Strategies of Translating Metaphors in Foreign Movies employed by Iranian Subtitlers
Strategies of Translating Metaphors in Foreign Movies employed by Iranian Subtitlers
By Omid Jafari,
Allameh Tabatabaie University Post Grad.Student,
Translation Studies
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Abstract
The purpose of the present thesis was to investigate the approaches and strategies employed by Iranian subtitlers in the translation of metaphors into Persian. The material gathered for this purpose consisted of six subtitled films. The films were selected among those originally produced in English and subtitled to Persian. In order to have a contrastive analysis of metaphors and their translations, the movies dialogues and their subtitles were contrasted. At the first stage, metaphor was defined and with the definition in mind, metaphors in the movies were identified. After determining metaphors in each film, the translations of the metaphors needed to be identified and matched with the original ones. To this aim, the original metaphors and their Persian subtitled translations were compared and contrasted in order to track down the translations of the identified metaphors. Afterwards, the metaphors and their translations were listed in tables to investigate the most and the least frequent approaches and strategies employed by Iranian subtitlers in dealing with metaphors.
Key words: Metaphor, Subtitling, Translation strategies, Movies
Introduction
In our modern life, the introduction of new technologies and subsequent boom in satellite, television and the Internet has made the world a much smaller place, allowing different people and so different cultures and languages to interact more frequently. As a result, film industries have been flourished and the role of audiovisual translator has been intensified. On the other hand, translation of metaphor which is an inseparable part of any language is also a daunting task. Dialogues of movies are sometimes replete with metaphors and require
By Omid Jafari,
Allameh Tabatabaie University Post Grad.Student,
Translation Studies
Become a member of TranslationDirectory.com at just 7 EUR/month (paid per year)
Abstract
The purpose of the present thesis was to investigate the approaches and strategies employed by Iranian subtitlers in the translation of metaphors into Persian. The material gathered for this purpose consisted of six subtitled films. The films were selected among those originally produced in English and subtitled to Persian. In order to have a contrastive analysis of metaphors and their translations, the movies dialogues and their subtitles were contrasted. At the first stage, metaphor was defined and with the definition in mind, metaphors in the movies were identified. After determining metaphors in each film, the translations of the metaphors needed to be identified and matched with the original ones. To this aim, the original metaphors and their Persian subtitled translations were compared and contrasted in order to track down the translations of the identified metaphors. Afterwards, the metaphors and their translations were listed in tables to investigate the most and the least frequent approaches and strategies employed by Iranian subtitlers in dealing with metaphors.
Key words: Metaphor, Subtitling, Translation strategies, Movies
Introduction
In our modern life, the introduction of new technologies and subsequent boom in satellite, television and the Internet has made the world a much smaller place, allowing different people and so different cultures and languages to interact more frequently. As a result, film industries have been flourished and the role of audiovisual translator has been intensified. On the other hand, translation of metaphor which is an inseparable part of any language is also a daunting task. Dialogues of movies are sometimes replete with metaphors and require
References: Delabastita, D. (1989). Translation and Mass Communication: Film and TV Translation as Evidence of Cultural Dynamics. in Babel, 8 (4), 193-218 Gottlieb, H. (1992). Subtitling: A New University Discipline. in C. Dolllerap et al. (Eds.) Teaching Translation and Interpreting. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Newmark, P. (1988a). A Textbook of Translation. London: Prentice hall International (UK) Ltd. ------------- (1988b) Approaches to Translation. London: Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd. Published - July 2013 http://www.translationdirectory.com/articles/article2439.php