TRANSLATION OF HUMOUR IN SUBTITLES OF PERSONIFICATION-BASED ANIMATION FROM ENGLISH INTO PERSIAN
MOZHGAN GHASSEMIAZGHANDI
UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA
2019
TRANSLATION OF HUMOUR IN SUBTITLES OF PERSONIFICATION-BASED ANIMATION FROM ENGLISH INTO PERSIAN
by
MOZHGAN GHASSEMIAZGHANDI
Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
March 2019
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, I would like to thank God, the compassionate the merciful, for giving me the strength, and inner peace to have made everything possible in this work.
I wish to express my immense gratitude and thanks to my supervisor,
Professor. Dr. Tengku Sepora Tengku Mahadi for her valuable guidance, motivation, patience, and constant support throughout the completion of this research. I always admire her insight, which has always helped me to achieve my aims. She encouraged me to not only grow as a researcher but also as an instructor and an independent thinker.
I owe my most profound gratitude to my family, especially my beloved parents for their constant love, endless encouragement, and support. Thanks to both for supporting me emotionally and financially to study in Malaysia and follow my dreams.
I wouldn't be who I am and where I am today without their overwhelming love, affection, and blessing. My brothers and sisters deserve my wholehearted thanks as well. And last but not least, I would like to express appreciation to my Maneli who spent sleepless nights with me and was always there.
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT………………………….....……….…....…………….….ii TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………….…..………………………..iii
LIST OF TABLES………………………...…………...………………………….…vi
LIST OF FIGURES……………………...…………………...……………………..vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS………………………………..…………...………….ix
TRANSLITERATION SCHEME OF THE PERSIAN LANGUAGE………...……..x
ABSTRAK…………………...……………………………………..…………….…xii
ABSTRACT……………………..…….………………………………..……….... xiii
CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction...... 1
1.2 General Overview of Audiovisual Translation……………………….....………..1
1.3 Statement of the Problem…………………………….………………………...…6
1.4 Objectives of the Study………………………………………………………..….9
1.5 Research Questions……………………………………...…………………….….9
1.6 Significance of the Study………………………………...…………..……….....10
1.7 Limitation of the Study………………………………………………...…..……15
1.8 Definition of Key Terms….…………………………………………...………...16
1.9 Outlines and Organization of the Study……………………………...……….....20
CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction……………………………………...……..…………….…….……22
2.2 Cultural Consideration in Animation……………………………………………22
2.3 Filmic Signs and Subtitling……………………………...………………………25
2.4 Audiovisual Translation and Subtitling…………………………………………29
iii
2.5 The Constraints of Subtitling………………………...………………………….35
2.6 The Characteristics of Film Subtitling………………………...………………...43
2.7 Translation Strategies in Subtitling…………………...………………………....46
2.7.1 Subtitling Strategies in General…………………..……………..…………....46
2.7.2 Subtitling Extralinguistic Culture References………………..………..………49
2.7.3 Subtitling Humour……………...……………………...…………………….56
2.8 Translation Units………………………………...…………………...………….65
2.9 The Concept of Adaptation……..………………….....…………………………67
2.10 The Concept of Transferring Strategies……………………………..…………68
2.11 Schmitz’s (2002) Categories of Humor………………………………..……….71
2.12 Gottlieb's (1992) Classification of Subtitling………………………………..…73
2.13 Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis………………………………………………………..73
CHAPTER 3 - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction……………………………………………...…………....…………79
3.2 Design of the Study……………………………………………………………...80
3.3 Source Language and Source Animation...…………………………………...…82
3.4 The Target language and Target Audience………………………………...……84
3.5 Data Selected for Analysis…………………………………...……….…………87
3.6 Theoretical Framework………………………………...………………………..92
3.7 Procedures of the Study………………………………………….……….……..94
CHAPTER 4 - PERSONIFICATION-BASED ANIMATION
4.1 Introduction………………………………………...……....…………..…...…..96
4.2 Definition of Animation…………………………………………………….…..96
4.3 Animal in Animation……………………………………………………..…..…98
4.4 Summary………………………………………….……………………………106
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CHAPTER 5 - SUBTITLING HUMOUR
5.1 Introduction……………………………………………...………………………109
5.2 Universal Humors…………………...…………………...………………………109
5.3 Cultural Humours…………………..……………………………………………123
5.4 Linguistic Humours…………………..………………………….………………141
5.5 Summary…………………………………………………...…………………...153
CHAPTER 6 - TRANSLATION STRATEGIES
6.1 Introduction………………………………………….…………………………160
6.2 Expansion………………………………….……...……………………………161
6.3 Paraphrase……………………………………………...………….……...……167
6.4 Transfer………………………………………………...... ………….…………169
6.5 Imitation………………………………………………..…………….…...……171
6.6 Transcription……………………………………………...……………………174
6.7 Dislocation……………………………..……………...... ……………………176
6.8 Condensation……………………………………………..……………………178
6.9 Decimation………………………………………………...... …………………180
6.10 Deletion…………………………………………………...... ………………182
6.11 Resignation………………………………………………...…………………183
6.12 Summary…………………………………………………...…………………185
CHAPTER 7 - CONCLUSIONS
7.1 Introduction……………………...……………………….……………………193
7.2 Finding of the Study……………………………………….…………..………194
7.3 Suggestions for Further Research…………………………………...…………200
REFERENCES…………………...…………...………………..…………………202
APPENDICES
v
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 2.1 Gottlieb’s Interlingual Subtitling Strategies 47
Table 2.2 Extralinguistic Culture-bound Problems Types 51
Table 3.1 The Number of Words in English and Persian scripts 88
Table 3.2 List of the English Animation 91
Table 3.3 List of the Persian Animation 92
Table 5.1 Distribution of Jokes in Each Animation 155
Table 5.2 Overall Distribution of Jokes 157
Table 5.3 Distribution of Translation Strategies in Humour 158
Table 6.1 Distribution of Translation Strategies in Each Animation 185
Table 6.2 Overall Distribution of Translation Strategies 190
Table 7.1 Result of the Study 198
vi
LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 3.1 Theoretical Framework of the Study 81
Figure 3.2 Research Design 93
vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AVT Audio Visual Translation
BT Back Translation
CR Culture-bound Reference
ECR Extralinguistic Cultural References
EF Education First
EFL English as a Foreign Language
EPI English Proficiency Index
L2 Second Language
SC Source Culture
SDH Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing
SL Source Language
ST Source Text
TC Target Culture
TL Target Language
TT Target Text
viii
TRANSLITERATION SCHEME OF THE PERSIAN LANGUAGE
This study has adopted the transliteration system approved by Deutsches
Institut für Normung (DIN). The six vowels and 23 consonants of Persian are written using a modified version of the Arabic alphabet with four extra Persian letters to represent sounds which do not exist in Arabic.
Name Name in Persian script DIN 31635 * ʾ همزه hamzeh 0 â الف ʾalef 1 b بِ be 2 p پِ pe 3 t تِ te 4 s̱ ثِ s̱ e 5 j جیم jim 6 č چِ che 7 ḥe ḥ حِ 8 (ḥā-ye ḥotti, ḥā-ye jimi) kh خِ khe 9 d دال dâl 10 ẕ ذال ẕâl 11 r رِ re 12 z زِ ze 13 ž ژِ že 14 s سین sin 15 š شین šin 16 ṣ صاد ṣäd 17 dz ضاد dzâd 18 ts طی،ِطا (tsâ, tsoy (in Dari 19 ẓ ظی،ِظا (ẓâ, ẓoy (in Dari 20 ʿ عین ʿayn 21 ġ غین ġayn 22 f فِ fe 23 q̈ قاف q̈ âf 24 k کاف kâf 25 g گاف gâf 26 l الم lâm 27 m میم mim 28 n نون nun 29 v / ū / ow /
(w / aw / ō in Dari) واو vâv 30
ix
he h هِ -hā-ye havvaz, hā-ye do) 31 češm) y / ī / á / (ay / ē in یِ ye 32 Dari)
* DIN 31635 is a Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN) standard for the
transliteration of the Persian alphabet adopted in 1982.
x
TERJEMAHAN UNSUR JENAKA DALAM PENYARIKATAAN ANIMASI
BERUNSUR PERSONIFIKASI DARI BAHASA INGGERIS KE BAHASA
PARSI
ABSTRAK
Terjemahan audiovisual, terutamanya penyarikataan menarik perhatian ramai ahli cendikiawan. Walau bagaimanapun, terjemahan penyarikataan kepada
Bahasa Parsi adalah amat sedikit. Kajian ini adalah bertujuan untuk mengkaji bagaimana unsur-unsur jenaka penyarikataan diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Persi dan sejauh mana terjemahan langsung telah dipraktikkan. Kajian ini turtut memberi tumpuan ke atas penyarikataan animasi berunsurkan personifikasi khususnya ke atas tiga unsur jenaka – universal, budaya dan linguistik- dari pengkategorian jenaka Schmitz (2002). Definasi strategi pemindahan yang digunakan adalah berdasarkan Gottlieb (1992). Analisa telah dijalankan berdasarkan hipotesis Sapir-
Whorf sebagai teori asas rangka kerja kajian ini. Enam belas animasi telah dijadikan korpus kajian ini. Hasil kajian menunjukkan terjemahan langsung adalah merupakan strategi lazim yang digunakan. Penggunaannya menunjukkan bahawa terjemahan turut dibantu oleh kesederhanaan bahasa sumber dan elemen bukan lisan animasi.
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TRANSLATION OF HUMOUR IN SUBTITLES OF
PERSONIFICATION-BASED ANIMATION FROM ENGLISH INTO
PERSIAN
ABSTRACT
Audiovisual translation, especially subtitling, attracts the attention of many scholars. However, the translation of Persian subtitles is scarce. The present study attempts to investigate the translation of humour in subtitles into Persian and determine the extent direct translation strategies are utilized. The study focuses on personification-based animation subtitles and primarily on three types of humour - universal, cultural and linguistic- from Schmitz's (2002) categorization of humour. The definition of transferring strategies here is adopted from Gottlieb (1992). The analysis is conducted in the light of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis as the underlying theoretical framework of the study. Sixteen animation form the corpus of the study. The result indicates that direct translation strategies are prevalent strategies. Such usage suggests that the translation is aided by the simplicity of the source language and the non-verbal elements of the animation.
xii CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
This chapter provides an introduction in which the problem under study is introduced.
It starts with a general overview of the audiovisual translation audiovisual translation and its implication on translation and statement of the problem in the translation of subtitled animation. Objectives and significance of the study, statement of the problems, research questions are presented as well. It also includes the formation and explanation of the present study. Limitations of the research and delimitation of essential terms are given at the end of chapter one as well.
1.2 General Overview of Audiovisual Translation
The increasing significance of Audiovisual Translation (AVT) is self-evident with the growth of multimedia technology and rapid globalization. One of the primary ways of connecting with foreign languages and cultures is audiovisual products. Traditional translated products such as books have been replaced with universal audiovisual products.
AVT is the most-proliferated translation activity nowadays due to the number of people who can access it and the large number of translated products that are distributed globally
(Díaz Cintas, 2004).
Díaz Cintas and Remael identify the limit on subtitling as a system of translation where the text is often written on the bottom of the movie screen (Díaz Cintas & Remael,
2007). Further, the subtitling is trying to achieve the transfer of the original conversations
1 made on movies and digressing from every subject specifically on elements of the image.
These consist of placards, inserts, and letters that are used for such cases. Additionally, subtitling also illustrates original information in regard to the soundtrack of voices and songs (Díaz Cintas & Remael, 2007). Ivarsson and Carroll use the term “display” to represents a written text, which is used for a picture during the recording process of a film
(Ivarsson & Carroll,1998). The term “Caption” is also used to indicate any form of narrations and the titles referred to as title cards or added time after shooting a film from the studios (Ivarsson & Carroll,1998). The verbal and nonverbal components in the production of movies are treated differently by translators because they display different audiovisual products in films. Besides, the subtitles as pieces of text written in the movie entail simultaneous audiovisual elements. Notably, the subtitles could also be conferred vertically from the right of the screen in some languages reminiscent of Korean and Japanese. In Persian, subtitles are displayed in a horizontal form which takes place from right to the left of the screen.
The process of subtitling in a movie began in 1907 when it was presented in the silent movie form by College Chums, and the actors could speak behind the screen projected in the film (Ivarsson, 2004, 2009). Another work of the earliest attempt in subtitling is Murnau’s Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (It can be watched on YouTube at goo.gl/wpZghb) in 1927 (Hillman, 2012). By early 20th century, the production of silent movies was predominant, and the application of intertitles began to be the criteria indicating the dialogue of characters with vivid images along (Díaz Cintas & Remael,
2007). The term intertitles refer to a given piece of text, which is issued and comes into view between scenes (Díaz Cintas & Remael, 2007). Intertitles could be used as a
2 mechanism of art for communicating functions and spelling effect. Intertitles were infrequently put between two scenes, which included short phrases and statements that were seen on the black background. Intertitles were interrupted the flow of the images because it was a complete framework that was displayed. The simultaneous interpretation of the intertitles by the storyteller was another way of translating the film and transferring it to the target viewers (Ivarsson, 2009). The nature of the intertitles and the subtitles are entirely different. The intertitles help the viewer to spend less time processing a lot of information, such as a visual picture, a subtitle, soundtrack information that runs simultaneously on the scene. Also, the translation process of intertitles is not complicated because it does not meet the textual and technical constraints, while it serves as a means of transmitting speech, and is also a tool for better interpretation of the movie for those who are not able to hear.
Nonetheless, the use of intertitles as an aid to convey the linguistic information began to fade away with the generation of the sound film, which was a synchronized dialogue through the production of The Jazz Singer released in 1927. Specifically, this created a challenge that affected the film industry in America, the essence of this was to focus on capturing a broader audience which was Non- English speakers (Tveit, 2004).
For instance, the challenges arise due to the difference in cultural diversity to plot for a specific audience and considering the costs and satisfactory level of the customers. Due to a large number of non-English speaking audiences that has been growing at an ever- increasing pace, film production companies have experienced various ways to overcome language barriers, including subtitles, dubbing, using multiple versions with different production, casting in different versions, polyglot actors performing in multiple versions
3 and different languages in a movie (Betz, 2009). Despite the current renaissance (Tveit,
2004), the production of several versions fails because it was unable to meet the cultural differences of target viewers in standardized plots, the results were not satisfactory concerning the quality of being real and high cost. After Hollywood, France and Germany ended the production of multilingual versions of a movie in 1933 (Betz, 2009). Therefore, only two methods subtitling, and dubbing remained for the transference of language.
With the increasing demand for the transference of films in different languages,
France was pioneering in both methods of the translation of the film, dubbing, and subtitling in Europe. The introduction of the subtitled The Jazz Singer film in Paris in
1929 was successful (Tveit, 2004). However, French audiences have been disappointed with the subtitles over time, and the dubbing has become more popular. Countries like
Germany, Spain, and Italy preferred dubbing as the primary method of translation.
Countries like Germany, Spain, and Italy preferred dubbing as the primary method of translation. On the other hand, the Scandinavian countries chose a different way when they saw that the cost of the dubbing is much more expensive than the subtitling, and the number of trained dubbing actors is inadequate (Tveit, 2004).
Subtitling seems not to be accepted in the United States as American viewers do not want to read the movies. The reason American viewers are reluctant to read a film as a subtitle is their long-standing national narcissism. Rich announces that Americans see their culture and language as the primary, which consign the other languages as the secondary ones (Rich, 2004). With the development of new technologies and the spread of television, DVDs and online videos worldwide, subtitling became more critical. These new technologies simplified the subtitling method, with the capacity to make up to 32
4 subtitles tracks. Today, people can create their own subtitles with their personal computer and an appropriate software program that is available for free on the Internet (Cintas,
2009). By circulation of online audiovisual products, the subtitle became commonplace.
Given that subtitle production technology has been eased over the years, subtitling is not the privilege of the film production companies. All of these factors contribute to increasing perceptibility of subtitling.
Iran, for the following reasons, has adopted dubbing to subtitling as the primary method of translating non-Persian films and television programs. Most Iranians have low proficiency in English and other foreign languages, especially poor speaking and listening skills. The subtitles disturb the viewing of the image and distract attention from focusing on the movie. However, in recent years, due to globalization and the impact of American culture on Iranian society, the dubbing of American films has not been a popular success.
The preference and acceptability of the subtitling are not solely for economic reasons, but because of the enjoyment of authenticity and the combination of art, to hear the real voice of the actors and the scene and environment of the film, which gives the viewer an authentic and real sense of the film. Therefore, Iranian viewers are accustomed to reading subtitles and rely heavily on it. The subtitles allow the viewer to enjoy watching the real movie and to refer to subtitles in cases where they need help in understanding the film.
Compared to the traditional methods of translation and interpretation, subtitling in
Iran is relatively a new form of language, and scholars in the field of translation and interpretation have recently begun studying and researching this new linguistic mediation and technology. Finding the lack of sufficient studies in Persian subtitles requires a
5 comprehensive descriptive study, and this study is intended to examine and further explore the Persian subtitles comprehensively.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
The increasing development of digital technology has led to an increase in attention to
Audiovisual Translation, and its types include subtitling, dubbing, and voice-overing, but most of the research done in this field centres on the European scene (Gambier, 2008).
The language pairs studied are English vs. Spanish, Italian, German and Scandinavian languages; the cultures involved are closely related and the languages all belong to the same alphabetical writing system, wherein “writing is done by means of sound symbols organized in alphabets” (“Alphabet” in Concise Oxford Companion to the English
Language, 1998). However, the Persian culture and language are very different from the
English culture and language, and the writing systems are different. Furthermore, Iranian are less familiar with English culture than Europeans. The average standard of English comprehension among the Iranian audience is also far lower than that among the European audience. A cultural reference in an animation may be familiar to the European audience but not to the Persian viewers, and thus a direct transfer may not be applicable for the
Iranian audience. All these issues will make the subtitling situation different, as the target audience’s knowledge of SC and the cultural relatedness between the SL society and the
TL society are believed to be the major factors affecting a translator’s decision- making
(Kovačič, 1996, p. 300; Lorenzo et al., 2003, p. 289).
The subtitling is applied more than any other method in the adaptation of animation.
Animation must be compatible with the language and culture of the target audience to
6 achieve a satisfactory result, which means that cultural issues, especially elements of humour, must be reflected in the cultural concept of the target audience. This descriptive, comparative study is intended to analyze the transferring strategies that are employed in the translation of elements of humour in the Persian subtitled version of the 16 animation and to determine their percentage. This study focuses on interlingual subtitling that involves translation of verbal aspects of original audiovisual products in the target language. The subtitling must, in addition to the linguistic issues, consider the non- linguistic aspects of the communication, along with the limits and the amount of effort required to process the movie by the target viewers.
Subtitling differs from the traditional concept of translation from the written text of the source language (SL) to the written version of the target language (TL). The verbal and non-verbal information is converted from audiovisual products to the text screen with time and space limitations. A considerable amount of scholar’s researches has been focused on the prevalence of the translated audiovisual products. Moreover, many researchers have started to address the various difficulties in the translation process and the impact of AVT on target culture. Most of the language pairs in these studies are relatively close together. Considering the fact that studies in Persian subtitles are not sufficient and the fact that Persian language and Iranian culture are very different from
English language and culture, this study is conducted with the aim of studying the methods of transferring Persian subtitles of elements of humour in English-language animation.
Iran has preferred the dubbing method as the primary method of translating foreign language films and television programs. The preference of dubbing in Iran rather than subtitling is due to low level of proficiency of foreign languages and, in particular, the
7 poor skills of speaking and listening among the Iranians. Another reason why the subtitles are not favorite method is to distract the viewer's attention. The dubbing preference is mainly due to cultural, social, and political factors, as the Iranian government has always had a solid control and defensive guard against the impact of the West and foreign cultures. In dubbing, the government has more control over filtering, modifying, or revising the information that it wants to provide. However, with the growing passion for learning English over the past years, some TV channels in Iran show Persian subtitles, which are relatively few. Unlike most English or European viewers, the Iranian viewers are not disturbed or distracted with subtitles in a movie as they rely heavily on these subtitles. Although a large number of subtitles have been produced, the subtitle in Iran, except in some articles and case studies, seldom has been studied. Most of the researches are the master-level thesis and case studies, and in practice, there have not been any specific or comprehensive studies in this field.
The purpose of this study is to examine the subtitling of the elements of humour and to evaluate the verbal factors which are constrained by the limited time and space on the screen. Subtitling of elements of humour in personification-based animation and how subtitling constraint influence a subtitler's decision in choosing an appropriate translation are worth questioning; this study aimed achieve these objectives.
8 1.4 Objectives of the Study
The objectives of this study are as follows:
1. To determine the strategies used to translate elements of humour in English
personification-based animation are translated into Persian.
2. To determine the extent of direct translation strategies as opposed to other strategies
in the subtitling of animation.
1.5 Research Questions
So, this research is looking for answers to the following questions.
1. What strategies are utilized in translating elements of humour into Persian in
subtitles of personification-based animation?
2. To what extent are direct translation strategies used in the subtitling of animation?
Question (1) is about the transferring strategies of elements of humour in Persian subtitles of animation. Gottlieb's classification of subtitling strategies is used in determining the transferring strategy applied by subtitlers. Although statistical data such as frequency and percentages have been presented using SPSS, and the results have been compared with the similar researches, the primary purpose of the study is to examine these transferring strategies and how elements of humour have been accommodated in Persian animation.
9 Question (2) is concerning the extent of the direct translation, or "transfer" according to Gottlieb's classification. Direct translation is used as an umbrella term covering the translation strategies that are ST-oriented.
1.6 Significance of the Study
Translation of cultural differences is even more difficult when a movie has to convey the interesting parts such as humour that includes a broad collection of cultural and linguistic expressions. Therefore, the subtitlers have to handle numerous comical phrases, wordplay, allusions, irony, or metaphors, which make a subtitling job more complicated because some items are not simply translatable.
Most of the researches in Audiovisual Translation focused on the European scene, despite the growing attention on AVT research (Gambier, 2008). English,
Spanish, Italian and German people are sharing almost the same culture. These language pairs all also belong to the same alphabetic writing system. The language and culture of the Iranian people are very different from the English language and culture, and the Persian writing system is different from English. English is written from left to right, while Persian is written from right to left, that is an essential factor in subtitling considering the constraints of the screen. Persian alphabet is similar to
.([ɡ] گ ʒ], and] ژ ,[tʃ͡] چ ,[p] پ) Arabic script with four additional letters
Possible challenges and constraints between two languages with a different system of writing are very different from those of the two languages with the same writing system. There is a significant gap between cultural and linguistic differences between English and Persian. Transferring strategies between English and European
10 languages are not necessarily applicable to translations between English and Persian.
Copy-pasting English words into the Persian subtitle rarely appear in subtitles movies and TV programs. Although the new generation has started to use more English words in their everyday conversations, most Iranian viewers do not accept the appearance of
English words in Persian subtitles. Many of the viewers are not familiar with English words, so they will not be able to understand these words if appear on the screen. The fleeting nature of subtitles requires the simple Persian translation to be understandable for all viewers. Moreover, English proper names are usually copied directly into a language like Spanish subtitles that is impossible in Persian subtitles. Pronunciation problem is another aspect of Persian subtitles of English alphabetical names. Culture- related elements and humour should be handled separately as Persian has less similarity to English culture than Europeans. The English first (EF) English
Proficiency Index (EPI), the world’s largest ranging of countries with English skills calculated the difference between 72 countries and territories by adult English proficiency in 2017. EF EPI proficiency bands help researchers to identify countries with similar skill levels and to draw a comparison between and within regions. Based on this index, compared to other countries, Scandinavia is among the first five countries and under the category of "very high proficiency," and most European countries are classified under "moderate proficiency" to "high proficiency" category.
(See Appendix A). Iran’s rank is 65 (46.60 score) under the category of very low proficiency that is considerably lower than the European countries ("EF, English
Proficiency Index (EF EPI)," 2017). The direct transfer of the original movie may not be applicable for Persian as the cultural references are less familiar to the Persian audience. However, it is difficult to determine how well either source or target
11 audiences are familiar with explicit references. Translator hesitates between being faithful to ST (foreignization) and offering acceptable translation for the target audience (domestication) (Lorenzo, Pereira, & Xoubanova, 2003). Knowledge of the target audience of the SC and cultural closeness of two language societies may impel subtitler to choose a specific translation strategy (Kovačič, 1996).
Another significance of the present study is that systematic descriptive research concerning Persian subtitles has not been done, only a few papers and case studies have been published so far; therefore, there is undoubtedly a need for such research.
The researcher does not claim that the subtitling of audiovisual products has never been seriously studied before, but it is apparent that not many translation scholars, professional subtitlers or movie experts have considered a comprehensive study.
Delabastita highlights that translation in mass communication has been completely ignored. He emphases the urgent need for further research to develop descriptive capabilities in audiovisual products and provide structured formative questions and hypotheses that should direct any future research (Delabastita, 1989), which continues the tripartite model (competence, norm, performance) by Toury
(Toury, 1980). Cintas also argues that descriptive approach is an ideal platform for film and TV translation as it gives a real account, not the abstract, nature of the translation that has taken place (Cintas, 2004). He further emphasized the significance of descriptive research, stated that descriptive translation studies should show a panoramic position of the translation phenomenon. The systematic and detailed organization of what really happens in the subtitling world is a necessary condition for examining both norms that regulate the profession as well as those that determine the
12 behavior of the translator. He also encourages conducting collaborative research that analyzes the broad corpora and provides the substantial results (Cintas, 2004).
Comprehensive descriptive research in audiovisual translation is widely encouraged by translation scholars. Pedersen states that one problem that confronts the discipline and regulations of audiovisual translation research is that there are many case studies, for example, only one film has been investigated and analyzed. Although small-scale studies and case studies are useful in “introducing and testing methodologies” and can be applied to “illustrate some points of translation theory and can, in a small way, add to the general descriptive knowledge of the discipline and provide tentative generalizations to be tested again on other material”, it is hard to draw comprehensive conclusions from these studies (Pedersen, 2011).
Most of AVT researches into Persian are in the form of short articles and case studies, and the majority of analyses focuses on dubbing which is the primary method of AVT in Iran. Investigations in this area include difficulties in interlingual subtitling
(Vazifehkhah, 2017), subtitling strategies in translation of humour (Hassanvandi,
Ilani, & Kazemi, 2016), translation of allusions (Salehi, 2013), humour translation in
Persian subtitled comedy movies: Lizard cause study (Sadeghpour & Omar, 2015), and revisiting the humour translation, the case of Woody Allen (Kianbakht, 2015) amongst others, are clear examples. Since there is not much research in this specific field, it may be accompanied by generalization, introspection, and bias, as can be observed most of the translation strategies by these authors, are based on their personal experience and subjective opinions.
13 Translation studies is a new field in Iran, many studies in this field focus on the impact of subtitling on language learning of Iranian EFL learners. Studies in this field like the impact of bimodal, Persian and no-subtitle movies on vocabulary learning
(Naghizadeh & Darabi, 2016), effects of English and Persian subtitles on oral fluency and accuracy of Iranian Learners (Hashemi & Pourgharib, 2015), (Ayand & Shafiee,
2016) and study of standard and reversed subtitling (Fazilatfar, Ghorbani, &
Samavarchi, 2011) are apparent examples.
Subtitling of English animation that often has many culture-related and language-related factors and expressions that includes conversation and a high degree of wordplays, repetition, pun, irony and other features of humour requires high cultural and linguistic knowledge to be able to understand the meaning of jokes. This descriptive study examines subtitle translation techniques in Iran, and many of the results of the discussion can be further studied and tested in other genres to provide a complete picture of the national subtitling guideline. Furthermore, many examples have been presented in the research to explain the transferring strategies employed by the subtitler and to understand the international, cultural, and linguistic issues related to the language, which can be used as a practice of translation and recognition of
Persian translation challenges for students and translators.
Since such research does not exist in the Persian subtitle field, the necessity and importance of this research are entirely justified. The researcher hopes that this study will provide a new direction for the subtitling guide and translation practice in the real world and add value to translation studies.
14 1.7 Limitation of the Study
This study examines the elements of humour in subtitling from English to Persian. The primary concern of this research is the interlingual subtitle, which is the translation of the original spoken or written text in audiovisual products into the text form of the target text that is added to the main product images and displayed at the bottom of the screen
(Karamitroglou, 1988). Therefore, the non-verbal elements and visual factors have not been investigated in selected data of the study. The required English data for the study is extracted from 16 animation which include:
All Creatures Big and Small, Barnyard, Finding Dory, Hoodwinked, Horton Hears a
Who, Ice Age: Collision Course, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar
3: Europe’s Most Wanted, Norm of the North, Ratatouille, Sing, The Angry Birds, The
Secret Life of Pets, Trolls, and Valiant.
The primary reason for choosing these animation among the wide range available of English animation is the use of animals instead of humans as their main characters which also brought about a kind of laughter for the viewers. Hence, the present study has mainly focused on personification animation, which means only one genre is evaluated.
The researcher watches the English and Persian subtitled versions of the 16 animation to identify the elements of humour. The researcher should point out that these discussions, the categorization of humour and the methods of translation all are based on the understanding and perception of the researcher, and how these jokes are presented in the language of origin.
15 These assessments will surely be subjective because different people take jokes differently, relating to their individual, social, and cultural and linguistic conditions. The
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis as the underlying theoretical framework of the research is presented to explain that the way people understand and their views on issues is related to their cultural and linguistic background. This hypothesis is discussed in detail in chapter
2. In selected jokes, the most dominant one which is mainly focused on the translation of the elements of humour is considered as the translation strategy used in the TT, but there may be more than one translation strategies in each TU.
The study is a descriptive analysis of personification-based animation based on
Schmitz’s categories of humour and transferring strategies used by subtitler based on
Gottlieb's classification of subtitling strategies, in the light of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis as the underlying theoretical framework.
1.8 Definition of Key Terms
1.8.1 Animation
Animation or animated film is an active medium in which images or objects are manipulated to appear as moving images.
1.8.2 Condensation
The condensation is one of Gottlieb's translation strategies for subtitling film which is applied in this study. Condensation is a typical strategy in which the text is shortened in a way that the original text retains its original meaning (Gottlieb, 1992).
16 1.8.3 Cultural Humour
Cultural humour or culture-related joke relates to the cultural background of individuals, which has been integrated into the culture of origin, the listener must be familiar with the language of the original to understand it (Schmitz, 2002).
1.8.4 Decimation
The decimation is one of Gottlieb's translation strategies for subtitling film which is applied in this study. Decimation is more extreme than the condensation. In decimation the text may be shortened due to the high speed of the speech of the source language, in this way some important and essential elements may have been eliminated (Gottlieb,
1992).
1.8.5 Deletion
The deletion is one of Gottlieb's translation strategies for subtitling film which is applied in this study. In this strategy, part of the text is completely deleted (Gottlieb, 1992).
1.8.6 Dislocation
The dislocation is one of Gottlieb's translation strategies for subtitling film which is applied in this study. This strategy is used when the original language uses some special effects in the film, such as a stupid song, in which the translation of this effect is more important than text and content (Gottlieb, 1992).
17 1.8.7 Expansion
The expansion is one of Gottlieb's translation strategies for subtitling film which is applied in this study. The expansion is when the original text is incomprehensible due to cultural differences in the target language and needs further explanation and interpretation
(Gottlieb, 1992).
1.8.8 Imitation
The imitation is one of Gottlieb's translation strategies for subtitling film which is applied in this study. Imitation preserves the original language form, this method is particularly applicable to the names of individuals and places (Gottlieb, 1992).
1.8.9 Linguistic Humour
Linguistic humour or the language-related joke is based on specific features of phonology, morphology or syntax in the original language, and the listener should be familiar with the source language to understand this type of humour (Schmitz, 2002).
1.8.10 Paraphrase
The paraphrase is one of Gottlieb's translation strategies for subtitling film which is applied in this study. This strategy is used when the original language structure cannot be preserved in a syntactic way in the target language and the translator have to restructure the phrase or sentence (Gottlieb, 1992).
18 1.8.11 Personification-based Animation
Personification-based animation is an animation in which most characters are animals that act and behave like humans.
1.8.12 Resignation
The resignation is one of Gottlieb's translation strategies for subtitling film which is applied in this study. When the translator finds no solution or strategy for translation, and meaning is inevitably lost, this translation strategy is called resignation (Gottlieb, 1992).
1.8.13 Subtitling
Subtitling is defined as a system of translation where the text is often written on the bottom of the screen (Díaz Cintas & Remael, 2007).
1.8.14 Transcription
The transcription is one of Gottlieb's translation strategies for subtitling film which is applied in this study. This strategy is used when a word or phrase is not even meaningful in the original language, for example, a third language or meaningless language is used in the original language (Gottlieb, 1992).
1.8.15 Transfer
The transfer is one of Gottlieb's translation strategies for subtitling film which is applied in this study. Transfer is the strategy in which the original text is fully and accurately translated (Gottlieb, 1992).
19 1.8.16 Translation Unit
Translation unit is a term used to indicate the linguistic level at which source text is recodified in the target language (Shuttleworth & Cowie, 1997, p. 192). Barkhudarov states that TU is the smallest language unit in the ST that corresponds to an equivalent in the TT, these potential units are morphemes, words, phrase, sentences and whole text
(Barkhudarov, 1993, p. 40).
1.8.17 Universal Humour
Universal humour point to humour that generally derives from the content and overall performance of the world, in other words, anyone with any culture and language can laugh at it (Schmitz, 2002).
1.9 Outline and Organization of the Study
This study will be organized into seven chapters as followings:
Chapter one includes an introduction, research objective and research questions, the significance of the study, and justification of the problem under investigation. A brief history of Audiovisual Translation has been presented as well.
Chapter two is the literature review on interlingual subtitling and translational strategies. Types of subtitling and AVT research and various constraints of subtitling such as technical, textual will be discussed. Empirical studies of particular translational issues between English and European languages will be reviewed in this chapter as well.
20 Chapter three gives some information about the collected data, cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the source and target audience. The procedures of data collection and analyses are introduced. Questions and hypotheses of the study are examined.
The discussion of the Persian subtitles of the elements of humorous will be presented in 3 chapters with tables and figures. Animation, animal characters in animation and personification-based animation are introduced in chapter four. The types of humour are reviewed in Chapter five, and examples of each are discussed comparatively. Types of translation strategies in the subtitle are analyzed in chapter six, and in this chapter, samples of each are analyzed as comparisons as well.
Chapter seven is summary, discussions, and conclusions of the study. Some results based on the findings of the study will be presented as well.
21 CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
This chapter presents the translation of the audiovisual products and the translation of subtitling. Translation constraints including time and place limitations are discussed, and then the translation strategies in the subtitling in general, the translation of cultural elements and the translation of humour are discussed.
2.2 Cultural Consideration in Animation
Culture, like many other concepts is difficult to define. However, different scholars and authors have attempted to define the term from numerous points of view. In his attempt,
Spencer-Oatey compiled different definitions of culture and did a critical review of the term, its ideas and its manifestations (Spencer-Oatey, 2012). Culture includes traditional tools, that is, everything from the physical layout, the mode of dressing and greeting of a people, the way a place smells and feels as well as its emotional intensity down to company filing system, products, ideologies, and annual reports (Schein, 1990). Culture
‘is a manifestation of basic ideas and customs, civilizations, values, approaches, measures and principles of human behavior that are collectively employed by a particular group of people (Spencer-Oatey, 2008).
According to Hofstede (1991), the term culture is used to refer to the attribute of the individual’s mind to collectively arrange in a manner which makes the individuals of one society appear different from another society (Hofstede, 1991). Matsumoto on the
22 other hand believes that culture is the combination of values, beliefs attitudes, values and actions shared by a certain society. However, these attributes may not always be the same for each of the people in that society as they change with generations (Matsumoto, 1996).
Nida equally thought of it as ‘the collective beliefs and traditions practices of a country’
(Nida, 1964). According to Vermeer, culture is the ‘variety of behavioral patterns and actions, which each and every member of the society is expected to understand even if they vary from one society to another (Vermeer, 1987).
Hofstede is of the opinion that, people have diverse levels of the mind’s encoding associated with the various categorization of culture. They are as follows; A state- based level (based on a person’s native country); Ethnic, Religious, Regional, and
Tribal affiliation and Linguistic; level of gender; A Generational level; A category of
Role, for instance, teacher, daughter, parent, student; A Social Class level, connected with a person’s education, their profession or occupation; and for the employed, an institutional level (Hofstede, 1991).
For a long time, many people have presupposed that translation only concerns language, but they failed to consider the cultural aspect. There are many instances where while proposing definitions for translation, authors have focused only on language and textual concepts without considering culture. These instances are examined in the following sentences; Catford states that translation involves giving priority to corresponding textual material from the language in question instead of that from the source natives (Catford, 1965). To Nida and Taber the process of translation involves reconstructing the closest natural match of the base language in the intended language, while maintaining the style and intended meaning (Albert & Taber, 1982).
23 There are many translation studies carried out in regard to culture and various strategies of directly transferring into the intended culture. The cultural framework should be exhibited in the marked culture as major features that every nation should have. Also, just as translation happens between two languages, it occurs in two cultures (Toury, 1978). Thus, to get proper cultural equivalents, there is a need to invest a great effort. Nida notes that the translation of disparities in cultural practices between two nations may be more vulnerable to uncertainty than the translation of the many distinctions in the organization of the two languages (Nida, 1964). For an effective translation of cultural differences, it is important to understand the practices and standards of the destination countries. Dollerup (1974) reinforced that it is very important to examine history of the languages, the social as well as cultural differences between them (Dollerup, 1974). To reveal the nature of the film in animation movies with subtitles for target language audience, Nida (Nida, 1964) applied Newmark’s equivalence of culture and functionalism (Newmark, 2001). Cultural Equivalence is defined as the act of replacing the cultural concept from the source language while
Functional Equivalence is defined as the act of adopting and spreading cultural words in their original form. Functional equivalence aids the translation process to successfully accomplish SL goals. However, it also tends to give cultural phrases more meaning to the intended language.
Most humorous expressions are cultural-specific, this calls for translator to carry out an investigation into the mindset of both language audiences. Chiaro recommends that this humour should be shared with persons who have a common history and therefore understand the ways the occurrence can be described. Chiaro further states
24 that there are ‘specific perceptions and memories, from which all the jokes that are constructed suddenly result (Chiaro, 2008). What qualifies as humourous is largely dependent on the social and cultural background, because what one culture or language finds funny might be an insult in another. This difference poses a major challenge to translation. Brower mentioned that for a translator to successfully translate from one language to another, he must fully understand the cultural context of the founding language and that of the intended language (Brower, 1966). So, in addition to knowing both languages, knowledge of the cultural norms of the two countries is necessary for successful translation.
While an animation should be entertaining, it should reflect cultural elements as well. To achieve this, a translator has to address different funny expressions, allusions, wordplay, irony, as well as idiosyncratic metaphors. Humour includes different linguistic and cultural expressions in which some items are relatively impossible to translate.
2.3 Filmic Signs and Subtitling
When it comes to creating subtitles for films, one must acknowledge the ‘multi-semiotic’ feature of the ST which is film text. Since 1971, experts in translation have been unable to place film-text within any straight text-types of translation. Reiss classified film texts as either audio-medial text (Reiss, 1971) or a multi-media (Reiss & Vermeer, 1984) where several forms of communication operate concurrently. Titford concedes the interaction between illustration and mastery of a language, and points out a challenge, which the medium poses; that is, the subtitles must correspond to the pictures displayed on the screen
(Titford, 1982). Delabastita denotes that filmmakers use channels of communication that
25 mostly involve visual and acoustic forms (Delabatista, 1989, 1990). The idea of illustration and audio strategies is covered in the use of both the visual and acoustic
(audiovisual). In mass communication, audio and visual channels are the means through which messages are sent. To include the basics of written and non-written codes of the language, Delabastita discerns four different types of film symbols. They are as follows:
1. Visual channel
a) Verbal symbols: e.g. letters illustrated on the screen.
b) Non-verbal signs: e.g. costume, make-up and gestures.
2. Audio communication
a) Verbal signs: e.g. dialogues.
b) Non-verbal signs: e.g. background music and sound effects.
Verbal and non-verbal data play an important role in conveying messages in audiovisual communication. Chaume urges translators to know the kind of text they are dealing with and goes on to provide practical examples and guidelines on how to include unwritten elements in the written TT (Chaume, 1997). Pettit examined the interplay connecting picture and words in audiovisual and their transformation, he noticed that subtitle engineers regulate the normal dialogue to get an enhanced harmony linking the visual data and the subtitles (Pettit, 2004). The interplay of different signs is glaring, and it has an effect on the way the translation is achieved. According to research on Film
Studies, film concepts comprises of suggestive codes, which pass on meaning through audiovisual channels (Chaume, 2004; Delabatista, 1989).
26 The codes mostly used in the films include kinetic codes, make-up policy, verbal policy, literary policy, photographic policy, phonemics policy, musical and sound-effect policy, etc. In audiovisual communication, phonemics codes emphasize on the space between characters and the distance between the characters and the camera like close-ups and mid shots. To construct a consistent content, which is the result of teamwork amid numerous filmic secret language filmmakers utilize these codes. The level of interaction between the elements and the subtitles is largely reliant on the person in charge of the task.
However, issues challenging filmic secret codes and translation practice have been examined repeatedly in various studies (Díaz-Cintas & Remael, 2007; Ivarsson & Carroll,
1998; Tveit, 2004).
Kress and Van Leeuwen came up with a "multimodality" framework that is closely related to texts used in film (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996). Multimodal form of texts is those in which their ideas are perceived through different semiotic policies (Kress & van
Leeuwen, 1996). Multimodal form of conveying messages means multiple modes association is used to describe phrases. Chuang sees subtitling as multimodal translation where every semiotic mode works simultaneously to produce a holistic representation of the communication (Chuang, 2006). These semiotic forms include the oral, unspoken modes as well as the mode of music, moving images, and sound effects. It is expected that while translating, translators use these signs and adjust the subtitles into the assortment of the film.
The central task of translators is to either produce an objective task, which is not present in the channel of communication, but illustrated in the pictures, or choose to neglect information which is portrayed in other semiotic modes forms (Chuang, 2006).
27 Thus, the correspondent TT and ST association is neither one-to-one, oral, neither unspoken nor from spoken to in print. The process of translation is many in that in the translating process, the sense convey through a specific source channel may not be acknowledged in the same way or may be understood in many other ways. Chuang demonstrates the many-to-many multimodal association in subtitling task. The single modified element is usually verbal information. Because of the possibility of losing, gaining or realizing some meanings in a different mode, the general arrangement of the original version will have several differences from that of the ST, thus, in the figure, the
ST and the TT are obtainable through various ways. The idea of multimodal translation of texts is widely appreciated among several translation scholars. Over the years, there have been lots of studies conducted in regard to the relationship of the various forms and how they influence the process of translation (Baumgarten, 2008; Chuang, 2006; Oittinen,
2008). Despite these efforts put in the research of translation practice, there is no specific findings about the relationship between audiovisual information and how the two are related to the process of interaction (Gambier, 2006). However, researchers still recognize the relationship that exists between the audiovisual elements, but the prevailing idea of studies appears to be constrained by the linguistic elements (Gambier, 2006).
Irrespective of the differences in labelling the multiple signs in audiovisual communication they affect the translation process. In fact, there is an increase in studies into film dialogue – its relation to other filmic languages and how it is determined in translation (Baumgarten, 2008; Oittinen, 2008; Taylor, 1999, 2000). While the existence of some these basics has its advantages to translation but it also poses a challenge to it. In
28 the same vein, illustrated information and sound special effects act as a foil for verbal information but they also pose challenges for translation.
It is vital to note that images, non-verbal information may not have a universal meaning. To be specific, most body signs and facial languages have different meanings in different cultures. Usually, translators ignore non-linguistic information, which the target audience find unfamiliar and focus on translating linguistic information. However, it is important to maintain coherence between subtitles and filmic signs to establish the best pieces of art. Now, in most cases, translators may have original film’s copy, especially when they are translating for films on DVDs. Mostly, the decision of the translators to transform the original conversation and to make use of these elements occurs naturally. In subtitling research, including these elements in the analysis is essential, it is also important to observe how such elements may determine the decisions of a translator.
2.4 Audiovisual Translation and Subtitling
Usually, subtitling is associated with certain headings like, “screen translation”, “film translation,” “multimedia translation” and, “Audiovisual Translation”. With the evolution of public language transfer and communication, several attempts have been made to establish a subject in which the ST consists of numerous the visual channels and audio forms of information. These attempts have resulted in the existence of various terminologies. Before Television and Videos became popular, one of such terminologies was “Film translation.” Subsequently, other terminologies were adopted in an attempt to cover the many unveiling opportunities in a language transfer like this one. Then came
29 “Screen translation” in place of translating various types of products conveyed via a screen like television screens, computer screens and cinemas.
Presently, “AVT” is the most generally accepted term for this subject of study.
The term embraces the numerous translation modes used for various kinds of message conveying programs where conveyance of ST occurs through audio and/or visual methods. AVT comprise translation for TV, radio, videos, subtitling for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH), subtitling for theatre performance, and explanation of audio for those who are blind or partially impaired vision which has been developed recently. Moreover,
“multimedia translation” was recently advanced to accommodate computer games translation, CD-ROMs, web pages and other information technology-related products.
Many authors have acknowledged the use of concepts and uncertainties associated with this type of translation (Díaz Cintas, 2003; Gambier, 2003; Gambier & Gottlieb, 2001;
Orero, 2004). However, irrespective of the doubts and uncertainties, the translation of film subtitles falls within the mutual interaction between all of these topics.
AVT have grown in relevance and mass knowledge because of popularity and advancement of audiovisual devices including as satellite TV, movies and DVDs with the context of globalization. Now, people see AVT as a legally accepted translation form that demands due investigations. Prior to this age, this form of translation was seen more as form of adjustment than translation because short-term and spatial constraints were forced on it, which occasionally drew minimal scholarly attention. However, with the advent of computers, Internet, other new advancements and advances in the mass media, new generational translation practice has been adjusted from one-way channel into multi communication real life situations (Gerzymisch-Arbogast, 2005).
30 To accommodate new realities and challenges, the concept of translation has been made more accommodating and comprehensive (Díaz Cintas, 2008). When it comes to translation, any form of transferring strategy of an ST unit to a TT, AVT is certainly a translation form that is worthy of scholarly investigation. As a result, Audiovisual
Translation has developed as a sphere of research work in its own right and been quickly formalized, with an increase in the conferences, investigations and academic-based training programs focus on the subject (Cintas, 2009; Gambier, 2008). Irrespective of its increased recognition, AVT is still a rather new but highly recognized discipline. Its major challenge is that it lacks a developed theory of its own, so it requires serious intervention and dedication from other subjects, like film research and semiotics and communication study, to understand better, the interaction between language and non-verbal audiovisual symbols. There is a continuous emergence of new advancements and new methods of producing AVT.
Technology keeps advancing and with it comes the growing demand to meet the needs of different viewers; consequently, there is constant expansion in strategies that focus audiovisual language transfer, known as the AVT. There are different approaches that can be applied in various types of programs/ events, like, voice-over for news programs, interpretation for live interviews, narration or commentary for documentaries or children’s programs, and subtitling for any indoor performance. In making a tentative typology for AVT, Gambier focused on language transfer and distinguished ten types of
AVT (Gambier, 1994b). These are subtitling, simultaneous (real time) subtitling and dubbing, interpretation, deduction, narration technique, interpretation, revoicing, and subtitling. Among those listed, techniques such as narration, voice-over and commentary
31 are assumed to fall under the category of revoicing ranging from those involving particularly strict methodological and language-based limitations to quite liberated expression” (Gambier, 1994a).
Almost ten years later, Gambier attempted again, to accommodate various forms of activities involved in AVT (Gambier, 2003). In addition, the transfer amid several forms in a singular type of language, and the transfer that occur across cultures are equally considered. He also concluded that there were two main groups namely the dominant group and challenging group. The dominant group is the well-developed one, comprising the ten imaginative kinds especially multilingual spreading, but this does not include subtitling and subtitling in real-time (Gambier, 2003). However, the challenging group frequently comprises of the new types that need further enhancement at all times.
Hernandez Bartolomé and Mendiluce Cabrera provide seventeen types of the AVT with an inclusion of those that cannot be seen or had earlier been deleted (Hernández
Bartolomé & Mendiluce Cabrera, 2005). With time, new methods of AVT are coming into existence. Therefore, there are several doubts and uncertainties among researchers on the subject of the overall number of AVT types and how they are effectively classified.
However, the argument mostly arises from the definition of the term AVT techniques.
(Hernández Bartolomé & Mendiluce Cabrera, 2005).
After over eight decades of practice, dubbing and subtitling are still the main approaches to film translation across languages (Schwarz, 2012). In film translation,
Dubbing involves using the translated dialogue to replace the original dialogue in the TT.
Also, a dubbing actor’s voice is used to replace the original actor’s voice and the former
32 is in line with the main actor’s movement of the lips during dialogues. Dubbing has its own constraints, for instance, different types of synchrony, but it does not share the various short-term and spatial limitations involved in subtitling, and they both use the same structure for language. Schwarz classifies synchrony into five types, all closely related (Schwarz, 2012). They are, Lip Synchrony, this deals frequently with the phonetic uniformity between the movement of the person’s lip and the actual words coming out of his mouth. This often involves using target-culture (TC) tools to replace source-culture
(SC) items. However, Subtitling, is more or less of a foreign translation type where the original remains intact but the written text backs it up in the Target Language closely affiliated to the original (Schwarz, 2012).
As is the case with AVT, more strategies of subtitling and types of subtitling have emerged over time to meet the technological advancement and the needs of a larger audience. From a language-based approach, subtitling comprises intralingual ones, bilingual subtitling and interlingual subtitling (Hernández Bartolomé & Mendiluce
Cabrera, 2005). The first one is frequently applied for those with hearing impairments, educational objectives, and translating in cases of variation in language. Then there is the
Interlingual subtitling which is always applied for foreign-language speakers at large with no regards to deafness. We also have the bilingual subtitling which is evident in situations where there are two languages involved. For example, using both French and Flemish subtitles in presenting a film in Belgium, or in cases where Malay and Chinese subtitles are present at the same time for English language movies shown in Malaysian TVs.
It is necessary to appreciate the work of the subtitling conferences and be considerate of the kind of information included in the subtitles taking into consideration
33 that there is a difference in those who have normal hearing sense and those with an impairment. SDH comprise an account of unwritten information on the film’s soundtrack and will apply the use of different colors of the text to show differences in the speakers.
Hernández Bartolomé and Mendiluce Cabrera analyze the difference between SDH and intralingual subtitling. An emphasis is put on the fact that the latter is aimed at the slow language learners and sometimes also at persons with slight hearing disabilities
(Hernández Bartolomé & Mendiluce Cabrera, 2005). Neves also tries to explain the challenge of providing the same interlingual subtitle for the normal hearers and those with hearing impairments, and reemphasizes the effectiveness of interlingual SDH (Neves,
2009). There are basically five methods of projecting subtitling namely photochemical, electronic, thermal, optical and laser (Ivarsson & Carroll, 1998). The first three are obsolete while the last two are presently in use. For films aired in Cinemas, Laser subtitling is used; the subtitles are inscribed onto the film so that they are constituent in the movie print. Electronic-based subtitling comes to play for DVD and TV transmission.
Unlike Laser subtitles, the electronic subtitles are not part of the audiovisual product, so it is possible to revise and modify them (the subtitles).
The films can be conveyed through five basic techniques, namely, DVD, television, cinema, video and the Internet. These techniques are very important because the choice adopted the media affects the way subtitlers carry out translation. For instance, the time period taken to display the film and the limit for the total number of characters required for single subtitle sometimes vary from one channel of communication to another simply because of the differences in the number of audience and popularity. Díaz Cintas and Remael provide more classifications of subtitling (Cintas & Remael, 2007). For the
34 purpose of this study, the focus will be centered on DVD subtitled animation. Therefore, the study will analyze subtitles from the perspective of different languages through electronics prepared at an earlier time in comparison to subtitling that are done live and are usually placed centrally below the screen.
2.5 The Constraints of Subtitling
During translation, film translators have to deal with a number of constraints. They include textual, formal, linguistic, semiotic and iconic and the socio-cultural constraints.
Translation of multilingual films is especially a major challenge among the subtitlers due to the presence of other languages. When translating such films, it is important for those in charge to note that they need a translation strategy. The approach ought to be one that represents the language diversity of the people. The decision to apply a specific strategy may be dependent on the type of constraint. With or without constraints, there is no specific trend that needs to be generally observed in translation. For example, the constraint of visual information limits a film to comprise up to 20 % of graphical representations (Reiss, 1971).
The general practice of subtitling is aimed ensuring target audience feels appreciated through being readable and eligible. There are several guidelines for film production and the layout of the screen that focus on ensuring the subtitling task is of high standard. Most of the constraints are placed on the layout, duration, punctuation marks and text editing. However, all these constraints aim at adopting clear guidelines that would cater for the needs of both the viewers and audiovisual target group.
35 According to Gottlieb, subtitling has several features such as the synchronous, written, fleeting and poly-semiotic text type (Gottlieb, 1992b; Gottlieb, 1997). It is distinguished from other AVT types in that while they are oral, it is written. Subtitling is said to be additive; to be specific, it is a form of spoken elements is added to the original conversation while the other parts of the conversation still remain the same. It is also synchronous because the presentation of the imaginative work and translation is instantaneous. In fleeting, this is where the subtitle is presented in a manner that is continuous and the viewer has no form of control. Although some of these skilled professionals make us feel controlled by allowing us to pause DVDs and online videos, it is usually not deliberate. Subtitling is also said to be poly-semiotic since the original version always has several symbols. Interlingual subtitling does not merely evolve around the other languages transferring between each other, it also involves a change of different modes of communication. A challenge is posed when the unspoken information is conveyed to the intended audience. It can also involve a shift among the moving pictures, special unique music elements and choice of soundtrack to the written form.
The unique features of an additive and synchronous subtitle leave very little room for translators to perform their ‘magic’. Subtitles aim at ensuring they create a link between the visual and audio information so that the viewer is not left with any form of doubts. This ‘feedback’ stage is more successful when the process is related to particular translation challenges like puns. The ‘fleeting’ feature makes some strategies such as the insertion of explanatory notes quite difficult. Moreover, the time period provided to address such problems may be so limited. (Gottlieb, 1992a; Gottlieb, 1997). For the
36 purpose of this study, the following will discuss the various types of constraints associated with subtitling.
Gottlieb presents two major forms of constraints namely textual (qualitative) and formal (quantitative) (Gottlieb, 1992a). Formal restrictions or quantitative restrictions or
“technical constraints” are basically the space and time determinants (Guardini, 1998;
Linde, 1995). The screen size limits the number of characters in a row, in most case; the maximum is two lines. The display time for a subtitle is also limited, and greater attention is paid to the speaking speed of the actor than the average reading speed of the viewers.
The rules guiding the space factor depend on the language in use. For languages that are dependent on the alphabetic inscription method, the screen area gives a limit of 35-40 characters per line, which are 70 to 80 characters in a two-line subtitle. Where the language uses a writing system known as logographic, there is a constraint that only allows for characters in the range of about 11-15 in every line or if two lines, 26 characters (Chuang,
2006; Hu, 2008; Wang, 2006).
Despite the high maximum limit put on the characters, subtitlers are constrained because the time allocated for displaying the content is may not be enough to accommodate so very many words. When it comes to distribution of the texts or choice of display technique, it may also vary depending on the screen size or resolution. The cinema screen has quite a huge advantage due to its size than enables it display very many characters in a single line as compared to the TV screen (Chuang, 2006; Tveit, 2004).
Hypothetically, the amount of space provided for a subtitle that needs two lines is adequate enough to change challenging statements to more understandable forms using just 65
37 characters required for and average sentence. (Tveit, 2004). However, it is usually quite challenging to accommodate very long descriptive notes.
Ideally, the maximum time for displaying a subtitle is usually less than 2 to 6 seconds (Gottlieb, 1992a; Luyken & Herbst, 1991). Very little research is done into how the overall time period for a subtitle affects the audiences’ ability to understand the complex content. Questions exist whether the person putting up the subtitles should come up with those that are fuller and comprehensively accurate translation of the ST to the target audience or put in more effort towards creating a brief and comprehensive version.
The findings from this research have not been fully accepted by others because usually, the experiments conducted for the study only focus on the findings of one particular language or the audience of a specific nationality. Various sources have been exploited to come up with the 6 second proposal. For instance, Hanson’s (1974) Swedish study discovered in a view that spends average time on TV, they require a maximum of approximately 6 seconds to quickly go through a subtitle of two lines that contains approximately not more than 70 characters (Gottlieb, 1992a).
D’Ydewalle, van Rensbergen & Pollet (1987) carried out a study on eye movements and reading subtitles in Belgium and found that the audience tend to read the subtitle over and over again once the displaying last 6 seconds or more (Luyken & Herbst,
1991). Numerous professionals have also concluded on findings related to the average reading speed of a normal human, the display time required as well as how many characters can fit on screen (Díaz-Cintas & Remael, 2007; Karamitroglou, 1998; Tveit,
2004). Fong argued that it required about less than 5 seconds for a viewer to go through a
Chinese subtitle. He also confirms that for a ‘normal’ viewer, the typical reading speed in
38 a minute is approximately 150 to 180 characters. Therefore, a displaying time that is appropriate for an appropriate subtitle of less than 20 Chinese characters is approximately less than 6 seconds (Fong & Au, 2009). This means that any subtitles going beyond 15 characters, and more are said not to be of standards, because it is quite obvious that the individual’s reading time will extend so much past the normally expected time.
The genre of the film affects the reading speed of the viewer, so do the complicatedness of the information contained in the film, the activities displayed on the screen and desires the audience has in the subject matter (Gottlieb, 1992a; Linde, 1995).
Based on literature, most viewers go through these subtitles at a rate that is higher than the actor’s tempo (Gottlieb, 1992a). Translating all pronounced words, however, remains difficult especially as viewers also have the interest to view the corresponding images while reading subtitles. Furthermore, using lengthy notes is not advised. Nevertheless, with technological advancements and the increase in viewers’ average reading speed, the constraints are reduced. Today, people are often exposed to media and technology in text format; this has greatly improved the ability to read text messages. In addition, new technology makes it possible to pause a film; this means that one can put more information in the audiovisual product. For future generations, adopting footnotes that have a link button will be seen as much more accommodating. Subtitling is gradually dominating other forms of language transfer; this is a pointer towards more potential soon.
Textual (qualitative) challenges occurs where there are image and subtitles interactions, or in cases where audio details need synchronization with subtitles (De Linde
& Kay, 1999; Gottlieb, 1992a). The way in which the subtitle is positioned and cued should be done appropriately to match up the structure of the image and also the
39 assortment of the movie. The Structure of the words should be a perfect reflection of key concepts, style and tempo of the speech. Because of the simultaneous presentation of the subtitles and the original, the former intrude the picture such that they engage the dialogue and promote responses labelled as feedbacks. While these have their advantages for translation, it presents some disadvantage too. Usually, a film text represents the successful coordination between the paralinguistic data, unique sound effects, pictures and the camera movement. However, the existence of these elements has quite challenging consequences to the translators as they now get to work under various constraints.
Sometimes, the images displayed on the screen or the sound track played at the background represents humour or a joke, but the problem is that the subtitle does not show any of this. Therefore, feedback is very important when trying to evaluate the intended audience’s thoughts on the SL (De Linde & Kay, 1999).
The switch from spoken dialogue to written subtitles poses another textual constraint (Linde, 1995). Just like the other constraints in subtitling, the switch appears to have quite a number of challenges that come along with it. Usually, written channels of communication have high possibilities of facing risks (De Linde & Kay, 1999). Therefore, it has become a strategy for almost all translators to avoid some of these elements especially those that are more frequent in oral language as compared to the written form.
However, to address this challenge, film makers are coming up with dialogues that have the appropriate meaning for the intended audience. Unlike in any unplanned form of speech, everything uttered in such film dialogues have a meaningful function and therefore cannot be overlooked (Díaz-Cintas & Remael, 2007; Taylor, 2000). These constraints cause confusion for translators about whether or not to translate these
40 elements. This is not all as more difficulties arise when it comes to reproducing phonetic.
In cases such as these, other filmic symbols are very helpful, for example, the viewer can most likely catch the tone simply by listening to the actor’s voice, observing his body language and being keen about his facial expressions. Translation advocates for more flexible measures because the existence of various methodological and textual limitations in subtitling task often call for the translator’s efforts to formulate alternative options or more appropriate suggestions.
Another AVT constraint is censorship. In Mass media communication, it is common to remove and alter any morally offensive, risky or politically hazardous information. In cases where the censorship is forced upon on those in charge of the subtitling task may seriously need to think about doing away with the less effective elements. Some of the probable reasons for existence of the censorship include developed politics structures, morality and religion. The reasons vary, from governments (especially dictatorships) not wanting their citizens to know how other culture think, to taboos, politically sensitive elements or information forbidden by religion or other strong language. Any of this reason need to be removed or adjusted. There are also cases where distribution companies ask translators to edit biased language that may promote violence so that the film will be appropriate for all the viewers especially the younger generation hence increasing the total number of audience Scandura discussed the “self-censorship", which is believed to be the practical situations where as a choice, translators try to ensure that their audience is protected from any form of inappropriate information (Scandura,
2004). So far, no research has addressed any issue of censorship in Iran.
41 Pre-existent translation may also be a constraint where a translator is not in full support of the content. This is one thing that has been quite common especially during the time when Harry Porter’s movie was released before the novel from which the film was based on was officially published. Usually, uniformity between the subtitled version of the movie and the translated version of the book concerning the names of characters, areas of interest and other special terms that the novel exploits. In subtitling movies, there is transcription of English names to Persian. If no standard version of transcribing a name is established, different target versions may be produced because there are many ways to transcribe a name. The consistency of some of the names used in various target versions was not always much of a problem in the subtitling task between languages dependent on
Latin alphabetical system.
As a result, ST names are occasionally directly transferred to the TT. Such always happens even when the film in question is another version of a different TV program, for example the Get Smart and Simpsons. The company itself may always sometimes ask the assistance of the initial translator of the TV program in subtitling of the film. Moreover, it is not something new for one movie to have different subtitlers depending on which versions it takes for example both the cinema or DVD versions may not use the same format of subtitling. However, any of the versions that are published after the original version is usually required to obey the rules provided by the earlier version in terms of the choice names and specific terms. These rules appear to be even tougher especially if the previous version was very popular among the people. This particular moderation is frequently applied for AVT even though it hardly occurs in translation of written works.
42 The extra- and intra-linguistic constraints of subtitling are not so grave as to make subtitling difficult or frustrating. The insidious character of some common subtitled programs and their worldwide popularity are proof of this, most people are often engrossed by the awesome suggestions being displayed on the screen. Translators should to be very conversant with media related terms (Oittinen, 2008). It is also quite necessary that the same translators understand the various limitations applicable in subtitling so that they can be resourceful enough.
2.6 The Characteristics of Film Subtitling
Subtitles usually face text reduction because they often face technical constraints.,
Gottlieb, in his examination of the use of idioms in subtitling, discovered that text reduction was merely a subtitling strategy used even in the novels (Gottlieb, 1997). After a thorough analysis of both the copied and the subtitled versions of some specific English movies, Schroter also discovered that the subtitled versions mostly display approximately only 65.7% of the original texts as compared to the dubbed version which only conveyed
96.6 % of the total volume (Schröter, 2003). De Linde & Kay show that reduction in phrase number was at about 43% for subtitling labelled as intralingual (De Linde & Kay,
1999). The rate of the reduction varies from subtitle to another and is highly dependent on the communication medium in question, the language, the nature of the film, and the choice of the film’s translator. However, they occasionally follow the usual trend that
1 allows about /3 reduction. This data matches that which is provided by the Independent
Television Commission’s suggestion for subtitling of generally all the adult films (ITC,
1997). The intended target viewers are assumed to have a particular knowledge and growing interest some specific topics and contents found in the film, this is probably what
43 should guide the translator in their choices (Gambier, 2008). Moreover, written language is more condensed so transfer from spoken to unspoken form will cause the reduction.
According to Gottlieb the nature of subtitling is not the only factor that calls for compression, other linguistic are determinants are at work: inter-semiotic and intra- semiotic joblessness (Gottlieb, 1994, 2005). Inter-semiotic redundancy recommends that the presence of some of the symbols used in filming basically allows the audience to enhance their knowledge. Intra-semiotic redundancy refers to redundancy that occurs in the course of transferring oral words to writing. Redundancy in inter-semiotic aims at improving the condensation strategy of translation. Naturally, written language is more packed together in intra-semiotic idleness and contains a higher rate of lexical firmness as compared to spoken communication.
Usually, subtitlers conduct text reduction in ST units by mostly omitting the inappropriate fundamentals in the understanding of the message (Díaz-Cintas & Remael,
2007). Again, reduction does not mean semantic or qualitative loss. (Wang, 2006).
Though, it is quite clear that the various concepts and the briefness in wording are often related. Reduction is a strategy that usually leads promotes briefness so that even though they are all linked together, it does not necessarily mean they are completely equal.
Seguinot used the term “explicitation” to explain the additions applied when it comes to translation between two languages (Séguinot, 1988), that can barely be differentiated in terms of their structures, stylistic devices, or rhetorical nature (Perego, 2003).
Another common feature of subtitling is having the basic oral feature and high rates of literacy articulated in a uniform nature (Luque, 2003), as compared to the active
44 and exciting elements found in original version of the spoken conversation. Assis Rosa observes that mostly there is a preference for the Standard Portuguese (TT)] in the morphological display, syntactical and phonetic distinctiveness of non-standard Cockney
(ST) (Assis Rosa, 2001). Díaz Cintas & Remael concluded that a deprivation or the intensity of the ST styling measures can blame on the fact that there are very few associating words, modifiers and some other interpersonal elements. (Cintas & Remael,
2007).
In subtitling, basics of the referential purpose are highly preferred while elements of interpersonal function in most cases concealed (Assis Rosa, 2001; Kovačič, 1998b).
From the findings of Hatim and Mason, it was discovered that the pragmatics of interpersonal mode is occasionally ignored (Hatim & Mason, 1997). Chaume and
Mattsson also noticed that those who make up a dialogue, are frequently ignored in subtitling (Chaume, 2004; Mattsson, 2006). These basics only function with the aim of creating certain relationships between the characters even though their informative value is not so very important. (Díaz-Cintas & Remael, 2007). (Díaz-Cintas & Remael, 2007;
Mattsson, 2006; Taivalkoski-Shilov, 2008). In most cases also, sexually provocative elements are often translated directly from one language to the other, so they rarely get to lose their message.
There is a need to investigate how translators handle the different constraints they face in subtitling. Since most existing researches on subtitling are done in European languages, most researchers dedicate efforts in on subtitling of these European languages.
The researcher presents findings of an in-depth investigation carried out on Persian subtitles as the primary objective of this project in chapter 4.
45 2.7 Translation Strategies in Subtitling
In discussing translation strategy, some strategy-associated confusions when it comes to terminologies at the macro and micro level may occur (Gambier, 2008). Academicians define translation strategy in various ways such as exoticism, foreignization, domestication or naturalization with some opting to settle for neutralization, expansion, paraphrase, omission, borrowing, and reduction (Ramiere, 2006). The causes of these differences have been attributed to variations in the depth of analysis. In the first one, the focus is on the entire text while the second one concerns itself with on smaller sections.
There are those who see the second strategy as techniques (Fawcett, 1997) or procedure (Ramiere, 2006). Therefore, this analysis focuses on the methods that scholars use for ST rendering instead of those that they apply to the entire text including classification of domestication and foreignization in a binary approach. In this section, the use of four phrases, “technique," “method,” “strategy," and “solution” will be for preserving how they are used in the referenced materials. However, since descriptive studies see the use of the term “strategy” as a more appropriate one, the researcher will exploit its use for this work.
2.7.1 Subtitling Strategies in General
Gottlieb’s ten strategies (Gottlieb, 1992a) pioneered the efforts for strategies generalization when it comes to subtitling, and this remains the foundation of other works
(Lomheim, 1999; Schwarz, 2002; Taylor, 2000). The strategies illustrated below are a product of Gottlieb’s (1992, p.166) subtitling classification. The figure presented covers the various forms of strategies used in in subtitling together with associated features.
46 Table 2.1 Gottlieb’s Interlingual Subtitling Strategies
Strategy Type Translation Character (1) Expansion Adequate rendering, expanded expression -References that are culture-specific- (2) Paraphrase Sufficient content, distorted illustration -language-specific items that are non-visualized (3) Transfer sufficient rendering and complete expression, -Speech that is both unmarked and slow (4) Imitation Similar phrases, corresponding rendering - common salutations and proper nouns- (5) Transcription Expression that are atypical, adequate rendering - premeditated defects in speech defects- (6) Dislocation Tweaked content, Contradictory expression, -Items that are language specific and visualized- (7) Condensation succinct rendering, Summed expression -Presence of vagueness in mid-tempo speech - (8) Decimation abridged content or incomplete expression, - lowly vague speech, fast speech, - (9) Deletion Missing verbal content, missing expression - high redundancy in fast speech - (10) Resignation content inaccuracy, Nonstandard expression -’untranslatable’ speech which is implausible -
Based on Gottlieb (1992), from (1) - (7), one is familiarized with the equivalence of original segments translations. Type (7) has been recognized as the subtitling prototype, and most of the critics remain unaware of distinguishing semantic reduction with quantitative reduction, which comprise the number of words. However, other than decimation, condensation shows that it is the subtitles that disseminates the intended
47 meaning and a bulk of the original stylistic content. Despite this, some implied losses such as features of redundant oral language occur when there is involvement of spontaneous speech such as in interviews. Planned discourses such as news, drama, and documentaries are different since most of the subtitling’s formal challenges associated with reduction can be created automatically especially because this translation is diagonal in nature. If cases of constraints in either stylistic or semantic content occurs during subtitling, that is the (8) and (9) types. Drastic cuts are characteristics of these strategies. However, the message can still be conveyed through the version translated aided by audiovisual tracks’ positive feedbacks. One major variation between types (5) - (9) and (10) is that while we presume the former to manifest more frequently in subtitling compared to printed translation, the latter occurs in all verbal transmission types. In subtitling, the presence of such a strategy is precipitated by challenges in transferring some idioms and other elements that are culture or language specific by the translator because of negative feedback emerging from non-verbal tack.
Gottlieb studied how these strategies are distributed in a film named Young
Frankenstein’s Danish subtitles, which was English based (Gottlieb, 1992a). His findings showed that strategies presented a distinctive frequency as follows: paraphrase (14.5%), transfer (44.9%), and condensation (12.9%). Significant part of the original segments, up to 16% was found to suffer from semantic or stylistic information losses led by decimation adoption at (8.1%), which is followed by deletion at (7.4%) and finally resignation at
(0.5%). While applying a categorization with similar elements, Sandrelli undertook an analysis of the strategies distribution of Caro, an Italian film’s English subtitles (Sandrelli,
1997) and the results were that found that transfer (66%), topped as most used strategy
48 and condensation followed with (17%). The results registered a meagre 9% decline in deletion, decimation, and resignation of the category (Sandrelli, 1997). In another study by Hartama focusing on English film Disclosure’s Finnish subtitles, the results were that the transfer recorded 50.8%, paraphrase 20.1% and condensation 12.9% (Hartama, 1996).
The percentage of semantic information loss stood at 11.7%. All these cases focused on three different languages, and 50% or more of ST translation to TT was direct. In fact, the results are beyond expectations because condensation in all three studies accounts to less than 15% which is contrary to projections. Both researchers Gottlieb and Taylor states that other filming signs compensates the missing elements. Despite this, they agree that there is a need for setting definitive group boundaries such as paraphrase versus condensation and definitions in particular categories such as dislocation, paraphrase, and transcription to do away with vagueness (Hartama, 1996). Unfortunately, the majority of these are trenchant, with only a few cases being problematic (Hartama, 1996). From this, one can reasonably infer state that this analysis technique has logical objectivity and that it has proved its value as a future framework for studies. It shows that analysis a comprehensive body has a higher likelihood of giving results that are both refined and reliable. It offers practicality in highlighting progressive developments since then as the subtitles reviewed above occurred over a decade ago.
2.7.2 Subtitling Extralinguistic Culture References
Items that are Culture-specific what scholars term as “Extralinguistic Culture-bound
References (ECRs)” are components separable from a language which are specified by particular aspects of a country such as history, culture, the society or even geography
(Díaz-Cintas & Remael, 2007; Nedergaard-Larsen, 1993; J. Pedersen, 2007, 2008). Even
49 if they have knowledge of the language, the audience may be unaware of the terms with cultural affiliation. For example, few Americans may be familiar with Wayne Swan or what Anzac Day represents. Even with the aspect of ‘extralinguism,’ that does not translate to ‘intralinguism’ difficulties with a cultural association such as idioms, proverbs, slang and dialects among others. ECR avails details of the character, sets the storyline or certain scene’s background, or creates ambience. A Juilliard School graduate is an indication that their performing arts talent is impressive. Occurrences that are historically linked or social movement may arouse connotations in the social, cultural or political realms. A brand of choice will remind viewer of anything linked to it. Any translation may witness Extralinguistic culture-bound problems but in subtitling, they pose a greater challenge due to challenges that are space and time linked, followed by projected image and soundtrack feedback. Cases of ignoring or altering these elements, may lead to a conflict with the events of the original film. Their culture-bound nature makes it highly unlikely to identify terms with similar meaning in other languages. Today, there is global awareness of culture-bound entities and concepts; also, cultural exchange and globalization make it possible for countries to share related policies. As a result of this development, some culture-bound items (like religion, education, political systems and so on) are no longer culture-specific. Pedersen shows a distinction between monocultural ECRs and transcultural ECRs and points out that the former poses difficulties in translation and require the translator to intervene (J. Pedersen, 2007).
Further, Pedersen replaces the word “culture-bound” with “cultural” for ECRs (J.
Pedersen, 2011), as the latter is less restrictive. To accommodate this new development, this study will use "cultural differences." In addition to this, the researcher will discuss different ECRs types as well as strategies for translation in order to be acquainted with
50 them as various scholars posit. The following tabulation represents the ECRs topological summary Nedergaard-Larsen:
Table 2.2 Extralinguistic Culture-bound Problems Types
Types of problems defined as Extralinguistic culture-bound Geography Biology Flora and fauna, climate, weather, Meteorology Mountains, and rivers Geography
Culturized geography Locality, cities, streets, and roads History Structures Shrines, fortresses, Occasions Conflicts, national holidays People Historically renowned individuals Society Economy Supply of energy, trades. (industrialization) Social groupings Policing systems, Judiciary, regional authorities. Politics Management of the state. Political affiliations, governance systems. Social conditions Subcultures, sub-groups, social problems. Practices and customs Dietary practices, living conditions, fashions, infrastructure and transports. Culture Religion Clergys, rituals, religious sites/buildings, morals, religious holidays, saints Education Examination systems, education institution/system, teachers, Media Radio, TV, magazines, and newspapers, Cultural activities and Artifacts, Museums, theatres, literature, leisure actors, authors, hotels, nightclubs, cafes
51 Pedersen provides two broad categories of culture related terms: references that are extralinguistic and intralinguistic culture-bound. While the first group is concerned with the expressions associated with cultural elements, which are not really components of the language system, the second one consists of proverbs, slang, idioms, and dialects,
(Jan Pedersen, 2005). Pedersen further proposes ERCs’ typology subtitling strategies, together with approximately seven major types, and respective subtypes, which have emerged as time unfolds (Pedersen, 2011).
1. Retention: It is the most common SL strategy. It allows some SL parts into the TT ones.
The items that are bound by the culture are represented by the italics of the quotes. There are two categories in this method. They include target language adjusts and the compete type.
2. Specification: basically, this shows how the terms that is bound by the culture is transmitted into the form that is untranslated but including information that are absent in the ST. The result is clarifying of the term that is culture bound through specifications unlike the source one. There are two ways of performing specification, namely Addition or Explicitation. a) Explicitation: This is the text expansion or spelling out of ST implied items. b) Addition: Here, the part that is related is bounded in the term that is bound by source
culture as connotations. The translator must furnish the audience with additional
information.
52 3. Direct translation: It can be defined just as literal translation and could be used interchangeably. However, this one is often applied in interpretation of the companies, formal organizations, and technical gadgetry. It comprises of two subgroups distinguished by the product of translation. Calque is the first one, and due to challenges in audience targeting, it often appears unusual for many. Removed direct translation is the other one which passes as TC’s standard term. As a result, it is the most familiar ones in the eyes of the audience.
1. Generalization: This amount to switching a particular term that is culture bound with another one that is simply general.
2. Substitution: Source culture bound term is eliminated and substituted by some paraphrase or a different name independent of any cultural item. It is a technique comprised of two subtypes, that is, paraphrase and cultural substitution. a) Cultural substitution: Here, a different cultural term is used to replace the source culture specific item. b) Paraphrase: It involves framing of the source-culture specific item in two ways. Either though a sense reduction of removing the cultural term completely and replacing it by paraphrasing contextually.
3. Omission: This is a definite strategy of translation characterized by replacement of ST
ECR with nothing (G. Toury, 1995).
Vandeweghe highlights three references types, inclusive if: ethnographic, geographical, and socio-political ones (Vandeweghe, 2005). The historical one according
53 to Nedergaard-Larsen can be represented by those three. Moreover, the two other references by Vanderweghe’s also cover the culture and society categorizations by
Nedergaard-Larsen (Díaz-Cintas & Remael, 2007).
Oltra Ripoll creates a thorough nine category taxonomy (Oltra Ripoll, 2005), which includes “(1) nature; (2) leisure, feasts and traditions; (3) artificial products; (4) religion and mythology; (5) geography; (6) politics and economy; (7) history; (8) art and literature; and (9) science.” Research has revealed the unavoidable difficulties in coming up with a ECRs classification that is comprehensive and inclusive of all life aspects. In fact, discerning where each item falls within the categories is difficult, explaining the numerous categorization attempts.
Nedergaard-Larsen comes up with a simplistic approach of understanding eight strategies together with about six of the primary types and about four subtypes. This approach sought to embrace and include ECRs when it came to subtitling (Nedergaard-
Larsen, 1993). These changes are explained as shown:
(1) Transfer/Loan a. Identity: The experts directly duplicates into the TT the borrowed or imported item TT.
This is what they call non-translation, similar to how professional titles and place names are handled. b. Imitation: calque or what is termed as (loan translation) or TL adapted direct transfer
(in this case, SL item is missing in the TL).
54 (2) Direct translation: it is translation in a verbatim form, especially for SL and TL’s common elements.
(3) Explicitation: It is proper definition of any foreign item’s perspectives which directly relates to specific situations to make it clear, and it comprises adoption of terms that are general to explain the foreign terms intention in a simplistic way.
(4) Paraphrase: This is the making clear, or plain of a foreign phrase.
(5) TL-culture adaptation a. Situational adaptation: It is translation of a borrowed or imported item into a TL’s similar concept. b. Cultural adaptation: It is the substitution of the foreign item with a unique TL’s element but one that retains the same meaning in that subtext.
(6) Omission: Exclusion and non-reproduction of the foreign element in any form in the
TT.
To the categories that are existing, Díaz Cintas and Remael added “lexical recreation” and “compensation” to make them nine (Díaz-Cintas & Remael, 2007). The former involves inventing neologisms, when the ST involves made-up words. The latter involves adding or over-translating something in one place is used to make up for a translational loss in a different place (Díaz-Cintas & Remael, 2007).
Generally, there is prove of successfully carrying cultural elements to the TT.
Pedersen has revealed absence of problems associate with culture-binding translation that
55 has not been resolved (Jan Pedersen, 2005). In most cases, shortcomings in ECRS omissions during creation of subtitles are settled by filming signs or other inferences from the film.
Those that are omitted can also be offset in other instances (Nedergaard-Larsen,
1993). The rise of globalization has also made it easier to handle this ECRs’ translation challenge. As a result, translators can deal with elements that are culture-bound today in transference to the TL with minimal or no explanations, especially in cases where TC is greatly influenced by SC.
2.7.3 Subtitling Humour
The primary concern for translators is retaining humour. As a result, this has grabbed the attention of academicians in various capacities including both literal and AVT translations
(Chiaro, 2006; Delia Chiaro, 2008; Martínez-Sierra, 2005; Schröter, 2004, 2005;
Spanakaki, 2007; Zabalbeascoa, 1996). The uniqueness of expressions with humour makes it really challenging for them to cross cultures and languages. In fact, others such as wordplay are often language-bound and dependent on a specific culture making their translation difficult. As a result, audiences unfamiliar with the primary culture may miss out on these elements. Just as stated by Concise Oxford Companion to the English
Language, culture and languages bind humour (Concise Oxford Companion to the English
Language, 2005). They argue that there are universal assumptions and historical association of viewers by a joke. Therefore, they presume existence of shared or common knowledge among the audience for the joke to be understood and related with by both the sender and viewer. As such, this makes it impossible to translate humour. It even becomes
56 more difficult if the joke is culture or language particulate. However, this problem has been eased by the process of globalization which continues to propel cultural exchanges and at the same time helping humour translation. This can be evidenced by jokes cracked by celebrities, global advertisements, and slogans among others. The intercultural interactions have also enabled different people to identify with cross-cultural humour styles. The sense of humour in various countries have begun to go across their territorial boundaries, therefore, confirming learning of cultures. These are developments that has opened a new era in translation. When it comes to screen humour, Hollywood leads having a decade long dominance since the 21th century, which adds to its global influence. For instance, producers across the globe have warmed up to the comic style characteristic of the American comedy. As a result, most of the audiences identify with it, understand the bodily language, facial expressions and other cues of the actor that eventually deliver the humour.
Oxford Dictionary of English defines humour as the creativity behind entertainment and being funny. Ideally, it is designed to trigger laughter. Even with this, it is still a question about the qualities sufficient enough amusing. These are the traits of humour or the humourous stimuli. Vandaele argues that superiority and incongruity are two concepts that distinguish humour. (Vandaele, 1999). The various types of comedians show that each of these has supporters. While incongruity supporters claim dominance, the superiority associate aggression with all humourous instances. Despite this, in
Vandaele’s analysis, there is less that separates the two, just as it is in the definition of humour if the two are distinguished from each other (Vandaele, 1999). He then redefined the two concepts, with the aim designing a framework for humour description in screen
57 comedy. He visualizes incongruity as a cognitive scheme contradiction. It is a concept that enables individuals to assign specific stimuli to external stimulations (Vandaele, 1999). In this argument, it is the method with which people express their interiorized, specific reality, and revolves around what we can visualize and identify with in life (Vandaele,
1999). A good example is that most people see the sun as more than a star by associating it with the start of a day, going to work or good weather. In other cases, people associate drugs with immorality and deviant behavior such as offending. Other examples include associating prominent figures such as President Nixon with sexual scandals and many other life linkages. Therefore, incongruity occurs when what is expected is defined by the present, which is cited as a norm deviation influencing both expectations and utterances attached (Díaz-Cintas & Remael, 2007).
La Fave, Haddad and Maesen describe “superiority,” the other characteristic of humour, as a way of gaining merriment, reinforcing it and increasing self-respect (La
Fave, Haddad, & Maesen, 1976). It is a feeling that makes the involved individuals gain a sense of entitlement by making the happier and more cheerful, which in this case relates to increased self-esteem. Vandaele advocates the need to expand the description of superiority by including what people expect from it at a social level, which is, emphasizing the harmless and private arousal rather than the aggressive effects. (Vandaele, 2002). In his work, Vandaele continue to analyze the two forms of superiority. These are the one that is either negative or aggressive and the other one described as non-aggressive or positive (Vandaele, 1999). The former takes advantage of a clear target that amuse people.
Though irony is not present in all aggressive humour, and not all are hearty, it may invoke humour due to the social and superiority elements, making it an aggressive humour. In
58 this case, it appears through individual mimicking (aggression) and drawing compassion.
Positive superiority is devoid of a specific target because defeating or achieving a purpose is not a necessity for a person to feel better (Vandaele, 1999). According to his research, this non-aggressive form is connected to three types of mental processes including institutionalization, circumstantial superiority and problem solving. When it comes to circumstantial superiority, there is no deficiency before and after the humour. It manifests through two principles of generating humour comprising of cueing and good mood characterized by laughing urge, comic pleasure and cheerfulness. There is always a possibility that incongruity can provoke diverse reactions such as humour, disappointment, and incredibility, this superiority balances emotions by filtering them sequentially, or one at appropriate time. (Vandaele, 1999). With cueing and good mood, one reacts correctly and interprets the humour in the right way. Moreover, one gains motivation by solving problems posed as jokes. This is the uniqueness that is presented by the incongruities giving the audience a sense of ‘in- group’ appreciation and inclusiveness.
Vandaele is also critical when it comes to humour that is independent of incongruity, that is conventionalized and institutionalized (Vandaele, 1999). It often manifests through repletion of a gesture or a phrase making humourous. The higher the frequency of repetition, the more humourous it becomes. Vandaele raises an example of how some standup comedians over recite particular common phrases. Often, any persons who are familiar with it see it as humourous because it stimulates laughter in that case. It is the reason why screen humour can be viewed as a unique yet systematic association of specific anomalies or incongruity (Vandaele, 1999). For instance, Mr. Bean is a great
59 example that shows just how distinctive a face can be used as a sole source of laughter.
Therefore, this brings about the cognitive aspect of incongruity when it comes to humour
(Vandaele, 1999). At the same time superiority has great influence of the same and care should be taken not to ignore it. These are two progressively interacting concepts. One of the ways is that superior feelings are stimulated by incongruity, since the latter thrives on problem solving, it creates superiority, and therefore irony exploits both of these elements
(Vandaele, 1999). Vandaele continues to state that irrespective of the fundamental presence of the two concepts, there are other factors that influence humour (Vandaele,
2002). As a result, they are fall short in creating it because of the potential to evoke reactions that contrast humour itself. In this case, one case describe incongruity as contemptuous, ridiculous and at the same time incredible while superiority can be defined as either excitement of direct aggression. Even with their influence, there is a need for complementation by communicative context related factors such as intention of the sender, impact on the audience. Díaz Cintas & Remael argue that humour can never exist in isolation (Díaz-Cintas & Remael, 2007), because a deeper understanding reveals that other factors play an equally important role in bringing out humour such as linguistic context, culture and personality.
Asimakoulas proposes that cognitive/social aspects are part and parcel of verbal humour, and these can be in the form of norm opposition or norm acceptance
(Asimakoulas, 2004). Norm acceptance is a compilation of the pleasant aspects of the society or those that stimulate laughter for them such as stereotypes, while Norm opposition the social aspects that disagree with social constructs. The concept of Norm acceptance is evidence that humour can still emerge in absence of incongruity, seconding
60 Vandaele’s model of institutionalization. However, incongruity is incorporated by norm opposition. In this case, use of the term “norm” is proof that humour and social aspects are inseparable, which presents a major problem in the process of translation
(Asimakoulas, 2004).
The list below shows the jokes classification for screen translation and strategies that are associated with them (Díaz-Cintas & Remael, 2007; Martínez-Sierra, 2005; Zabalbeascoa,
1996):
1. Binational (or international) jokes: Non-language specified jokes. An example is word
play. They are free of cultural elements and therefore, easily understood by
audience, (Since one cannot definitively classify jokes as national or global,
Zabalbeascoa calls them “binational”).
2. Cultural-reference jokes: These ones draw their content on culture, institutions, or
national references.
3. Community-sense-of-humour jokes: Rather than relying on cultural elements, these
jokes draw on communal sense of humour. Due to this, they are often radicalized.
4. Language-dependent jokes: They are accentuated by humourous features of a
particular lingo (Zabalbeascoa, 1996),
5. Pure visual and/or audio jokes: These are dependent on information presented in
graphical/visual or audio forms, and therefore are not verbalized. An example
includes facial expressions)
61 6. Paralinguistic jokes: paralinguistic features dominate these types of jokes including
screams, accents, silence or even silence.
7. Complex jokes: A blend of different types (2 or more) from 1 to 6.
For the SC references, the dependent humours are linked to jokes in the binational category, where the audience is familiar with the source. There are other jokes that belong to the audio-visual classification such as the famous Charlie Chaplin’s mimes and silent acts. Some jokes classified as cultural, binational of communal-sense may fall on the borderline of several. As a result, determining the category and choosing the most appropriate strategy of translation is influenced by translators’ assumptions of these aspects. When it comes to the language dependent ones, the translator is at liberty of directly referring to the humour depending on the wordplay or the puns used. Luckily, there is absolutely no need for translating the purely audio-visual ones since linguistic content is missing. Only in a few, essential cases where they may incorporate some content as explanations of the unfolding events, such as gestures with varied interpretations based on cultures. Díaz Cintas and Remael suggest use of a similar approach in the translation of culturally-linked elements as well (Díaz-Cintas & Remael, 2007). Some of these includes translating the binational jokes directly or literally or substituting/adapting the cultural ones. Other strategies may include exploitation as well. However, freedom in translation is encouraged as long as humour is retained, and therefore, most people are target oriented. One of this is transferring a binational joke directly or reformulating it to maintain the humour. It is also the reason for frequent adaptation from TC of jokes in the community-sense-humour category. However, rarely are wordplays and puns ever directly translated.
62 One of the most issue of contention today is language-dependent humour translation. As a result, few studies are unequivocally starting today (Chiaro, 2006; D.
Chiaro, 2008; Delabastita, 1997; Schröter, 2004, 2005). Based on Delabastita and Chiaro’s research the various translation categories for language dependent humours are as outlined
(Chiaro, 2006; Delia Chiaro, 2008; Golden, 1996):
1. No changing of the pun (direct ST copying of pun to the TT);
2. ST pun replacement with a TL pun (ST pun to TT pun);
3. ST pun replacement with associated rhetorical device (for example irony, alliteration,
and rhyme);
4. Rendering ST pun as non-pun (Pun effect often lost);
5. Omission (No representation of ST pun in any form in the TT);
6. Compensation (a TL pun inserted in the adjacent text where no corresponding ST pun
is found);
7. Notes Insertion (For instance, bracketing the 2nd meaning of a pun).
Non-translation is the first strategy where the translator copies the pun directly in the SL and exploits the audience to gain more insights on the SL. Chiaro uses wordplay as an example to illustrate homophonic closeness of three names, Mr. Melville Orton, Mr.
Michael Laughton and Mr. Maurice Horton from a “Blame it on the Bellboy” (D. Chiaro,
2008). A humorous effect is displayed as the bellboy wrongfully delivers messages to all these clients after confusing their names. In translation, the Italian-dubbed version of the
63 names is retained which preserves the humour. Schroter’s examines the wordplay by analyzing 16 films of English language origin together with the respective targeted texts in Norwegian, German, Danish, and Swedish (Schröter, 2005). Some preservation was recorded such as the word “hot” which can either mean sexually appealing or high temperature, because the Swedish audience also understands this word too. Schroter, however, pointed out that such a direct ST pun copying is only applicable where the viewer is completely familiar with its diverse interpretations. Even with this, sometimes the strategy falls short of transferring the pun as intended. For instance, this first strategy cannot work in English films with Persian subtitles because of the vast differences between the two languages and aggravated by the English proficiency levels of the Iranian audience.
It is clear that in the (1) strategy, ST’s pun influence can be preserved in the TT.
In the (4) one loses the pun in the TT, which is another indication of lack of transference.
For the (7) strategy, its use in subtitling is peculiar. In most cases, brackets use show the variation of the SL language. They are mostly used to translate both verbal and written elements and create a separation with the spoken dialogue, particularly where there is display of both language on the screen simultaneously. It should be noted that when it comes to language dependent jokes, the availability of resources and time for the translator significantly influences how he or she finds and creates a story-relevant TL pun. In a situation where this is not possible, he or she may revert to (3) strategy or (6) strategy which are better options for creating humour in this case (Chiaro, 2008).
Both constraints and priorities are influential in the translation of humour. Other factors also come into play such as the experience, talent, and skill of the translator which
64 determines their prowess in subtitling. Martínez-Sierra carried out a research which sought to investigate translation of humour in The Simpsons, with a focus on the Spanish subtitled version. The findings revealed a 14.4% in the failure of transferring ST jokes to the TT, and that a significant percentage of these were community-sense-of-humour and cultural reference jokes. These findings support the argument that common knowledge is very important when it comes to understanding of humour. It also echoed the influence of subtitles interactions with other filmic signs in distinguishing AVT from other translation forms.
2.8 Translation Units
It is important to segment ST for comparison, and then for data analysis, define how the
ST relates to the equal TT section. Research indicates that the term “translation unit” or
“unit of translation” can also be used to mean ST segment (Shuttleworth & Cowie, 2014).
This unit can be defined as a linguistic level that is used to code TL from the ST. Few scholars have made attempts to explore challenges that affect the definition of TU including the unit’s linguistic level and scope. A look into this issue goes as far as identifying if they are semantic or syntactic units as well as how much conventionalized operationalized, they are in the practice of translation. (Kenny, 2009). Barkhudarov describes TU as ST’s smallest component is can be related to is equivalent ones in the TT
(Barkhudarov, 1993). Some of the aspects of TU comprise the morphemes (calques), phonemes (transcription), as well as those used in poetry such as statements, phrases, words, and whole texts. Barkhudarov disagrees with the claims that proper definition of
TU arises from ST components (Barkhudarov, 1993), as well as those that say that there is a variation likelihood as one builds a sentence or text (Shuttleworth & Cowie, 2014).
65 The concept is that various methods of translations are triggered by the TU size. For instance, the smaller ones are associated with literal translation while the larger ones bring about free translation. Vinay and Darbelnet claim the primary concern of TUs are semantics, which correlates to meaning rather than structures/syntactic functions and assumes that all the three “lexicological unit,” “unit of thought,” and “unit of translation” are the same (Vinay, Darbelnet, Sager, & Hamel, 1995). Therefore, TU can be said to be the briefest sentence section with associate signs that demands compound translation. It can be a single term, a phrase, a word portion, or groups of phrases with a singular meaning (Vinay et al., 1995). Vinay & Darbelnet came up with 7-stepped procedure of translating ST segment transfer which is at a rank lower to the TL. It is an approach that has suffered great criticism of being too focused, prescriptive and relying on idealized translations. As a result, various empirical translation studies have been replacing it recently (Kenny, 2009). Even with this, its influence on education within this niche while at the same time triggering debates over approach associated issues.
Based on Bennett the phrase “translation focus” showing the focus of translator on a text at a time is a clause (Bennett, 1994). Additionally, Malmkjær indicates that people should see a clause as a TU because its manageability (Malmkjæ r, 1998). Moreover, there is a tendency of experienced translators inclining on clause and phrases which are larger units unlike the inexperienced students who zero on morpheme level or words which are basically smaller units (Jakobsen, 2005; G Toury, 1986). In all the procedures that are product-oriented, any TT segmented capable of being changed to ST segment can be said to be a TU. Toury explores the aspect of locating “segments replaced + coupled pairs of replacing” against TT solutions to difficulties of the ST emerging from the descriptive
66 perspective (G. Toury, 1995). He underscores that one can only establish coupled pairs in respect to comparative analysis and not the text source. He also warns of the challenges in attempts to establish coupled pairs limits due to their high dependency on context and dynamic nature (G. Toury, 1995). The primary aim of this concept is to guide the translators’ translation decisions.
In this study, the researcher uses the split elements of the movie (TUs) to make a comparison with corresponding Persian subtitles. The captions, narrations, displays, dialogue, and song lyrics are the elements of linguistics under review. The investigator seeks to include a maximum number of these elements as can be identified from the screen. Other inclusions will include the utterances that are overlapping and background conversations. Despite the fact that ST and TT in AVT concept comprise both non- linguistic and linguistic elements, the latter forms the backbone on the study for comparison purposes; this is not to say that the non-linguistic elements will not be considered as well. In most cases, they remain as the changed subtitling areas in this case.
Overall, both terms, TT and ST will be deconstructed but narrowly, which underscores the reach of this studies when it comes to linguistic elements.
2.9 The Concept of Adaptation
Throughout this research, the phrases “adaptation” and “Translation” are employed by the researcher interchangeably. The concept of translation varies among academicians. In a situation where they define translation as a linguistic process of recording with the intent to trigger sufficient conversion of semantics and ST syntax into a specific dialect, it translates that one cannot describe both target and source films along
67 the line of maximizing authentic recording process when it comes to linguistics. In fact, in most cases, only a fraction of the source film’s verbal elements is translated. Such an aspect is because of the shortcomings in the synchrony (dubbing) together with compression (subtitling) of the text trigger failure of source-text verbal signs translation such that it falls significantly short of semantic or syntactic realism to the original. Due to this, during AVT product translation, experts should consider aspects such as sociocultural data adaptations, additions, ideological or stylistic alterations, graphical or visual modifications and reductions of syntactic structures and semantics as well as the texts
(Delabastita, 1989). Considering these dynamics, the use of “adaptation” for “translation” emerges more logical when it comes to animation translations.
2.10 The Concept of Transferring Strategies
Using the descriptive study, the researcher aims at investigating strategies employed in transferring through a thorough comparison of two segments, the TT and the ST. In most cases, the word strategy has been adopted by scholars together with its related terms such as procedure, technique, and method in describing translators’ choices of textual procedures. Despite the fact that these terms are synonymous to a certain extent, lest for a minor difference arising from conceptual variations and systematic procedural complexities set by most of the scholars, they are the cause of the bulk of translation studies challenges today. In 1958, Vinay and Darbelnet hypothesized one of the leading translation approaches in a bid to streamline the translation processes (Fawcett, 1997).
Some of the proposed methods, including calque, modulation, borrowing, adaptation and literal translation were developed with a purpose of highlighting the interlinks that exist the two segments, the ST and the TT. Later on, other scholars have come up with different
68 techniques based on emerging needs. As a result, various terms exist including those of
Nida (1964) as adjustment techniques, Catford (1965) and Popovič (2004) with their shift,
Gottlieb (1992), Chesterman (2005), and Pedersen (2011) with strategies, and techniques by (Fawcett, 1997; Molina & Hurtado Albir, 2002; Newmark, 1988). All these are closely related and appears as a singular term (Chesterman, 2005).
In his work, Chasterman focusses on conceptual problems revolving around the in-distinctiveness of the terminologies (Chesterman, 2005). In his analysis, he cautions that it remains vague whether the concentration of the text-orientation analysis leans towards process of translation or process outcomes between targeted texts and sources. It is the reason for referencing the focus of the procedures suggested by Vinay and
Darbelnet. He says that they are representative of diverse outcomes and not timed real procedures. He goes on to elucidate that some phrases including “calques” used for describing the relationships in texts do not equate to process since they are mere results
(Chesterman, 2005). When it comes to strategies, there are academicians who see them as procedures deliberately or unintentionally exploited in addressing problems encountered in translations or assignment solving techniques by translators (Chesterman, 2005;
Zabalbeascoa, 2000). All these approaches are seen as comprehensive methods that go beyond understanding of textual-level similarities. Some of these comprise the strategies for information processing, reading and text analysis techniques, strategies for reformulation and revision and TT writing techniques. The most important aspect is to realize is that rather than talking of output, that all the assumptions herein speak of process the process.
69 While ratifying the use of “solution” in an in-depth analysis, Zabalbeascoa agrees that there is no accuracy in the application of technique, strategy or other descriptive methods within this field (Zabalbeascoa, 2000). He points out the likelihood of some of these terms assuming a nature that is prescriptive contrary to the expected descriptive one whose primary objective is goal achievement or addressing a challenge. In this case, their work appears to boost performance making it difficult for textual descriptive studies to uncover their role because of a possibility of using varied ways of achieving a particular result, and with a direct link to original intention. However, the outcomes of a strategy are what research calls “solution” (Zabalbeascoa, 2000). Therefore, translation can be seen as an activity for solving problems or a decisive process. In this case, translation process comprises of techniques, strategies, and methods while their outcomes become the solutions (Zabalbeascoa, 2000).
It is also possible to view both “transferring strategies” and
“Strategies/techniques” from a retrospective and prospective standpoint. For the prescriptive approach, it is an approach that analyses ST through its basic elements in an effort of discovering best methods of interpret each of these components effectively. An example for this scenario is splitting of the dialogue of an original film into numerous subtitles or lines. From here, one has liberty to manipulate them to their will, either through condensation, expansion or paraphrasing. Moreover, one can also employ the descriptive viewpoint through a relationship description of TT segments and their corresponding ST identical ones by finding comparable translational elements. One of the ways is to investigate the differences in culture between TT and respective ST followed by a relationship description as retention of substitution. The idea is that these two,
70 “techniques/strategies” avails instructive details while “solution” has a purpose of explaining the understanding of ST and TT comparisons. Therefore, the presence of a various solutions is designated as the “solution-type.” It is the reason Zabalbeascoa calls
“techniques” by Vinay and Darbelnet together with those from other scholars, “solution- types” or “types of solutions” when it comes to descriptive studies standpoint.
Due to these revelations, present studies should employ “transferring strategies” as their reference for various aspects. One is that it brings out the concepts within the hypothetical realm. It is also one of descriptive research tools which enables a translator to understand and advance through the applied branch training. In this research, the bulk of translations will comprise the 41,120 translation units for comparison with their respective STs and identify various solutions available. Moreover, the focus is towards the transferring strategy frequencies and how they appear. The objective is that this study’s findings will be inspirational to trainees in the translation field through solutions that would aid them in learning skilled translators’ ‘wisdom.’ Beneficiaries from the study results includes teachers and trainers in the translation sector because they can help them to explain the techniques, strategies and skills efficiently while improving the process of learning too. Overall, because AVT products translation can be described as conveyance from a particular cultural or linguistic grouping to another, researcher will limit her focus on the use of “transferring Strategies” in place of “Translation strategies.”
2.11 Schmitz’s (2002) Categories of Humour
Humour can include different modes and different categories, depending on which point of view and purpose to look at it. Various scholars have categorized humour into
71 specific types. Raphaelson-West divides humour into three groups: linguistic humour which includes pun and wordplays; cultural humour comprises ethnic jokes and universal joke which include anything that is unpredictable and far from expected. She states that translating the linguistic joke is very difficult and it is easier to translate the universal jokes
(Raphaelson-West, 1989). Similarly, Schmitz (2002) classified humour into three main categories: (A) Universal humours, (B) Cultural humours, and (C) Linguistic humours
(Schmitz, 2002).
Universal humour point to humour that generally derives from the content and overall performance of the world, in other words, anyone with any culture and language can laugh at it (Schmitz, 2002). For example, Teacher: Gwen, come here and point out
Africa from this globe. Gwen: here. Teacher: Correct! John, who discovered Africa?
Class: Gwen!. Cultural humour or culture-related joke relates to the cultural background of individuals, which has been integrated into the culture of origin, the listener must be familiar with the culture of the original to understand it (Schmitz, 2002). For example,
"What do you call a dog at the beach?" "A hot dog". Linguistic humour or the language- related joke is based on specific features of phonology, morphology or syntax in the original language, and the listener should be familiar with the source language to understand this type of humour (Schmitz, 2002). For example: Grammar teacher: Sam, can you tell me any two pronouns? Sam: Who, me? Teacher: Good answer, Sam!
Schmitz's classification of humour is used in this study as one of the theoretical frameworks to categorize the elements of humour found in the animation. Gottlieb’s interlingual subtitling strategies for translating elements of humour in subtitling (1992) are used in this study as one of the theoretical frameworks as well.
72 2.12 Gottlieb's (1992) Classification of Subtitling
Many scholars in translation field have defined the subtitling. Gottlieb defines subtitling as translating media messages into another language, which is represented in the form of a line or lines of text written on the screen simultaneously with the original verbal message (Gottlieb, 2005a). From a linguistic perspective, there are two types of subtitles: one of them is the interlingual subtitles, which transfers from source language to target language, and the intralingual subtitles, which moves the language into the same language (Cintas, 2003). Gottlieb believes that interlingual subtitling with societal and language-political implications is a tool for improving reading skills, improving foreign language skills, exchanging free international education programs and dominating English
(Gottlieb, 1992a). Gottlieb emphasizes that to evaluate the quality of a particular subtitling, the translation of each verbal segment should be examined according to the stylistic and semantic features (Gottlieb, 1992a). Accordingly, he proposes ten translation strategies for the movie subtitling. Gottlieb believes that these ten types of translation strategies of subtitling are found in the translation of a variety of genres including humour because the humour is the inseparable part of Western movies and culture. Gottlieb’s interlingual subtitling strategies are outlined on figure 1 (See 2.6.1.) with Gottlieb’s definitions: Expansion, paraphrase, transfer, imitation, transcription, dislocation, condensation, decimation, deletion, resignation.
2.13 Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
The hypothesis popularly known as Sapir-Whorf is used as underlying theoretical framework of this study. Sapir–Whorf hypothesis also known as the hypothesis of
73 linguistic relativity the holds that the structure of a language affects its speakers' world view or cognition. The hypothesis includes two versions: the strong hypothesis and the weak hypothesis:
• The strong version says that language determines thought and that linguistic categories
limit and determine cognitive categories.
• The weak version says that linguistic categories and usage only influence thought and
decisions.
The term "Sapir–Whorf hypothesis" is considered a misnomer by linguists for several reasons: Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf never co-authored any works, and never stated their ideas in terms of a hypothesis. The distinction between a weak and a strong version of this hypothesis is also a later invention; Sapir and Whorf never set up such a dichotomy, although often in their writings and in their views of this relativity principle are phrased in stronger or weaker terms (Kennison, 2013)
The idea was first clearly expressed by 19th-century thinkers, such as Wilhelm von Humboldt, who saw language as the expression of the spirit of a nation. Members of the early 20th-century school of American anthropology headed by Franz Boas and
Edward Sapir also embraced forms of the idea to one degree or another, including in a
1928 meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (Koerner, 1992) but Sapir in particular wrote more often against than in favor of anything like linguistic determinism. Sapir's student, Benjamin Lee Whorf, came to be seen as the primary proponent as a result of his published observations of how he perceived linguistic differences to have consequences in human cognition and behavior. Harry Hoijer, another of Sapir's students, introduced the
74 term "Sapir–Whorf hypothesis”, (Hoijer, 1954) even though the two scholars never formally advanced any such hypothesis (Hill & Mannheim, 1992). A strong version of relativist theory was developed from the late 1920s by the German linguist Leo
Weisgerber. Whorf's principle of linguistic relativity was reformulated as a testable hypothesis by Roger Brown and Eric Lenneberg who conducted experiments designed to find out whether color perception varies between speakers of languages that classified colors differently. As the study of the universal nature of human language and cognition came into focus in the 1960s the idea of linguistic relativity fell out of favor among linguists. A 1969 study by Brent Berlin and Paul Kay demonstrated the existence of universal semantic constraints in the field of colour terminology which were widely seen to discredit the existence of linguistic relativity in this domain, although this conclusion has been disputed by relativist researchers.
From the late 1980s, a new school of linguistic relativity scholars has examined the effects of differences in linguistic categorization on cognition, finding broad support for non-deterministic versions of the hypothesis in experimental contexts (Wolf &
Holmes, 2011) Some effects of linguistic relativity have been shown in several semantic domains, although they are generally weak. Currently, a balanced view of linguistic relativity is espoused by most linguists holding that language influences certain kinds of cognitive processes in non-trivial ways, but that other processes are better seen as arising from connectionist factors. Research is focused on exploring the ways and extent to which language influences thought (Koerner, 2000). The principle of linguistic relativity and the relation between language and thought has also received attention in varying academic
75 fields from philosophy to psychology and anthropology, and it has also inspired and coloured works of fiction and the invention of constructed languages.
Edward Sapir first established the idea in 1929 and expanded by his student
Benjamin Lee Whorf but together they established the relationship between language and thought. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis was therefore based on the principles of language determinism and language relativity. Their writings state that the formulation of a person's native speech determines a native speaker's views and their approach on the world. They also devised their theories based on the ideas that people’s culture determines their thoughts about the entire world (Strong theory) or that the language has no influence on people's thoughts (weak theory). The agreement is that there are certain views of an individual in one culture that cannot be appreciated by those who used the other culture.
The problem with the theory is that it is strongly affected by languages and linguistics.
This hypothesis acknowledged that language could or could not be the only way people can express their ideas. Language could also be a platform through which they can shape the ideas to formulate meaningful views. Under linguistic determinism, it holds that the choice of a language affects the native speaker's behavior based on certain rules. In short, there are no thoughts without language and yet before a language exists, there should be a thought. In other words, the hypothesis involves a specific measurement of human thought whereby the study of language involves a direct link to our thoughts and world interpretation. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that individual’s world interpretation is impossible without the impenetrable influence of the thought processes which are limited by the language. At some point, our language shapes our reality. Since the Sapir-
Whorf hypothesis settle for the study of language as a direct connection to the individual’s
76 thoughts, it agrees that language and cultural diversity highly influences the different world views that people have. Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf clearly supported the relationship between language and thought.
The main idea behind this theory is based on the fact that the language one speaks highly influences their perception about the world. Sapir traces the saying that language has very strong effects on the human thought meaning there is interdependence between language and thought. Language in this case is not in terms of the signs and sounds but that of how we view the world. The fact is that each and every language is unique on its own way. Languages and thoughts interact in so many ways and that is why people from different parts of the world may have the same perception about the world. In fact, the hypothesis originates from the examination of the individual’s culture. One important philosophical approach is that individuals interpret the same reality basing on their different thoughts.
Sapir took the idea of culture and expanded on it. If culture refers to the social norms, religious practices and the common beliefs of a society, then it can be thought of as a platform through which we approach the world and develop general perception. It claims that language is a crucial part of an individual’s life and therefore it is created in regard to society's desires. In other words, language proofs that there is an obvious association between the way in which we act and how we think. Therefore, the ways of life and languages vary from one place to another. It is probably why Sapir believes that culture is a strong reflection of the language people speak (Sapir, 1958). However, Sapir’s views were further expanded by Whorf.
77 The main idea behind this theory is that the language one speaks rarely affects their views about the world. According to Whorf, we analyze our natural environments based on the cultures we grew up. The Whorf-hypothesis was completely deterministic on social and cultural background. However, he didn’t restrict himself to the fact that thoughts were entirely dependent on the language. Since languages are unique in different ways, they are bound to face differences in grammar, semantic distinctions and phonology. Whorf believes that the translation from one language to another was quite problematic (Whorf, 1940). It is therefore quite difficult to mean the same thing using different languages. Sometimes, it is even difficult to translate some of the concepts because they cannot be translated. In other words, diversity in languages provides lots of constraints in several areas in our lives that are not determinative.
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis has been used as evidence that the way researcher looks at humour is rooted in her culture and language, in other words, the language and culture of a person has a significant role in understanding and perceiving a concept. Perhaps, if another person with a different cultural, linguistic backgrounds wants to analyze and evaluate the data in this research, it will yield somewhat different results.
Although the selected data, 16 animation with different translators indicate that the results are comprehensive and not subjective and it is not affected by personal preference of the interpreter or researcher's impression, as the results of the research also indicate this.
78 CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This descriptive research examines the transferring strategies employed by the subtitler by comparing the segments of the ST and the equivalent of the TT. The results of the study illustrate the frequency of each approach in the translation of elements of humour in personification-based animation. For a comprehensive investigation, a large amount of data, 16 personification-based animation subtitled by official translators and known agencies has been collected. Sixteen English animation subtitled into Persian are collected to conduct systematic research and explore the translation of the subtitle in the Persian language. In this research, the strategies of translation used are examined, the original text is compared with the Persian subtitles, as well as non-verbal elements and translation constraints. Although the primary purpose of this research is to study only verbal elements, in some examples to explain and justify the use of an individual transferring strategy are briefly referred to non-verbal factors which are likely to affect the subtitle’s decision. The selected animation have been released and subtitled between 2005 to 2016 years.
This study seeks to categorize elements of humour from personification-based animation based on Schmitz’s categories of humour and identify the transferring strategies used by subtitler based on Gottlieb's classification of subtitling strategies, in the light of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. As the result of the study, the researcher determines the type, frequency, and percentage of the transferring strategies using SPSS software in which
79 elements of humour have been used in subtitling of animation from English into Persian and provides examples of each component.
3.2 Design of the Study
The research design is a collection of methods and procedures used to collect and analyze the variables specified in the research problem. This section specifies the type of research
(descriptive, comparative study) and sets out the methods of data collection and the plan of statistical analysis. The design of the study is a framework designed to answer the research questions. This study is a descriptive analysis. Delabastita has urged translation scholars to extend the descriptive potential to the field of mass communication, namely film and TV translation, and offered an organized inventory of questions and hypotheses for further research (Delabastita, 1989). Delabastita’s effort has inspired several empirical works along these lines, many of which focus on specific translation issues and try to extrapolate norms governing a translator’s choice (e.g. Nedergaard-Larsen, 1993). Fifteen years later, having compiled a detailed review of major contributions on subtitling, Díaz
Cintas still calls for more descriptive research into this field, arguing that the descriptive approach is an ideal platform to launch into this adventure and it is capable of “giving account of the real, not ideal, nature of translations that have been done and consumed”
(Cintas, 2004). He further stresses the importance of such research, saying: A systematic and detailed mapping of what really happens in the world of subtitling is sine qua non to be able to investigate both the norms that regulate the profession as well as those which underline the translator’s behavior. It would be very productive to carry out work […] that analyses sufficiently broad corpora and allows the derivation of substantial conclusions
(Cintas, 2004). Descriptive research is widely encouraged by translation scholars and
80 large-scale systematic descriptive research in AVT is necessary. Pedersen points out that
“one problem that has plagued the discipline of audiovisual translation research is that very many studies are case studies, i.e. the corpus has been one film only” (Pedersen,
2011). Although case studies are useful in “introducing and testing methodologies” and can be used to “illustrate some points of translation theory and can, in a small way, add to the general descriptive knowledge of the discipline and provide tentative generalizations to be tested again on other material”, it is hard to draw general conclusions from them
(Pedersen, 2011). Studies including a large corpus enhance the benefits of case studies and are undoubtedly needed for gaining reliable empirical knowledge in AVT. The following figure illustrates the design of the study.
Figure 3.1 Research Design
81 3.3 Source Language and Source Animation
In this study, English will the source language to be used for animation. As a unique language, this language has distinctive differences along cultural lines as well as other elements. For this research, the focus is on American English as the spoken language.
However, all the participants, in this case animals, come with distinctive speaking styles.
Therefore, the study focusses on how Persian captions incorporates humour and other translation elements.
The close link English has with many of European and Indian languages arises from the fact that it has an Indo-European origin (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1991). Many nations including Canada, the U.S, the UK, South Africa, and Australia among others use it as a primary means of communication. In fact, being the leading spoken language across the globe, it stands as the official lingo for international bodies including the European
Union and commonwealth bodies. This language has a historical spin dating back to 5thC
AD, when most of the Celtic-speaking natives in England were pushed out of their territories by Angles, Saxons, and Jutes who had a Germanic linkage. The three blended their dialects giving rise to Anglo-Saxon or the old English.
The rise of a new dialect bore the term English borrowed from one of the three
Germanic tribes. Other than this, other words were conjured from the intellectual and the church language, Latin. The language continued to evolve throughout the centuries due to erosion by Vikings conquest and the Norman invasion between 8th and 11th century paving way for the Middle English. The process continued through the 15th century attributed to the massive changes in vowel leading to emergence of what scholars call modern English
82 today. It is what was propagated throughout the great colonization era by the British
Empire. In the long run, colonies opted for this language in place of their divergent ones including in Africa, India, Australia and North America. Although it was first embraced for political reasons, the rise of the US has also significantly accelerated its adoption by other nations over time making it the most spoken language globally. Today, it affects all spheres of life including entertainment, innovations, and research due to its wide reach across the globe.
New Encyclopedia Britannica places the start of English dominance and adoption as Australia, US, Canada, and New Zealand’s official language sometimes back to 16th century during Britain’s colonization undertakings. It adoption by other nations then gained speed through the influence of the US especially during and after the world wars.
In fact, by the end of the 19th century, this influence had seen it out win French as the most spoken language globally (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1991).
Through the centuries of evolution, this language has continued to become enriched vocabulary-wise. In fact, research shows that it has one of the most revered dictionaries with words over 250000, which out does all others in existence today. An analysis of this content shows that it is an amalgamation of different languages ranging from the Germanic, Italic, other over 300 global dialects, and the most recent Greek ones, which continue to add on to its growth as a global language. The beauty of this language is its flexibility in adopting from others both directly and indirectly. As a result, this has seen it grow progressively throughout the ages. English has adopted many Persian words as well, e.g. paradise, divan, purdah, lilac, bazaar, shah, caravan, chess, salamander, taffeta, shawl, khaki.
83 3.4 The Target Language and Target Audience
In this Study, Persian will be the target language, while the culture of Iran and Iran people form the culture and target audience respectively. Other important aspects in the study comprise the animation under review within the nation and which have
Subtitles of Persian origin incorporated. To avoid obscuring of the result findings, the study limits its scope to an audience with a singular language, explaining the choice for Iran as the target audience. The purpose is to assess strategies employed by the translator during transferring while creating the animation subtitles trough an in-depth comparison of the source text with a parallel one from the target text.
The people of Iran use Persian as their official language. Research shows that this is a rich language with a comprehensive alphabet. Within this region, there are several dialects associated with the Indo-Iranian tongue. The new encyclopedia
Britannica indicate that the term Farsi also refers to the Persian language
(Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998). Many more countries such as the Tajikistan and
Afghanistan also use it as their official language especially because of the former
Persian influence over these states. There is a long history associated with the naming and use of the word Persian. Annals show that it is a derivative of the term Pārs, which was an early province. Based on these records, there were several developmental stages in the region each with a significant influence on the growth of their language.
For instance, one of these is the Old Persian, associated with a grammar that is described as having been largely modified and comprising of about eight cases. The variations in this era were along gender and numbers for every declension. Later on, the rise of Sassanid reign triggered transitions to the middle Persian, which is said to
84 have paved way for less complex and simple grammar. Despite this, it had notable ambiguities especially from its letters which are described as multivalent with an
Aramaic association.
It is therefore clear that the name Fārsi originated from both the old and the new
Persian with each holding onto terms such as pārsā and Fārs respectively. Over time, the modern Persian emerged as an improvement of the elements of the two early eras.
However, as time progressed, it has drawn other alterations and improvements from local languages as well within the nation. The manner in which it has come to exist adds to its historical richness. Based on research, it manifested itself in three phases including the classical, early, and the contemporary one. The most important aspect to note about it is that it came to exist as a Dari adaptation modification, which was a local Sassanid language. Most of its legacy can be associated with the reawakening of
Persian literacy back in a less known area of Afghanistan, the Khorasan. Throughout the eleventh century, this became the dominant language used to spread Islam to the
Turks. It grew in popularity within the region because of the simplified nature of its structure.
The widespread use of Persian language has been documented by different studies. In fact, the Encyclopedia Americana states that it was one of the major dialects for over 5 centuries within the Indian subcontinent. Its second rank only came to an end after the age of colonization by the British came into effect (Encyclopedia
Britannica, 1998). In fact, this was the famous language that the Mongols used within their empire. Today, its early impacts are still felt in a few languages such as the Indo-
Aryan ones through some of the adopted terms, particularly Urdu, still use words
85 borrowed from Persian. Moreover, other major dialects, including the mighty English,
Russian, and French among others also have traces of Persian vocabularies.
A look at this language reveals numerous familiarities especially the elements of culture in the source text in relation to the Iranian audience. One of the reasons attributed to this aspect is the expected blending and exchanges between different cultures through globalization. As interactions rise, people start learning about the backgrounds of those living in other regions. Same case goes for translation where the gap that was traditionally in existence between the target culture and the source progressively become familiarized and consequently closes. With this dynamic in play, more people across the globe and specifically the Iranians for this study continue coming in contact with American culture through animation and other mediums. The ease in adoption of the English cultural content has seen much of their elements being to Persian language as well. In fact, with the translations in place, the audience seamlessly embraces and comprehends the content. The target both the adults and the children. For this study, the target is the adults, and therefore, subtitling speed is relatively faster to rhyme with adult reading unlike that for the younger ones
(Georgakopoulou, 2009).
Today, it has become common for Iranians to rely on subtitle while watching programs such as animation rather than listening. As a result, subtitles and the content therein has become critical for these viewers unlike for audiences of English-speaking nations. The culture has become popular because of the ever-present subtitles on
English programs. In fact, with these Iranians feel that they understand all the content aired. Mostly, this over-reliance on simplified subtitles may have been prompted by
86 the inadequate proficiency when it comes to English language among the Iranians. As a result, they would feel challenged in both written and spoken English. The reason for this inadequacy can be traced to the Iran education system with the local teachers mandates with the teaching of this language being on the receiving end. However, many Iranians can easily understand English if one speaks slowly while at the same time using simple terms and less complex sentences. Unfortunately, the situation is often different in the film dialogues, which are characterized by complex terminologies, fast speaking, and sometimes idiomatic expressions together with inaudibility (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998). The situation gets even worse where stronger accents come into play. In such a scenario, most Iranian audiences would miss the bulk of the content being disseminated by such a film. Therefore, this is where the skills of the translator became critical. Therefore, in the process of assessing how the various subtitling elements interact, various aspects will be important. Some of these include how closely related the source language and culture, target language and culture, the viewing behavior of the target audience and how knowledgeable they are regarding both source language and culture.
3.5 Data Selected for Analysis
The number of 16 animation is chosen to acquire objective results and identify the transferring strategies in Persian subtitles. Different translators have been selected so that the personal opinion or the preference of a translator is not conclusive, so the animation translated by the various official translators are chosen in these 16 animation.
87 Subtitlers/translator’s educational and personal background, gender and many other factors can affect the choice or preferences of the translation strategies.
Accordingly, 16 subtitled animation, a corpus of 41,120 translation units (277,138 original English words) imported to Persian (267,572 Persian translated words) has been chosen to analyze the “transferring strategies” applied by subtitlers to transfer the elements of humour into the target language (Persian) and identify the most popular strategies. With this number of data and the choice of translators, the transferring strategy selected in each animation is comprehensive and subjective. The number of the words for each animation in ST and TT is provided in the following table:
Table 3.1 The number of Words in English and Persian Scripts
Animation Number of words in Number of words in English script Persian script 1 All Creatures Big and Small 13,649 12,343 2 Barnyard 13,774 11,825 3 Finding Dory 24,284 25,193 4 Hoodwinked! 19,150 18,239 5 Horton Hears a Who! 14,640 13,887 6 Ice Age: Collision Course 18,405 17,856 7 Ice Age: The Meltdown 19,818 18,420 8 Kung Fu Panda 12,641 12,023 9 Madagascar 3: 15,536 15,890 Europe’s Most Wanted 10 Norm of the North 20,729 19,167 11 Ratatouille 18,948 19,430 12 Sing 19,322 18,580 13 The Angry Birds 19,599 18,823 14 The Secret Life of Pets 15,388 16,045 15 Trolls 17,865 16,979 16 Valiant 13,390 12,872 Total 277,138 267,572
88 All these 16 animation have subtitles in Persian (writing script used in Iran). The
16 animation are available online and they can be downloaded from http://tinymvz.ir website and can be watched online at http://www.vidofa.com and http://www.aparat.com.
The reason for selecting these 16 animation from among other numerous ones was threefold. Firstly, the existence of a large number of humourous instances that can fit into the framework of this research. Secondly, the use of animals instead of humans as their main characters which also brought about a kind of laughter for the viewers. Lastly, the existing number of personification-based animation subtitled into Persian by certified translators or agencies which will guarantee the quality and validity of the translation.
To compile a corpus of verbal elements, the http://subscene.com website is used to extract Persian (target text) subtitles and their timing. To extract the English text (target text), the researcher has watched and transcribed the animation over and over again.
Although the English subtitles are all available for these animation, the researcher herself has written these transcripts to be able, in addition to the content, consider other factors that expect to influence the type of translation strategy selected by subtitler, such as speech speed of the characters. Therefore, the source text information, which is compared to the
Persian subtitles, is as close as possible to the spoken language on the screen. The verbal elements, written text, or captions, if any, are copied manually, and their Persian subtitles extracted from http://subscene.com website.
This study intends to include more recent animation to make sure that changes, innovations and new suggestions for subtitling have been taken into account as far as possible. Hence, the researcher chooses 16 English-language animation released and
89 subtitled after 2005. The release dates range from 2005 to 2016. The list of these animation and their release dates in alphabetical order is as follows:
All Creatures Big and Small (2015), Barnyard (2006), Finding Dory (2016), Hoodwinked
(2005), Horton Hears a Who (2008), Ice Age: Collision Course (2016), Ice Age: The
Meltdown (2006), Kung Fu Panda (2008), Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012),
Norm of the North (2016), Ratatouille (2007), Sing (2016), The Angry Birds (2016), The
Secret Life of Pets (2016), Trolls (2016), and Valiant (2005).
The names of these animation are listed in the following table in alphabetical order, with the year of production, the name of the director, runtime, and the name of the subtitlers. All animation are produced in the USA. The credentials are retrieved from
IMDb, also recognized as Internet Movie Database, which is an online database of data associated to world movies, communication presentations, home videos and video games, and internet streams, including cast, production crew and characters biographies, plot summaries, trivia, and fan reviews and ratings. IMDb is the world's most famous and authoritative source for movies (https://www.imdb.com).
90 Table 3.2 List of the English Animation
Animation Date of Director(s) Runtime release 1 All Creatures Big 2015 Toby Genkel 1h 27min and Small Sean McCormack 2 Barnyard 2006 Steve Oedekerk 1h 30min 3 Finding Dory 2016 Andrew Stanton 1h 37min Angus MacLane 4 Hoodwinked! 2005 Cory Edwards 1h 20min Todd Edwards 5 Horton Hears a 2008 Jimmy Hayward 1h 26min Who! Steve Martino 6 Ice Age: Collision 2016 Mike Thurmeier 1h 34min Course Galen T. Chu 7 Ice Age: The 2006 Carlos Saldanha 1h 31min Meltdown 8 Kung Fu Panda 2008 Mark Osborne 1h 32min John Stevenson 9 Madagascar 3: 2012 Eric Darnell 1h 33min Europe’s Most Tom McGrath Wanted 10 Norm of the North 2016 Trevor Wall 1h 30min 11 Ratatouille 2007 Brad Bird 1h 51min Jan Pinkava 12 Sing 2016 Christophe 1h 48min Lourdelet Garth Jennings 13 The Angry Birds 2016 Clay Kaytis 1h 37min Fergal Reilly 14 The Secret Life of 2016 Chris Renaud 1h 27min Pets Yarrow Cheney 15 Trolls 2016 Walt Dohrn 1h 32min Mike Mitchell 16 Valiant 2005 Gary Chapman 1h 16min
91 A list of the Persian titles of the animation and the subtitler(s) are provided in the following table as well:
Table 3.3 List of the Persian Animation
English Title Persian Equivalent Title Subtitler(s) Pars Translation همه موجودات بزرگ و کوچک All Creatures Big and 1 Small (All Creatures Big and Small) Arezou Sayyadi رئیس مزرعه Barnyard 2 )Farm Boss( Farshad Varaste در جستجوی دوری Finding Dory 3 (Finding Dory) Yaser Khodadad شنل قرمزی ) Hoodwinked! Red Riding 4 )Hood Mahdi Mazaheripour هورتون )Horton Hears a Who! )Horton 5 Hussain Gharibi عصر یخبندان: مسیر برخورد Ice Age: Collision Course 6 (Ice Age: Collision Shirin Tahmasebi Course) Pars Translation عصر یخبندان: ذوب Ice Age: The Meltdown 7 )Ice Age: The Meltdown( Soorena Translation پاندای کونگ فو کار Kung Fu Panda 8 (Kung Fu Panda) Milad Hossaini ماداگاسگار Madagascar 3: :۳ 9 Mohammad Hasani تحت تعقیب های اروپا Europe’s Most Wanted (Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted) King Translation قانون شمال Norm of the North 10 (Norm of the North) Roozbeh Atayi راتاتویی Ratatouille 11 (Ratatouille) Pars Translation آواز Sing 12 )Sing( Javad Afshari پرندگان خشمگین The Angry Birds 13 )The Angry Birds( Shirin Tahmasebi زندگی مخفی حیوانات خانگی The Secret Life of Pets 14 (The Secret Life of Pets) Shirin Tahmasebi ترول ها Trolls 15 (Trolls) Pars Translation کبوتر بی باک Valiant 16 )Valiant Pigeon(
92 3.6 Theoretical Framework
This study is a descriptive analysis of personification-based animation based on Schmitz’s categories of humour and transferring strategies used by subtitler based on Gottlieb's classification of subtitling strategies, in the light of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. The following figure (figure 3.1) illustrates the theoretical framework of the study. Schmitz’s categories of humour, Gottlieb’s classification of subtitling and Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is explained in chapter 2.
Figure 3.1: Theoretical Framework of the Study
93 3.7 Procedure of the Study
In the present study, the data collection and analysis take place in the following stages:
First, the researcher watches the English and subtitled versions of the 16 animation to identify the elements of humour in the animation based on Schmitz' categorization of humour (2002) and then the ‘translations’ or subtitles are extracted and compared with their subtitles in Persian. The second step is to prepare the data of the original animation
(source text) as well as their corresponding subtitles in Persian (target text). After the required data, source text and target text were collected (see 3.6 for details), the researcher classified the data based on Schmitz classification of humour into three main categories which are universal humour, cultural humour, and linguistic humour (Schmitz 2002). For the analysis of the translation strategies used by subtitler to transfer these types of humour,
Gottlieb's classification of subtitling strategies is employed (1992). The extracted TUs and their equal subtitles distinguished based on Gottlieb's ten strategies. They are expansion, paraphrase, transfer, imitation, transcription, dislocation, condensation, decimation, deletion and resignation (Gottlieb, 1992). The translation strategies employed by subtitlers are elaborated and discussed to answer the questions of the study. Then, frequencies and percentages of the transferring strategy presented in the form of statistical tables to show which transferring strategies are the most and which are the least frequent in the translation of the subtitles of the elements of humour in animation.
The process of data analysis is as followings:
• The study is a descriptive, comparative content analysis on the basis of the translation
units and the equivalent subtitles from 16 animation.
94 • The number of 16 animation (24 hours 51 minutes = 1471 minutes) is selected for this
determination.
• The elements of humour in the accumulated data are divided into segments (TUs) and
compared with their equivalent subtitles in Persian.
• The study is organized based on Schmitz’s categories of humour and Gottlieb's
classification of subtitling is used as the primary theoretical frameworks of the research.
• These ten translation strategies are generalized by comparing 41,120 translation units
and their equivalent Persian subtitles.
• The data consists of 1491 minutes, 41,120 TUs and 17,150 cases of jokes (including
8,631 universal jokes, 6,905 cultural jokes, and 1,614 linguistic jokes) to serve the
purpose of this study, which looks at subtitling of the humourous element in
personification-based animation.
• A data of 41,120 TUs is chosen for the analysis to examine the translation strategies
deployed by a subtitler to transfer the elements of humour of personification-based
animation into the target language and identify the most popular procedure.
• Sapir–Whorf hypothesis is used as an evidence for identifying the humours and
translation strategies used in interlingual subtitling of English animation in Persian. It
justifies the way researcher looks at humour is rooted in her culture and language, in
other words, the language and culture of a person has a significant role in understanding
and perceiving a concept.
95 CHAPTER FOUR
PERSONIFICATION-BASED ANIMATION
4.1 Introduction
Personification is the rhetorical figure by which something not human is given a human identity. The personification-based animation is a movie by which characters are all animals that act like the human. Lakoff and Turner (1989) define personifications as metaphor in which we understand other things like humans (Lakoff & Turner, 1989, p.
72). We can best understand things when they are put in human terms when we give them human motives, personalities, and actions (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). Personification allows us to use our knowledge of ourselves as possible, to use our own point of view and to try to understand other things, such as forces of nature, ordinary events, abstract concepts, and non-human objects (Lakoff & Turner, 1989, p. 72).
4.2 Definition of Animation
In this section, the study aims at reviewing ‘animated films’ or ‘animation’ as a dynamic medium, trace its history and the changes that have occurred in the industry over the past decades. The term animation originated from the Greek word ‘animate’ which means giving life to something that did not have. Most of the definitions of the term ‘animation’ do not entirely focus on its genre-like features even though it falls in the genre category.
It is rather a technique used in the film industry in which all the paintings and other illustrations use ‘stop-frame cinematography.’ The animation is not just about the art of drawing but the movements in the specific drawing. There is an emphasis on animation's
96 main characteristics especially how they are formed and generally produced. These features are what makes this kind of films different and unique in their own way. Some have even claimed that the production process of such films is time-consuming, labor- intensive and very expensive.
However, the animation industry has developed immensely since the 1900s with the first animated film in 1918 by Cohl and George. Although there were other featured films that appeared before 1918, they only consisted of simple drawings. It is still no doubt that animation began years before the advancement of cinematography. It dates back during the Paleolithic period when the filmmakers depended mostly on the shadow play and magic lantern. However, the experiments conducted during this period aimed at creating moving images. Indeed, between the years 1895 to 1907 and some years later, the industry named all the films at that time "animated films." Also, the term "animated photography' was generally used in the industry to refer to films in all categories
(Smoodin, 1993).
A rapid change in the computer technology has brought a lot of advancements in the animation industry. In the present day, computer animation technique is a busy industry following the world’s exposure through social media. As the society is becoming more and more experimental as the years go by, the industry is slowly breaking out of the assumption that animation is only ‘kid-friendly.’ Unlike the 1990s where animation films were only found in the theatres, the technology today is making it easier to access such films anywhere you are.
97 4.3 Animal in Animation
There are countless examples of personification in my data, as one of the reasons for selecting the 16 animation is that in all of these animation, animals are the main characters, and act and behave like humans and attain human qualities, such as desires, opinions, intentions. The following are a few examples extracted from these 16 films in which animals act like humans or human attributes are given to animals.
Example 1: Personification
All Creatures Big and Small (2015) 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:37,039
Dave: But my son... He's all I have!
Animal emotion is a complicated arena. Although scientific studies are slowly tipping toward the opinion that animals do have feelings, definitely it is not the same way as human do. In a scene of “all creatures big and small” animation, Dave feels so much about his son, and tries to persuade the Lion Captain to turn the Ark around to find Finny, says “my son is all I have.” During the animation, his love for Finny and the efforts of all creatures to find him can be seen and everyone gets some lessons about the real purpose of the family along the way. Love, feelings of sympathy, empathy, and many other human attributes have been given to these animals.
98 Example 2: Personification
Barnyard (2006) 00:07:54,707 --> 00:07:58,438
Ben: The purchase of human articles from the gopher underground is strictly prohibited. Otis: HELLO MOTO! Gopher: Listen, I think your Nikes are… Otis: Yeah, this, really isn't the best time...
Ben is the leader of the Barnyard. He sometimes plays guitar and sings Tom Petty's song. In a meeting with all animals, he announces “The purchase of human articles from the gopher underground is strictly prohibited.” At that very moment, Otis ‘s Motorola smartphone rings, and he feels embarrassed in front of others. Gopher giggles “Hey Otis, your Nike shoes are ready …”.
In this animation, animals speak, play, dance, sing and throw a party and order pizza. Otis flirt with female cows and order brand pieces of stuff. Gopher is a smuggler who sells human goods to farm animals. Smuggling is another human activity. These are all human attributes that are given to the animals who are living on the farm.
Example 3: Personification
Finding Dory (2016) 00:00:52,385 --> 00:00:56,096
Baby Dori: Hi. I'm Dory. I suffer from short-term memory loss.
99 Dory is a forgetful fish in “Finding Dory” animation. Dory is searching for her long-lost parent and is helping Marlin to find his son. However, she can never remember his name. Intimacy, closeness, and their companionship and helping each other to find their lost ones is the reflection of the human qualities, humanity, and intimate human relationships.
She suffers from short-term memory loss. Throughout the story, Dory points out in many situations that she does not have a good memory, she often forgets names, dates, and events. Memory loss is a disorder that touches most people, to a degree. The infrequent forgetfulness or loss of short-term memory conflicts with everyday life. She shows this disease that is specific to humans in a funny way in this animation.
Example 4: Personification
Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) 00:09:47,220 --> 00:09:48,426
Francine: Sid, I'm gonna stop you right there. I'm breaking up with you. Sid: What? But I planned our whole future! Our wedding.
In the excerpt from “Ice Age: Collision Course,” Sid proposed his girlfriend,
Francine and got dumped by her. In the conversation, Francine says she is breaking up with him. Sid shocks and says: “But I But I planned our whole future! Our wedding. Our kids. I even hired a band.” Francine answers with amazement, “We've only had one date.
It lasted 14 minutes!” Sid, who is deeply in love and does not tolerate hearing Francine's
100 talk, says, “but it felt like 20 minutes”. Eventually, Francine calls him clingy and says that he looks nothing like his profile picture to make him even more upset. The whole funny conversation between Sid and his girlfriend is about the human features given to these animals, including proposal, rejection by a woman, planning for future, wedding, and kids, hiring music band, etc.
Example 5: Personification
Ratatouille (2007) 00:07:59,820 --> 00:08:02,720
Emile: Wait. You read? Remy: Well, not excessively.
Emile is Remy’s older brother. Remy is a rat who merely adores foods and its quality, and he always tries his best to make delicious, high-quality food. Remy is not a typical rat, and his personality is more like that of a human, as he walks on two feet instead of four. His biggest dream is to become a cook. He is astonishingly skilled and talented in cooking. In this scene, they are in the kitchen of an old lady, looking for saffron and they find a cookbook, Remy mentions that he reads but not excessively. At the end of
“Ratatouille” animation, Remy’s dream comes true in which he becomes the head chef at the excellent restaurant in Paris. There are a lot of human features in these mice, in which only a few of them, including cooking, reading books, walking on the two feet can be seen in the scene.
101 Example 6: Personification
Valiant (2005) 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:25,220
Valiant: It's not the size of your wingspan. No. It's the size of your spirit.
Valiant is a healthy but miniature pigeon, who daydreams of entering the elite
Royal Homing Pigeon Service and serves queen and country during World War II.
Notwithstanding his tiny size, Valiant’s dreams are big. During the animation, most of the time, we hear from him inspiring statements and slogans that show his enthusiasm and big wishes, for example, he emphasizes twice during the film that “It’s not the size of your wingspan, it is the size of your spirit. Human characteristics are not only apparent in the manner of dressing and his words, but his courage and his prowess to help the country during the war is also an excellent example of the human features given to this character in “Valiant” animation.
Example 7: Personification
The secret life of pets (2016) 01:13:58,680 --> 01:14:01,768
Snowball: I feel heroic! And handsome! I'm a little wet, but I still look good! I look good.
In a scene in “secret life of a pet,” Snowball is on a section of wood after passing the key to Max, a Terrier mix, in the river, he then says:” I feel heroic! And handsome!
I'm a little wet, but I still look good! I look good.” Snowball is an abandoned rabbit and
102 the leader of an animal gang. He wants to punish and revenge on all the pets and their humans. Snowball used to be a party bunny until his owner abandoned him. He is incredibly cute and fashionable.
After helping Max, he feels like a hero. Even in this situation and in the middle of the river, she still looks very self-conscious and thinks she is still beautiful and lovely even though she has been soaked. Being a hero, hating, revenging, helping others, being self- conscious, paying attention to the appearance, etc. are all the human attributes that have been given to Snowball.
Example 8: Personification
Kung Fu Panda (2006) 00:26:38,361 --> 00:26:42,627
Tigress: One would think that Master Oogway would choose someone who actually knew kung fu. Crane: Yeah, or could at least touch his toes.
In the last days of his life, Master Oogway is going to assign the Dragon Warrior to replace his position. In a conversation between Tigress and Crane, Tigress says, “One would think that Master Oogway would choose someone who actually knew kung fu.” and crane believes “Yeah, or could at least touch his toes.” which refers to the necessary skills in kung fu.
Master Oogway is the originator of the Valley of Peace and inventor of kung fu.
He dedicates all his life to preserve the art of kung fu and passes on the techniques to his students. Master Tigress is a master of the tiger style of kung fu. Over the years, she trained
103 to control her strength and temper and developed into a powerful fighter and formed a stern personality. Eventually, she tilted as the dragon warrior. Trance is also a member of the kung fu team and master of crane style of kung fu. He used to be an unconfident member and later proved his capabilities.
Having skill in a sport that is very special for humans is the central theme of “Kung
Fu Panda” animation. Animals compete with each other and discuss who can replace the
Master. Each animal is known for one of Kung Fu's exceptional skills. All of these are human features that can be seen throughout the film, and the above excerpt is just an example of Kung Fu's skills among animals. Personality weakness, lack of self-esteem and self-confidence and ultimately empowerment and overcoming individual problems are also other human attributes that are attributed to these characters and are often observed in this animation.
Example 9: Personification
The Angry Birds (2016) 01:22:59,933 --> 01:23:02,937
Red: I'm not blushing. I'm just red.
The “Angry Birds” animation takes us to a land populated fully by cheerful and flightless birds. Red, a bird with a temper problem, learns how to control his anger in anger management school. Red is shown as a strong-willed, outspoken, decisive, knowledgeable and self-confident character in “The angry birds” animation. He can imitate other people who may mistake his confidence for arrogance. Overall, Red is demonstrated to be a very grimy and short-tempered bird. He gets angry easily and cannot
104 tolerate other birds. His anger caused a separation between him and other birds. However, when an unexpected situation happened, Red became the leader of the birds and proved his leadership qualities in his strong desire and passion for helping others. In one of the scenes, one of the birds mentions that he is red for embarrassment, he replies “I'm not blushing. I'm just red.” Anger control, self-confidence and lack of self-esteem, anxiety, stress and attempts to control the anger are all the human features shown in the animation repeatedly in birds. Blushing, which means to become red in the face usually from embarrassment, is another human attribute that has been shown here about this bird, which has a beautiful double meaning with the name of the bird, Red.
Example 10: Personification
Trolls (2016) 00:01:01,102 --> 00:01:05,357
Poppy: They loved nothing more than to sing, and dance, and hug. Dance, and hug, and sing, and dance, and sing, and hug, and dance and hug, and dance, and sing, and hug, and dance, and hug.
The trolls are tiny beings who live in a nearly permanent mood of merriment, chanting, whirling and holding all day long. Poppy is the naive troll who is faced a problem for the first time in his life that cannot be solve with song, a dance and a hug. But after some funny attempts during the animation, Poppy discover the happiness and states,
“Happiness isn't something you put inside you. It's already there! Sometimes you just need someone to help you find it. And I don't think it, I feel it!”. The theme of the “Trolls” animation can be summarized in one of the Poppy’s statement “The trolls. They loved nothing more than to sing, and dance, and hug. Dance, and hug, and sing, and dance, and
105 sing, and hug, and dance and hug, and dance, and sing, and hug, and dance, and hug.”
Hugging, kissing, dancing, singing, being happy are all the human features that are can be seen in a hilarious way in the trolls.
4.4 Summary
The reason why these animation are chosen for the current research is that in all these animation animals act like humans, or in other words, all of these animation are personification-based animation. The main purpose of this study is to examine the transferring strategies of humour, and because humans are intrinsically appealed and easily empathies with animals. The human finds animals funny and cute and joking and laughing at animals are easier than laughing at humans in humour. This fact can be confirmed with Sigmund Freud's theory that children consider themselves equal to animals and easily sympathize with them. Although this perception does not continue until adulthood, it still has a positive impact on adult behavior with animals.
A glimpse of animation as a popular media cinema shows that animals have always been the mainstream of animation. Animals are chosen in animation because they have a general appeal to humans. In the 16 animation studied, there are many examples of animals that they think, act and behave like humans. Throughout the data of the research, the researcher observed why behavior, action, and conversations of the animal which are acting as the human in animation seem exciting, hilarious and funny. By examining these factors, the researcher found the following points about the presence of animals in animation and their role in humour.
106 Race, gender, and nationality are factors that are often seen in cases of humour, attributing these elements to animals are easier than humans. In all of the selected animation, there are the humourous element and hilarious scenes about the race, sex, and nationality of the animals. This can be very annoying or offensive if attribute these qualities to humans. Animated animals can even express these features in cases of humour even more than animated humans because there is no discrimination or universal, cultural or nationalistic affinity for animals.
Animals are universal without showing it, yet this, it is not universality that shows them an interesting character, because they are not human, and they can show all interesting features that do not have cultural significance. Animals provide an emotional distance under challenging situations. Animals are human-like enough that humans sympathize with, but they are not so much like the human to see their pain as their own pain. This means that the animal's character can in some way examine the difficult situations while maintaining the emotional distance to a certain extent.
The stereotype can be used without any insult or abuse. Unlike human's stereotype, the animal stereotype does not make the audience think that they are insulted, which makes the animal's character very funny. The cuteness and silliness are attractive and entertaining for adults and children at the same time. Animals show humorous narcissism in many examples in which humans find it very funny. People think that they are the best creatures and they are becoming narcissistic, and they see these features in animals that are very funny.
107 Using animals in animation makes the plot easier, humans expect less detail in animal stories, and so conversations and jokes are effortless to use and have sentences that are not complicated at all, and this is the most important animation feature that plays an essential role in translation strategies of subtitling. Exaggeration can be seen quite often in animal characters. If this were to be said about the human beings, it would cause offence and insult to some individuals and cultures. There is more space for creativity about animals than humans, because the heroism, work, trait, or activity that cannot be easily attributed to humans can be attached to the animal.
108 CHAPTER FIVE
SUBTITLING HUMOUR
5.1 Introduction
In this chapter, Persian subtitles of humour in 16 personification-based animation will be examined and the classification will be adjusted for the purpose of the study. Schmitz classified humour into three main categories: Universal humours, Cultural humours, and
Linguistic humours (Schmitz, 2002).
5.2 Universal Humours
Universal humour point to humour that generally derives from the content and overall performance of the world, in other words, anyone with any culture and language can laugh at it (Schmitz, 2002). Similarly, Zabalbeascoa defines international or bi-national joke as the story or a funny sentence that has almost no cultural and linguistic aspect and is not affected by the listener's familiarity with the language or culture (Zabalbeascoa, 1996).
Raphaelson-West believes that universal or bicultural jokes are the ones that many people find it funny in a culture (Raphaelson-West, 1989). Díaz Cintas and Remael also define universal jokes the ones that can include internationally identifiable behaviors. (2007, p.
218).
There are many different cases in my data that both the English and Persian audience would find humorous. These jokes are based on the factors that are perceived funny in most situations by both source language and target language viewers. These humours have special aspects of the source language, which are very familiar to the target
109 language audience, for example, cultural issues that are intercultural. Elements such as allusion, satire, wordplay, exaggeration, and irony are seen in these jokes that provide a result that is different from what is expected. These jokes can usually be transferred directly into the target language.
In 2002, psychologist Richard Wiseman collaborated with the British Science
Association carried out a large-scale experimental study for the world’s funniest joke. He launched a website named LaughLab where more than 350,000 people from 70 countries could suggest a joke and rate how funny they found other people’s jokes on the five-point computation varying from ‘not very funny’ to ‘very funny’ (Wiseman, 2002). The following is the joke that won the title of the hilarious joke of the world.
Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says
"Calm down. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says "OK, now what?"
A universal joke is interesting because many countries understand it, as many young, old, men and women can associate with it. There are many situations in my research that both the ST and TT viewer would find it funny. These jokes can be transferred directly into the target text. The following are a few cases of universal jokes found in 16 animation.
110 Example 1: Universal Humour
All the Creatures Big and Small (2015) 00:56:57>>>>00:57:10
انگل : دارم تو خواب دریا زنده میشم ! Parasite: Come on! I’m getting seasick in my sleep here Back Translation: I’m getting seasick in !the sleep وال : زمین مثل صخره سفته Whale: The ground is so hard as a rock Back Translation: The ground is hard as a rock انگل : شاید بخاطر اینه که واقعا صخره است ، نه ؟ ,Parasite: Maybe that’s because it is a rock huh? Back Translation: Maybe that's because it's really a rock, no?
The Parasite lives on a Whale. The Whale is constantly moving as he does not feel comfortable sleeping on a hard ground. The Parasite says ‘Come on! I’m getting seasick in my sleep here’ which has three hilarious aspects: First, A human characteristic is linked to the Parasite. Second, seasickness is having the feeling you will vomit because of the movement of the ship you are traveling in, while the Parasite and the Whale are on the ground! Third, the Parasite cannot get seasick because Parasite is used to live in the sea.
Then, when the Whale explains ‘The ground is so hard as a rock’, again the Parasite replies with another stupid idea saying ‘Maybe that’s because it is a rock’ as if the whale has no idea where is he now. Both ST and TT viewers find the scene funny for two different reasons - jokes sometimes make us feel superior to others or surprise us because of some kind of incongruity. The conversation between Whale and Parasite contains both elements
— viewers feel they are smarter than the stupid Parasite, realize the incongruity of him
111 misinterpreting the Whale and the joke makes them laugh. This situation is relatively universal and international and does not depend on linguistic and cultural characteristics and can be transferred directly and without any particular changes into the target language.
People usually find Jokes about adulthood and sex entertaining, theories underlying universal humour suggest we think things that are incongruous and release tension are funny. Iranian viewers see sex as taboo because they are living in an Islamic society which diminishes the sexual education, so the animation that breaks the taboo on sexuality even indirectly could be seen as benign, and hence, funny. Here is an example from "Finding Dory" animation.
Example 2: Universal Humour
Finding Dory (2016) 00:10:29,145>>>>00:10:50,126
دوری : شاید دیگه نتونم خانواده ام رو پیدا کنم Dory: …And I may not even be able ولی...... to ever find my family again, but
Back Translation: Maybe I can not ever find my family but … دوری:... چی داشتیم میگفتیم ?Dory: What were we talking about
Back Translation: What did we say? بچه ماهی ها: مامان و بابا ها .Fish Kids: Mommies and daddies Back Translation: Mommies and daddies. دوری : یکم جوونین ولی مشکل نداره... ببینید Dory: You guys seem a little young, but وقتی دو تا ماهی عاشق هم میشن ... ,okay. You see, kids when two fish love each other... Back Translation: you are a little young, but no problem... see when two fish love each other … معلم : خب ، دیگه بسه..... میخواییم آهنگ بخونیم Teacher: And we'll stop right there. I feel a migration song coming on. Back Translation: Well, it's enough ..... let's sing
112 Dory is suffering from short-term memory loss. She is working as a teacher assistant. She is talking about her parents that she gets separated from them as a child but suddenly she cannot remember what she was talking about a few minutes ago. She asks the Fish Kids "What were we talking about?" and they quickly remind her that the topic was about parents, saying” Mommies and daddies”. The first thing comes to Dory's mind is adulthood. Before Dory starts to share some adult fact, the teacher interrupted Dory to change the subject by suggesting kids sing a migration song. This is a funny situation that everyone can understand and laugh at.
Here, Migration Song which is a music by Thomas Newman is not transferred by
Persian subtitler. Although Iranian viewers like everyone else find the situation funny, the meaning is inevitably lost in the last part of the TT due to subtitler's unfamiliarity with the song and inability to find an appropriate transferring strategy (refer to Resignation 4.2.10).
The migration song - O' we're going home We know who we ... - is also relevant to Dori's wish of going back home and finding her parents.
Sometimes, the general facts of the universe, including chemistry or physics rules, can turn into a funny situation. It can immediately be concluded that these jokes are funny because they make people feel better about themselves because it reminds them that there is always someone who is more stupid than them. For example, in the following excerpt from 'Horton Hears a Who", one of the characters tests the physic rule.
113 Example 3: Universal Humour
Horton hears a Who (2008) 00:34:13>>00:32:10
هورتون : من از پر سبک ترم. دیگه چی از پر Horton: I’m lighter than a feather. What is سبکتره . ?lighter than a feather
(Horton: I’m lighter than a feather. What is lighter than a feather? آره!!! هوا!! چیزی سبک تر از اون نیست. .Ha-ah! Air! There is nothing lighter
(Yes! Air! There is nothing lighter that that.)
بنابراین ، به نظر میرسه که من هر چقدر هوا بیشتر So, it stands to reason… that the more air I داشته باشم . سبکتر هستم .have, the lighter I’ll be (So, it sounds that the more air I have, the lighter I am.)
Elephant Horton promises to help a speck of dust returning to the Jungle of Nool.
Horton navigates a rickety old bridge but requires to be lighter than a feather to get across safely. It seems difficult and insecure for a heavyweight elephant to cross the bridge that is likely to break. When Horton observed that even a feather cannot be safe on the bridge, he questions about something lighter than a feather. He concludes that air is lighter than feather so its stands to a reason that the more air he has, the lighter he will be. So, he inhales and keeps lots of air into his body in order to be lighter than feather without considering his own weight. Here, the direct transfer of jokes from the source language into the target language transmits the jokes as accurately and equally exciting and funny
114 to the Persian viewer so that the Persian viewer will enjoy and laugh at the joke to the same extent as the English viewer.
Here is another example which shows the laws of physics are really universal.
Although direct transfer works well in many ways and is functional, the subtitler may add or remove words that are unavoidable due to the specific features of the subtitling.
Example 4: Universal Humour
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted 00:08:33,222>>> 00:08:49,155 (2012)
کوالسکی : میتونیم یه ایرباس آ 380 بگیریم ؟ ?Kowalski: Can we get an Airbus A380 Back Translation: Can we get an Airbus A380? اسکیپر : آره طالیشو پسر! !Skipper: Solid gold, baby
کوالسکی : اسکیپر ، من میترسم که هواپیمای طال Kowalski: Skipper, I'm afraid a solid gold برای پرواز خیلی باید سنگین باشه .plane would be too heavy to fly
Back Translation: Skipper, I'm afraid a gold plane would be too heavy to fly. اسکیپر : ما ثروتمند هستیم . قوانین فیزیک برای ما Skipper: Kowalski, we'll be rich. The rules کار نمیکنن! .of physics don't apply to us Back Translation: We'll be rich. The rules of physics don't apply to us.
In 'Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted' animation, penguins made lots of money playing poker. They discuss to buy an Airbus A380, one of the genius penguins,
Skipper suggests to buy a solid gold plane since they are very rich. Kowalski afraid the
115 gold plane would be very heavy to fly. The funniest part is when Skipper presumes the rules of physics will not apply to rich people. This funny confident statement makes everyone laugh.
Here is another example of a universal joke that the elements of humour are displayed within the image of one character, the way they communicate with each other and the way they act and behave in unconventional situations.
Example 5: Universal Humour
Ice Age Collision Course (2016) 00:43:45,315 >>> 00:43:54,305
سید: عجله کن گرنی! !Sid: Hurry, Granny Back Translation: Hurry up, Granny! گرنی : هلم نکن! من اونقدر ساعقه خوردم که..... Granny: Don't hurry me! I've been struck by lightning... Back Translation: Don't push me! I've been struck by lightning… سید: گرنی! !Sid: Granny Back Translation: Granny! گرنی: که تو اونقدر صبحانه نخوردی Granny: ... more times that you've had breakfast. Back Translation: that you did not eat breakfast that much
In the above scene, all animals are running to protect themselves from lightning.
Sid is helping Granny which is a wizened old ground sloth who was left behind by her family. Granny, as her name suggests, is walking slowly because of her age, and Sid is pushing her by repeating 'Hurry Granny!' Granny became mad at Sid and says 'Don’t hurry
116 me! I’ve been struck by lightning...' and before she finished her sentence, she got struck by lightning, and as if nothing has happened, she continues her statement: '…more times that you’ve had breakfast'. When the viewers surprise and expect that Granny might be killed by lighting in this scene, she did not even notice any changes. It is a satirical parody of an old people lifestyle imitates a lifestyle that happens in the everyday lives of of typical grandparents that they have been through many difficulties which they do not find the difficult situation as horrible as the younger people. So, the factors and issues that make the fun of the scene perceived by Iranian viewers are equally exciting and funny as the effect of the joke on source language viewers. There are also jokes that are partly cultural, but that culture is common in both languages, and both viewers have the same cultural perception of it, they joke are universal as well. For example, plastic surgery is a common reference among American and Iranian. Just because the name carries the word "plastic" suggests that people who have this surgery end up with a fake face like a doll. Here is the conversation between the Red Puckett and the Wolf, wearing a Granny mask and apron and pretending to be Granny.
117 Example 6: Universal Humour
Hoodwinked (2005) 00:01:03,318>>00:01:15,996
شنل قرمزی: تو کی هستی؟ ?Red Puckett: Who are you Back Translation: Who are you? گرگ: من مادربزرگتم .The Wolf: I'm your grandma Back Translation: I'm your grandmother شنل قرمزی: چهره ات خیلی عجیب شده ,Red Puckett: Your face looks really weird مادربزرگ .granny Back Translation: Your face is so weird, grandmother. گرگ: من مریض بودم ...The Wolf: I've been sick, I... uh Back Translation: I was sick شنل قرمزی: وقتی صحبت میکنی دهنت تکون Red Puckett: Your mouth doesn't move نمیخوره .when you talk
Back Translation: when you talk your mouth doesn't move. گرگ: جراحی پالستیک کردم . مادربرزگ یه کار The Wolf: Plastic surgery. Grandma's had a کوچولو کرده. .little work done Back Translation: I did plastic surgery. Grandmother's had a little work done.
When Red Puckett discovers there is something wrong about her grandmother and says 'your face looks really weird' and 'your mouth doesn’t move when you talk'. The wolf replies, 'Plastic surgery. Grandma’s had a little work done.' It is hilarious to know a grandmother is so concerned about her look to go through the surgery, and it makes viewers laugh how plastic surgery changes the grandma's appearance and ability to function.
118 Sex is unquestionably a popular topic and a notable source of laughter, to the degree that most jokes frequently revolve around sex or at least contain some sexual references. People usually have similar perceptions of sex, hence sex-related topics are also considered as universal jokes. The following is an excerpt that shows the conversation between Crash and Eddie, the twin opossum brothers that both first appeared in Ice Age:
The Meltdown.
Example 7: Universal Humour
Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) 00:58:18,720>>> 00:58:26,730
ادی : چی میشه اگه ما آخرین موجودات زنده باقی Eddie: What if we're the last creatures left مونده باشیم ؟ ما باید جمعیت رو به این دنیا .alive? We'll have to repopulate the earth برگردونیم Back Translation: What if we're last living beings? We have to bring the population back to this world. کرش : چه جوری ؟ همه یا مرد هستن یا خواهر ما Crash: How? Everyone is either a dude or our هستن .sister Back Translation: How? Everyone is either a man or our sister
The mammals are under threat of extinction. They are looking for a way to survive their generation. Eddie suggests "we have to bring the population back to this world'.
Crash foolishly replies: 'How? Everyone is either a man or our sister'. Indirectly, he refers to incest and kinship which refer to relationship between family members or close relatives. Having sexual activity with relatives is not acceptable in Iranian culture, hence the TT viewers easily recognize the joke hidden in Crash's thought. There is no difficulty
119 for target viewers to understand the elements of humour, and the meaning of the jokes is expressed in the same way as the target language.
Gender role is also something that provokes laughter and provides amusement.
Here is another example from ‘Barnyard’ animation.
Example 8: Universal Humour
Barnyard (2006) 00:18:53,761>>> 00:09:49,608
بن: شب زیباییست. من یادم میاد که با خواهرت اینجا Ben: It’s Beautiful Night. I remember when نشسته بودم I used to sit out here with your sister Back Translation: It’s Beautiful Night. I remember I sit out here with your sister اوتیس: من خواهر ندارم Otis: I don’t have a sister Back Translation: I don’t have a sister بن: اوه آره. پس خودت بودی... نه؟ Ben: Oh… yeah That was you, wouldn’t it? Back Translation: Oh yes. It was yourself, no?
Ben is the leader of the farm and Otis’s adoptive father. Ben is negotiating with
Otis to appoint him as the new leader. Ben starts the conversation about the beauty of the night and says ‘I remember when I used to sit out here with your sister’, Otis annoyingly interrupt Ben that, ‘I don’t have a sister’. Unlike Ben who is a brave, responsible and strong leader, Ben would rather have fun with his friends and not take any responsibilities.
Despite being biologically male, Otis has an udder like female cows which is an alien weakness for him. The father satirically refers to these two qualities: irresponsibility and looking like girls. There is a gender bias here. Since the beginning of time, gender roles
120 have existed in society. The subtitler applied "transfer" strategy to translate the text accurately to Persian but the funny part of the story is lost, and perhaps the TT viewers do not understand why Ben confused Otis with a woman. Because of the complexity of the translation and subtitling, it's challenging to translate a joke precisely with the same strength and flavor of the original language.
It is difficult to translate some universal jokes, especially in audiovisual productions, because of the complexity of the translation and subtitling, it's challenging to translate a joke precisely with the same strength and flavor of the original language. It should also be noted that the subtitler must have sufficient knowledge of the language, culture, habits and customs, historical and social events and general imperfections in that culture. The following is another example found in “The secret life of pets”.
Example 9: Universal Humour
The secret life of pets (2016) 00:15:19,235>>> 00:15:42,812
کلوئی: یاال مکس! من دوستتم نه؟ و به عنوان .Chloe: Max, Come on, I'm your friend دوستت ، باید باهات صادق باشم . تو وبرنامه هات Okay? And as your friend, I gotta be honest برای من مهم نیستین with you. I don't care about you or your problems. Back Translation: Come on, Max, I'm your friend. No? And as your friend, I gotta be honest with you. You or your plans are not important to me.
Chloe is a sarcastic cat who does not care much about other animals. The only things she really loves are food and herself. Nevertheless, she does have a way of standing up for her friends. Max and Chloe are always discussing Dog owners and Cat owners.
121 When Max asks her for help with Duke, a dog who has been brought home by Katie
(Max’s owner), she sarcastically says, “I'm your friend. Okay? And as your friend, I gotta be honest with you. I don't care about you or your problems”. Chloe’s contradictory allegations make all viewers laugh.
Cases of satire are seen in many jokes, generally, in this joke, people are ridiculed, while not aiming to hurt them or their feelings. Instead, a person exposed to jokes is criticized for making a person change his/her behavior. Below is another example of the universal joke from “Valiant” animation.
Example 10: Universal Humour
Valiant (2005) 00:07:19,761>>> 00:07:31,608
پرنده مامور : تو زندانی های جنگیت رو نمیخوری The officer Bird : You don’t eat your نه؟ ?prisoners of war, do you
Back Translation: You don’t eat your prisoners of war, no? عقاب : من گیاه خوار هستم The Eagle: I’m a vegetarian Back Translation: I’m a vegetarian پرنده مامور: و هنوز داری کت چرم میپوشی؟ The officer Bird : And yet you wear a leather cape? Back Translation: And yet you wearing a leather jacket?
The Eagle catches one of the officer birds and takes him to his place. The Eagle orders two of his assistants to take the warrior bird to the cage. After being caged, The
Eagle approaches the cage to interrogate the officer bird for some information. The officer
122 Bird asks Eagle “You don’t eat your prisoners of war, do you?” The Eagle responds, “I’m a vegetarian”. Then the officer Bird criticized him, “And yet you wear a leather cape?”.
Normally, vegetarians should not only avoid consuming meat but also to not wear materials that are made from animals’ skin. The funny point is when the eagle claims he is vegetarian, but at the same time, he wears a leather cape which is still a by-product of the meat production process. Vegans and vegetarians should not wear leather. Satire is used to correct false social behavior and cause change. However, a full translation of the conversation makes sense and sounds funny for all viewers.
5.3 Cultural Humours
Cultural humour or culture-related joke relates to the cultural background of individuals, which has been integrated into the culture of origin, the listener must be familiar with the language of the original to understand it (Schmitz, 2002). Cultural jokes need cultural background knowledge; culture-based humour is embedded in the culture of the source language, or at least the person who tells the joke must consider the listener culture and language. Cultural jokes point to elements that are not known and familiar to the majority of target people. For the target viewer to understand and perceive the joke, the viewer needs to have a high level of knowledge and understanding of the original language and culture; otherwise, there is a risk that the funny part of the joke will not be adequately taken or even completely missed. The most common cases are irony, exaggeration, and metaphors, pun, and wordplay that differ or deflect from what is awaited. The following are a few cases of cultural jokes found in my data.
123 Some people use their accent to emphasize their cultural identity, while others want to lose the accept not to stand out among native speakers. Most of the jokes target specifically at language and accent. English is one of the recognized languages of India, with approximately ninety million speakers. The Indian English accent is readily distinguishable. At the same time, it is also viewed as hilarious. Because of the tick Indian accent, anyone can recognize that the person is an Indian, regardless of appearance. The following is an example of the accent reference as part of identity.
Example 11: Cultural Humour
All the Creatures Big and Small (2015) 00:08:19,111 --> 00:08:26,087
فیل ها : ما فیل هستیم .Elephant: We Are Elephants Back Translation: We Are Elephants. شیر : هند یا آفریقا؟ ?Lion: From India or Africa Back Translation: India or Africa? فیل : شوخی میکنی؟ ?Elephant: Are you kidding Back Translation: Are you kidding?
The Animals queue to enter the ark of Noah. When the huge, dark Elephants arrive, the Lion, the receptionist of the ark, asks about their origin, “Africa or India?” The elephant gets offended and responds with a heavy, strong regional Hindi accent: “Are You
Kidding?” It is immediately apparent that the Elephant is Indian. Understanding this humour depends to a certain extent on the non-verbal element, voice, and accent of the elephant, although it still depends on the viewer and his degree of familiarity with Indian culture and language.
124 Newmark points out that gestures and habits are parts of culture (Newmark,
1988:103). In this extract from “Finding Dory,” the gestures and habits are implied yet not explicitly described:
Example 12: Cultural Humour
Finding Dory (2016) 00:30:09>>00:30:23
دوری : سالم بچه ها ! من دنبال خانوادم میگردم . Dory: Hey, guys , I’m looking for my اوه ، ایده خوبیه . خودمونو جای مرده بزاریم .family . Oh, good idea. Play dead ببخشید . باید پلک بزنم . چطور شماها طوالنی مدت I’m sorry. I got to blink. How do you hold پلک نمیزنین؟ ?your eyes open that long Back Translation: Hi guys! I’m looking for my family. Oh, good idea. Let’s pretend we are dead. I’m sorry. I got to blink. How do you not blink that long?
Dory bumps into a bunch of dead fish. Initially, she does not realize that the fishes are dead and think they are playing dead. So, she copies the fishes to make them laugh.
Fish don’t “blink” their eyes quite as Dory does. Fish live underwater, so the risk of their eyes being exposed to the air is not an issue to them. Fish do not have eyelids. If you don't have eyelids, you can't blink. It's funny that Dory did not know this fact and even she apologized for blinking and not following the rule of play dead. Play dead is a game that children lie and pretend to be dead. Play Dead is not a known reference for TT viewers,
خودمونو جای :so the subtitler expands the translation, instead of using "play dead" writes
.pretend we are dead), there is no exact equivalent for "play dead" in Persian) مرده بذاریم
The subtitler transferred the sentence word by word, but if the viewers do not know the
125 gesture and habits of the particular subject, it will be difficult for them to understand the meaning of the jokes. Therefore, not all viewers will have the same interpretation of the joke, and maybe the TT will not make everyone smile at the same level.
Here is another example of gesture and habits in the cultural context from
“Trolls” animation.
Example 13: Cultural Humour
Trolls (2016) 00:32:29,783 --> 00:32:31,159
برنچ: من نمی زنم قدش. .Branch: I don't do high fives Back Translation: I don't do high fives. آقای ابر: بزن دیگه، رئیس. .Cloud Guy: Slap it, boss Back Translation: hit it, boss. برنج: راحتم .Branch: Not gonna happen Back Translation: I am fine. آقای ابر: یک ضربه کوچک. برای دل بابایی. .Cloud Guy: Little slappy. Make daddy happy Back Translation: A little move. For daddy’s heart
There is a conversation between Branch and Cloud Guy. Branch is the overly cautious paranoid survivalist in Troll Village. He is the only troll in the village who dislikes hugs and always tries to avoid Hug Time. Cloud Guy is a male cloud person with socks but no shoes that Branch does not like the looks of him. Cloud Guy seems to get
Branch's nerves as seen when Cloud Guy keep telling him to high-five him. Even when
Branch reluctantly high-five him, he moves his hand away before Branch could, he would then give a remark like "Too slow”. The funny point of the conversation is that the viewers
126 who see the film from the beginning and are familiar with Branch's personality are that always refuses physical contact, but because of Cloud Guy finally agrees to high-five.
Branch usually doesn't sing, dance, or hug but over the course of the film, he forced to embrace all that he hated, even if it includes singing and dancing. Both ST and TT viewers find the moments that he encounters his fears funny.
Furthermore, high-five is a hand gesture in which two people each raise a hand above their shoulder and push, slide or slap their hands together. The gesture is oftentimes introduced orally by an expression like "Give me five," "High five.” The origin story of the high five is the two most documented candidates of Los Angeles Dodgers professional baseball team on 1977. Although the origin of this movement is from the United States,
.exists (بزن قدش) yet this culture is quite known in Iran, and even the equivalent word
Therefore, although this is quite a cultural issue, the Iranian viewer has no difficulty understanding it, and the direct translation seems comprehensive and satisfactory, and the scenes that Branch confronts with what he hates will make any viewer laugh.
127 Example 14: Cultural Humour
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012) 00:04:46,370 >>> 00:04:53,336
گلوریا : چطور میشه یک گورخر ، یک اسب آبی Gloria: How are a zebra, a hippo, a lion and a و یک زرافه وارد یک کازینو در مونته کارلو giraffe going to walk into a casino in Monte برن؟ ?Carlo
Back Translation: How are a zebra, a hippo, a lion and a giraffe going to enter a casino in Monte Carlo?
مارتی : نمیدونم . از رابی بپرس .Marty: I don't know. Ask the rabbi Back Translation: I don't know. Ask the rabbi.
Alex, the lion, is planning to go to a casino in Monte Carlo and take the Penguins along with him. Gloria, Obese grey hippo who is seen in Central Park Zoo as a tourist attraction, and Alex's close friend, asks: “How are a zebra, a hippo, a lion and a giraffe going to walk into a casino in Monte Carlo?”. Gloria indirectly points to the high security of the Casinos in Monte Carlo. Entering into the casino seems completely impossible for animals. Marty, the Zebra who has no idea, suddenly seemed to have come up with a solution, says: “I don't know. Ask the rabbi”. Rabbi is a religious leader or teacher in
Jewish. He thinks conditions are so complex that only a religious leader can have a solution to this problem. If the reader is familiar with cultural references, he will surely laugh at this joke, firstly, that animals are not allowed to enter the casino; second, how can a religious leader give a way to enter the casino, while the duty of a religious teacher
128 is to advise people to not go to the casinos. The subtitler uses the same word, "Rabbi” in the TT, although the joke is completely transferred based on the SL; however, the cultural issue prevents the viewer from comprehending the humour. Perhaps if the subtitler used
Sheikh) instead of "Rabbi" in Persian, the viewers would find this scene) "آخوند" the word more amusing. Although the word casino itself is not well known to all Iranian viewers,
,word (the place for gambling). However قمارخانه it might have been better to use the despite the correct translation based on the source text, the joke lost its intended meaning.
Some jokes contain idioms. There are many idiomatic expressions in the data of this research. When the ST idiom is substituted with a target language expression and phrases that have unconventional phrasing but converts the application and matches the form of the source text, sometimes the joke loses the flavor of it. When the original text is translated into idiomatic TL, and the subtitler puts an effort to create a stylistic and viewer-friendly version, the dynamic feature of the original version is lost in translation.
In the following example, subtitler applied word for word translation, but the translated text does not sound idiomatic in Persian anymore. Moreover, many viewers who have not heard the term before, they may even fail to relate to the dialogue.
129 Example 15: Cultural Humour
)Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012 00:36:05,081 >>> 00:36:14,298
کاپیتان شانتل ده بو : وقتی جایی سیرک هست ، Captaine Chantel DuBois: Where there is شیر هم هست .circus, there is lion Back Translation: Where there is circus , there is lion. وقتی در روم هستی ...When in Rome باید بگی : زنده باد فرانسه ! Capitaine Chantel DuBois: VIVA LA FRANCE! Back Translation: When you are in Rome you must say: VIVA FRANCE!
Capitaine Chantel DuBois is a Monaco animal control head officer that is known for her constant tracking of the runaway or stray animals. She intends to hunt Alex, the famed lion from the Central Park Zoo in New York City. When the officer sees a bear rides a motorcycle, she thinks if there is a circus, there is a lion. She says with herself
“When in Rome” then jumps onto the police car and continues: “Viva La France.” The original idiom is “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” this shift in expression has made the hilarious aspect of the word even greater.
The equivalent idiom for “Where there is circus, there is lion.” and “When in
which literally means ‘if you خواهی نشوی رسوا همرنگ جماعت شو Rome, do as Romans do” is do not want ignominy, follow the rules of the place where you are.’. The subtitler could play creatively with words, and use the Persian idiom. In possibly such case, English idioms, and slang are transliterated into colloquial Persian, and the language of localized
130 characteristic and individual tendency in the source text but still the humour of the original version is lost in the translation. The adoption of Persian idioms may make the target viewers feel that the rendered subtitles are more like real-life language. This is a clear example that shows that Iranian subtitlers are reluctant to find the best Persian equivalent, and have little quest to find the best solution, which part of this lack of ability is due to technical translation constraints.
Besides, since most Persian idioms are derived from stories, myths, and old traditions, the words have a weighty cultural burden. The below is another example of the cultural phrase and expression in “Hoodwinked”:
Example 16: Cultural Humour
Hoodwinked! (2005) 00:31:31,444 >>00:31:47,518
شنل قرمزی: برای یک خبرنگار ، تو حتما یه راه Red: For a reporter, you sure have a strange عجیب برای انجام کارت داری .way of doing your job Back Translation: For a reporter, you sure have a strange way of doing your job. گرگ: چی بگم؟ با گرگ ها بزرگ شدم The Wolf: What can I say? I was raised by wolves. Back Translation: What to say? I was raised by wolves.
Chief Grizzly is a stocky brown bear who is always on task during a crime and doesn't like jokes or unnecessary talk during work. When Grizzly is interrogating the wolf about the granny, he asks: “You say the old lady was already tied up! How did that happen?! and the Wolf replies: "I don't know, maybe to make herself look innocent." Red
131 says, standing in a corner and watching interrogations, “for a reporter, you sure have a strange way of doing your job” and rolls her eyes. Wolf replies indifferently: “What can I say? I was raised by wolves”, and the scene cuts to a picture of Wolf's family portrait, where Wolf was shown as a newborn, and his mother, father, and grandfather were with him. The first hilarious point is the conflict between the Wolf and Chief Grizzly characteristics. Unlike the police, which is very serious, the Wolf is continually mocking and joking. The funny second point is the term 'being a wolf’ when the wolf is stating that wolves raised him. Wolf is an investigative reporter; although he acts like a human, he is affected by the nature of the wolves. Wolf is actually a good guy from the bone with a heart on the right side, willing to protect others, including helping Red to rescue her
Granny, saving the situation; however, he is inherently a wolf. It is a known concept for
گرگ باران Iranian viewers, so they have no problem understanding this phrase. The idiom
literally means a wolf who sees the rain -A drowning man is not troubled by rain-) is) دیده very similar to this concept. In Iranian culture, wolf refers to a person who always has a smart way to do anything, so the using the transfer strategy for this cultural joke is still understandable to TT viewers and, as a result, funny.
Culture is shaped by the way people live and what they believe. Laws, beliefs, moral and social values are also part of a culture. People all over the world have different thoughts and attitudes, beliefs, and, consequently, altered perceptions and cultural understanding. The following example, taken from “Norm of the North,” speaks of a feature of the New York people who have been replaced with Tehran, the capital city of
Iran by the subtitler.
132 Example 17: Cultural Humour
Norm of the North )2016( 00:32:06,200>>> 00:32:08,600
آقای گرین : بوی حیوان وحشی میدی، نرم. ,Mr. Greene: You smell like a wild animal Norm. Back Translation: You smell like a wild animal , Norm. نورم : آقای گرین ، فقط بخاطر این که حمام نرفتم Norm: Mr. Greene, just because I haven’t میخوای به من شلیک کنی ؟ bathed, you’re gonna shoot me? Jezz, I heard خدای من ! من شنیده بودم که اهالی تهران باهات New Yorkers could be hostile دشمن میشن؟ Back Translation: Mr. Greene, just because I haven’t bathed, you want to shoot me? My God!, I heard Tehranian could be your enemy
Norm is the polar bear that shows the talent to speak to people, a characteristic given by his ancestor. In this scene, Norm is pretending he is an actor costumed as a bear, tryouts for Mr. Greene's business and is accompanied to dinner by Vera. Greene, who understands that Norm is an actual bear, assumes that Norm has come to release his grandfather. Greene tries to shoot Norm in the restaurant, and says “You smell like a wild animal, Norm.”
Norm answers with fear: “Mr. Greene, just because I haven’t bathed, you’re gonna shoot me? Jezz, I heard New Yorkers could be hostile”. Jezz is an expression used when someone is shocked, amazed or frustrated and its origin is “Jesus.” Since the majority of
my God). Moreover, New) خدای من Iranians are Muslim, the subtitler has credited this with
Yorkers are known as unfriendly, aggressive, and angry all over the world. Like any other
133 big city, the people of Tehran are known to be hostile and a bit aggressive due to the busy life and the city population as well. Subtitler assumes TT viewers may not know anything about the characteristics of New Yorkers (people from New York), so it is localized with the term Tehranian (people who live or lived in Tehran). The subtitler makes it easier for
TT viewers to relate to these concepts by creativity and replacing these references.
Although the words in these jokes have been substituted with new ideas, the message and what makes the viewer laugh is not changed, even by restoring it and linking it to Tehran, the viewer sees this scene very funny indeed. The following is another instance of culture- related jokes from “The secret life of pets.”
Example 18: Cultural Humour
The secret life of pets (2016) 00:04:03,680 >>> 00:04:20,153
گیجت : برنامه ای برای امروز داری؟ ?Gidget: Any plans today Back Translation: Do you have any plans today? مکس : آره خیلی . برنامه های زیادی دارم . اینجا Max: Yes. Big, big stuff today, Gidget. I got میشینم و صبر میکنم تا کیتی برگرده big plans. I'm gonna sit here and I'm gonna wait for Katie to come back. Back Translation: Yes many, I have many stuff today. I'm gonna sit here and wait for Katie to come back. گیجت : اوه ، چه هیجان انگیز . مزاحمت نمیشم . Gidget: Oh, that sounds exciting. Well, I منم امروز روز شلوغی دارم .won't interrupt. I've got a very busy day too Back Translation: Oh, how exciting. I won't interrupt. I've got a busy day too.
Gidget is a white Pomeranian that is shown to be very loving and concerning for
Max (a white and brown Terrier Mix) and others and tried as hard as she can to make sure
134 nobody is poorly affected from her words. In a dialogue between Max and Gidget, He asks: “Any plans today? Max does not take his eyes off the door and replies: “Yes. Big, big stuff today, Gidget. I got big plans. I'm gonna sit here, and I'm gonna wait for Katie to come back.” and Gidget also gives the same answer: “I've got a hectic day too.” Gidget has a crush on her dog neighbor Max; she is therefore always trying to have unnecessary conversations with him. Both ST and TT viewers have an almost identical look at this scene. We all know that dogs do nothing but waiting at home for their owner, while the two dogs pretend to be doing something significant in this scene. Habits and behaviors are an inseparable part of a culture; however, Persian viewers are quite familiar with this dog's, and the subtitler has not faced challenges or complexity in translation.
The name of individuals in English is generally transcribed into Persian subtitles directly, names in alphabetical languages are transcribed into Persian. Since most Persian viewers do not know how to pronounce these names and are not familiar with the pronunciation of these names, their pronunciation will be somehow wrong or not the same as the way a native English viewer may pronounce it. Direct transcription of names, especially if that name carries special meaning, somehow affects the meaning of the name. In addition, factors associated with culture are expected to be treated in a different way, since Iranians are not much acquainted with culture and language of
American people. The below is an exert from the “Ratatouille”.
135 Example 19: Cultural Humour
Ratatouille (2007) 00:52:21,220 >>> 00:52:51,920
اسکینر : به سالمتی موفقیتت لینگویینی ؟ برات ?Skinner: Toasting your success, eh, Linguini خوبه .Good for you Back Translation: Cheers your success, Linguini? It is good for you. لینگویینی : اوه ، من فقط بر داشتم که بی ادبی نشه Linguini: Oh, I just took it to be polite. I don't . من واقعا نمیخورم .really drink, you know Back Translation: Oh, I just took it to be polite. I don't really drink. اسکینر : البته که نمیخوری ، من هم اونو Skinner: Oh, of course you don't. I wouldn't نمیخوردم . ولی باید احمق باشی که این شراب either if I was drinking that. But you would فرانسوی را تحسین نکنی. و تو آقای لینگویینی have to be an idiot of elephantine proportions احمق نیستی . به سالمتی احمق نبودنت not to appreciate this '61 Château Latour, and you, Monsieur Linguini, are no idiot. Let us toast your non-idiocy! Back Translation: Of course, you don't. I wouldn't drink that too. But you would have to be an idiot not to appreciate this french wine. and you are Mr idiot Linguini. Cheers to your non-idiocy!
The name of Skinner is the first point to be noticed in this scene. Chef Skinner is a short, grumpy man who is shown to hate rats very much. Skinner’s name refers to behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner, famous for his experiments with rats. As is common in the Persian translation, the subtitler transcribed the name (skinner) into Persian
English viewers as well as Persian viewers may not even know the name .(اسکینر) alphabet of this psychologist and may not be able to associate Skinner's hatred of the mouse with
Skinner's name, the psychologist, which most of his studies have been on the rats.
136 Therefore, the direct transfer of the name does not make much difference. Even though those who understand this connection will smile at each time they hear his name.
In this scene, Skinner is suspicious that Linguini hides a rat in Gusteau kitchen (A famous restaurant in Paris) that helped him to make a delicious soup. He invites Linguini to take a glass of wine with him and have a friendly chat. He plans to make Linguini drunk and ask some him questions about the rat. So, Skinner says: "Toasting your success, eh,
Linguini? Good for you." Linguini indicates his wine glass and replies: “Oh, I just took it to be polite. I don't really drink, you know.” Skinner wants to make sure that Linguini will drinks, so to provoke him to do so, he says: “Oh, of course, you don't. I wouldn't either if
I was drinking that. But you would have to be an idiot of elephantine proportions not to appreciate this '61 Château Latour, and you, Monsieur Linguini, are no idiot.” To encourage him to drink some wine, Skinner made fun of him by saying: "Let us toast your non-idiocy!” he means “If you don’t drink 61 Château Latour, so you are an idiot”.
The '61 Château Latour is famous French wine, made in 1961, which the Persian
French) شراب فرانسوی subtitler, without mentioning the exact name, briefly describes it as wine) in the TT and the subtitler resigned to translate the “elephantine proportions.” The word “toast” is an expression of good wishes and respect for someone that involves
به سالمتی holding up and then drinking from a glass of wine: toast has been translated to
(to be healthy) which is the typical expression of good wishes before drinking among
Iranian. Toast/cheer before drinking is a similar habit and tradition in both Persian and
English cultures, so Persian viewers see this scene as exciting and funny as others.
137 Newmark distinguishes five categories of culturally specific items. One of the categories is material culture encompasses artefacts, food, clothes, houses and towns, and transport (Newmark, 1988:103). With the globalization and increasing interactions and cultural connections, the cultural factors of a particular region or country are also found in other countries, or at least they are familiar to other people in other countries. Eating habits, food, and drink belonging to one country are also found in other countries, and even that food culture has been integrated and homegrown in other countries and has gradually become part of that culture, for example, Iranian pizza or American sushi. If we look at the point of view of translation, many cultural factors are not specific to the source culture and are not unfamiliar with the target language, therefore, direct translation can convey the source text message. Here is example of culture-related joke found in “Kung
Fu Panda” animation.
138 Example 20: Cultural Humour
Kung Fu Panda (2006) 00:04:38,276 >>> 00:04:51,245
پو: پدر تا حاال فکر کردی که کار دیگه ای انجام Po: But, Dad, didn't you ever want بدی؟ منظورم در کنار کار نودله ?to do something else Something besides noodles? Back Translation: Dad, didn't you ever think to do something else? I mean something besides noodles job? آقای پینگ : در واقع وقتی من جوان و دیوانه بودم Mr. Ping: Actually, when I was young and میخواستم برم و توفو درست کردن رو یاد بگیرم crazy, I thought about running away and learning how to make tofu. Back Translation: Actually, when I was young and crazy, i wanted to go and learn how to make tofu. پو: چرا این کارو نکردی؟ ?Po: Why didn't you
Back Translation: Why didn't you this? آقای پینگ : چون آرزوی احمقانه ای بود . میتونی Mr. Ping: Because it was a stupid dream. Can تصور کنی من توفو درست کنم..؟ ?you imagine me making tofu Back Translation: Because it was a stupid dream. Can you imagine me making tofu..?
Mr. Ping is Po’s adoptive father and the owner of the noodle shop. He wants to teach his son everything about noodle-making, hoping that Po would take over the family business after him. One day, Po asks his father “But, Dad, didn't you ever want to do something else? Something besides noodles?”. Mr. Ping says when he was young and crazy, he thought about learning how to make tofu. Po wonders why his father didn’t do
139 that and Mr. Ping laughs airily and replies “Because it was a stupid dream. Can you imagine me making tofu?”
The contradiction here is very funny. Mr. Ping himself first said that he wants to learn how to make cheese, and he immediately says that it is a stupid idea. The conversation refers to two foods: Noodle and Tofu. Noodle is a food in the form of long, thin strips made from flour or rice, water, and often egg, cooked in boiling liquid. Tofu is a pale, light food that has insignificant flavor but is rich in protein, made from the seed of the soya plant. Although these two foods are related to the Asian culture/countries, both
ST and TT viewers are relatively familiar with these elements. Even if none of these items are available in the target language, they can still learn about these items, or at least their existence and what they are, and because of the people's access to information and knowledge through the Internet and studying and familiarizing them with other cultures.
Even the animation and movies themselves are a way to convey and educate these cultural issues to the audience. So, we can say that many of these culture-related references have become the knowledge and information of the majority of people, and most people, even if they do not deal directly with these issues, still have a reasonably good general information about them. The Persian subtitler has used the same words in Persian (Noodle
perhaps if the issue of the space constraint was not relevant, the subtitler ,(توفو Tofu , نودل could expand the translation a bit and explain a little about what these foods are. Although even if the viewers are not familiar with these foods, TT as well as ST viewers still sees the contradiction between Mr. Ping's statements funny and laughable.
140 5.4 Linguistic Humours
Linguistic humour or the language-related joke is based on specific features of phonology, morphology or syntax in the original language, and the listener should be familiar with the source language to understand this type of humour (Schmitz, 2002). Similarly,
Zabalbeascoa believes that the joke that depends on language and linguistics such as puns and wordplay depend on characteristics of the common language for their effect
(Zabalbeascoa, 1996). Chiaro thinks wordplay contains every convincing way in which the language is used to entertain the audience and can have a wide range of pun and amusing and entertaining stories. She thinks that the wordplay is inextricably associated with jokes because the purpose and aim of using it are entertainment and amusement
(Chiaro, 2006). The following are a few cases of linguistic jokes found in the selected data of this study.
Literary devices are one of the most controversial issues in understanding jokes.
Here is an example of allusion from “All the creatures big and small”. The allusion is a figure of speech in which the writer points to a topic matter such as a location, event, or literary work by way of a crossing source. Understanding the connection and relating it to an event or a person depends entirely on the reader's perception and interpretation.
141 Example 21: Linguistic Humour
All the Creatures Big and Small 00:01:38>>>>00:01:47
دیو : سیل داره میاد فینی . اگه ما نریم غرق .Dave: Listen there is flood coming, Finny میشیم .We’ll drown if we don’t leave
Back Translation: Flood is coming, Finny. We’ll drown if we don’t go. فینی : سیل ؟ اونم اینجا ؟ ?Finny: Water? Here Back Translation: Flood? right here?
Finny is an aquatic creature known as a Nestrian and Dave's son. Dave tells his son that a flood is coming and if they do not leave, they will drown. While they were standing in the middle of the desert, Finny wonders, “water? here (in the middle of the desert)?” The scene from two points may involve the ST and TT viewers and make them laugh. First, as Finny said, there is no water in the middle of the desert to be drowned in it. Second, even if there is a flood, Finny and Dave are both aquatic creatures and should not be afraid of drowning in the water. The dialogue between Dave and his son refers to the story of Noah and the ark. This scene may remind some of the viewers of Noah story without mentioning it directly. In short, Noah's story is: when God became angry with humanity's misdeeds and decided to destroy them by forty days and forty nights flood,
Noah was forgiven for his worship, and God ordered him to build the ark in order to save his wife, his children, and their wives, pairs of all animals from the flood. Noah’s Ark is one of the few stories most people recognize as it is told in the Quran and Bible.
142 The subtitler translated the conversation between Finny and his father as presented in the original text. The small changes seen in the translation of the TT do not affect the
,(flood) سیل message and the order of the story. The Persian subtitler changed the water to perhaps to emphasize the flood and seriousness of the story. In the first sentence, the
سیل داره میاد، subtitler removed the word “Listen!” and translated the sentence literally to
flood is coming, Finny”, which does not affect the whole sentence. In short, although فینی the story of Noah has a cultural aspect since most Americans and Iranians might know the story, they will both enjoy the original text and translated text equally. The cultural closeness between English and Persian in this example reserve the elements of humour and allusive influence in the target text.
Repetition is the essential element of the humour and is often used in combination with other devices to reinforce them. In an example of "Horton Hears a Who", the word
"tell" is beautifully repeating, which is very funny.
Example 22: Linguistic Humour
Horton Hears a Who! (2008) 00:18:01,452>>00:18:17,784
تامی: ما به هیچکی نمیگیم . و اگه بگیم . به اونا Tommy: We won’t tell anyone. And if we میگیم که به کسی نگن .tell, we’ll tell them not to tell anyone
Back Translation: We don’t tell anyone. And if we tell , we tell them not to tell someone. هورتون : عالیه! !Horton: Perfect Back Translation: Excellent!
143 Repetition is a rhetorical device that recites the same expressions or phrases a few times to make an intention understandable and more interesting. The above example is the diacope (repetition of words broken by some other words) type of repetition used in the conversation. Horton is the kind-hearted elephant that discovers the tiny city, which he can hear but cannot see. Horton promises mayor to transport Who-ville to safety.
However, Horton encounters opposition from his jungle neighbors, who do not want to believe in the existence of Who-ville. He endures a good amount of ridicule, for believing in something that no one else does. Tommy, one of the neighbors, insists elephant to reveals the secret he is hiding. He emphasizes “We won’t tell anyone. And if we tell we’ll tell them not to tell anyone”. Horton is also known as hopeful, relaxed, and friendly.
Although he is much older than Tommy, he believes naively and agrees to reveal the story.
What is distinguished in the translation of this conversation is the applying the procedure of repetition in the target text. To emphasize the effects of expression, the word “tell” is repeated four times in the original text: “We won’t tell anyone. And if we tell, we’ll tell
to) گفتن them not to tell anyone”. The released translation is also a repetition of the word tell) as follows:
که به کسی نگن (tell) به اونا میگیم .(tell) و اگه بگیم . (won’t tell) ما به هیچکی نمیگیم (not to tell)
Therefore, the word-to-word translation not only preserves the style of the sentence but also uses the same rhetorical device.
Invective is an offensive or abusive language used to express blame or critical disapproval, and it can also be used in humourous ways for forceful and rude criticism in some jokes. Invective can take the form of one word or expression, or be an entire
144 discourse aimed at offending or hurting someone else. The below exert from Hoodwinked is an example of a single word invective, which carries the double meaning as well.
Example 23: Linguistic Humour
Hoodwinked! (2005) 00:33:11,311>> 00:33:15,509
گریزلی : این پسر احمقه. .Chief Grizzly: This guy's a loon Back Translation: This boy’s a loon. کارآگاه بیل استورک : حواست باشه چی میگی. Detective Bill Stork: Watch it, chief. My مادرم هم نصفش احمقه! .mama's half-loon Back Translation: Watch what you say. My mama's half-loon.
Grizzly is the police chief that is rather ignorant, arrogant, and offensive and doesn't like jokes or useless talk during work. Bill Stork, the silly officer, is Chief Grizzly's assistant who usually annoys him. Chief Grizzly whisper in Bill Stork ear referring about the Woodsman: “This guy is a loon”. Bill Stork who feels he has been insulted by Crizzly, says in an aggressive tone: “Watch it, chief. My mama Is a half-loon”. The word “loon” can be understood in two directions. Loon informally points to a person who is crazy, silly, or odd. The word can be used to insult or discredit. On the other hand, the loon is the large North American bird that eats fish.
A double entendre is a figure of speech that is devised to be understood in two ways, having a double meaning. Typically, one of the definitions is obvious, given the context whereas the other may need more thought. The word “loon” can be interpreted in
145 two ways. Grizzly's statement of this word is the person's stupidity, which is utterly different from Stork’s conception, and he thinks this word refers to his mother's identity.
Persian translation has failed in translating the double entendre. Although the subtitler has chosen the correct alternative words literally, the jokes have lost the hilarious aspect, and the fun has become less strong and effective. “This guy is a loon” has been
مادرم This boy is crazy), and the reply has been turned to) این پسر احمق است translated to
my mama is half-crazy). When the Persian viewer does not understand this) نصف احمق است difference in the beauty of the word game in the TL, jokes do not have the same a concept that will pass on to viewers of the SL.
Here is another case of linguist joke from “The angry birds”. Look at alliteration of the two words, Terence and terrifying, in the following example. Alliteration is the use of the same sound or sounds, especially consonants, at the beginning of several words.
Example 24: Linguistic Humour
The angry birds (2016) 00:16:24,840>>> 00:16:30,300
ماتیلدا : این هم ترنسه .Matilda: And this is Terence Back Translation: This is Terence. قرمز : بیشتر ترنس ترسناکه .Red: Whew! More like terrifying Terence Back Translation: More Terence terrifying
Matilda is the director of the anger management class on Bird Island. She is a former angry bird herself that now makes it her business. In the anger management class,
146 Matilda introduces Terence to other birds: “This is Terence”. Red looks at Terence and
Terence growl at Red. Red says “Whew! More like terrifying Terence”. In this scene, the interaction between Terence and Red, when Terence make low, rough sound anger is in itself funny. And the alliteration used here, as well as the tone makes this conversation even more laughable. The repetition of consonants at the beginning of two words (Terence and Terrifying) beautifully has been repeated in the Persian translation. Terence and
that can be pronounced as TARENSE and ترسناک and ترسن Terrifying are substituted with
TARSNAK respectively, which has a similar effect in TT. In this instance, the rhetorical influence of the alliteration is reserved in the target text.
Instances of paradoxes can be humorous and confusing. Here is an example of the paradox in “Finding Dory”. The paradox is a statement that contradicts itself and still seems correct somehow. In the provided case, Dory shows a lot of inconsistencies and contradictions due to her main characteristic, short-term memory loss.
Example 25: Linguistic Humour
Finding Dory (2016) 00:07:48,719>>00:07:54,265
دوری : انگار دیروز بود . البته که دقیقا دیروز رو .Dory: I remember it like it was yesterday خیلی خوب یادم نمیاد Of course, I don't really remember yesterday all that well. Back Translation: It was yesterday. Of course, that I don't remember yesterday all that well.
Dory is a ditzy and forgetful fish because she suffers from short-term memory loss.
Dory wants to define a memoir and starts this way: “I remember it like it was yesterday”.
147 When the viewers wait for a flashback to the past, Dory contradicts her last statement by confessing that she even does not remember that, it is a funny moment for both ST and
TT viewers. Although the subtitler has replaced this episode word for word in the target language, it still looks hilarious and ridiculous for the viewers. Therefore, direct translation has continued to be successful in conveying a funny conversation.
Many examples of the creation of new words and word combinations can be found in the jokes of this research data. Playing with words and combining them to create a new word, which sometimes may not even exist in the language of origin, but the meaning of the word is understandable by mixing the meaning of the two words, usually creates a funny mood that makes everyone laugh.
Example 26: Linguistic Humour
Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) 00:27:23,155 >>> 00:27:29,385
منی : اشکالی که نداره؟ ?Manny: Do you mind Back Translation: Do you mind? کراش : همش داره حالگیری میکنه .Crash: He sucks the fun out of everything Back Translation: He is constantly bothering ادی : عوضی! !Eddie: FUNSUCKER Back Translation: Bitch!
Crash and Eddie keep drumming all the time, and Manny takes the drumsticks away angrily. Funsucker as the name implies, refer to the one who fucks fun. A person who can take any situation where others are enjoying themselves and ruin all enjoyment
148 from it. This word is universalized by the Lindsay Lohan movie Freaky Friday. In “Ice
Age: Collision Course”, Edward called Manny the fun suckers! The two words (fund and sucker) are combined into one unique word. (Funsucker). ST viewers can understand the situation and find the word "Funsucker" very funny, but the Persian subtitler has replaced
which means "bitch", which entirely eliminated the funny and عوضی this word with playful nature of the scene. Therefore, the replacement of a word with another word in
Persian is no longer fun for the TT viewers, and its humourous element is completely lost.
Most often conversational joking and repetition especially in the opposite or contradictory sense create funny situations. The following is an example found in “Ice
Age, the Melton” animation.
Example 27: Linguistic Humour
Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) 01:12:36,631 >>> 01:12:45,351
سید : ما زنده میمونیم ! !Sid: We're gonna live
Back Translation: We're gonna live! !سید : ما میمیریم !Sid: We're gonna die Back Translation: We're gonna die!
Repetition is when words or phrases are repeated in a text. In this example, two opposite words, “live” and “die”, are used, it is Antistasis Repetition which is the rhetorical expression for the reproduction of a statement or phrase in a distinctive or opposite understanding. Sid is one of the funniest characters in "Ice Age: The Meltdown" animation. He is so excited when he sees Manfred and his wife survived drowning. They
149 are in the middle of a sea, and Sid shouts “We’re gonna live!”. He first thinks they have been saved and survived, but Water rapidly rises around them because of the melted ices.
He is scared, laughingly, he changes his mind and says: “We’re gonna die!”. The viewer faces two conflicting feelings, joy and sorrow, and two different concepts of dying and
ما می میریم survival, which is very funny. The subtler translated the “we are gonna die” to
ما زنده می ) ”which literally means the same word. The same is done for “we are gonna live
Direct translation has been sufficient and necessary, and TT viewers, like ST .(مانیم viewers, enjoy the scene and laugh at Sid. Here is another example of repetition and contradiction in speech from the “Barnyard” animation.
Example 28: Linguistic Humour
Barnyard (2006) 00:05:06,235>>> 00:05:12,812
اوتیس : باشه ! ببینید ، این خودش به اندازه کافی !Otis: Okay, Okay! Look, this is bad enough بده ، لطفا کسی جیغ نزنه "درخت" ”!Please , no one scream, “Tree Back Translation: Okay! see, this itself is bad enough! Please , no one scream, “Tree!” همه دوستانش : "درخت" !All of his friends: Tree Back Translation: Tree!
In language literature, the contradiction occurs when two statements don't seem to agree with each other. In this scene, they expect to crash the tree. Otis says “Okay, Okay!
Look, this is bad enough! Please, no one scream, “Tree!”, And his friend loudly repeats
"Tree". In a conversation between Otis and his friend, Otis warned that nobody should scream. On the contrary, his friend shouted "Tree" immediately. Repeating the word
150 "Tree" makes the viewer laugh. The subtitler has translated the conversation word by word, and direct translation transferred the ST concept and message. So, it can be said that both SL and TL viewers will enjoy the scene in the same way.
Words, phrases, rhymes, and sounds are the things that make the text more interesting and make the viewer laugh. Rhyme often make the situation fun or tongue- twisty to read out loud. The following example makes the point more explicit. The following is an excerpt from the “The secret life of pets”:
Example 29: Linguistic Humour
The secret life of pets (2016) 00:26:17,520 >>> 00:26:22,678
اسنوبال : انقالب شد ! !Snowball: The revolution has begun
Back Translation: It is revolution! زنده باد آزاد باشی! !Liberated forever Back Translation: Long live being free! مرده باد خانه داری! !Domesticated never Back Translation: Dead being home!
Snowball is an abandoned rabbit who dislikes the pets and their owners and wants to rule the world. He is astonishingly idiosyncratic and manipulative which is willing to use numerous one-liners jokes and ridiculous statements. In this scene, Snowball yells from the Animal Control truck: “Liberated forever!”, “Domesticated never!”.
Words that rhyme has the same last sound. “Liberated” and “Domesticated” rhyme with “ted” and “forever” and “never” rhyme with “ever”. The subtitler has translated the
151 purpose and concept of Snowball's slogan well in the TT, as well as the structure of the sentence, short, and fluent phrases and the rhythm is preserved in translation. The
(morde bAd) مرده باد translator, instead of “forever” and “never”, used two equivalents of
zende bAd) in a very innovative way, which transmits the meaning in the same) زنده باد and
literally means زنده باد literally means to be dead, and مرده باد .way and maintains the rhythm
آزاد باشی to be alive. Also, the words “liberated” and “domesticated” are replaced with
literally means to be free and آزاد باشی .xAne dAri) by subtitler) خانه داری azAd bAshi) and)
literally means to be at home. Again, the translator has kept both rhythm and خانه داری meaning in place with the creative use of words and the creation of the new word.
Therefore, direct translation preserves the essence and rhyme of the words as well as the elements of the humour.
Most linguistic jokes in my data contain terms, idioms, and expressions that unfamiliarity with them in the source language can make it difficult to understand it in the target language. The idiom is a phrase or an expression that has a figurative, or seldom literal, meaning. Here is an example from “Trolls” animation.
Example 30: Linguistic Humour
Trolls (2016) 00:45:08,792 --> 00:45:11,252
برنچ: چطور همیشه نیمه ی پر لیوان رو مییبینی؟ Branch: How do you always look on the bright side?
Back Translation: How do you always see the glass as half full? اینجا نیمه ی پری وجود نداره. هیچی !There is no bright side here. None Back Translation: There is no half full here. None.
152 It is a conversation between Branch and Poppy. Poppy is relentlessly upbeat and slightly naive. Branch is the realist paranoid survivalist in Troll Village, who always sees the negative and wrong side of the story. Branch says gently, “how could you possibly think he’s still alive?” with a determined look her face Poppy returned to Branch. “I don’t think he’s alive,” she states firmly. “I hope he is. And that’s enough. “Here Branch Asked.
“How do you always look on the bright side? There is no bright side here. None!” A literal word-by-word subtitling translation of an idiom will most likely not convey the same meaning in the TT. The subtitler has replaced the idiom with the equivalent phrase in
چطور همیشه Persian. “How do you always look on the bright side?” has been translated to
which means “How do you always see the glass as half full?” Dark نیمه پر لیوان را می بینی؟ side/ bright side has been substituted with half full/ half empty in the TT for these words are more recognizable to the Persian viewers and therefore more understandable.
5.5 Summary
According to the analysis of Schmitz’s categories of humour, the researcher finds that
50.33% of the jokes are universal jokes, 40.26% cultural jokes, and 9.41% linguistic jokes.
The majority of the jokes found in my data are universal jokes, and about 78% of the jokes are dealt with ST-oriented transferring strategies (expansion 2.59%, paraphrase 28.2%, transfer 39.33%, and transcription 7.74%), in which the ST undergoes minimum changes.
However, this does not mean that all of these jokes have been translated thoroughly and accurately into the target language. Some factors have lost their original flavor and strength to varying degrees or feelings, or the elements of humour have been weakened, which is the result of direct transfer which is the most common strategy used in my data.
153 In general, the subtitle is more foreignized in compare to dubbing. Danan states that, in comparison with the dubbing, this is the most intense form and mode of translation, which tends to the source text, or in other words is source-oriented translation (Danan,
1991, p.612). The subtitler tries to find the most appropriate equivalent for words, while in the dubbing, the interpreter does not face the constraints of subtitling, so it can express the words and even express the original text style in the target text well. As previously mentioned, Persian viewers prefer subtitles because they want to feel the excitement and passion of the original animation, it shows that the Iranians are flexible and ready to accept
English language and culture and can relate to that type of lifestyle and foreign culture.
The following table shows the percentages of each joke (universal joke, cultural joke, and linguistic joke) considering the total number of cases of humour in each animation.
154 Table 5.1 Distribution of Jokes in Each Animation
Animation Jokes Frequency Percentage Year Director(s) 1 All Creatures Big and Small 1. Universal Joke 424 46.90% 2015 2. Cultural Joke 386 42.80% Toby Genkel 3. Linguistic Joke 94 10.39% Sean McCormack Total: 904 2 Barnyard 1. Universal Joke 431 43.22% 2006 2. Cultural Joke 387 38.81% Steve Oedekerk 3. Linguistic Joke 179 17.95% Total: 997 3 Finding Dory 1. Universal Joke 601 57.84% 2016 2. Cultural Joke 364 35.03% Andrew Stanton 3. Linguistic Joke 74 7.12% Angus MacLane Total: 1,039 4 Hoodwinked! 1. Universal Joke 582 52.71% 2005 2. Cultural Joke 438 39.67% Cory Edwards 3. Linguistic Joke 84 7.60% Todd Edwards Total: 1,104 5 Horton Hears a Who! 1. Universal Joke 487 52.87% 2008 2. Cultural Joke 367 39.84% Jimmy Hayward 3. Linguistic Joke 67 7.27% Steve Martino Total: 921 6 Ice Age: Collision Course 1. Universal Joke 818 59.23% 2016 2. Cultural Joke 458 33.16% Mike Thurmeier 3. Linguistic Joke 105 7.60% Galen T. Chu Total: 1,381 7 Ice Age: The Meltdown 1. Universal Joke 270 45.30% 2006 2. Cultural Joke 285 47.81% Carlos Saldanha 3. Linguistic Joke 41 6.87% Total: 596 8 Kung Fu Panda 1. Universal Joke 381 45.79% 2006 2. Cultural Joke 393 47.23% Mark Osborne 3. Linguistic Joke 58 6.97% John Stevenson Total: 832 9 Madagascar 3: 1. Universal Joke 423 40.94 Europe’s Most Wanted 2. Cultural Joke 483 46.75% 2012 3. Linguistic Joke 127 12.29% Eric Darnell Total: 1,033 Tom McGrath
155 10 Norm of the North 1. Universal Joke 639 46.95% 2016 2. Cultural Joke 577 42.39% Trevor Wall 3. Linguistic Joke 145 10.65% Total: 1,361 11 Ratatouille 1. Universal Joke 637 56.32% 2007 2. Cultural Joke 387 34.21% Brad Bird 3. Linguistic Joke 107 9.46% Jan Pinkava Total: 1,131
12 Sing 1. Universal Joke 709 50.31% 2016 2. Cultural Joke 631 44.78% Christophe Lourdelet 3. Linguistic Joke 69 4.89% Garth Jennings Total: 1,409 13 The Angry Birds 1. Universal Joke 584 42.59% 2016 2. Cultural Joke 604 44.05% Clay Kaytis 3. Linguistic Joke 183 13.34% Fergal Reilly Total: 1,371 14 The Secret Life of Pets 1. Universal Joke 558 50.36% 2016 2. Cultural Joke 436 39.35% Chris Renaud 3. Linguistic Joke 114 10.28% Yarrow Cheney Total: 1,108 15 Trolls 1. Universal Joke 635 57.25% 2016 2. Cultural Joke 381 34.35% Walt Dohrn 3. Linguistic Joke 93 8.38% Mike Mitchell Total: 1,109 16 Valiant 1. Universal Joke 452 52.92% 2005 2. Cultural Joke 328 38.40% Gary Chapman 3. Linguistic Joke 74 8.66% Total: 854
156 The results indicate that the most common jokes observed in animation are universal jokes (50.33%), followed by cultural jokes (40.26%) and linguistic jokes (9.41).
Table 5.2 Overall Distribution of Jokes
Humour Frequency Percentage 1 Universal Jokes 8,631 50.33% 2 Cultural Jokes 6,905 40.26%
3 Linguistic Jokes 1,614 9.41% Total 17,150 100% The table 5.3 shows the contribution and percentages of each translation strategies (expansion, paraphrase, transfer, imitation, transcription, imitation, transcription, dislocation, condensation, decimation, deletion, and resignation) in types of humour.
157 Table 5.3 Distribution of Translation Strategies in Humour
Humour Translation Strategy Frequency Percentage 1 Universal Humours 1. Expansion 225 2.60% 2. Paraphrase 2434 28.20% 3. Transfer 3394 39.20% 4. Imitation 454 5.26% 5. Transcription 668 7.74% 6. Dislocation 330 3.82% 7. Condensation 857 9.93% 8. Decimation 172 2.00% 9. Deletion 75 0.87% 10. Resignation 22 0.26% Total: 8,631 2 Cultural Humours 1. Expansion 178 2.58% 2. Paraphrase 1947 28.20% 3. Transfer 2716 39.33% 4. Imitation 364 5.27% 5. Transcription 534 7.73% 6. Dislocation 264 3.82% 7. Condensation 686 9.93% 8. Decimation 138 2.00% 9. Deletion 61 0.89% 10. Resignation 17 0.25% Total: 6,905 3 Linguistic Humours 1. Expansion 41 2.54% 2. Paraphrase 456 28.25% 3. Transfer 636 39.40% 4. Imitation 84 5.20% 5. Transcription 125 7.75% 6. Dislocation 62 3.84% 7. Condensation 161 9.98% 8. Decimation 32 1.98% 9. Deletion 13 0.81% 10. Resignation 4 0.25% Total: 1,614 Total 17,150
To summarize the above findings, among 8,631 universal humours found in 16 animation, 225 times “expansion” translation strategy (2.60%), 2,434 times “paraphrase” translation strategy (39.20%), 3,394 time “transfer” translation strategy (39.20%), 454 times “imitation” translation strategy (5.26%), 668 times “transcription” translation
158 strategy (7.74%), 330 times “dislocation” translation strategy (3.82%), 857 times
“condensation” translation strategy (9.93%), 172 times “decimation” translation strategy
(2%), 75 times “deletion” translation strategy (0.87%), and 22 times “resignation” translation strategy (0.26%) are applied by subtitlers. Among 6,905 cultural humour found in 16 animation, 178 times “expansion” translation strategy (2.58%), 1,947 times
“paraphrase” translation strategy (28.20%), 2,716 time “transfer” translation strategy
(39.33%), 364 times “imitation” translation strategy (5.27%), 534 times “transcription” translation strategy (7.73%), 264 times “dislocation” translation strategy (3.82%), 686 times “condensation” translation strategy (9.93%), 138 times “decimation” translation strategy (2.00%), 61 times “deletion” translation strategy (0.89%), and 17 times
“resignation” translation strategy (0.25%) are applied by subtitlers in this study. Among
1,614 linguistic humour found in 16 animation, 41 times “expansion” translation strategy
(2.54%), 456 times “paraphrase” translation strategy (28.25%), 636 time “transfer” translation strategy (39.40%), 84 times “imitation” translation strategy (5.20%), 125 times
“transcription” translation strategy (7.75%), 62 times “dislocation” translation strategy
(3.84%), 161 times “condensation” translation strategy (9.98%), 32 times “decimation” translation strategy (1.98%), 32 times “deletion” translation strategy (1.98%), and 4 times
“resignation” translation strategy (0.25%) are applied by subtitlers in this study.
159 CHAPTER SIX
TRANSLATION STRATEGIES
6.1 Introduction
One of the pioneering endeavors to conclude strategies for subtitling is Gottlieb’s (1992) ten strategies (expansion, paraphrase, transfer, imitation, transcription, dislocation, condensation, decimation, deletion and resignation; see 2.6.1 for detail), upon which many other researches are based (Lomheim, 1999; Schwarz, 2002; Taylor, 2000). The translation strategies are outlined below with Gottlieb’s definitions (1992, p. 166).
1. Expansion: The expansion is when the original text is incomprehensible due to
cultural differences in the target language and needs further explanation and
interpretation (Gottlieb, 1992).
2. Paraphrase: Paraphrase strategy is used when the original language structure
cannot be preserved in a syntactic way in the target language and the translator
have to restructure the phrase or sentence (Gottlieb, 1992).
3. Transfer: Transfer is the strategy in which the original text is fully and accurately
translated (Gottlieb, 1992).
4. Imitation: Imitation preserves the original language form, this method is
particularly applicable to the names of individuals and places (Gottlieb, 1992).
5. Transcription: Transcription strategy is used when a word or phrase is not even
meaningful in the original language, for example, a third language or meaningless
language is used in the original language (Gottlieb, 1992).
160 6. Dislocation: Dislocation strategy is used when the original language uses some
special effects in the film, such as a stupid song, in which the translation of this
effect is more important than text and content (Gottlieb, 1992).
7. Condensation: Condensation is a typical strategy in which the text is shortened in
a way that the original text retains its original meaning (Gottlieb, 1992).
8. Decimation: Decimation is more extreme than the condensation, in which the text
may be shortened due to the high speed of the speech speed of the source language,
in this way some important and essential elements may have been eliminated
(Gottlieb, 1992).
9. Deletion: In deletion strategy, part of the text is completely deleted (Gottlieb,
1992).
10. Resignation: When the translator finds no solution or strategy for translation, and
meaning is inevitably lost, this translation strategy is called resignation (Gottlieb,
1992).
6.2 Expansion
According to Gottlieb, the expansion is used when the original text is incomprehensible due to cultural differences in the target language and needs further explanation and interpretation (Gottlieb, 1992). The most significant challenge in AVT is the exact and precise expression of the source text, considering the limitation of the subtitling of the animation. Karamitroglou (1998) in his proposed set of subtitling standards in Europe (see
Appendix B) points out that Each subtitle on the screen can include two lines, each line can only contain 35 characters in order to accommodate the satisfactory requirement for the translated text and translation. Reduction and deletion of the original text should be
161 reduced as much as possible. To increase the number of characters, sometimes a line can contain even 40 characters because sometimes the text font makes the text inevitably shorter (Karamitroglou, 1998). Referring to this guideline, it is expedient that there should not be more than about 35 characters in a line in English. In Persian, regardless of the different writing system, the suggested number of characters per line is still applicable.
The only notable difference is that Persian is written in contrast to English from right to left, which, regarding the relatively equal number of words between English texts
(277,138 original English words) and Persian text (267,572 Persian translated words) do not differ significantly from each other (See 3.6 for more details). Although the Persian script and English version are very different, comparing the Persian and English translations suggests that translators have used an almost identical number of words.
The expansion is usually used when the original text, or the expression and the original spoken language, go beyond the perception of the target reader. For example, in
English-language films that cast Western festivals such as Halloween, the subtitler translates the words into a translated text to convey the festival to the target audience; therefore, it uses the method of explaining and developing words. In practice, this strategy helps the target viewers to have a better and more appropriate understanding of the new reference and, for example, to understand if the event is shown in the jokes, what purpose and meaning are there. However, this translation method is in no way suitable for translating elements of humour, especially if the source and target culture/culture are entirely different, since the translation restrictions, especially the space constraints, do not give the translator an opportunity to explain much of the problem.
162 Therefore, direct translation, based on the guideline proposed for subtitling, will not be a significant challenge for the subtitlers, but since “expansion” translation strategy is used more often in cultural cases, which requires a broader explanation than the word- to-word translation of the source text, and since Iranian and English culture is very different, translating cultural elements and explaining the references with respect to the limited number of characters allowed in each line requires careful consideration. For the subtitlers dealing with cultural humour, accordingly, the possibility to make the translation more readable by attaching more information and knowledge, for example, to heighten the appreciation of particular cultural settings, is extremely restricted. Furthermore, in the means of investigating the 16 animation’s subtitling, it can also be observed that some subtitlers use the strategy of condensation (9.94%) rather than expansion (2.59%), whereas visually, the translated Persian subtitles are not longer than the original ones. In spite of the English-Persian cultural gap, subtitlers prefer to use word-for-word translation or direct translation instead of explaining the culture-related humours to avoid translation constraints. Although this transfer of cultural issues in the way expressed in the culture of origin is a great help to TT viewers in terms of getting to know the culture and the English language, but in terms of translating the cultural humours, there is a high probability that the TT will lose its initial meaning and content, and the jokes are not adequately understood or misleadingly perceived by Persian viewers, or even no longer funny.
The following example is taken from the “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” animation, in which the subtitler has used the "expansion" translation strategy, therefore the cultural humour can be readily and clearly understood by Persian viewers. The researcher needs to point out here, additional phrases from the conversations before or
163 after the central Translation Unit from that scene have been included in the provided examples to discuss the subject. The reason is that it is complicated to understand the jokes for someone who has not seen the actual scene of the animation and cannot have a precise understanding of the subject (See 3.8 for more details). In calculating the type of the humour, and further, the kind of translation strategies, the Translation Unit has been counted in the data of the study that directly refers to that subject. In the following example, translation unit “Well, someone else has the Canadian work ethic!” has been discussed considering "expansion" translation strategy. In my data, 444 out of 17,150 subtitles of humour are translated by "expansion" translation strategy.
It is the scene right after they get away from the casino. The comments about
French labor laws and Canadian work ethics are hilarious. Also, the singing of "New York,
New York" after this conversation is comical. The following demonstrates the example of the “expansion” transferring strategy that is taken from “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most
Wanted” animation.
164 Example 1: Expansion
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012) 00:20:43,827>>> 00:21:03,722
الکس : اسکیپر ، هواپیما چی میشه؟ ?Alex: Skipper, what about the plane Back translation: Skipper, what about the plane? اسکیپر : خب ، میمون ها کل شب رو کار میکنن ، Skipper: Well, the chimps will work all through the night بدون استراحت ، بدون محدودیت های ایمنی no breaks, no safety restrictions... Back translation: Skipper: Well, the monkeys work all through the night, without breaks, without safety restrictions... اسکیپر : هی ! کجا دارین میرین ؟ ?Skipper: Hey! Where are you going برگردین . ما قرار داد داریم! !Get back here, we have a contract Back translation: Hey! Where are you going? Get back, we have a contract! میسون : من فکر میکنم قوانین حزب کارگر Mason: Yes, well, I'm afraid the labour laws در فرانسه یکم مالیم تر باشه . .are slightly more lenient in France Back translation: Yes, well, I'm afraid the labour laws are slightly more lenient in France. میبینید، اونها فقط مجبورن You see, they only have ۲ هفته در سال کار کنن .to work 2 weeks in a year Back translation: You see, they only have to work 2 weeks in a year. اسکیپر : خوب یه نفر دیگه با Skipper: Well, someone else has اخالق کاری کانادایی دل به کار نمیده !the Canadian work ethic Back translation: well, someone with Canadian work ethic don’t give heart to work
165 When the plane crashed, Alex asks Skipper “what about the plane?” and Skipper, who is a genius Penguin confidently says, “Well, the chimps will work all through the night, no breaks, no safety restrictions...” At this very moment, as they are worried about repairing the plane, all the chimpanzees leave the scene. And Skipper anxiously asks them
“Where are you going? Get back here, we have a contract!” Mason reminds the group that, “Yes, well, I'm afraid the labor laws are slightly more lenient in France. You see, they only have to work 2 weeks in a year.” The funny part is when skipper says “someone else has the Canadian work ethic!” which means they have Canadian work ethic. It refers to the fact that Canadian work ethic is not as severe as would be expected; instead it is lenient and flexible. Persian viewers may not have any knowledge of the rules of work in
France or Canada, so in the Persian subtitles, the translator uses the "expansion" translation strategy to explain the subject further and make it understandable to the TT readers.
The sentence “Well, someone else has the Canadian work ethic” has been
دل .”translated into “well, someone with Canadian work ethic doesn’t give heart to work
is an idiomatic expression which literally means “not giving heart to به کار ندادن something”. This sentence is used when someone is not interested in heart and does not want to work. The number of words in both texts is shown below. The original translation unit has five words, which is expanded to 12 words in the target language.
166 Source Text No. of Target Text No. of Words Words
12 خوب یه نفر دیگه با اخالق کاری Well, someone else has the 5 کانادایی دل به کار نمیده !Canadian work ethic Back translation: well, someone with Canadian work ethic doesn’t give heart to work
By applying the "expansion" translation strategy, the subtitler has made the jokes understandable to TT viewers and made them laugh at the joke. The added phrase, which is usually used in a ridiculous tune, makes the joker even funnier.
6.3 Paraphrase
Paraphrase strategy is used when the original language structure cannot be preserved in a syntactic way in the target language and the translator have to restructure the phrase or sentence (Gottlieb, 1992). Despite the possible relations of some common concepts between English and Persian, the expression of these languages in many respects needs to be restructured so as to give the same impression to the target text viewers. This translation strategy is the translation of the concept in the form of "sense for sense" versus “word- for-word” or literal translation. Applying ‘paraphrase,’ the subtitler tries to reach the same meaning of the word by using other words in a different structure, which is obviously understandable to the TT audience. In most of these cases, this translation method is also accompanied by other processes such as condensation and expansion.
167 In my data, 4,837 out of 17,150 subtitles of humour are translated by "paraphrase" translation strategy. The following demonstrates the example of the “paraphrase” transferring strategy that is taken from “Sing” animation.
Example 2: Paraphrase
Sing (2016) 01:03:23,480>>> 01:03:34,716
باستر مون: حتما. ادی لطفا مادربزرگت را به Buster Moon: You got it, Eddie Please show سمت جایگاه ویژه راهنمایی کن .your Nana to the royal box Back translation: Sure, Eddie Please your grandmother guide to special platform نانا : یا خدا، من خودم قابلیت راه رفتن عالی دارم Nana: Oh, for heaven's sakes, I'm perfectly capable of walking. Back translation: O God, I have ability to walk perfectly.
Nana Noodleman is a female black sheep who is a retired actress. Nana
Noodleman is Eddie's grandmother. Nana has an apparent hatred of Buster Moon, considering him a charlatan who has failed to make the theatre as beloved as it was back in her day and even refuses to help him in any way shape or form. She is 90 years old, according to Buster Moon.
When Buster Moon suggests Eddie to guide her grandmother to the royal box,
Nana annoyingly replies, “Oh, for heaven's sakes, I'm perfectly capable of walking.” That is funny because, in reality, she is incapable of walking in a perfect way without help due to her age.
Subtitler translated the “Oh, for heaven's sakes, I'm perfectly capable of walking”
which literally means “O God, I have ability to walk یا خدا، من خودم قابلیت راه رفتن عالی دارم to
168 perfectly”. The sentence has been reconstructed to accommodate the Persian language syntactically.
Despite the structural change of the statement, the meaning and concept of the sentence have been preserved, and the TT viewer, knowing that Nana is physically unable to walk perfectly, sees the joke as funny when hearing his claim that he does not need help. So, the jokes retain the meaning in the subtitled translation.
6.4 Transfer
Transfer is the strategy in which the original text is fully and accurately translated
(Gottlieb, 1992). The primary purpose of the translation strategies is to ensure that the meaning of the jokes is not weakened or not lost. Gottlieb says that this translation strategy should accurately and completely state the original text with the correct equivalent of the same or the similar expression in the target language. Besides, this strategy is often used in cognate languages, for example, for translating from English into European languages, all of which belong to the same language family. Therefore, it can be said that this method may not be suitable for English and Persian, which are not belong to the same linguistic family, and therefore there is no close relationship between the languages, and the terms and words used in the animation do not have the appropriate equivalent in the Persian language. However, the number of 6,746 out of 17,150 subtitles of humour are translated by "transfer" translation strategy. The characteristics of animation can explain this large number of examples applying the strategy of transfer. The target audiences and expected viewers for animation are mainly kids, teenagers, and their parents. As a consequence, the
"transfer" translation strategy applies to some degree because of the target audiences’
169 appropriate reading age, and educational and informative background as well as the content of the animation itself. Besides, other factors, such as non-verbal elements, signs, etc., also help viewers to understand the original language. In turn, translators can deploy literal translation or find equivalence between the original English text and Persian subtitles. Another reason for the high percentage of "transfer" translation strategy is that
Persian subtitlers are reluctant to change the original text; the subtitle as a preferred and favored method for the majority of Iranians is a tool to transfer the excitement and exotic experience of the original film to target viewers. It also shows that most of the elements of the source texts are directly moved to the target text without making any changes to the original version. The following demonstrates the example of the “transfer” transferring strategy that is taken from “Trolls” animation.
Example 3: Transfer
Trolls (2016) 00:28:04,420>>> 00:28:57,540
برنچ : هیس! !Branch: Shhh Back translation: Hisss! پاپی : برگن داره میاد؟ ?Poppy: A Bergen is coming Back translation: A Bergen is coming? برنچ : شاید .Branch: Maybe Back translation: Maybe. پاپی : هیچ برگنی هم وجود نداره ، اینطوری گفتی که Poppy: There's no Bergen is there? You just من دیگه حرف نزنم .said that so I'd stop talking Back translation: There's no Bergen is there? You just said that so I'd stop talking. برنچ :آره شاید .Branch: Yes Maybe Back translation: Yes Maybe.
170 Poppy proceeds to travel to Bergen Town and Branch companies her. Along the way, they discuss each other's personalities. Throughout the journey, Poppy tries to be positive, ignores the tiring nature and even sings for Branch at night. The Branch character is entirely different from Poppy's personality, and he is the only troll in the village who doesn't sing and dance. Branch, who is extremely tired of listening to Poppy, tries to interrupt her and says, "Shhhh" which indirectly ask her to be quiet and stop talking. Poppy
realizes his will and says with annoyance ،“There's no Bergen is there? You just said that so I'd stop talking” and Branch confesses that “Yes Maybe.” Eventually, Poppy and
Branch settled in a happy ending.
The subtitler translated the “there's no Bergen is there? You just said that so I'd
There's no Bergen is) هیچ برگنی وجود نداره، اینطوری گفتی که من دیگه حرف نزنم stop talking” to there? You just said that so I'd stop talking) completely and accurately without any change.
Hence it can be said that "transfer" translation strategies forward the jokes correctly and without change to the target language.
6.5 Imitation
Imitation preserves the original language form, this method is particularly applicable to the names of individuals and places (Gottlieb, 1992). Imitation forms the similar phrase, comparable transferring of proper nouns, multicultural greetings, etc. The expression of meaning is not limited by translating into what is stated literally but may have a cultural concept that requires more reflection. For example, European countries have a lot of festivals and occasions, and they share common culture and customs. For example, the United States and many European countries celebrate Christmas and are
171 therefore well versed in the Christmas Eve and can easily communicate with the concept of Santa. While the Iranians do not celebrate Christmas and celebrate Nowruz for the start of the New Year, in order for Iranians to understand the idea of Santa Claus, they need to get acquainted with the culture and the ceremony of Christmas and Santa Claus in other countries. Otherwise, Christmas or Santa Clause, which are simple terms, may not be understood by many Iranian viewers. Imitation translation strategy aims to maintain the original text in a very precise and exact manner as if no translation has ever been done.
Santa's example suggests this strategy, like transfer, is suitable for translating between languages that have many common features, such as English and Swedish. In fact, the connections and interactions of the European countries with English are much more than those of Iran in English; a European person can more easily communicate with an
American concept or a specific culture in the English language than a Persian viewer.
In my data, 902 out of 17,150 subtitles of humour are translated by "imitation" translation strategy. This number indicates that Iranian translators are now inclined to imitate the names of famous people and places such as the streets, Penang bridge,
Malaysia, the Eiffel Tower of Paris. However, trying to translate names into Persian can eliminate the original English meaning, and in practice, there may not be any logical and correct equivalents in TT. Also, due to the rapid growth of globalization, people more than ever have external communications and interactions with other countries, so they are gradually getting to know different cultures and languages. Due to these justifications, keeping the original name promotes intercultural communication and, in the primary sense, respects and accepts the names of the English culture and language. The following
172 demonstrates the example of the “imitation” transferring strategy that is taken from “The
Secret Life of Pets” animation.
Example 4: Imitation
The Secret Life of Pets (2016) 00:46:44,080>>> 00:46:54,590
اسنوبال : اونا به بروکلین میرن . .Snowball: They're going to Brooklyn Back translation: They go to Brooklyn. تاتو : اونها میگن این روزها همه دارن به بروکلین Tattoo: They say everyone's going to میرن ، تا به اوج برسن Brooklyn these days. It's making a real comeback. Back translation: They say everyone's go to Brooklyn these days, to reach the top اسنوبال : من در مورد آژانس مشاور امالکی Snowball: I'm not talking about hipster real هیپستر صحبت نمیکنم . من در مورد انتقام صحبت !estate trends. I'm talking vengeance, Tattoo میکنم ، تاتو! Back translation: I don’t talk about hipster real estate. I'm talking about vengeance, Tattoo!
Tattoo is a big, tattooed pig who is involved in the rescue mission for Ripper that is led by Snowball. Snowball sees Max on Duke on a ferry and informs Tattoo that they are heading to Brooklyn Bridge. Tattoo assumes he is talking about the business trend,
Hipster Real Estate located at Brooklyn and says, "They say everyone's going to Brooklyn these days. It's making a real comeback". Snowball clarifies that what he means is that they are going to Brooklyn Bridge to revenge and rescue their friend.
Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City, and for most
Americans, it's a well-known and famous place. Despite its reputation, Brooklyn Bridge
173 is not known to most Iranian viewers, so Tattoo's interpretation of Snowball's statement at first may not look so funny. The subtitler deploys "imitation" translation strategy and has precisely brought the word B to the Persian subtitle. Although this transferring strategy has weakened the joke, it has introduced Iranian viewers to the culture and the country of the United States by transmitting a cultural element.
6.6 Transcription
Transcription strategy is used when a word or phrase is not even meaningful in the original language, for example, a third language or meaningless language is used in the original language (Gottlieb, 1992). In cases of nicknames, foreign vocabularies, pet names, or slips of the tongue, which is generally viewed as meaningless in the source language, the subtitler applies this transferring strategy. Despite creating a little division of the application, "transcription" translation strategy is not discarded from subtitling strategies.
In this transferring strategy, people’s names, place names and some popular or well- known abbreviations are imitated directly from the original text, which means there is no pressure to transcribe them into a meaningless combination of several similarly pronounced Persian words. Hence, the strategy of transcription is applicable when translators confront the vague language or nonsense language.
In my data, 1,327 out of 17,150 subtitles of humour are translated by
"transcription" translation strategy. The following demonstrates the example of the
“transcription” transferring strategy that is taken from “The Secret Life of Pets” animation.
174 Example 5: Transcription
The Secret Life of Pets (2016) 00:56:04,840>>> 00:56:15,870
سوسیس ها : ما با هم میریم . مثل راما الما Sausages: We go together Like rama lama الما کا دینگا دا دینگا دونگ .lama ka dinga da dinga dong به یاد میمونیم Remembered forever مثل شوبوپ شا وادا وادا ایویتی بوم د بوم As shoo-bop sha wadda wadda چانگ چانگ yippity boom de boom چانگیتی پانگ ها بوپ Chang chang changitty chang sha-bop Back translation: Together we go like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong. Remembered in minds like As shoo-bop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom Chang chang changitty chang sha-bop
Max and Duke enter the world of sausages in their imagination. The Sausages gleefully sing a song for them, while Max and Duke swallow them up one by one. The song “We go together” was first released in 1978 in American movie “Grease,” and then became a viral song. The song has a lot of vague words that are meaningless even to the source language viewers, so the subtitler has used "transcription" strategy. It is therefore assumed that the Persian transcription of the song will have the same effect and meaning of the ST, and the humorous aspect of the scene is still preserved, both viewers laugh at the joy and celebration of sausages, while they are at the risk of being eaten by Max and
Duke.
175 6.7 Dislocation
Dislocation strategy is used when the original language uses some special effects in the film, such as a stupid song, in which the translation of this effect is more important than text and content (Gottlieb, 1992). It was applied for different phrases and adjusted content of lyric or visualized language-related aspects. Sometimes the translation process emphasizes the impact of the expression and does not stress the content of the text, for example, when a song or poem is displayed in animation. In order to meet these conditions, Gottlieb proposes the dislocation translation approach to produce a musical and rhythmic text for the TT viewers. However, this requires the subtitler to have a high degree of understanding of the target language, and at the same time have a high degree of knowledge and information about TT culture and literature. According to Gottlieb's definition, when a subtitler faces a lyric, poem, song, old song, uses a dislocation method between two languages, which emphasizes and focuses not only on the content but also on the impact of its expressions, such as repetition, a new rhythm, and stress. For example, poetry and song adapted to the Persian viewer have a better voice and rhythm for the second audience. As a result, the Iranian audience feels that he/she knows the song and can relate to it. In my data, 656 out of 17,150 subtitles of humour are translated by
"dislocation" translation strategy. The following demonstrates the example of the
“dislocation” transferring strategy that is taken from “Ice Age: Collision Course” animation.
176 Example 6: Dislocation
Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) 00:01:22,155>>> 00:01:22,412
بروک : تو تو قند و نباتی .... شکالتی شکالتی... Brooke: You, You, you make me happy! You تو دنیای منو با خودت بردی. keep me laughing! You make my world a better place. Back translation: You, You, you are candy and sugar-cube! You chocolate chocolate! You make my world with you.
It is a song performed by Brooke in “Ice Age: Collision Course” animation. Since in "dislocation" translation strategy, the emphasis is not on the content of the song and the viewer's impression of that animation scene will not be much affected, it can sometimes be used in the translation of animation in which the main target audience are mainly children and their parents. The initial part of the song, “You, You, you make me happy!
which … تو تو قند و نباتی … شکالتی شکالتی You keep me laughing” has been translated to literally means “You, You, you are candy and sugar-cube! You chocolate chocolate”. The
Persian translation is a funny, popular kids’ song in the Persian language. For this song, the subtitler practices dislocation strategy between the two languages to highlight the effect of expression. The song’s lyrics in Persian have a new rhythm and music of the
Persian language. The target audience may feel that the poem seems more familiar to their way of expression.
177 6.8 Condensation
Condensation is a typical strategy in which the text is shortened in a way that the original text retains its original meaning (Gottlieb, 1992). Shortening or cutting down on redundant expressions is a common strategy used in subtitling of animation. The mechanical constraints of subtitling mean that subtitlers always leave nothing untested to condense the original phrase, especially when they are redundant. Shortening or summarizing a phrase is a common way of translating an animation subtitle. The technical constraints sometimes force a subtitler to look for a way to write a shorter text that occupies less space. Given the time and space constraints in the subtitle translation and the short-term appearance and fade of images at a very short pace, the message must be accurately translated into the target language, despite all of these conditions. However, no original text or critical information is deleted in the text; deletions with the least effort can be understood with the help of non-verbal factors, for example, visual effects and sounding.
Karamitroglou (1998) in his proposed set of subtitling standards in Europe (see Appendix
B) points: “The reading speed of a full two-line of the “average” viewers for a text of average complexity has been proven to range between 150-180 words per minute, i.e. between 2 1/2-3 words per second. This means that a full two-line subtitle containing 14-
16 words should remain on the screen for a maximum time of something less than 5 1/2 seconds.” In my data, 1,704 out of 17,150 subtitles of humour are accommodated by
"condensation" translation strategy. The following demonstrates the example of the
“condensation” transferring strategy that is taken from “Ratatouille” animation.
178 Example 7: Condensation
Ratatouille (2007) 00:44:16,120>>> 00:44:36,520
کولت : چی کار داری میکنی؟ ?Colette: What are you doing Back translation: What are you doing? لینگویینی : من دارم سبزیجات خورد میکنم . من Linguini: Uh, I'm cutting vegetables. I'm دارم سبزیجات خورد میکنم ؟ ?cutting the... vegetables Back translation: I'm cutting vegetables. I'm cutting the vegetables? کولت : تو انرژی و زمان رو تلف میکنی! آشپزی !Colette: No! You waste energy and time کار بامزه ایه ؟ مثل مامان تو آشپزخونه ؟ نمی You think cooking is a cute job, eh? Like تونی مثل مامان باشی ,Mommy in the kitchen? Every second counts you CANNOT be MOMMY! Back translation: You waste energy and time! cooking is a cute job? Like Mommy in the kitchen? you cannot be Mommy
Colette is a French woman who likes to act tough, especially in front of Linguini.
When she is forced to train Linguini, she is cruel and harsh in doing so. Linguini knows nothing about cooking but tries his best to be an excellent chef. In a moment when he is cutting the vegetables, Collete suddenly asks what is he doing. He stammers “Uh, I'm cutting vegetables. I'm cutting the... vegetables?”. He is shocked, and he is not even sure
No! You؛ that, he is cutting vegetables when seeing Colette stares at him angrily. She says waste energy and time! You think cooking is a cute job, eh? Like Mommy in the kitchen?”.
Due to technical subtitling constraint, sometimes the subtitler has to shorten the sentence and delete some unnecessary words or phrases. Therefore, the subtitler has
تو انرژی و زمان رو تلف میکنی! آشپزی کار بامزه ایه ؟ مثل :reduced the sentence A in this form
179 ?You waste energy and time! cooking is a cute job) مامان تو آشپزخونه ؟ نمی تونی مثل مامان باشی
Like Mommy in the kitchen? you cannot be Mommy). In Persian subtitle, some words and phrases are removed from the original text, which does not have much effect on the original version and the story, and “condensation” translation strategy is used only to shorten the sentence. As mentioned earlier, the average reading speed of adult viewers based on the proposed guideline for subtitling is 150-180 words per minute, while the average reading speed for children (aged 6-14) that are the main target audience of the animation is around 90-120 words per minute (Karamitroglou, 1998). Therefore, the subtitler sometimes has to use "condensation" strategy because of the time constraint.
6.9 Decimation
Decimation is more extreme than the condensation, in which the text may be shortened due to the high speed of the speech speed of the source language, in this way some important and essential elements may have been eliminated (Gottlieb, 1992). This translation strategy is usually used to translate lengthy subtitle translations with too many words and wordy content in which a large part of the text and the original information are deleted. In this way, the critical information is removed from the original text; as a result, joke greatly loses its meaning and hilarity. In the entire comparison of the source text with the subtitles in 16 animation, 342 out of 17,150 subtitles of humour are found when a significant moment of expression is lengthy or spoken quickly, and subtitler applies
"decimation" translation strategy. Due to the cultural difference between the two languages, the use of "decimation" strategy in the Persian language is not recommended.
The following demonstrates the example of the “decimation” transferring strategy that is taken from “The Angry Birds” animation.
180 Example 8: Decimation
The Angry Birds (2016) 00:15:19,235>>> 00:15:42,812
ماتیلدا : چاک ، داستانت رو برای قرمز تعریف کن Matilda: Chuck ,Share your story with Red Back translation: Chuck , tell your story to Red چاک: من؟ بلیط سرعت معمولی . قانون به من میگه Chuck: Me? I am the last guy who should be من خیلی سریع میرفتم . بنابراین من میگم آره تند می here. Simple speeding ticket. Judge tells me I رفتم. پس من باید در کالس مدیریت صداقت باشم ؟ was going too fast. So I say,”Your Honor, to be honest, I was. “You caught me” I’m not angry. I’m honest. So shouldn’t I be in honesty management class? ‘Cause we gotta manage my honesty. Back translation: Me? Simple speeding ticket. Judge tells me I was going too fast. So I say, Yes I was going fast. So shouldn’t I be in honesty management class? ماتیلدا : تنها مشکل من اینه که تو دفعه قبل داستان Matilda: My one problem, that’s a different دیگه ای رو تعریف کردی .story than you told last time Back translation: My only problem, you told different story last time.
Matilda is the leader of the anger management class on bird island. She brings Red to a room in which three other birds are training to be honest. Matilda asks Chuck to share his story. Chuck is a very goofy, hyperactive bird. He is continuously fueled with energy and seems as if he always needs to be doing something. He can never stop moving, both in his mind and in the body. Chuck believes that he should not be in this class. Anyhow, he quickly shares his story, “Me? I am the last guy who should be here. Simple speeding ticket. Judge tells me I was going too fast. So, I say, “Your Honor, to be honest, I was.
“You caught me” I’m not angry. I’m honest. So, shouldn’t I be in honesty management class? Cause we gotta manage my honesty.” The statement is reduced to X which literally
181 means “Me? Simple speeding ticket. Judge tells me I was going too fast. So, I say, Yes, I was going fast. So, shouldn’t I be in honesty management class?”
Since this character expresses a lot of words and phrases speedily and swiftly, due to the subtitles time limitations which previously described in the "condensation" strategy, the subtitler has no other option than to shorten the text as much as possible. However, the subtitler has tried to remove words that are less necessary and less likely to affect the story.
6.10 Deletion
In deletion strategy, part of the text is completely deleted (Gottlieb, 1992). Deletion means removing a significant portion of the original text. In the selected data, the elimination of the content of the source text is rarely seen. Deletion due to the animation features such as shortness and simplicity of conversations and dialogs, there has not been applied much.
Sometimes a subtitler, along with condensation and decimation, may want to use the deletion strategy and not translate a part of the text entirely. As with the translation strategy of decimation, nevertheless, deletion is also recognized in preference to a more intense approach in subtitling. Since deletion is stronger than decimation, the use of this strategy in animation film subtitle translation is also limited. In my data, 149 out of 17,150 subtitles of humour are accommodated by "deletion" translation strategy. The following demonstrates the example of the “deletion” transferring strategy that is taken from
“Hoodwinked” animation.
182 Example 9: Deletion
Hoodwinked! (2005) 00:30:08,094>>00:30:14,963
گرگ: این چه جور شمع هایی هستن؟ ?The Wolf: What kind of candles are those Back translation: What kind of candles are those? تویینچی: د ی ن ا می تی. .Twitchy: Dee-na-mee-tay. Must be Italian Back translation: Dee na mee tay. گرگ: اوه. شمع رو بنداز !The Wolf: Ah! Lose the Candle Back translation: Oh. Drop the Candle
Twitchy finds something which he assumes is a box of candles and when Wolf ask what kind of candle it is, Twitchy tries to read the label on the "candle," it is “Deen-a- mee-tay.” The word “dynamite” is written in the Italian language; then Twitchy says:
“Must be Italian.” The subtitler has deleted this section for an unknown reason. Although in this example, the deletion of this phrase has not drastically affected the jokes, however,
"deletion" strategy is not recommended at all.
6.11 Resignation
When the translator finds no solution or strategy for translation, and meaning is inevitably lost, this translation strategy is called resignation (Gottlieb, 1992). This subtitling translation strategy is similar to deletion approach. “resignation” translation strategy would employ where the subtitler gives up on the translation of particular aspects of verbal communication. It is not recommended for subtitlers to use resignation to prevent losing any meaning from the source text. Therefore, to keep the essence of the limited original
183 purpose, it is a commonplace that the strategies of deletion, decimation, and resignation are seldom used in subtitling of animation. From one aspect, the target audience may need as much explanation and information as possible from the translation to perceive the animation fully. From another viewpoint, given the characteristics of the animation, the original text should not too challenging or complex language, because the film producers consider the age range that constitutes the majority of the audience. In my data, 43 cases of resignation out of 17,150 subtitles are seen. The following demonstrates the example of the “resignation” transferring strategy that is taken from “Norm of the North” animation.
Example 10: Resignation
Norm of the North (2016) 00:51:52,200>>> 00:51:08,600
ورا : آقای گرین ، شما نیتونین این خونه ها رو Vera:Mr. Greene, you can’t sell the homes بفروشین .yet ما اجازه اجازه اش رو از کنسول نگرفتیم . این .We don’t have approval from the Council غیر قانونیه It’s illegal Back translation: آقای گرین : اوه، ترسیدم! Mr. Greene: Aw, I’m wittle Vee-wa I’m scared of po-weece Back translation: oh, I am scared!
Vera is a law-abiding woman who is investor working under Mr. Greene. Vera advertises the sales as she is planning to help Mr. Greene sell the Arctic. In this sense, she tells Mr. Greene that he cannot sell the homes illegally. Mr. Greene pretends to be scared to hear this and says with a ridiculous tone, “Aw, I’m wittle Vee-wa I’m scared of po-
184 weece.” It seems Persian subtitler has given up translating this sentence and just replaced
,I’m scared). The subtitler has been unable to find an appropriate equivalent) ترسیدم it with and this has dramatically curtailed the scenes the joke, and the TT viewer does not see it funny.
6.12 Summary
According to the analysis of the effectiveness of Gottlieb's classification of subtitling, the researcher finds out the following data.
Table 6.1 Distribution of Translation Strategies in Each Animation
Animation Translation Strategy Frequency Percentage (Year) Director(s) 1 All Creatures Big and 1. Expansion 15 1.65% Small 2. Paraphrase 218 24.11% 2015 3. Transfer 384 42.47% Toby Genkel 4. Imitation 52 5.75% Sean McCormack 5. Transcription 79 8.73% 6. Dislocation 21 2.32% 7. Condensation 114 12.61% 8. Decimation 13 1.43% 9. Deletion 5 0.55% 10. Resignation 3 0.33 Total: 904 2 Barnyard 1. Expansion 18 1.80% 2006 2. Paraphrase 302 30.29% Steve Oedekerk 3. Transfer 415 41.62% 4. Imitation 58 5.81% 5. Transcription 67 6.72% 6. Dislocation 16 1.60% 7. Condensation 98 9.82% 8. Decimation 14 1.40% 9. Deletion 6 0.60% 10. Resignation 3 0.30% Total: 997
185 3 Finding Dory 1. Expansion 27 2.59% 2016 2. Paraphrase 287 27.62% Andrew Stanton 3. Transfer 359 34.55% Angus MacLane 4. Imitation 41 3.94% 5. Transcription 121 11.64% 6. Dislocation 43 4.13% 7. Condensation 124 11.93% 8. Decimation 29 2.79% 9. Deletion 6 0.57% 10. Resignation 2 0.19% Total: 1,039 4 Hoodwinked! 1. Expansion 39 3.53% 2005 2. Paraphrase 296 26.81% Cory Edwards 3. Transfer 422 38.22% Todd Edwards 4. Imitation 52 4.71% 5. Transcription 79 7.15% 6. Dislocation 56 5.07% 7. Condensation 113 10.23% 8. Decimation 41 3.71% 9. Deletion 4 0.36% 10. Resignation 2 0.18% Total: 1,104 5 Horton Hears a Who! 1. Expansion 34 3.69% 2008 2. Paraphrase 235 25.51% Jimmy Hayward 3. Transfer 281 30.51% Steve Martino 4. Imitation 74 8.03% 5. Transcription 102 11.07% 6. Dislocation 54 5.86% 7. Condensation 111 12.05% 8. Decimation 17 1.84% 9. Deletion 9 0.97% 10. Resignation 4 0.43% Total: 921 6 Ice Age: Collision 1. Expansion 60 4.34% Course 2. Paraphrase 372 26.93% 2016 3. Transfer 533 38.59% Mike Thurmeier 4. Imitation 64 4.63% Galen T. Chu 5. Transcription 122 8.83% 6. Dislocation 64 4.63% 7. Condensation 121 8.76% 8. Decimation 29 2.09% 9. Deletion 10 0.72% 10. Resignation 6 0.43% Total: 1,381
186 7 Ice Age: The 1. Expansion 15 2.51% Meltdown 2. Paraphrase 163 27.34% 2006 3. Transfer 198 33.22% Carlos Saldanha 4. Imitation 49 8.22% 5. Transcription 56 9.39% 6. Dislocation 26 4.36% 7. Condensation 78 13.08% 8. Decimation 5 0.83% 9. Deletion 6 1% 10. Resignation 0 0% Total: 596
8 Kung Fu Panda 1. Expansion 12 1.44% 2006 2. Paraphrase 228 27.40% Mark Osborne 3. Transfer 319 38.34% John Stevenson 4. Imitation 43 5.16% 5. Transcription 77 9.25% 6. Dislocation 29 3.48% 7. Condensation 109 13.10% 8. Decimation 9 1.08% 9. Deletion 4 0.48% 10. Resignation 2 0.24% Total: 832 9 Madagascar 3: 1. Expansion 21 2.03% Europe’s Most 2. Paraphrase 357 34.55% Wanted 3. Transfer 391 37.85% 2012 4. Imitation 56 5.42% Eric Darnell 5. Transcription 74 7.16% Tom McGrath 6. Dislocation 21 2.03% 7. Condensation 96 9.29% 8. Decimation 11 1.06% 9. Deletion 5 0.48% 10. Resignation 1 0.09% Total: 1,033 10 Norm of the North 1. Expansion 42 3.08% 2016 2. Paraphrase 430 31.59% Trevor Wall 3. Transfer 532 39.08% 4. Imitation 67 4.92% 5. Transcription 91 6.68% 6. Dislocation 39 2.86% 7. Condensation 121 8.89% 8. Decimation 17 1.24% 9. Deletion 19 1.39% 10. Resignation 3 0.22% Total: 1,361
187 11 Ratatouille 1. Expansion 23 2.03% 2007 2. Paraphrase 279 24.66% Brad Bird 3. Transfer 497 43.94% Jan Pinkava 4. Imitation 54 4.77% 5. Transcription 56 4.95% 6. Dislocation 50 4.42% 7. Condensation 98 8.66% 8. Decimation 51 4.50% 9. Deletion 21 1.85% 10. Resignation 2 0.17% Total: 1,131
12 Sing 1. Expansion 14 0.99% 2016 2. Paraphrase 427 30.30% Christophe Lourdelet 3. Transfer 672 47.69% Garth Jennings 4. Imitation 42 2.98% 5. Transcription 80 5.67% 6. Dislocation 43 3.05% 7. Condensation 97 6.88% 8. Decimation 13 0.92% 9. Deletion 13 0.92% 10. Resignation 8 0.56% Total: 1,409 13 The Angry Birds 1. Expansion 18 1.31% 2016 2. Paraphrase 441 32.16% Clay Kaytis 3. Transfer 492 35.88% Fergal Reilly 4. Imitation 73 5.32% 5. Transcription 121 8.82% 6. Dislocation 54 3.93% 7. Condensation 134 9.77% 8. Decimation 21 1.53% 9. Deletion 15 1.09% 10. Resignation 2 0.14% Total: 1,371 14 The Secret Life of 1. Expansion 35 3.15% Pets 2. Paraphrase 282 25.45% 2016 3. Transfer 452 40.79% Chris Renaud 4. Imitation 77 6.94% Yarrow Cheney 5. Transcription 81 7.31% 6. Dislocation 34 3.06% 7. Condensation 102 9.20% 8. Decimation 28 2.52% 9. Deletion 14 1.26% 10. Resignation 3 0.27% Total: 1,108
188 15 Trolls 1. Expansion 29 2.61% 2. Paraphrase 302 27.23% 3. Transfer 459 41.38% 4. Imitation 55 4.95% 5. Transcription 82 7.39% 6. Dislocation 45 4.05% 7. Condensation 95 8.56% 8. Decimation 32 2.88% 9. Deletion 9 0.81% 10. Resignation 1 0.09% Total: 1,109
16 Valiant 1. Expansion 42 4.91% 2005 2. Paraphrase 218 25.52% Gary Chapman 3. Transfer 340 39.81% 4. Imitation 45 5.26% 5. Transcription 39 4.56% 6. Dislocation 61 7.14% 7. Condensation 93 10.88% 8. Decimation 12 1.40% 9. Deletion 3 0.35% 10. Resignation 1 0.11% Total: 854 Total 17,150
The outcomes of the analysis of translation strategies applied in three type of jokes are as follows: Among 17,150 jokes found in 16 animation, 444 times “expansion” translation strategy (2.59%), 4,837 times “paraphrase” translation strategy (28.2%),
6,746 time s “transfer” translation strategy (39.33%), 902 times “imitation” translation strategy (5.26%), 1,327 times “transcription” translation strategy (7.74%), 656 times
“dislocation” translation strategy (3.83%), 1,704 times “condensation” translation strategy (9.94%), 342 times “decimation” translation strategy (2%), 149 times “deletion” translation strategy (0.87%), and 43 times “resignation” translation strategy (0.25%) are applied by subtitlers in this study. It should also be noted that, in some cases, there may
189 be more than one translation strategy observed in a TU, but the most dominant one which is mainly focused on the translation of the elements of humour is considered as the translation strategy used in the TT.
Table 6.2 Overall Distribution of Translation Strategies
Translation Strategies Frequency of Translation Percentage of Strategies Translation Strategies 1 Expansion 444 2.59% 2 Paraphrase 4,837 28.2% 3 Transfer 6,746 39.33% 4 Imitation 902 5.26% 5 Transcription 1,327 7.74% 6 Dislocation 656 3.83% 7 Condensation 1,704 9.94% 8 Decimation 342 2% 9 Deletion 149 0.87% 10 Resignation 43 0.25% Total 17,150 100%
The practice of translation poses quite a challenge to most subtitles. However, not all of the transferring strategies are as popular as the others in subtitling of animation. A study conducted among the Persian subtitles revealed that the most commonly used technique is Transfer (39.33%), paraphrase (28.2%) and condensation (9.94%). The perception about the Persian viewers is that they are less familiar with the source language.
Even with this challenge, studies conducted on Persian viewers still show some similarities with other previous major research. The data collected from this examination
190 can be compared to Hartama (1996), Sandrelli (1997) and Gottlieb (1992) as shown below:
Gottlieb conducted an in-dept analysis of the application of these translation approaches in the Danish subtitles of the English film Young Frankenstein. The findings indicated that most of his proposed strategies were used to some level of proportion.
Sometimes, he used more than one strategy but the most frequently used in the film was transfer. To be specific of the percentage, transfer (44.9%) paraphrase (14.5%) then condensation (12.9%). Moreover, the other strategies were placed at a lower scale as shown; decimation (8.1%), deletion (7.4%) and resignation (0.5%).
After analyzing the distribution of translation strategies in the film Caro Diario by Sandrelli (1997), it was discovered that the content provided a larger variety of some strategies as compared to others. It indicated that the frequency and percentage of strategy of transfer (66%) and that of condensation (17%) was quite high as compared to the other strategies. Only approximately 9% was left for the strategies of deletion, resignation and decimation.
A similar study was done on the Finnish subtitles of the English film Disclosure by Hartama (1996). The data gathered showed that transfer constituted 50.8%, paraphrase
20.1% and condensation 12.9%. The study noted that less than 11.7% suffer a loss of semantic information. After examining the data collected from the findings of the three studies, it is clear that a larger frequency and percentage of the studies were always biased towards the strategy of transfer, condensation and paraphrase (more than 50%). The other smaller percentage (less than 15%) is left for the minor and less inappropriate strategies.
191 In addition, both studies agree to the fact that more the use of subtitling strategies, the more the target audience understand the message.
192 CHAPTER SEVEN
CONCLUSIONS
7.1 Introduction
The current research has intended to study the way elements of humour in personification- based animation are subtitled, considering that the translation of the subtitles is subject to constraints and the transference of the source text to the target text have many different features. The effectiveness of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis on the researcher's perception of understanding the element of humour has been studied as well. This descriptive, comparative study investigates the translation strategies used by comparing the source text segment with its corresponding target text one, and by exploring the frequency of each translation strategy, specific considerations and limitation affecting subtitlers’ decision- making is evaluated. For the systematic investigation to be represented, a data of 16 animation subtitled into Persian has been collected.
The data of the study consists of 41,120 TUs (277,138 words), 17,150 cases of
Jokes including 8,631 cases of universal jokes, 6,905 cases of cultural jokes, and 1,614 cases of linguistic jokes. As the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis as an underlying theory confirms, the individual's perception of the world comes back to his/her cultural and linguistic background, so all of these evaluations, categories of jokes, and the determination of translation strategies are entirely based on the researcher’s perception of humour and their presentation in language source language/culture and target language/culture. Therefore, the information of this research will inevitably be subjective, since the humour can be influenced by the cultural, social, linguistic, and individual circumstances of the
193 researcher, which can be different from the perception of others. Although, the numbers and examples of the study will provide a general idea of how elements of humour in personification-based animation are accommodated in Persian subtitles.
The study of the translation of Persian subtitles in Iran, which has an entirely different language and culture than English language and culture, highlights the importance of this research, since most research on subtitled animation and translation of elements of humour has been done on similar languages and in languages that belong to the same family of English language. In addition, the familiarity of Iranians with English and their language skills is very low in comparison to similar research in other languages.
The research results of this study could be a guide for translators and subtitlers to familiarize themselves with the subtitling practice, especially translation of humour in animation.
7.2 Finding of the Study
After analyzing the 16 animation, several findings were presented for each of the subtitling strategy under the study, specifying the percentage of the strategy used. It is also evident that the subtitling practice in the animation industry of Iran was mainly influenced by source text. Even with the presence of the technical and textual constraints (see 2.4) that rarely make text reductions in subtitling so unavoidable, the majority of the ST is closely transferred to Persian in terms of meaning, wording and style. Some of the strategies are as discussed below:
39.33% of the ST units are transferred completely and accurately to the TT
(Transfer). It constituted the largest percentage of all the transferring strategies. The
194 strategy was used to convey a full expression of a neutral discourse. There are some elements that require less attention since they are not in any way unique; these elements are transferred directly to the other language. My study discovered that most phrases from the Persian language record high levels of transfer meaning few translation problems. To be specific, there are certain instances in my study where a Persian/ English word is transferred directly to the other language and the message fails to convey its actual meaning. In case a joke is transferred, for example, it loses its humorous feature, or the entire point of the joke loses its meaning completely. Apart from the fact that it was highly used for dialogues, it was also used in the most convenient and understandable way. The high percentage of Transfer strategy shows that Iranian subtitlers are reluctant to alter the
ST even when translation problem arises, such as culture reference of the joke, hence the joke fails to be funny.
28.2% of the ST units used Paraphrase strategy to alter the expression of words to form similar concepts with same ideas but using different words. In this case, the original version and the paraphrased version in this case, are always similar in meaning but different in choice of words used. This strategy is quite common among the Persian subtitling companies because they get to create the same impression and understanding to the target group. It was discovered that this strategy was often used together with condensation and expansion.
Condensation formed 9.94% of the ST units. It involved shortening of parts of speech, condensing speech and rendering normal speech as compared to those in the TT.
Its aim is to do it in the least noticeable way possible without changing the meaning of the message (Condensation). Condensation is the process of converting from speech to
195 writing to come up with something that the target can easily relate to (normal Speech).
My research agreed to the fact that condensation is one transferring strategy that is quite difficult to avoid in subtitling.
7.74% of the ST units used the Transcription strategy. It was used when the source text had several silly words, slip of the tongues, several unnecessary foreign words or even useless pet names. The study discovered that most subtitles rendered this word as 'useless' or 'nonsense' and did not think they were important elements. However, the technique was rarely used at higher rates even though it was not entirely abandoned.
5.26% of the ST constituted the use of identical words for example the common greetings (Imitation). Persian subtitlers always aimed at establishing the most appropriate ways to convey the message through borrowing various words from other languages.
However, my research noted that the strategy was highly dependent on the dialogues and intimacy among the actors.
3.83% of the ST units have used different phrases and adjusted the language to fit a specific phenomenon (Dislocation). The study encountered some cases where there were a lot of social and cultural gaps which made dialogue quite important as compared to translation.
2.59% of the ST units are expanded in the TT to include something that is more familiar to the intended audience (Expansion). Such cases occur probably because some cultural jokes are not retrievable in the Persian language. It mostly occurred in incidences where a smaller linguistic unit was expanded to larger perspective in order to accommodate the foreigner (Cultural gap).
196 Decimation formed approximately 2% of the ST units. It is an extreme form of condensation where units have omitted the social and cultural elements contained in the original texts in the TT which is because discourse speed. Decimation led to the loss of both the semantic and stylistic content.
Over 0.87% of the ST units are eliminated in the TT even though it exists in the target language (Deletion). Even though the use of this technique is highly discouraged, there are some terms that can hardly be translated. My study noted that it was used to handle cases of question tags, repetition of words and non-verbal phrases.
Resignation constituted approximately 0.25% of the ST units. It occurred for phrases that were difficult to translate and express and therefore the language could not convey the message (Resignation). In such cases, a term that is specific to a certain language is expressed in an entirely different way even though it has meaning to another language. My research concluded that this strategy was rather inappropriate.
In his attempt to formulate excellent subtitling principles to guide the practice,
Pedersen (2011) concluded that subtitles of English-based films and TV programs were mostly ‘source text-oriented’ (p. 194). He also investigates the application of subtitling norms to Swedish and Danish films even though it is full of uncertainty (p. 186). The question this study seeks to answer is which of the norms is best applicable to Persian films and Scandinavian countries following the AVT situation. The theoretical discussions here revolve around the AVT, to be specific the subtitling and the norms. The Iranians use normative patterns of governing their subtitling processes. However, we cannot deny the
197 fact that subtitling of most Iranians films has improved greatly especially when it comes to the English words.
Furthermore, with the current advancements in technology, Persian Subtitling services provide multi-language subtitling to several programs and films. Subtitling has grown to be accurate and fast due to development of art software that makes this a success.
Since most of the targeted individuals have already been exposed to SC, this is advantageous because it offers an opportunity to assess how the translation of ST elements takes place. In turn, this points to the consequent reduction of humourous element subtitling in the films. All these findings show a striking resemblance with others especially those conducted with a target on subtitling of the Scandinavian films. The outcomes of the study are as follows:
Translation Strategies Frequency of Percentage of Translation Strategies Translation Strategies 1 Expansion 444 2.59% 2 Paraphrase 4,837 28.2% 3 Transfer 6,746 39.33% 4 Imitation 902 5.26% 5 Transcription 1,327 7.74% 6 Dislocation 656 3.83% 7 Condensation 1,704 9.94% 8 Decimation 342 2% 9 Deletion 149 0.87% 10 Resignation 43 0.25% Total 17,150 100%
198 To summarize the finding, among 17,150 jokes found in 16 animation, 444 times
“expansion” translation strategy (2.59%), 4,837 times “paraphrase” translation strategy
(28.2%), 6,746 time s “transfer” translation strategy (39.33%), 902 times “imitation” translation strategy (5.26%), 1,327 times “transcription” translation strategy (7.74%), 656 times “dislocation” translation strategy (3.83%), 1,704 times “condensation” translation strategy (9.94%), 342 times “decimation” translation strategy (2%), 149 times “deletion” translation strategy (0.87%), and 43 times “resignation” translation strategy (0.25%) are applied by subtitlers in this study.
Although subtitle translation has many limitations, the subtitler can usually find a way to solve the problem and find the best equivalent in the target language; the concept of the content is not limited by the translation strategy. The point to consider in the animation translation is that the primary audience of animation is usually children and their parents, so there are straightforward and uncomplicated dialogues and texts that make the subtitle translation easier. Also, if there is a translation defect, for example, in transferring strategies such as decimation, condensation, deletion, and resignation, which are not recommended, the non-linguistic and non-verbal elements of the scene help significantly in understanding the animation, and these non-verbal elements are an integral part of the audiovisual products. When source culture and language are accepted in the target culture, language and community, even if these two languages and cultures are very different, the translator faces less challenges.
Although subtitling is subject to various kinds of constraints, subtitlers can usually find ways to deal with the problem, provided that the concept of equivalence is not restricted to the content. In addition, information from the non-verbal element is of great
199 help in delivering the humour, as screen humour relies heavily on these elements. As long as the source culture and its style of humour are well accepted in the target language society, the challenge to subtitlers will be greatly reduced, even if the source and target cultures and languages are very different. However, the results suggest that Gottlieb's
(1992) classification of subtitling strategy is not sufficient in Persian.
7.3 Suggestions for Further Research
Considering that AVT translation is a new field of research compared to other areas in translation studies, many new concepts and methods should be created; there is an excellent potential for the further investigations to be developed. It is hoped that the method of this study and its outcomes will help to better understanding of the translation and translation of humour in animation and to add knowledge to translation studies and encourage similar researches in different languages.
The research methodology of the present study by describing the translation practice in the subtitle, based on translation strategies and the quantifying the application of translation strategies in animation, can be used in research studies in translation exercises whose primary focus is on other methods of translation such as dubbing, voice- overs, website localization, or computer games, as well as various genres such as literature, fiction and documentaries, and other texts such as literary texts, legal texts, academic papers, lectures, stories, storybooks and advertisements in countries and other similar languages such as Dari and Pashto.
There is much more potential for this type of empirical research, and it would be worthwhile if the results of the study compared to those of the research that focus the other
200 situations and genres. Although it is expected that the transferring strategies used by the subtitler in the dubbing would be similar to the methods applied in the subtitling, yet the systematic investigation of a large corpus seems necessary. Extensive, comprehensive research on dubbing will be precious and will help to develop the dubbing norms in Iran.
The main emphasis of this research is on the subtitling of verbal elements, although in some examples non-verbal elements are briefly mentioned. Subtitling of non-verbal elements in animation or different genres is also an issue warranting further researches.
From the practical point of view of translation studies, research on the perception of the viewer from the subtitles involves the speed of reading and their understanding of the discovery of the meaning of complex subtitles, the extent that the viewer is relying on subtitling to understand the film, is worth further research. Subtitling constraints, time and space limitation, will be important subjects for research, and almost no studies have been done in this regard in the Persian language. Though little research has been done in other languages about subtitling constraints, they are not, however, complete and comprehensive; however, the way in which viewers react to rarely studies. Research on the perception of target viewers will provide subtitlers interesting perspectives into translators practice and will help the translator understand how to translate and ultimately improve the quality of the subtitles.
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https://www.aparat.com
https://www.imdb.com
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https://subscene.com
http://tinymvz.ir
http://www.vidofa.com
http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2018/
211 APPENDICES
Appendix A
EF EPI Proficiency Bands
The EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) attempts to rank countries by the average level of English language skills amongst those adults who took the EF test. It is the product of
EF Education First, an international education company, and draws its conclusions from data collected via English tests available for free over the internet. The index is an online survey first published in 2011 based on test data from 1.7 million test takers. The EF EPI seventh edition was calculated using test data from 1 million test takers in 2016. The test takers were self-selected, and no demographic information was collected on them. The tests are used by the company for marketing and placement purposes. 69 countries and 3 territories appear in the sixth edition of the index. In order to be included, a country was required to have at least 400 test takers. The report is composed of a country ranking table, several pages of analysis with graphs correlating other economic and social factors with
English proficiency, and analysis of each region or continent. The 2016 report and accompanying country fact sheets include English proficiency levels by gender, age group, and region, within countries, and some English proficiency scores by city. The website displays portions of the report and has analysis of English skills in many countries and territories.
The most recent, seventh edition released in November 2017 has been used in this study. Below are the latest country scores, proficiency bands, and rankings as published in 2017 (data from 2016).
212
EF EPI 2017 Rankings, Very High, High and Moderate Proficiency Levels
Very High High Moderate 1 Netherlands 71.45 9 Germany 62.35 22 Bulgaria 57.34 2 Sweden 70.40 10 Austria 62.18 23 Greece 57.14 3 Denmark 69.93 11 Poland 62.07 24 Lithuania 57.08 4 Norway 67.77 12 Belgium 61.58 25 Argentina 56.51 5 Singapore 66.03 13 Malaysia 61.07 26 Dominican 56.31 Republic 6 Finland 65.83 14 Switzerland 60.95 27 India 56.12 7 Luxembour 64.57 15 Philippines 60.59 28 Spain 56.06 g South 63.37 16 Serbia 59.37 29 Hong Kong 55.81 8 Africa
17 Romania 59.13 30 South Korea 55.32 18 Portugal 58.76 31 Nigeria 54.74 19 Hungary 58.61 32 France 54.39 20 Czech 57.87 33 Italy 54.19 Republic 21 Slovakia 57.63 34 Vietnam 53.43 35 Costa Rica 53.13
213
Low 36 China 52.45 58 Syria 48.49 37 Japan 52.34 59 Qatar 48.19 38 Russia 52.19 60 Morocco 47.91 39 Indonesia 52.15 61 Sri Lanka 47.84 40 Taiwan 52.04 62 Turkey 47.79 41 Brazil 51.92 63 Jordan 47.40 42 Macau 51.87 64 Azerbaijan 46.97 43 Uruguay 51.73 65 Iran 46.60 44 Mexico 51.57 66 Egypt 46.51 45 Chile 51.50 67 Kazakhstan 45.95 46 Bangladesh 50.96 68 Venezuela 45.71 47 Ukraine 50.91 69 El Salvador 48.70 48 Cuba 50.83 70 Oman 44.48 49 Panama 50.68 71 Mongolia 44.21 50 Peru 50.50 72 Saudi Arabia 43.98 51 Colombia 49.97 73 Angola 43.49 52 Pakistan 49.88 74 Kuwait 43.14 53 Thailand 49.78 75 Cameroon 42.45 54 Guatemala 49.52 76 Algeria 42.11 55 Ecuador 49.42 77 Cambodia 40.86 56 Tunisia 49.01 78 Libya 38.61 57 United Arab 48.88 79 Iraq 38.12 Emirates 80 Laos 37.56
214
Appendix B
Guidelines for Production and Layout of TV Subtitles
Different scholars proposed subtitling guidelines regarding average reading speed, as well as the ideal display time and the number of characters on screen, such as Karamitroglou
(1998), Tveit (2004) and Diaz Cintas and Ramael (2007). The researcher has adopted the subtitling guideline for production and layout of TV subtitles proposed by Karamitroglou
(1988).
1. General aim
The general practice of the production and layout of TV subtitles should be guided by the aim to provide maximum appreciation and comprehension of the target film as a whole by maximising the legibility and readability of the inserted subtitled text.
2. Spatial parameter / layout
Position on the screen: Subtitles should be positioned at the lower part of the screen, so that they cover an area usually occupied by image action which is of lesser importance to the general aesthetic appreciation of the target film. The lowest line of the subtitles should appear at least 1/12 of the total screen height above the bottom of the screen, so that the eye of the viewer does not have to travel a long distance towards the lowest part of the screen to read it. Space should also be provided on the horizontal axis, so that, again, the eye of the viewer does not have to travel a long distance along the sides of the screen in order to read a subtitle line. To this end, image space of at least 1/12 of the total screen width should be provided to the left of the first character and at least 1/12 of the total
215 screen width to the right of the last character, for each subtitle line. Subtitles could be positioned towards the upper part of the screen only in extreme cases where visual material
(linguistic or other) of vital importance to the appreciation and the comprehension of the target film is exposed at the pre-determined part of the screen where subtitles would otherwise be inserted.
Number of lines: A maximum of two lines of subtitles should be presented at a time. This would guarantee that no more than 2/12 of the screen image would be covered by subtitles at a time. In the case of a single-line subtitle, this should occupy the lower of the two lines, rather than the top line in order to minimise interference with the background image action.
Text positioning: The subtitled text should be presented entered on its allocated line(s).
Since most of the image action circulates around the centre of the screen, this would enable the eye of the viewer to travel a shorter distance in order to reach the start of the subtitle.
An exception is the case of “double text” (i.e. dialogue turns initiated by dashes and presented simultaneously on a two-line subtitle) which should be aligned to the left side of the screen, following the conventions of printed literature that require dialogue turns introduced by dashes to be left-aligned on the printed page (see also the entry of “Dashes” in section 3 “Punctuation and letter case”).
Number of characters per line: Each subtitle line should allow around 35 characters in order to be able to accommodate a satisfactory portion of the (translated) spoken text and minimise the need for original text reduction and omissions. An increase in the number of characters, attempting to fit over 40 per subtitle line, reduces the legibility of the subtitles because the font size is also inevitably reduced.
216 Typeface and distribution: Typefaces with no serifs are preferable to fonts with serifs, since the visual complexity added to the latter results in a decrease in the legibility of the subtitled text. Typefaces like Helvetica and Arial are qualified. Proportional distribution
(like the one used on the current document and on most Word Processors) rather than
Monospace distribution (usually used on typewriters) saves the space required to fit the desired 35 characters into a subtitle line.
Font colour and background: Type characters should be coloured pale white (not “snow- bright” white) because a too flashy pigment would render them tiring to the viewers’ eye.
They should also be presented against a grey, see-through “ghost box” rather than in a contoured format (surrounded by a shadowed edge) since it has been proven that it easier for the eye to read against a fixed rather than a varying/moving background. In addition, the colour of the “ghost box” (grey) is both neutral to the eye and gives the impression that it does not entirely block the background image.
3. Temporal parameter / duration
Duration of a full two-line subtitle (maximum duration): The reading speed of the
“average” viewers (aged between 14-65, from an upper-middle socio-educational class) for a text of average complexity (a combination of formal and informal language) has been proven to range between 150-180 words per minute, i.e. between 2 1/2-3 words per second. This means that a full two line subtitle containing 14-16 words should remain on the screen for a maximum time of something less than 5 1/2 seconds. However, we would actually have to expand the estimate to around 6 seconds because one should also add about 1/4-1/2 of a second that the brain needs to start processing the subtitle it has traced.
It should be noted that equal to the importance of retaining a full two-line subtitle for at least 6 seconds to secure ample reading time, is the importance of keeping the same
217 subtitle not more than 6 seconds because this would cause automatic re-reading of the subtitle, especially by fast readers.
Note: The average reading speed of children (aged 6-14) has been found to be around 90-
120 words per minute. For the subtitling of children’s programmes, then, calculations regarding the duration of the subtitles on screen should be estimated accordingly.
Duration of a full single-line subtitle (maximum duration) : Although pure mathematics would lead us to the conclusion that for a full single-line subtitle of 7-8 words the necessary maximum duration time would be around 3 seconds, it is actually 3 1/2 seconds. This happens because for the two-line subtitle it is the visual bulk of the text that signals an acceleration of the reading speed. With the single-line subtitle this mechanism is not triggered. Once again, equal to the importance of keeping a full single-line subtitle for at least 3 1/2 seconds to secure ample reading time, is the importance of retaining the same subtitle for not more than 3 1/2 seconds because this would cause automatic re- reading of the subtitle, especially by fast readers. For similar reasons of automatic re- reading, in both cases of single-line and two-line subtitles, the duration time could be calculated and shortened down to the maximum of the reading time (3 subtitled words per second or 1/3 of a second per subtitled word), if the text is lexically and syntactically easy to process and if the fast pace of the film action dictates such a reduction in the duration of the subtitles.
Duration of a single-word subtitle (minimum duration): The minimum duration of a single-word subtitle is at least 1 1/2 seconds, however simple the word is. Less time would render the subtitle as a mere flash on the screen, irritating the viewers’ eye. Again, it should be noted that equal to the importance of retaining a single-word subtitle for at least
1 1/2 seconds to secure ample reading time is the importance of keeping the same subtitle
218 for not more than 1 1/2 seconds because this would cause automatic re-reading of the subtitle, especially by fast readers.
Leading-in time: Subtitles should not be inserted simultaneously with the initiation of the utterance but 1/4 of a second later, since tests have indicated that the brain needs 1/4 of a second to process the advent of spoken linguistic material and guide the eye towards the bottom of the screen anticipating the subtitle. A simultaneously presented subtitle is premature, surprises the eye with its flash and confuses the brain for about 1/2 a second, while its attention oscillates between the inserted subtitled text and the spoken linguistic material, not realising where it should focus.
Lagging-out time: Subtitles should not be left on the image for more than two seconds after the end of the utterance, even if no other utterance is initiated in these two seconds.
This is because subtitles are supposed to transfer the spoken text as faithfully as possible, in terms of both content and time of presentation and a longer lagging-out time would generate feelings of distrust toward the (quality of the) subtitles, since the viewers would start reflecting that what they have read might not have actually corresponded to what had been said, at the time it had been said.
Between two consecutive subtitles: About 1/4 of a second needs to be inserted between two consecutive subtitles in order to avoid the effect of subtitles’ “overlay.” This time break is necessary to signal to the brain the disappearance of one subtitle as a piece of linguistic information, and the appearance of another. If no such gap is maintained, the viewers’ eye cannot perceive the change of the new subtitled text, especially if it is of the same length as the antecedent one.
“Overlay,” “add-ons” and “cumulative text”: All these terms are synonymous for the technique of presenting a “dynamic text,” i.e. a dialogue or a briefly paused monologue,
219 with its first part appearing first on the top line of the subtitle and the second part appearing consecutively on the bottom line of the subtitle while the first line still remains on screen.
This technique is ideal for avoiding “spilling the beans,” managing to reveal “surprise” information at the time of the actual utterance. Since it is a wild-card mechanism, it should be used cautiously.
Camera takes/cuts: Subtitles should respect camera takes/cuts that signify a thematic change in the film product and, for this reason, they should disappear before the cuts.
Different camera shots, fades and pans that do not indicate a major thematic change (e.g. a change from a long shot to a close-up and back) should not affect the duration of the subtitles at all as they do not signify a thematic change.
4. Punctuation and letter case
“Sequence dots” (or “ending triple dots”) {...}: Three dots should be used right after the last character of a subtitle (no space character inserted), when the subtitled sentence is not finished on one subtitle and has to continue over the consecutive subtitle. The three
"sequence dots" indicate that the subtitled sentence is incomplete, so that the eye and the brain of the viewers can expect the appearance of a new flash to follow. The total absence of any kind of punctuation mark after the last character of the subtitle, as an alternative means of indicating the continuation of the subtitled sentence over the consecutive subtitle, does not provide such an obvious signal and, thus, the brain takes more time to process the new flash which appears less expectedly. Because of their particular function as signifiers of sentence incompleteness, the use of “sequence dots” to simply indicate ongoing thoughts or an unfinished utterance by the speaker should be considerably restricted.
220 “Linking dots” (or “starting triple dots”) {...}: Three dots should be used right before the first character of a subtitle (no space character inserted, the first character non- capitalised), when this subtitle carries the follow-up text of the previous uncompleted sentence. The tracing of the three “linking dots” signals the arrival of the expected new flash of subtitle, something anticipated because of the presence of “sequence dots” in the previous subtitle. The absence of any punctuation mark as an alternative means of indicating the arrival of the remaining part of an incomplete subtitled sentence does not provide such an obvious signal and as a result the brain takes more time to process the new subtitle flash as related to the previous subtitle. Because of their particular function as signifiers of sentence continuation, “linking dots” should always be used in conjunction with “sequence dots.”
Full stops {.}: The full stop, or period, should be used right after the last character of a subtitle (no space character inserted) to indicate the end of the subtitled sentence. This signals to the eye that it can go back to the image since there is no consecutive subtitle to anticipate. The absence of “sequence dots” as an alternative means of indicating the end of a subtitled sentence does not provide such an obvious signal and as a result the brain takes more time to process the fact that the subtitled sentence has actually been completed.
Dashes and hyphens {-}: Dashes are used before the first character of each of the lines of a two-line subtitle (with a space character inserted each time) to indicate the exchange of speakers’ utterances, namely a dialogue, presented either in a single flash as “static double text,” or with the second speaker’s exchange as an “overlay” to the first subtitle line, i.e. as “dynamic double text.” When dashes are used to link words as hyphens no space characters should be inserted between the linked words
221 Question marks {?} and exclamation points {!}: Question marks and exclamation points should be used to indicate a question or emphasis respectively, just like in printed materials, positioned right after the last character of a subtitle (no space character inserted).
Note: For questions in Spanish, a question mark should also be inserted right before the first character (no space character inserted).
Parentheses {( )} and brackets {[ ]}: Parentheses and brackets should be used to embrace comments which are explanatory to the preceding phrase. As the duration time for each subtitle is considerably limited and the convention of parentheses or brackets is not extremely widespread in printed materials either, they function as wild cards and, therefore, they should be used cautiously.
Single quotation marks {‘ ’}: Single quotation marks should be used just like in printed materials, in order to embrace alleged information. For reasons similar to the use of parentheses and brackets, single quotation marks should be used cautiously.
Double quotation marks {“ ”} : Double quotation should be used just like in printed materials, in order to embrace quoted information. For reasons similar to the use of parentheses and brackets, double quotation marks should be used cautiously.
Commas {,}, colons {:} and semicolons {;}: Commas, colons and semicolons should be used just like in printed materials, in order to suggest a short pause in the reading pace.
Unlike full stops, sequence dots, exclamation points and question marks which could all be used to close a subtitled sentence, no subtitle flash should end in a comma, a colon or a semicolon because the inevitable pause in the reading pace, as a result of the time break between the two subtitles and the necessary time for the brain to process the new subtitle, would be disproportionately long in relation to the expected short pause. Again, for
222 reasons similar to the use of parentheses and brackets commas, colons and semicolons should be used cautiously.
Italics: Italics on the subtitled text should be used to indicate an off-screen source of the spoken text, (e.g. when there is a voice of someone contemplating something, speaking over the phone from the other end, or narrating something). They should also be used when retaining foreign-language words in their original foreign-language version (e.g.
“He’s got a certain je ne sais quoi.”).
Quotation marks {“”} embracing text in italics: Quotation marks embracing text in italics should be used to indicate a public broadcast, i.e. spoken text coming from an off- screen source and addressed to a number of people (e.g. through a TV, a radio, or a loudspeaker). They should also be used when transferring song lyrics.
Upper- and lower-case letters: Upper- and lower-case letters should be used just like in printed materials, as if the subtitle was to appear on paper. Subtitles typed only in upper- case letters should be used when transferring a display or a caption (i.e. a written sign that appears on the screen).
Boldface and underline: Boldface and underline typing conventions are not permitted in subtitling.
5. Target text editing
From a single-line to a two-line subtitle: It is better to segment a long single-line subtitle into a two-line subtitle, distributing the words on each line. This is because the eye and the brain of the viewers render a two-line subtitle as more bulky and, as a result, accelerate the reading process.
Segmentation at the highest nodes: Subtitled text should appear segmented at the highest syntactic nodes possible. This means that each subtitle flash should ideally contain one
223 complete sentence. In cases where the sentence cannot fit in a single-line subtitle and has to continue over a second line or even over a new subtitle flash, the segmentation on each of the lines should be arranged to coincide with the highest syntactic node possible. For example, before we segment the phrase:
“The destruction of the city was inevitable.” (44 characters), we first have to think of its syntactic tree as follows:
A segmentation on the fifth node (N5) would create the two-line subtitle “The destruction of the city was inevitable.” A segmentation on the second node (N2) would create the two-line subtitle “The destruction of the city was inevitable.” Out of the two segmentations, it is the second that flows as more readable. This occurs because the higher the node, the greater the grouping of the semantic load and the more complete the piece of information presented to the brain. When we segment a sentence, we force the brain to pause its linguistic processing for a while, until the eyes trace the next piece of linguistic information. In cases where segmentation is inevitable, therefore, we should try to force this pause on the brain at a point where the semantic load has already managed to convey a satisfactorily complete piece of information. Segmentation and line length: The upper line and the lower line of a two-line subtitle should be proportionally as equal in length as possible, since the viewers’ eye is more accustomed to reading text in a rectangular rather than a triangular format. This happens because the conventional text format of printed material is rectangular (in columns or pages). Taken into account the previous entry on
“segmentation at the highest nodes,” this means that the segmentation of subtitled text should be a compromise between syntax and geometry. However, if we had to sacrifice the one for the sake of the other, we should prefer to sacrifice geometry.
224 Spoken utterances and subtitled sentences: Each spoken utterance should ideally correspond to a subtitled sentence. The reason is that viewers expect a correct and faithful representation of the original text and one of the basic means to check this is by noticing if the number of the spoken utterances coincides with the number of the subtitled sentences. In other words, viewers expect to see the end of a subtitled sentence soon after they realise that the speaker has finished his/her utterance and before a new one begins.
In this respect, merging or bridging two or more utterances into one subtitled sentence should be avoided as much as possible, unless spatio-temporal constraints strictly dictate it.
More than one sentence on the same subtitle: No more than two sentences are allowed on the same subtitle. Following the principle of “segmentation at the highest nodes,”; they should occupy one line each, no matter whether they correspond to utterances produced by the same speaker (monologue) or by different speakers (dialogue). If they correspond to a monologue, they should be centralised like normal subtitled text. If they correspond to a dialogue, they should be left-aligned and preceded by dashes (“double text”).
Omitting linguistic items of the original: A decision as to which pieces of information to omit or to include should depend on the relative contribution of these pieces of information to the comprehension and appreciation of the target film as a whole. The subtitler should not attempt to transfer everything, even when this is spatio-temporally feasible. The subtitler should attempt to keep a fine balance between retaining a maximum of the original text (essential for the comprehension of the linguistic part of the target film), and allowing ample time for the eye to process the rest of the non-linguistic aural and visual elements (essential for the appreciation of the aesthetic part of the target film).
Categories of linguistic items that could be omitted are as follows:
225 Padding expressions(e.g. “you know,” “well,” “as I say” etc): These expressions are most frequently empty of semantic load and their presence is mostly functional, padding-in speech in order to maintain the desired speech flow.
Tautological cumulative adjectives/adverbs (e.g. “great big,” “super extra,” “teeny weeny” etc): The first part of these double adjectival/adverbial combinations has an emphatic role which can be incorporated in a single-word equivalent (e.g. “huge,”
“extremely,” “tiny”).
Responsive expressions (e.g. “yes,” “no,” “ok,” “please,” “thanks,” “thank you,” “sorry”).
The afore-listed expressions have been found to be recognised and comprehended by the majority of the European people, when clearly uttered, and could therefore be omitted from the subtitle. It should be noted, however, that when they are not clearly uttered or when they are presented in a slang, informal or colloquial version (e.g. “yup,” “nup,”
“okey-dokey,” “tha” etc) they are not recognisable or comprehensible and should, therefore, be subtitled.
Retaining linguistic items of the original: Linguistic items of the original that can be easily recognised and comprehended by the viewers should not only be retained if they appear in a context of unrecognisable items which blurs the meaning of the total utterance, but they should also be translated word-for-word. These items are most frequently proper nouns (e.g. geographical names like “Los Angeles,” “Africa” etc.) or items that the target language has directly borrowed from or lent to the source language or happened to have in common after they both borrowed it from a third language (e.g. the items
“mathematics,” “mathématique” and “mathimatika” shared by English, French and Greek respectively). Investigations in the psychology of viewing indicate that when such
226 linguistic items are recognised by the viewers, the exact, literal, translationally equivalent items are expected to appear in the subtitles as well. This occurs because of the constant presence of an inherently operating checking mechanism in the brain of the viewers which raises the suspicions that the translation of the original text is not “properly” or “correctly” rendered in the subtitles, every time word-for-word translations for such items are not spotted.
Altering syntactic structures: Simpler syntactic structures (canonical forms) tend to be both shorter and easier to understand than complex syntactic structures and should, therefore, be preferred, provided that a fine balance is achieved between a) semantic aspects (maintaining the semantic load of the original), b) pragmatic aspects (maintaining the function of the original), and c) stylistics (maintaining the stylistics features of the original). Categories of complex syntactic structures could be replaced by simplified ones as follows:
Active for passive constructions: E.g. “It is believed by many people.” (30 characters) =>
“Many people believe.” (20 characters).
Positive for negative expressions: E.g. “We went to a place we hadn’t been before.” (41 characters) => “We went to a new place.” (23 characters).
Temporal Prepositional Phrases for temporal subordinate clauses: E.g. “I’ll study when I finish watching this movie.” (46 characters) => “I’ll study after this movie.” (28 characters).
Modified nouns for the referring relative clauses: E.g. “What I’d like is a cup of coffee.”
(33 characters) => “I’d like a cup of coffee.” (25 characters).
227 Gapping for double verb insertion: E.g. “John would like to work in Germany and Bill would like to work in France.” (73 characters) => “John would like to work in Germany and Bill in France.”; (54 characters).
Straightforward question sentences for indicative pragmatic requests: E.g. “I would like to know if you are coming.” (39 characters) => “Are you coming?” (15 characters).
Straightforward imperative sentences for indicative pragmatic requests: E.g. “I would like you to give me my keys back.” (41 characters) => “Give me my keys back.” (21 characters). In certain cases, however, it is longer structures that have to be preferred because they facilitate mental processing:
Coherent phrase grouping for syntactical scrambling: E.g. “That a man should arrive with long hair did not surprise me.” (60 characters) => “It did not surprise me that a man with long hair should arrive.” (63 characters).
Acronyms, apostrophes, numerals and symbols: Acronyms, apostrophes and symbols can save precious character space by abbreviating meaning signs. However, they should be used with caution and only if they are immediately recognisable and comprehensible.
For example:
Acronyms: Use acronyms like “NATO” and “USA” but avoid acronyms like “PM” (Prime
Minister) or “DC” (Detective Constable).
Apostrophes: Use apostrophes for abbreviations of auxiliaries like “I’d like” and “You can’t” but avoid abbreviations like “Mid’bro” (Middlesborough).
Numerals: For numerals, the conventions of printed materials should be followed, i.e. they should be used to indicate numbers over twelve “He is only 25” but not other numeric expressions like “1000s of times” or “the 2 of us.”
228 Symbols: Use symbols commonly used and immediately recognised on printed materials like “%” and avoid less common symbols like “&” or “@.”
Rendering dialects: If a dialect of the target language (regional or social) is chosen to be used on the subtitled text, it should not be rendered as a phonetic or syntactic transcription of the spoken form. Only dialects that have already appeared in a written form in printed materials are allowed to be used in subtitles as well. For example, archaic or biblical forms like “thee” for “you” are allowed but sociolect forms like “whadda ya doin?” are not allowed because they are not immediately recognisable and comprehensible by the viewers’ eye.
Taboo words: Taboo words should not be censored unless their frequent repetition dictates their reduction for reasons of text economy.
Culture-specific linguistic elements: There is no standard guideline for the transfer of culture-specific linguistic elements. There are five possible alternatives for such a transfer: a) cultural transfer, b) transposition, c) transposition with explanation, d) neutralisation
(plain explanation), e) omission. The culture specific element “10 Downing Street” (the
British Prime Minister’s Residence), for example, in the expression “They were following orders from 10 Downing Street” could be transferred as follows:
Cultural Transfer: “They were following orders from ______,” filling the gap with the respective name of the Prime Minister’s Residence (e.g. Matignon for France, Megaro
Maximou for Greece etc.)
Transposition: “They were following orders from 10 Downing Street”
Transposition with explanation: “They were following orders from 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister’s House”
Neutralisation: “They were following orders from the Prime Minister”
229 Omission: “They were following orders”
The choice of which alternative to apply depends on the culture-specific linguistic element itself, as well as on the broader, contextual, linguistic or non-linguistic aural and visual situation in which it is embedded.
230 Appendix C
Synopsis of the Animations
The synopsis of the 16 animations used in this study is taken from IMDb's website.
IMDb is the world's most famous and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. The list of these animations and their release dates in alphabetical order is as follows:
All Creatures Big and Small (2015), Barnyard (2006), Finding Dory (2016), Hoodwinked
(2005), Horton Hears a Who (2008), Ice Age: Collision Course (2016), Ice Age: The
Meltdown (2006), Kung Fu Panda (2008), Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012),
Norm of the North (2016), Ratatouille (2007), Sing (2016), The Angry Birds (2016), The
Secret Life of Pets (2016), Trolls (2016), and Valiant (2005).
1. All Creatures Big and Small (2015)
Set in the times of the Biblical Flood, Dave is a Nestrian, a clumsy, silly-looking, brightly coloured creature whose only skills are making comfortable nests and secreting a foul smelling cloud of blue gas whenever he gets scared for his life. Dave is constantly moving around searching for a place to stay, a real home, much to the dismay of Finny, his son, who only wants to make friends. After hearing a rumour of a colossal wave that is said to cover the whole world, Dave packs up again and takes Finny to a giant gathering of animals where their only salvation awaits: a huge ark, big enough to fit in all the animals of the world, and built by a very nice human called Noah.
231 Unfortunately, Dave and Finny are turned away as they're not on the Lion's list.
The Lion manages all animal affairs on the ark. But it takes more than that to dissuade a
Nestrian. With the use of some creative thinking, some Nestrian craftsmanship, and the involuntary help of the carnivorous Grymps, Hazel and her daughter Leah, they manage to sneak on the ark after all. Just when the day seemed to have been saved, Dave and Hazel realise that Finny and Leah have disappeared. Their curiosity having gotten the better of them, they were on the scaffolding as the tidal wave hit the boat and it sailed away. The parents panic as the ark sails off, leaving their children stranded on the last bit of land not yet engulfed by the water.
Their desperate race against time begins. Leah, who is a born hunter and survivor is burdened with the clumsy and awkward Finny, but somehow they manage to escape from the rising water and the greedy and gruesome Griffins. Eventually they add two more odd creatures who were also rejected from the ark to their ranks. Finding his footing, surrounded by his new group of friends, Finny starts to emerge as the brave hero that he really is. Meanwhile, their parents must get over their differences to work together, fight their way through gorilla guards and the vain and ruthless Lion to take control of the ark and save their children.
Having had many adventures, the "fearless four" (Leah, Finny, Obesey and his parasite companion) manage to fight off the continuing attacks of two griffins who see
Leah and Finn as their dinner. The gargoyles are eaten by Obesey who falls in the sea some time later. As the water reaches the top of the mountain where Lea and Finny are, the parents manage to take control of the ship and steer it to the mountaintop. Leah and
Finn manage to climb on a piece of floating ice when the water engulfs the mountain.
232 When the ark passes their little iceberg, it turns out to be hard to climb on. Finny first manages to climb on the ark but does not want to leave Leah behind and jumps back on the iceberg. Then Leah jumps on board of the ark and uses her sharp claws to hold on.
Finny tries to get back on the ark too, but falls in the water, seemingly unconscious or dying. When Dave tries to save Finny from drowning in the water the plot twist is revealed: Nestrians are really water creatures, perfectly able to breathe and swim while submerged. Obesey turns out to be a whale. This also explains why Dave was never feeling at home.
In the final scenes Dave and Finny swim alongside the ark, waving at Leah and
Hazel. On the deck of the ark the Lion Captain and his flamingo assistant discuss whether they should have told Dave and Finny in the beginning they were sea creatures. In the credits is seen when the Ark stops at the Mount Ararat and when all the animals leave the
Ark, and the life of Dave and Finny after the Flood and they discover other Nestrians in the Sea.
2. Barnyard (2006) Otis is a carefree cow who prefers playing with his friends rather than accept responsibility. His father Ben is the leader of the barnyard. After Otis interrupts a barnyard meeting with his wild antics, Ben has a talk with his son, warning him that he will never be happy if he spends his life partying without acting more maturely. Otis ignores his advice and leaves to have fun with his friends Pip the Mouse, Pig the Pig, Freddy the
Ferret, and Peck the Rooster. That same day, Otis meets a pregnant cow named Daisy, who is accompanied by her friend, Bessy.
233 That night, the animals throw a party in the barn. All the animals at the barnyard are there except Ben, who guards the fence line. Otis is assigned a shift along with Ben, but Otis talks himself out of work. Before Otis leaves, Ben tells him that the night he found him as a baby calf stumbling alone in the meadow, he swore he saw the stars dance, thus giving him reason to know his place was at the farm. Later, Ben takes on a pack of coyotes led by Dag, plundering the chicken coop. He manages to fight off the pack until he is bitten on the leg by the red coyote, making him fall. The Coyotes pile on Ben, but he manages to grab Dag and escapes the pile. He threatens to punch Dag but lets him go, scaring away him and the coyotes. Ben falls on the ground, exhausted. Otis is alerted and he runs outside to his father. Ben dies and is buried on a hill by the farmer, and the other animals mourn Ben after the farmer leaves.
After Ben's death, all the animals elect Otis as the new leader of the barnyard. Otis shirks his duties by leaving Freddy and Peck in charge of the coop, then helps the trouble- making Jersey Cows Eddy, Igg, and Bud teach a lesson to a mean fat youngster called
Snotty Boy for cow-tipping, eluding the police along the way. Later that night, when Otis is holding Daisy's hoof under the starlight, he overhears the coyotes chasing a rabbit and leaves Daisy to pursue the coyotes and avenge his father. Otis tries to attack Dag and his pack, but is outnumbered. Since Otis is weaker, Dag proposes a deal: he and his pack will take various barnyard animals at random times and that, if Otis tries to stand up to them, they will slaughter everyone at the barnyard. Otis decides to leave the barnyard, realising that his chances of victory are slim.
The next morning, before leaving, Otis is informed that the Coyotes took some hens including Maddy, a little chick who is one of Otis' friends. Otis realises that he has
234 been fooled by Dag, as he was not expecting him and the coyotes until tonight, and sets off to rescue the chickens. Otis confronts the pack but is easily defeated after Dag bites him in the leg; however, Pip, Pig, Freddy, Peck, Miles, Ben's old friend, and the Jersey
Cows arrive to help Otis. Dag tries to attack Otis from behind, but Otis is alerted when
Peck successfully manages to crow a warning. Otis catches Dag and warns him to never return to the barnyard. Otis then swings Dag out of the junkyard with a golf club, finally avenging his father's death.
After hijacking a biker gang's motorcycles from the diner, Otis and the rest make it back to the barn to witness Daisy giving birth to a calf that she names Li'l Ben. Otis then takes responsibility and becomes leader of the barnyard as he watches the stars of himself,
Daisy and Lil' Ben dance just like Ben said. Mrs. Beady gets ready for bed, but she noticed that Wild Mike is on top of her head.
3. Finding Dory (2016) Dory, a regal blue tang, gets separated from her parents as a child. As she grows up, Dory attempts to search for them, but gradually forgets them due to her short-term memory loss. In the flashback of the previous film, Finding Nemo, she joins Marlin – a clownfish looking for his missing son Nemo – after accidentally swimming into him.
One year later, Dory is living with Marlin and Nemo on their reef. One day, Dory has a flashback and remembers that she has parents. She decides to look for them, but her memory problem is an obstacle. She eventually remembers that they lived at the Jewel of
Morro Bay across the ocean in California, thanks to Nemo mentioning its name. Marlin and Nemo accompany Dory. With the help of Crush, their sea turtle friend, they ride a water current to California. Upon arrival, they explore a shipwreck full of destroyed cargo,
235 where Dory accidentally awakens a giant squid, who immediately pursues them and almost devours Nemo. Marlin berates Dory for endangering them. Her feelings hurt, Dory travels to the surface to seek help and is captured by staff members from the nearby Marine
Life Institute after getting entangled in six pack rings.
Dory is placed in the quarantine section and tagged. There she meets a grouchy, but well-meaning octopus named Hank. Dory's tag shows that she will be sent to an aquarium in Cleveland. Due to a traumatic ocean life, Hank wants to live in the aquarium instead of being released back into the ocean, so he agrees to help Dory find her parents in exchange for her tag. In one exhibit, Dory encounters her childhood friend Destiny, a nearsighted whale shark, who used to communicate with Dory through pipes, and Bailey, a beluga whale, who mistakenly believes he has lost his ability to echolocate. Dory subsequently has flashbacks of life with her parents, and struggles to recall details. She finally remembers how she was separated from her parents: she overheard her mother crying one night, left to retrieve a shell to cheer her up, and was pulled away by an undertow current.
Marlin and Nemo attempt to rescue Dory. With the help of two California sea lions named Fluke and Rudder and a disfigured common loon named Becky, they manage to get into the institute and find her in the pipe system. Other blue tangs tell them that Dory's parents escaped from the institute a long time ago to search for her and never came back, leaving Dory believing that they have died. Hank retrieves Dory from the tank, accidentally leaving Marlin and Nemo behind. He is then apprehended by one of the employees and unintentionally drops Dory into the drain, flushing her out to the ocean.
While wandering aimlessly, she comes across a trail of shells; remembering that when she
236 was young, her parents had set out a similar trail to help her find her way back home, she follows it. At the end of the trail, Dory finds an empty brain coral with multiple shell trails leading to it. As she turns to leave, she sees her parents Jenny and Charlie in the distance.
They tell her they spent years laying down the trails for her to follow in the hopes that she would eventually find them.
Marlin, Nemo, and Hank end up in the truck taking various aquatic creatures to
Cleveland. Destiny and Bailey escape from their exhibit to help Dory rescue them. Once on board the truck, Dory persuades Hank to return to the sea with her, and together, they hijack the truck and drive it over busy highways, creating havoc, before crashing it into the sea, freeing all the fish. Dory, along with her parents and new friends, return to the reef with Marlin and Nemo. In a post-credits scene, the tank gang from the first film, still trapped inside their (now algae-covered) plastic bags, reach California one year after floating across the Pacific Ocean. They are eventually picked up by staff members from the Marine Life Institute.
4. Hoodwinked (2005) Little Red Riding Hood discovers that the Big Bad Wolf has disguised himself as her grandmother. Granny jumps out of the closet tied up just as the axe-wielding woodsman bursts through the window, startling everyone. The police quickly arrive, and
Red, Wolf, Granny, and the Woodsman are questioned by Detective Nicky Flippers about the events leading up to the incident. Red explains that she was delivering goodies for her grandmother when she discovered a threat from the mysterious Goodie Bandit. Hoping to save her Granny's recipes, she embarked upon a journey to take them to the top of a nearby mountain where her Granny lives. On her way, she encountered the Wolf, who asked her
237 a series of suspicious questions. She managed to escape and eventually reached her
Granny's house; however, she found the Wolf already waiting in ambush.
What at first seems to be an open-and-shut case becomes confused though, once it is learned that the Wolf is an investigative reporter. He reveals that he was searching for a lead on the identity of the Goody Bandit and had reason to believe that Red and Granny were the culprits. Locating Red, he questioned her, hoping to get to the bottom of the mystery. When Red escaped, he headed for her Granny's house and arriving first, went undercover, hoping to trick her into giving him the evidence he needed. When questioned, the Woodsman, Kirk, reveals that he is in fact an aspiring actor who was only trying out for the part of a woodsman in a commercial. After his schnitzel truck was robbed by the
Goody Bandit, he went out into the woods to get in character for his role and spent the rest of the day chopping trees. A large tree rolled after him and pushed him through the window of Granny's home. The investigation then turns to Granny, who reveals that, unbeknownst to her family, she is an extreme sports enthusiast. During a ski race earlier that day, she was attacked by the opposing team, but got away safely after learning that they were hired by the Goody Bandit.
Despondent over her Granny's lack of honesty, Red wanders off alone. Meanwhile,
Nicky Flippers realises that the one commonality between all four stories is a bunny named Boingo and concludes that he is the Goody Bandit. However, Boingo has already sneaked into the home and stolen Granny's recipes. Red sees Boingo and follows him to his hideout at a cable car station, but the police pursue him in the wrong direction. Granny, the Wolf, and Kirk manage to locate Boingo as he is explaining his evil scheme to Red.
238 Boingo plans to add an addictive substance to the stolen recipes and then destroy the forest, making way for new real estate for expanding his business.
The Wolf and Kirk go undercover to distract Boingo as Granny sneaks into his lair, but open conflict ensues. Boingo sends a bound and gagged Red down the mountain in a cable car loaded with explosives and Granny goes after her, with Boingo and his henchmen in pursuit. Red manages to free herself, and escapes with Granny, while the police, who have been located by the Wolf's squirrel assistant Twitchy, are waiting at the bottom of the mountain to arrest Boingo and his henchmen. Some time later, Kirk finds success as part of a yodelling troupe, and Red, Granny, the Wolf, and Twitchy are enlisted by Nicky Flippers to join a crime solving organization called Happily Ever After Agency.
5. Horton Hears a Who (2008) A dust speck is dislodged from its obscure place and sent adrift through the Jungle of Nool. At the same time, Horton the elephant, the jungle's eccentric nature teacher, takes a dip in the pool. The dust speck floats past him in the air, and he hears a tiny yelp coming from it. Believing that an entire society of microscopic creatures are living on that speck, he gives chase to it before placing it on top of a clover. Horton finds out the speck harbours the city of Whoville and its inhabitants, the Whos, led by Mayor Ned McDodd. He has a wife, Sally, 96 daughters (whose names all begin with the letter H), and one teenage son named JoJo. Despite being the oldest and next in line for the mayoral position, JoJo doesn't want to be the next mayor, and because he's so scared of disappointing his father, never talks. Once Horton begins carrying the speck with him, the city starts experiencing strange phenomena (earthquakes and changes in the weather), and the Mayor finds his attempts
239 to caution Whoville challenged by the Town Council, led by the opportunistic yet condescending Chairman.
After he makes contact with Horton, the Mayor finds out from Dr. Mary Lou
LaRue that Whoville will be destroyed if Horton does not find a "safer, more stable home".
Horton resolves (with the help of his best friend Morton the mouse) to place the speck atop Mt. Nool, the safest place in the jungle. The head of the jungle, Jane Kangaroo, disbelieving Horton's beliefs and resenting him for overshadowing her authority, attempts several times to demand that Horton give up the speck, but Horton ignores her demands.
Also taking force toward Horton are the Wickersham Brothers, a group of monkeys who love making misery. Eventually, the Kangaroo enlists a vulture named Vlad Vladikoff to get rid of the speck by force. After a few failed attempts, Vlad manages to steal the clover away from Horton and drops it into a massive field of identical pink clovers, causing an apocalyptic tremor in Whoville. After unsuccessfully picking nearly three million clovers,
Horton eventually recovers the clover (exactly the 3,000,000th clover). The Kangaroo eventually finds out, thanks to Mrs. Quilligan, that Horton still has the speck, and decides to rally the jungle community into fighting Horton, saying that Horton's goal will lead to anarchy. Upon cornering him, the Kangaroo offers Horton an escape from punishment by renouncing Whoville's existence.
Despite Horton's heartfelt speech when he refuses, the Kangaroo orders the animals to rope and cage him, and to have the speck and the Whos destroyed in a pot of boiling beezlenut oil. The Mayor enlists all of his people to make noise by shouting "We are here!", as well as playing a variety of instruments, so the animals may hear them, assisted by JoJo's "Symphonophone", an invention which creates a huge musical
240 contribution (which reveals that JoJo's "true" passion is music), but still fails to penetrate the surface of the speck. As Horton lies beaten and captured, the Kangaroo easily takes the clover, and drops it. Meanwhile, JoJo grabs the horn used to project Horton's voice, runs up the highest tower and screams "YOPP!", breaking through the sound barrier just seconds before the speck hits the oil.
The Kangaroo's son, Rudy grabs the clover and returns it to Horton. The animals finally hear the Whos, realising the truth about the clover, and isolate the Kangaroo for tricking them. While being praised for his integrity by his neighbours, Horton even forgives the devastated Kangaroo, and she befriends him with a makeshift umbrella for
Whoville. Here, the people of Whoville and the animals of Nool gather in song and recite the chorus from "Can't Fight This Feeling". The film ends with the narrator revealing that the Jungle of Nool, or rather Earth, is just one speck, like Whoville, among numerous others, floating in outer space.
6. Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) Scrat, trying to bury his acorn, accidentally activates an abandoned alien ship that takes him into deep space, where he unwittingly sends several asteroids en route to a collision with Earth. Meanwhile, Manny is worried about the upcoming marriage between
Peaches and her fiancé, Julian. Diego and his wife Shira want to start a family, but their fierce appearance tends to scare kids. Sid is dumped by his girlfriend, Francine, just as he is about to propose to her, and he laments his solitude. During Manny and Ellie's wedding anniversary party (which Manny had forgotten prior to the event), some of the asteroids strike the place and The Herd barely escape with their lives. Meanwhile, at the underground lost world, Buck returns a dinosaur egg back to its rightful owner after it was
241 stolen by a trio of flying dromeosaurs named Gavin, Gertie, and Roger. Buck discovers an ancient stone pillar and takes it to the surface, where he meets Manny and the others.
Buck explains to The Herd that according to the pillar, the asteroids had caused several extinctions in the past and with a massive one still incoming, he believes that the only place they could find a clue to stop it is on the site of the impact of the previous ones, as according to its engravings, they always fall at the same place. However, the three dromeosaurs overhear their conversation, and Gavin and Gertie decide to stop them, believing that they could be safe from the impact, as they can fly, thus not only getting their revenge on Buck, but also killing all mammals and securing domination over Earth for their species. Roger is reluctant, but Gavin and Gertie strong-arm him into cooperating.As The Herd travels to the crash site, they discover that the asteroids have electro-magnetic properties. Buck theorises that if a huge quantity of smaller asteroids should be gathered and launched into orbit, they could attract the main asteroid as well and prevent it from falling on Earth. After facing several obstacles and the interference of the dromeosaurs, The Herd arrives at "Geotopia", a community of immortal animals formed inside one of the asteroids that have fallen long ago, where Sid meets Brooke, a female ground sloth who falls in love with him. However, Shangri Llama, the leader of
Geotopia, refuses to cooperate with Buck's plan to send the city's crystals into space in order to prevent the imminent impact, as they are the key to the residents' longevity. Sid inadvertently destroys the entire city when he attempts to remove one of the crystals to present Brooke with, immediately aging them to their real ages and revealing their true crone-like appearances.
242 Once Brooke convinces the Geotopians that preventing the asteroid's fall is more important than their lost youth, they and The Herd help with Buck's plan, which is to fill up a geyser with the crystals so that the pressure launches them into space to draw the asteroid away. The dromeosaurs attempt to intervene, but Buck convinces Roger that they will not be able to survive the asteroid, and he in turn convinces Gavin and Gertie to help.
The plan works, and the asteroid is pulled back into space. The Herd then departs back home, including Sid, who parts ways from Brooke, but just after they leave, an asteroid piece falls inside a hot spring, giving it rejuvenating properties and making the Geotopians and Sid's grandmother, who stayed behind with them, regain their youth. After The Herd returns, Manny reconciles with Julian, Peaches and Julian celebrate their wedding, Diego and Shira become heroes to the kids who were scared of them before, and a rejuvenated
Brooke appears during the ceremony to reunite with Sid. In the film's epilogue, Scrat keeps struggling to control the alien ship until it crashes on Mars, destroying all life on the planet.
In a mid-credits scene, Scrat finds his acorn, but gets beaten by some doors.
7. Ice Age: The Meltdown (2016) In the opening scene, Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel climbs a glacier to bury his acorn, but accidentally opens a hole in it, causing water to spurt out. The world of ice is slowly melting. The creatures of the Ice Age are all shown enjoying themselves on slides and pools made by the melting ice; among them the three protagonists of the first film:
Manny the woolly mammoth, Sid the ground sloth, and Diego the saber-toothed cat. Sid opens a small day camp, where none of the younger creatures take him seriously, nor do
Manny and Diego, which leaves Sid seeking a daring deed. Fast Tony the giant armadillo, a local con artist is claiming that the earth will flood and that the bark and reeds which he
243 sells are needed to stay alive. Manny dismisses the idea, but is distracted when he sees that Sid will try to high dive from a giant waterfall known as "the Eviscerator"; as Manny goes with Diego to the top of the Eviscerator to save Sid from his act of daredevilry, suddenly the ice under Diego's feet begins breaking, causing him to bolt in fear, this also made Sid figure out that Diego is afraid of the water. The Herd figure that the pleasant weather has caused the ice shelves to melt, and it is kept from destroying the valley only by the glaciers, which have formed a dam.
A lone vulture warns the animals that a giant tree can act as a boat and save them if they make it to the end of the valley within three days time, and all soon set out to find it. As the animals begin their journey, Sid teases Manny about Mammoths being "extinct".
During the evacuation, a glacier which contains two sea reptiles from the Mesozoic era,
Cretaceous a Cymbospondylus and Maelstrom a Pliosauroidea, breaks off. When Manny is briefly separated from them, Diego and Sid encounter two mischievous opossums named Crash and Eddie who drive them nuts by playing Whac-A-Mole with them. Manny is still worried about being the last mammoth alive and his family, who had been killed by humans, but is surprised when he encounters Ellie, a female woolly mammoth who believes she is an opossum and Crash and Eddie's adoptive sister. Sid invites her to tag along with the group to escape the flood, and she brings her brothers. After a dangerous encounter with Cretaceous and Maelstrom while crossing a pond, Sid prompts Diego to encourage him to admit and face his fears - Diego insists that "fear is for prey", so Sid points out that Diego is behaving as if he is the water's prey. They discover an area which
Ellie recalls as the place where she was adopted. She finally realises she is a mammoth and also expresses her suspicions about how different she was from other opossums.
244 Despite this bonding moment with Manny, she distances herself from him when he suggests "saving their species". Ellie and Manny ultimately make up when they must co- operate to save the group when the ground cracks under their feet. Sid is kidnapped by a tribe of mini-sloths who believe Sid to be a god. Sid lights a fire for them, and believes that he has finally found respect, but they plan to sacrifice him by tossing him into a volcano; Sid narrowly escapes. The next morning, Sid tells the others his experience but none are convinced. After being harassed by vultures, the group finds the boat behind a field of hot geysers, which separates Manny, Sid and Diego from Ellie and her brothers when they argue about which way's safest to go through.
When the flood comes, Manny saves Ellie from drowning as she is caught in a cave (due to falling rocks), while Diego overcomes his fear of water to save Sid, Crash and Eddie from drowning. Cretaceous and Maelstrom arrive, but due to Manny's quick thinking, they are finished off by a rock which falls on them, killing them both. The other animals are at the mercy of the water currents. Meanwhile, Scrat climbs up the glacier and at the top sticks the acorn he has into the ice. This forms a crack in the glacier, which widens into a fissure, diverting the flood and saving the animals in the valley; Scrat is then washed away. In the final scene, a herd of mammoths show up, proving mammoths aren't extinct. But Manny and Ellie decide to remain together anyway, taking Sid, Diego and the opossum brothers along. Sid encounters the mini-sloths again - they believe Sid stopped the flood and invite him to be their leader. Diego, surprised to see the mini-sloths are real, convinces Sid to stay with the others, admitting that Sid is a vital part of their ‘herd’. The epilogue shows Scrat having a near death experience after falling into the fissure. He
245 enters a heaven full of acorns. Suddenly, he finds himself torn away. He unhappily wakes up, having been resuscitated by Sid, who he proceeds to viciously attack.
8. Kung Fu Panda (2006) In the Valley of Peace, a land in ancient China inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, a giant panda Po is a kung fu fanatic who idolises the Furious Five – Tigress,
Monkey, Mantis, Viper, and Crane – a quintet of kung fu students trained by the red panda
Master Shifu. As he helps his adoptive goose[3] father Mr. Ping in his noodle restaurant, Po is unable to pursue his dream of becoming a kung fu master himself. Grand Master
Oogway, an old tortoise and Shifu's mentor, has a vision that Shifu's former student, the evil snow leopard Tai Lung, will escape from prison and return to the Valley of Peace to take revenge for being denied the Dragon Scroll, which is said to hold the secret to limitless power. Shifu starts panicking and sends his messenger, Zeng the goose, with a request for the prison to heighten security in order to prevent Tai Lung's escape. He then holds a kung fu tournament for the Furious Five so that Oogway may identify the Dragon
Warrior, the one kung fu master worthy of receiving the Dragon Scroll and capable of defeating Tai Lung. Po arrives as the arena doors close and is unable to enter. Desperate to see the Dragon Warrior chosen, Po straps himself to a set of fireworks, rockets into the sky, and crashes into the middle of the arena. He opens his eyes to see Oogway pointing his finger at him, and to the shock of everyone present (and Po's huge surprise), Oogway proclaims Po as the Dragon Warrior.
Unwilling to accept that Oogway's decision was intentional, Shifu tries to make
Po quit through a torturous and agonising training regime coupled with constant ridicule of his physique and personality. The Furious Five also recognise Po as simply a low-life
246 kung fu enthusiast with no prerequisite or potential in the martial art. Instead of denouncing the Five and Shifu for the way they treat him, after receiving encouragement from Oogway, Po endures his training and slowly begins to befriend the Five with his tenacity, culinary skill, resilience, and good humour, though Tigress remains reluctant and hesitant to embrace him as the Dragon Warrior. Meanwhile, Tai Lung escapes from prison as foreseen by Oogway, ironically picking his locks with one of Zeng's fallen feathers.
Shifu learns of Tai Lung's escape from Zeng and informs Oogway, who extracts a promise from Shifu to believe in Po, and then passes on to the heavens in a stream of peach blossoms. Still unable to grasp the basics of kung fu, Po despairingly admits that he has no chance of defeating Tai Lung. Shifu, however, discovers that Po is capable of impressive physical feats when motivated by food. Using this as positive reinforcement,
Shifu successfully trains Po to incorporate these feats into an effective kung fu style.
Meanwhile, the Furious Five set out to stop Tai Lung themselves. After encountering him, binding him to a bridge rope and throwing him over a gorge, they believe that he is vanquished, only to be overwhelmed and defeated by his nerve strikes.
Shifu decides that Po is ready to receive the Dragon Scroll, but the scroll reveals nothing but a blank reflective surface. Unable to understand the message of the scroll, Shifu orders
Po and the Five to evacuate the valley while he holds off Tai Lung, accepting that this will most likely cost him his life. As Tai Lung arrives and fights Shifu, the distraught Po finds
Mr. Ping who, in an attempt to console him, reveals that the long-withheld secret ingredient to his famous "secret ingredient soup" is "nothing", explaining that "to make something special you just have to believe it is". Po realises that this is the message of the
Dragon Scroll, and goes back to confront Tai Lung. Po becomes a formidable challenge
247 for Tai Lung, frustrating him with confusing fighting techniques on top of a physique that renders him immune to Tai Lung's nerve strikes. Tai Lung momentarily bests Po and retrieves the scroll, but is unable to understand or accept its symbolic meaning. Eventually,
Po defeats Tai Lung in combat before using the mysterious Wuxi Finger Hold to vanquish him. Po is praised by the Valley of Peace and earns the respect of the Furious Five, who fully acknowledge him as a true kung fu master. Po then finds Shifu, who finally attains inner peace with the valley safe once more.
9. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012) Many days after bidding the penguins goodbye, Alex the lion suggests to his friends, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippopotamus and the lemurs,
King Julien XIII the ring-tailed lemur, Maurice the aye-aye and Mort the mouse lemur that they should go to Monte Carlo to get the penguins and chimpanzees, Mason and Phil and fly back to New York City, which they agree to do. In Monte Carlo, the penguins and chimpanzees have been saving up their daily winnings from the casino to fly back to
Africa and bring their friends home. Alex's interference to kidnap them leads to animal control, led by a vicious big-game hunter named Chantel DuBois, pursuing them around the city, with Alex and the gang barely escaping. With determination, DuBois vows to capture Alex and add his head to her collection of animals' heads she's captured.
In the skies of France, the plane crashes as the authorities close in. They come across a circus train consisting of Stefano the sea lion, Gia the jaguar, and Vitaly the tiger, and manage to gain entry, claiming that they are circus animals themselves. The team soon learn from Stefano that they are performing in Rome and London, where they plan to impress a promoter to get them on their first American tour. Before the zoo animals' claim
248 is discredited, the penguins suddenly appear with a deal to purchase the circus themselves; however, the circus animals' show in Rome proves to be a failure. In route to London,
Stefano soon reveals to Alex that Vitaly was the biggest star of them all, but quit due to an accident in one of his stunts; therefore, the friends lost faith in the circus. At a stop in the Alps, Alex convinces the circus to continue pursuing the circus. Marty finds a new passion in being shot out of a cannon along with Stefano, while Melman and Gloria decide to dance on a tightrope. Gia persuades Alex to teach her Trapeze Americano. In the process, they grow closer.
Meanwhile, DuBois is arrested in Rome while chasing the animals, but escapes and discovers that Alex was the missing lion from the zoo in New York. Once free,
DuBois personally reassembles her injured men and they head toward the Alps, forcing the animals to proceed to London despite incomplete rehearsals. Alex finds Vitaly preparing to leave and convinces him to stay by reminding him of how he enjoys performing the impossible. He suggests that he uses hair conditioner as a safer lubricant to perform his flaming ring jump as well as fix his damaged fur. As a result, Vitaly's stunt is performed perfectly and the show is a spectacular success. After the impressed promoter arranges for an American tour, DuBois shows up with a paper showing that Alex was missing. Though the penguins are able to foil Dubois' plan, Alex is forced to confess that the four of them are just zoo animals trying to get home, disappointing the others who feel used and lied to. The zoo animals and circus go their separate ways but arrive in New
York City at the same time. Realising how much their adventures have changed them, the zoo animals find that their true home was with the circus. Before they can go back, however, DuBois tranquillises and captures them, before being discovered by the zoo
249 staff, who believe she is responsible for returning the missing animals. King Julien and the penguins manage to get to the circus and convince the circus animals to rescue their friends.
Back at the zoo, Alex awakens to find that he along with his friends are trapped in larger fence enclosures. DuBois, who was honoured by the zoo guards, secretly loads a poison-filled dart into a gun that she hides inside a foam finger in preparation for publicly executing Alex. The circus animals arrive led by Skipper and are able to defeat DuBois and her henchmen. Alex and his friends eventually decide to permanently join the circus to pursue their adventures, while DuBois and her henchmen are sent off in crates bound for Madagascar thanks to the penguins.
10. Norm of the North (2016) Norm the polar bear is the son of the king of the Arctic. In his youth, he develops the ability to speak to humans, a trait shared by his grandfather. Because of this, he is made an outcast from the other animals, only being accepted by Socrates, a wise bird, and
Elizabeth, a female polar bear whom Norm is in love with. Years later, Norm's grandfather has disappeared and human tourists are filling the Arctic. Socrates shows Norm and three
Arctic lemmings a luxury condo that has been installed on the ice. Inside this condo is
Vera, a representative for wealthy developer Mr. Greene. After Norm saves Vera from an avalanche, Mr. Greene tells her to find an actor to play a polar bear for their campaign.
Socrates convinces Norm and the lemmings to stow away on a ship to New York City.
In the city, Norm, pretending to be an actor dressed as a bear, auditions for Mr.
Greene's commercial and is taken to dinner by Vera. Greene, who realises that Norm is a real bear, suspects that Norm has come to free his grandfather, who Greene has captured.
250 During a public incident involving Greene trying to shoot Norm in the restaurant, Norm subdues Greene, gaining the attention of the media and heightening Greene's approval ratings. Greene decides to hire Norm as his mascot. Before going on a television show,
Norm meets Vera's daughter Olympia, who tells Norm to raise Greene's approval ratings and then speak out against him to save the Arctic. Norm's popularity heightens the approval ratings, but Greene sabotages Norm's plan by playing recorded dialogue stating that Norm supports Greene's developments.
Defeated, Norm is comforted by Vera and Olympia, who reveals that Greene is developing more homes to install in the Arctic. Norm and the lemmings discover that
Greene is bribing a high-ranking member of the Polar Council, and exposes this to Pablo, one of Greene's investors. Vera resigns her position and is hired by Pablo, while Norm and the lemmings chase the truck holding the houses. Greene sends another truck carrying
Norm's grandfather, and Norm is captured as well. After being freed by the lemmings,
Norm and his grandfather catch up to the boat carrying the houses to the Arctic, and are able to detach the houses. However, Norm is separated from his grandfather and the lemmings, and is knocked unconscious. Norm awakens in the Arctic and reunited with the lemmings and the other animals, who reveal that his grandfather was not found. Because of his heroism, Norm is crowned the king of the Arctic, before his grandfather arrives at the ceremony. Meanwhile, Mr. Greene is humiliated after his plan is exposed, and Vera and Olympia are happy with Pablo as their new boss, while Norm and Elizabeth have three cubs together.
11. Ratatouille (2007)
251 Remy is an idealistic and ambitious young rat, gifted with highly developed senses of taste and smell. Inspired by his idol, the recently deceased chef Auguste Gusteau, Remy dreams of becoming a cook himself. When an old French woman discovers Remy's colony in her house and attempts to exterminate them with a shotgun, they are forced to flee, and
Remy becomes separated from his family in the panic. He ends up in the sewers of Paris and eventually finds himself at a skylight overlooking the kitchen of Gusteau's restaurant.
As Remy watches through the window, a young man named Alfredo Linguini is hired as a garbage boy by Skinner, the restaurant's current owner and Gusteau's former sous-chef.
When Linguini spills a pot of soup and attempts to recreate it, Remy sees that he is ruining it, and fixes his mistakes. Linguini catches Remy, but hides him when he is then confronted by Skinner for tampering with the soup. As the two argue, the soup is accidentally served and proves to be a success. The staff convinces Skinner to retain
Linguini, who is assumed to be the soup's creator. When Skinner catches Remy trying to escape, he orders Linguini to kill the rat, but Linguini discovers Remy's intelligence and decides to keep him instead.
On Linguini's first day as a chef, he and Remy find a way to communicate: Remy guides Linguini like a marionette by pulling on his hair while hidden under Linguini's toque. Skinner assigns Colette Tatou, the staff's only female chef, to train his new cook.
Suspicious, Skinner learns that Linguini is Gusteau's illegitimate son and the rightful owner of the restaurant. Remy discovers the evidence of Linguini's inheritance and, after eluding Skinner, gives it to Linguini, who deposes Skinner as owner. The restaurant continues to thrive, as all of Remy's recipes become immediate hits. A romance develops between Linguini and Colette, and Remy begins to feel left out. Remy finds that his clan
252 has come to Paris as well, and is taken to their new lair, but his father Django's attempt to rid his son of his admiration for humans fails and Remy leaves.
France's top restaurant critic, Anton Ego, whose previous negative review cost
Gusteau's one of its stars and caused Gusteau's death, announces he will dine at the restaurant the following evening. That night, Remy and Linguini have a heated argument.
Remy leads his clan to raid the restaurant's pantries in retaliation, but Linguini catches them and drives them out. Having discovered Remy's skills, Skinner captures him in an attempt to use him to create a line of frozen foods. However, Remy is freed by Django and his brother Emile. He returns to the restaurant to find Linguini, who has been unable to cook without him. Linguini apologises and reveals the truth to the staff, but they all leave in disbelief. Colette later returns after recalling Gusteau's motto, "Anyone can cook.”
Django arrives with the rest of the clan, offering to help after seeing his son's determination. Remy has the rats cook, while Linguini waits tables. For Ego and Skinner,
Remy creates a variation of ratatouille, confit byaldi, which reminds an astonished Ego of his own mother's cooking. During the meal, the rats are forced to tie up Skinner and a health inspector to prevent them from revealing the rats' involvement in the cooking.
When Ego requests to see the chef, Linguini and Colette make him wait until the rest of the diners have left before introducing Remy. Ego is stunned and leaves the restaurant, deep in thought. He writes a positive and thoughtful review for the newspaper the next day, stating that Gusteau's chef is "nothing less than the finest chef in France.” Linguini and Remy have to release Skinner and the health inspector, however; thus, despite receiving a good review, Gusteau's is forced into closure, and Ego loses his job and his credibility as a critic. Luckily, Ego funds (and frequents for Remy's cooking) a popular
253 new bistro, La Ratatouille, created and run by Remy, Linguini, and Colette. The rats settle into their new home in the bistro's roof.
12. Sing (2016) In a world of anthropomorphic animals, koala Buster Moon owns a theatre, having been interested in show business since his father took him to his first music show as a child. Following financial problems brought up by the bank representative Judith, he tells his wealthy friend Eddie that he will host a singing competition with a prize of $1,000.
But Buster's assistant, Miss Crawly, accidentally appends two extra zeroes, and the promotional fliers showing $100,000 are blown out of Buster's office into the city streets.
Animals from all around the city gather for auditions. Those selected include: housewife and mother of 25 piglets Rosita; street musician mouse Mike; mobster's son gorilla
Johnny; and punk-rock porcupine Ash. Shy teenage elephant Meena fails her audition out of stage fright, while Ash's boyfriend Lance is dismissed from the contest. Rosita is paired with another contestant, an exuberant pig named Gunter, for a dance routine. Although
Buster discovers the flyers show a prize of $100,000 (money he does not have), he remains optimistic. Buster convinces Eddie to arrange a visit with Eddie's grandmother, former opera singer and theatre actress Nana Noodleman, to persuade her to sponsor the prize money. She is hesitant to contribute, but agrees to see a private screening of the show.
Encouraged by her grandfather, Meena tries to ask Buster for another chance, but becomes his stage hand instead. When one of the acts quits, and another is injured, Meena is added as an act. The performers' individual problems begin to hinder rehearsals: Rosita flounders in her dance routine with Gunter, after having been distracted by her parenting duties that have fallen into disarray. After discovering Lance with a new girlfriend and
254 evicting them from her apartment, Ash is devastated and breaks down while singing her assigned song, Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe." Johnny is torn between having to help his father as the driver of a getaway car in a heist and making the practices. When he tries to do both, he does not show up for the planned pickup in time, and his father and his gang are arrested. Meena does not get any help in overcoming her stage fright, and Mike, certain that the prize money is as good as his, buys a fancy car to impress a female mouse, and then swindles a group of bears in a card game at a nightclub. The day of the screening, the bears interrupt the show, demanding the money from Mike, who in turn, points to
Buster. The bears open the chest containing the prize money, but it is nowhere near
$100,000. The glass tank full of luminescent squids that Buster got to light up the theatre breaks under all their weight, flooding the theatre, which then comes crashing down. With the lot repossessed by Judith, Buster, who had been living in his theatre's office desk, takes up residence at Eddie's place (his parents' pool house). Although the contestants (besides
Mike, who saw Buster as a fraud) visit him and try to cheer him up, Buster is too despondent to listen to them. He tries to start over by opening a car wash, using the same bucket that his father had used to earn money for Buster's theatre.
When Meena goes to the theatre's rubble lot and sings Leonard Cohen's
"Hallelujah," Buster hears her and is inspired to reinstate the show without the prize money. They perform on a makeshift stage on the lot in front of Rosita and Meena's family members. As Rosita and Gunter perform Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off," more animals are attracted to the scene as the show is broadcast on the news. Johnny's rendition of Elton
John's "I'm Still Standing" impresses his father, who then escapes from prison to reconcile with him. Despite an interruption by Judith, Ash sings her original rock song "Set It All
255 Free." Mike returns to the show and sings Frank Sinatra's "My Way." Meena finally overcomes her fears and sings Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing," which literally brings down the house. The show becomes a success and impresses Nana, who was in the audience. Nana buys the lot and the theatre is rebuilt and reopened.
13. The Angry Birds (2016) On Bird Island, an island inhabited by happy flightless birds, the reclusive Red is sentenced to an anger management class after his temper causes a "premature hatching" of a customer's egg. Resentful, Red avoids getting to know his classmates Chuck, Bomb, and Terence, as well as the class's instructor Matilda. One day, a boat docks at the island's shore containing green-colored pigs, and their captain Leonard, who claim to be peaceful explorers bringing offerings of friendship. The pigs are accepted on the island and introduce the birds to innovative technologies such as slingshots and helium balloons.
More pigs arrive and seemingly adjust to the birds' society, but Red soon becomes suspicious of their motives, as they slowly overwhelm the island. He recruits Chuck and
Bomb to help him find Mighty Eagle, a giant bald eagle said to be the protector of the island, and the only bird that can fly, but who has not been seen for many years. They find
Mighty Eagle on top of Bird Mountain, but he is now overweight, self-absorbed, and largely in retirement. Looking through the Mighty Eagle's binoculars, Red's group sees the pigs planting explosives around the island while the birds, probably unaware the other three are gone, are at a rave party. They realise the party was actually a cover for their plan to steal the birds' eggs. Red, Bomb, and Chuck attempt to warn the other birds and stop the pigs, but they arrive too late as the pigs escape with the eggs and their explosives
256 destroy the village. When the birds realise what happened, they apologise to Red for not believing him, and he leads an army in order for the birds to retrieve the eggs.
The birds construct a boat and sail to Piggy Island, where they find the pigs living in a walled city and Leonard, who is actually revealed to be King Mudbeard, the king of
Piggy Island. Deducing the eggs are most likely in the castle at the center of the city, the birds attack and defeat the pigs by firing themselves over the walls using their gifted giant slingshot. However, when Terence attempts to launch himself into the city, he accidentally snaps the slingshot in half after pulling himself too far back. Meanwhile, Red, Chuck, and
Bomb make it to the castle and find the eggs in a boiler room, where the pigs plan to cook and eat them. Mighty Eagle arrives, having watched these events through his binoculars and had a change of heart, and carries the eggs out of the castle. While the birds escape, one egg falls out and rolls back into the castle. While battling Leonard, Red learns to control his anger and distracts him long enough to retrieve the egg; the pot the pigs planned on boiling the eggs in collapses and shields Red as the pigs' reserve of explosives blows up and destroy Piggy Island. Red reunites with the other birds as the rescued egg hatches, revealing three little blue birds, and is declared a hero. He, Chuck, and Bomb are approached by Mighty Eagle, who claims that his laziness was only a ruse so the birds could find faith in themselves. Upon returning to Bird Island, the birds rebuild Red's house
(which was destroyed by the pigs upon their arrival) and move it to the middle of their village. All of the birds that have hatched sing a song to Red to thank him and enshrine him as a legendary hero, and Red lets Chuck and Bomb move in with him. During the end credits, the pigs are revealed to survive Piggy Island's destruction, as King Mudbeard
257 begins to make a new plan to steal the eggs. In a mid-credits scene, the three blue birds use the rebuilt slingshot to launch themselves out to sea.
14. The secret life of pets (2016) A Jack Russell Terrier named Max lives with his owner Katie in a Manhattan apartment. While she is at work during the day, he hangs out with other pets in the building: tabby cat Chloe, pug Mel, dachshund Buddy, and budgerigar Sweet Pea. One day, Katie adopts Duke, a large mongrel from the pound, leaving Max jealous because of her divided focus on Duke. Enraged by Max's attitude towards him, Duke tries to abandon
Max in an alley, but they are both attacked by cats led by Sphynx cat Ozone who removes both dogs' collars and leaves them to be caught by Animal Control. Duke fears that he will be killed if he goes back to the pound. When Gidget, a white Pomeranian who is (not so) secretly in love with Max, discovers that he is missing, she decides to find him.
Max and Duke are rescued by a white rabbit named Snowball, the leader of "The
Flushed Pets"—a gang of sewer-dwelling animals who hate humans because their owners mistreated them. After Max and Duke pretend to despise humans as much as they do by saying they killed their owners, the Flushed Pets invite them to join. Before they can prove their loyalty by allowing a one-fanged viper to bite them, Snowball learns from the cats that Max and Duke are domesticated. The two dogs escape the sewers and board a ferry to Brooklyn, inadvertently killing the viper in the process. Snowball vows to kill them and leads the Flushed Pets after them. Meanwhile, Gidget recruits a red-tailed hawk named
Tiberius to find Max, but he mistakenly locates Ozone, whom Gidget coerces into telling what he knows about the dogs. They then enlist Mel, Buddy, Chloe, guinea pig Norman and Sweet Pea. On the way, they meet Pops, an old Basset Hound who helps Gidget and
258 the pets find Max. Meanwhile, Max and Duke raid a sausage factory for food. Then,
Gidget and her team encounter Snowball, who vows to kill them as well, and Norman is captured as the rest of Gidget's team flees.
In the meantime, Duke tells Max about his previous owner, Fred, an elderly man who adopted him as a puppy and loved spending time with him. One day, Duke got lost while chasing a butterfly and was caught by Animal Control, but Fred never came to claim him. Max convinces him to visit Fred's house in a nearby neighbourhood, confident Fred will still love him and take him back. When they arrive at Fred's house, they learn from the resident cat Reginald that Fred has died. Heartbroken, Duke accuses Max of attempting to get rid of him and barks at the new homeowners who have just returned to the house and called Animal Control. The handlers catch Max, but Duke interferes long enough for Max to escape and ends up being captured instead. While trying to rescue
Duke as he follows the Animal Control van, Max is attacked by Snowball who tries to kill him. However, when his gang is captured, Snowball realises that he and Max must work together to rescue them. They drive a city bus into the van on the Brooklyn Bridge, stopping traffic. The Flushed Pets encircle Max, unaware of his partnership with
Snowball, but Gidget and her team save him. Upon seeing Gidget using her kung-fu fighting skills, and Max starts to fall in love with her. The van gets stuck in scaffolding and the Flushed Pets escape. As soon as Max gets the keys to Duke's cage, the van plummets into the East River with him inside. Max is unable to free Duke, so Snowball jumps into the river to retrieve the keys, allowing them to escape the sinking van.
The entire group returns to the apartment block by pig-driven taxi. Max expresses his love for Gidget, who returns his affection. Snowball and the Flushed Pets then come
259 up with a new plan to annihilate all humans, but a little girl named Molly arrives and adopts Snowball and the remaining Flushed Pets return to the sewers. At first, Snowball resists, but gives in and lets himself become a domesticated pet. The other pets return to their homes and embrace their owners, and Max and Duke finally reunite with Katie, sparking a true friendship. At the film's epilogue, Buddy and Mel show up in costume at a party in poodle Leonard's apartment. Leonard's owner returns and Tattoo crashes to the floor on the chandelier.
15. Trolls (2016) The Trolls are small creatures who live in an almost perpetual state of happiness, singing, dancing and hugging all day. However, they are discovered by the Bergens, large miserable creatures, who can feel happy only after eating a Troll. The Bergens imprison the trolls and eat them every year on a special occasion, called Trollstice. The Trolls, led by their king, King Peppy, with his baby daughter, Princess Poppy, escape through underground tunnels on the day of Trollstice, when Prince Gristle Jr. was going to eat his first Troll. Enraged, Gristle Jr.’s father King Gristle Sr. banishes his Chef who was in charge of the Trollstice preparation. 20 years later, (at the age of 20) Poppy throws a big party to celebrate the Trolls' escape, despite the fears and warnings of the grey troll,
Branch, that loud parties will attract the Bergens. A Zen troll named Creek arrives and tells Branch to start being happy instead of being grumpy; Branch refuses. At the party,
Branch's fears come true, when Chef sees the fireworks and kidnaps Guy Diamond, Biggie with Mr. Dinkles, Fuzzbert, Smidge, Satin with Chenille, D.J. Suki, Cooper, and Creek
(which Poppy tried to rescue). Chef, then takes the kidnapped Trolls back to Bergen Town.
260 Alone inside the bunker, Branch looks at a bunch of homemade party invitations, indicating that he appreciates Poppies offers of friendship and internally would like to have fun with the rest of the trolls. Meanwhile, Poppy goes on a rescue mission alone, as no other troll is willing to venture to Bergen Town, including Branch. But later on, when
Poppy gets into trouble, she is saved by Branch, who thinks she will not make it if she goes alone. Once inside the Bergen king's castle, Poppy and Branch witness Creek apparently get eaten by Gristle Jr. (who is now king), but Poppy remains hopeful that
Creek survived. Poppy and Branch find the rest of the captured Trolls being guarded by a scullery maid named Bridget. Poppy discovers that Bridget is secretly in love with King
Gristle Jr. and offers to help her get a date with the king while trying to confirm if Creek is alive.
While setting Bridget up for the date, Branch refuses to sing and triggers an argument with Poppy, revealing that, as a child, his grandmother was captured and got killed while trying to save him, because his singing compromised his location to Chef.
Branch's guilt and shame over his grandmother's death caused his colour to turn from blue to grey. After Poppy comforts him with a hug, Branch decides to help Bridget and the trolls, though he still refuses to sing. Bridget, disguised under the name of 'Lady Glitter
Sparkles' gets her date with Gristle Jr. at a roller rink and arcade restaurant and Gristle Jr. asks her to be his "plus one" at Trollstice. Poppy notices Creek being held captive inside the jewel adorning the king's mantle. Having helped Bridget, the Trolls attempt to rescue
Creek from Gristle's room and steal his jewel but discover that it is empty. The Trolls are then captured by Chef and are shocked to discover that Creek sold them out to the Bergens to spare himself from being eaten. Creek lures out every troll from Troll village and they
261 are captured by Chef and the other Bergen cooks. With all the Trolls captured and soon to be eaten, a heartbroken Poppy becomes sad after she had been betrayed by her friend, loses hope as she and all the other Trolls turn grey.
Branch sings “True Colours” for the princess to cheer her up, and also confesses his affection for her. Poppy, after regaining her colours, returns Branch's feelings, and they both end up restoring all the trolls' colours including Branch's. Bridget saves the trolls, willing to sacrifice herself. Poppy wishes to return the favour, and with Branch and her friends, shows the Bergens that Bridget was Lady Glitter Sparkles and that they too, can find happiness within themselves. Chef refuses to accept the peace and tries to kill the
Trolls, but is knocked into a serving cart that is sent rolling out of Bergen Town. Chef is set on fire with Creek, who was still in her pouch. Both species celebrate, bringing new life to the town and renewing the life of the troll tree. Poppy is then declared queen of the
Trolls, and Poppy and Branch share a hug. In a mid-credits scene, Chef and Creek's cart stops rolling. Chef prepares to eat Creek herself, but they soon find out they are on top of a monster, who opens his mouth and eats them.
16. Valiant (2005) In May 1944, 5 years since the declaration of World War II, three Royal Homing
Pigeon Service war pigeons are flying across the English Channel with the White Cliffs of Dover in sight, carrying vital messages to Great Britain. Despite the poor weather conditions the pigeons have nearly reached their destination. They are, however, suddenly ambushed and attacked by a German enemy peregrine falcon named General Von Talon; two of the pigeons are instantly killed, yet the third, Mercury, is taken as a prisoner of war. Elsewhere, a small wood pigeon named Valiant is watching an Allied forces
262 propaganda film in his local bar (an overturned rowing boat) in West Nestington. He is best friends with Felix, the local barman. Wing Commander Gutsy, a war hero flies into the bar, informing everyone that signups are scheduled the next day in Trafalgar Square,
London. In General Von Talon's lair, Mercury resists interrogation by his captors. Valiant flies off to London, bidding his mother and Felix goodbye. In London, Valiant meets an unhygienic slacker pigeon named Bugsy, who is being hunted by two thugs, after having tricked them at a shell game. In order to escape the thugs, he signs up with Valiant.
The recruits, Valiant, Bugsy, Lofty, an intellectual red pigeon, and Toughwood and Tailfeather, two muscular but dim-witted twin brothers, form Royal Homing Pigeon
Service Squad F, and are sent to a recruit training facility. Under the command of Sergeant
Monty, who declares that he will toughen them up for the RHPS, the training begins.
Meanwhile, Von Talon and his henchmen, Cufflingk and Underlingk (Michael
Schlingmann), try numerous attempts to discover the message's departure location.
However Mercury refuses to tell, despite the tortures inflicted upon him, such as irritating him with yodelling music and injecting him with truth serum, before Mercury accidentally reveals the location: Saint-Pierre. Throughout the training, Valiant develops a crush on
Victoria, the camp's nursing dove. Eventually, Gutsy arrives and tells the Sergeant that the recruits need to leave the next morning, despite their training being vastly incomplete.
Bugsy, however, decides not to go on the "highly dangerous" mission and flees the camp that night. The next morning, Valiant and the others prepare to leave and start to board the plane headed for France, but not before Bugsy shows up at the last second. The journey quickly becomes dangerous, as the plane is caught in the midst of dogfight. Their plane sustains heavy damage and the pigeons soon have to bail out, in boxes equipped with
263 parachutes. The pigeons are dropped from the plane; however a technical malfunction causes Gutsy's box to fail to deploy. The plane goes down in an inferno of flames, presumably killing Gutsy in the resulting explosion.
In France, the pigeons meet Charles de Girl and Rollo, two mice from the French
Resistance, Mouse Division, who lead them to Saint-Pierre, where they receive the message they have been ordered to deliver. They soon come under attack by Von Talon's henchmen, resulting in Bugsy and the message being captured. Von Talon takes the message from Bugsy and decides to lock him up and kill him later, planning to personally deliver the message to the German High Commander himself. Valiant and the troops follow Bugsy to the falcon's bunker, where they discover that Gutsy has survived the plane crash. Valiant takes advantage of his small size and sneaks into the bunker through the gun barrel, retrieves the message, and frees Bugsy and Mercury. Unfortunately, the falcons witness the escape and give chase. As Gutsy and the others fight off Von Talon's henchmen, Valiant flies to London to deliver the message, followed by Von Talon. After a climactic chase by the falcon, Valiant hides in the cottage where he lives, where he is caught by Von Talon again. With the help of Felix and the resident pigeons, Valiant outwits Von Talon by getting a giant hook caught on his medals, leaving him to be beaten by the water wheel. Valiant delivers the message, and upon receiving it, a change of plans is made; they land in Normandy. After receiving the Dickin Medal, Squad F returns to the local bar in West Nestington, where Valiant reunites and shares a romantic kiss with
Victoria.
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