Subtitling strategies of swear words and taboo expressions in the movie “Training Day”

• Main Authors: Noureldin Mohamed Abdelaal, Amani Al Sarhani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-07-01
• Series: Heliyon
• Subjects: Subtitling; Swear words; Taboo words; Subtitling strategies; Quality assessment; Training Day movie
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844021014547

Translators face some problems when they translate swear words and taboo expressions, as they belong to different cultures and they have different impacts on the audience. Although some studies examined the problems faced in translating swear words and how to deal with them, little is known about studies that examined the strategies employed in translating such words and expressions from English into Arabic. Therefore, this study examines the strategies employed in translating such words and expressions from English into Arabic in the “Training Day” movie; and to assess the quality of subtitling these expressions. Samples from the movie were selected and analyzed. The results of the study showed that the subtitler used different strategies to subtitle swear and taboo words and expressions. Two of the most common strategies were found to be translating the swear and taboo words euphemistically, and by omission. As regards, the quality of the subtitles, they were found to be of good quality. This study concludes by proposing a model for subtitling swear words and Taboo expressions.