies, 2019
Swearwords are intentionally employed in movies to express certain pragmatic functions including portraying characters' inner feelings, their social and educational background and the relationship between the characters. Such functions need to be preserved in the interlingual/intercultural subtitling so that the communicative effects of swearwords are duly transferred to the target audience. However, achieving this objective requires a thorough contextual analysis of the relationship between the characters, the intended illocutionary force of the speech acts expressed by the swearwords and the reaction of the addressee to their implied communicative force. A lack of such an analysis may lead to a change in the intended pragmatic functions of swearwords during the subtitling process. In this light, this study sought to investigate the pragmatic functions of swearwords in selected American crime drama movies and their Arabic subtitles, identifying whether the same pragmatic functions of such words have been preserved in the subtitles. The study also attempted to identify the causes and consequences of the resulting (in)congruity between the expressed functions of the swearwords in the movies compared with those expressed by their subtitles in Arabic. To address these objectives, a corpus comprising the scripts of two American crime drama movies exhibiting high occurrences of swearwords and