Recontexualising racial slurs from English to Arabic : a comparative analysis of subtitles in relation to translation strategies and socio-cultural norms
Although Audiovisual Translation (AVT) studies have proliferated in the past two decades, studies that tackle AVT in Arabic are still in their early stages. More specifically, very few studies investigate subtitling as a norm-governed, micro-level process that reflects macro-level, socio-cultural structures. Therefore, this thesis investigates the subtitling of racial slurs from English to Arabic by utilising the principles of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS). It seeks to identify the main subtitling strategies that Arab subtitlers use to translate racial slurs in English-language films into Arabic and the ideological underpinnings behind those strategies. Racial slurs are seen as aspects of lingua-culture; their occurrence represents the ideologies of race and racism that operate within a given socio-culture. This study shows that racial slurs serve as tools for characterisation through stereotyping. Moreover, the study demonstrates how racial slurs are a manifestation of the audience design involved in producing a filmâs script. A dataset that consists of 556 racial slurs found in 102 films which were recorded from Arab satellite channels is compiled. The study
Mujaddadi, A.
Recontexualising racial slurs from English to Arabic : a comparative analysis of subtitles in relation to translation strategies and socio-cultural norms. Although Audiovisual Translation (AVT) studies have proliferated in the past two decades, studies that tackle AVT in Arabic are still in their early stages. More specifically, very few studies investigate subtitling as a norm-governed, micro-level process that reflects macro-level, socio-cultural structures. Therefore, this thesis investigates the subtitling of racial slurs from English to Arabic by utilising the principles of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS). It seeks to identify the main subtitling strategies that Arab subtitlers use to translate racial slurs in English-language films into Arabic and the ideological underpinnings behind those strategies. Racial slurs are seen as aspects of lingua-culture; their occurrence represents the ideologies of race and racism that operate within a given socio-culture. This study shows that racial slurs serve as tools for characterisation through stereotyping. Moreover, the study demonstrates how racial slurs are a manifestation of the audience design involved in producing a filmâs script. A dataset that consists of 556 racial slurs found in 102 films which were recorded from Arab satellite channels is compiled. The study
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