Audiovisual Translation: Translation Methods and Strategies Used in Ballerina Movie Subtitling

Abstract

Audiovisual Translation is of an important concern in translation studies. This research attempts to find out the translation methods and strategies used in Ballerina movie subtitling from English into Arabic. It also aims to specify the difficulties the translator encounters in the movie. In addition, the cultural dimensions are of great focus. The descriptive analytical method was used. The data of the research were the utterances or sentences in movie subtitles. They are collected by watching the movie with both English and Arabic subtitles and compared the translation with the source text. It is found that the literal translation method is the most common method used followed by the semantic method. In addition, the translation strategies used in the movie subtitles are literal, reduction, modulation, idiomatic and transposition. There are some mistranslations among them are the typographical errors which introduced in the movie transcript. However, there is a successful rendering of some cultural dimensions. In the light of the analysis, some suggested translations are made and finally some recommendations are provided.