SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ A THESIS IN TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING (ENGLISH/ARABIC/ENGLISH) Presented to the faculty of the American University of Sharjah College of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS by NOUF ALWAN B. A. 2008 Advisor: Said Faiq Sharjah, UAE May 2011 SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ © 2011 Nouf Alwan All Rights Reserved SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ Nouf Alwan, Candidate for the Master of Arts Degree American University of Sharjah, 2011 ABSTRACT Translating media plays a role in shaping and affecting the representation of cultures. This thesis looks at the representation of the Emirati culture through analyzing the subtitling of the Emirati dialect in the third season of the Emirati cartoon Freej. A sample of cultural expressions, metaphors, poetry, code-switching and material culture and their subtitles are analyzed. These samples are randomly taken from the first, sixth and ninth episodes of the third season of Freej. This season has better subtitling compared to the previous two seasons. Results show that there are many instances where cultural loss is inevitable leading to cultural misconception, and that context determines what subtitling strategy would be more appropriate. SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………...... iii LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………….. vi LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………… vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………… viii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………….................... 1 2. SUBTITLING AND PRAGMATICS……………………………………... 4 2.1 Audiovisual Translation……………... 4 2.1.1 Subtitling: Definition and Background……….5 2.1.2 Subbing Vs Dubbing……………………………………6 2.2 Types of Subtitling………………... 7 2.3 The Mechanics of Subtitling….. 9 2.4 Constraints of Subtitling…………. 11 2.5 The Pragmatic Dimension of Subtitling….. 12 2.5.1 Speech Acts …………………… 12 2.5.2 Locutionary, Illocutionary and Prelocutionary Forces…. 13 2.5.1 The Function of Pragmatics and The Theory of Relevance in Subtitling………………….. 14 2.6 Hatim and Mason: The Link Between Pragmatics and Subtitling……. 15 2.7 Subtitling in the Arab Wolrd………………………… 16 3. CULTURE IN TRANSLATION………………………………………….……. 20 SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ 3.1 Definition of Culture …………………………….. 20 3.2 Translating Culture: Translators as Cultural mediators…. 23 3.3.1 Equivalence in Translation ……………………………. 25 3.3.2 Relevant Theories on Equivalence in Translation ……………. 26 3.3.2 Modeling Tarjem as Translation Project…..... 33 3.4 Strategies for Translating Culture ……………………… 28 3.4.1 Strategies for Subtitling Culture ………… 31 3.4.2 Translating Dialect ……………………………. 32 3.4.3 Translating Metaphors ……………………. 34 3.4.4 Translating Poetry …………………………… 36 3.4.5 Translating Names ………………………….. 38 4. ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ……………………………………... 40 4.1Why Freej ………………………………………… 40 4.2 Methodology ………………………………….. 43 4.3 Analysis ………………………………………….. 44 4.3.1 Cultural Expressions …………………… 44 4.3.2 Metaphors …………………………………. 51 4.3.3 Poetry ………………………………………… 58 4.3.4 Code‐switching …………………………… 60 4.3.5 Material Culture ………………………….. 66 5. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………... 75 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………… 77 APPENDIX: FREEJ EPISODE SCRIPTS ……………………….. 83 VITA……………………………………………………………………… 184 SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ LIST OF TABLES Table 1. TRANSLITERATIONS TABLE…………...…………… vii 2. Table 4.3.1 Cultural Expressions ……………………………………………….44 3. Table 4.3.2 Metaphors………………………………………………..51 4. Table 4.3.3 Poetry………………………………………………..58 5. Table 4.3.4 Code‐Switching………………………………………………..61 6. Table 4.3.5 Material Culture………………………………………………..66 6 SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful 7 SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ ACLNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the invaluable help and guidance I have received from many people. It would have been next to impossible to write this thesis without the help and guidance of my advisor Dr. Said Faiq. No word of thanks can express my appreciation of his inspirational discussions and outstanding knowledge in the field of intercultural communication. I would like to thank Dr. Ahmed Ali for suggesting a project to analyze the subtitles of Freej in one of his classes. That project grew into a thesis thanks to his suggestion and support. I would also like to extend my great gratitude to Dr. Basil Hatim for providing guidance and resources for the second chapter of this thesis, and for teaching me most of the undergraduate and graduate classes on translation. I am proud to have been the student of such great professors. Big thanks go to the helpful Lammtara Pictures team for providing me with information required to complete the thesis. Particularly, I wish to thank Cheryll Landayan, Khalid Abu Hmidan and Sarah Fahmy. I would also like to thank Lammtara Pictures for granting me the permission to include the episode scripts in the appendix. I wish to extend my thanks to those whom I have interviewed: my beloved 8 SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ grandmother, Moza AlMansoori, Ali Alsaloom, a Cultural Consultant, and Lamiyah Bahrainwala, a Graduate Writing Consultant from Michigan State University. I owe much of the cultural details and verifications of their interpretation to my beloved grandmother and parents whom I interviewed repeatedly to be able to complete the analysis chapter. My sincere appreciation goes to my MATI friends for their encouragement and support. Finally, I owe my deepest gratitude to my beloved parents who have supported me every step of the way towards finishing this project. I can never thank them enough for their love, guidance, patience and encouragement. My very special gratitude goes to my best friend and mother, Dr. Fatma Hamad Alwan, for editing this thesis. 9 SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ DEDICATION To Mum and Dad 10 SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ TRANSLITERATIONS TABLE By Dr. Saiq Faiq Arabic letters How the letters are written and pronounced in English a ا b ب t ت ث th or θ j ج H ح kh خ d د dh or ð ذ 11 SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ r ر z ز s س sh ش ص S D ض ط T Z ظ ع ‘ or ʕ gh غ f ف 12 SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ q ق k ك l ل m م n ن h ﻩ w و y ي fatHaa a Long aa fatHa kasra i Long ii kasra Damma u Long uu Damma 13 SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ 1. INTRODUCTION In the 1930s, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) was a huge undeveloped desert. People lived in areas close to the sea, and used camels for transportation. The common food supplies were dry dates and people lived in houses made of palm-tree leaves and lead simple lives. While I was not born at that time, I owe much of my knowledge to my grandparents who told me about life in those days. Nowadays, life is different in the U.A.E. However, there are parts in the world, particularly in the West, where people think that we in the Emirates still lead our lives the way our ancestors have and use camels in transportation instead of cars. The time has come for people, whether from the West or other parts of the world, to know that life in the Emirates is so much more than camels and Bedouins living in tents. We have a rich culture that is embedded, not only in the way we act and dress, but also in our language and dialect. This thesis is concerned with how the Emirati culture is represented through the subtitles of the popular Emirati cartoon Freej. The aim is to find a way that fairly represents the Emirati culture in English through translation. Unlike some Westerners who have a stereotypical view of Emiratis without seeing their correct preception, there are others who have different conceptions of us. Ali Alsaloom, an Emirati Cultural Consultant whose work involves giving cultural speeches to Westerners visiting the U.A.E., and author of Ask Ali: A Guide to Abu Dhabi and Ask Ali: A Guide to Dubai, says that there are Westerners who are very interested in the Emirati culture to the point that they have moved to live in the U.A.E. permanently (Alsaloom, 2011). Apparently, there is a desire to learn about the Emirati culture, but there are not many credible resources available in English and other languages to educate non-Arab speakers about the Emirates. 14 SUBTITLING AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION: THE CASE OF FREEJ I have a firm believe that translation has a role in educating people about culture. The Emirati cartoon Freej which can be seen as one of the rare Emirati media that has been translated into English. It tells the story of the life of typical four Emirati elderly ladies. Even though the cartoon seems to be produced for the Emirati mind (Alsaloom, 2011), Freej is still a good example for non-Emiratis who want to learn more about the culture. Unlike in the past where cartoons were categorized as programs for children, cartoons nowadays, particularly Freej which is rich in culture and comedy, is widely popular among people of all ages in the Emirates. Each season of Freej consists of fifteen episodes that are 15-minutes in length. The show has not only been a representation of the Emirati culture, but also a preservation of culture for educating the young. Many Emiratis have grown accustomed to watching Freej after the meal that breaks the fast in the Holy Month of Ramadan, which is the month of fasting for Muslims. It was aired during the Holy Months of Ramadan for three consecutive years since year 2006.