Subtitling and Dubbing: A case study of investigating the translation of Proper Nouns in “Rise of Guardians” and “Cloud with a Chance of meatballs II”*

1. Introduction

As we live in the age of globalization and more and more countries and cultures have communicated with one another, a great need for translation can be seen in the world. Through various ways of communication between different cultures, screen plays an important role; therefore, audiovisual translation has to be more focused on. This type of translation is different from others since the translator simultaneously deals with image, sound and different ways of conveying a message. Gestures may mean differently in different cultures. To be interpreted similarly, the translator has the duty to transfer these gestures in the best way. Proper nouns are among the items which can represent a culture clearly or may be weird to other cultures. It is now quite obvious that translating proper nouns should not be considered an easy task. Translating audiovisual texts including proper nouns can cause some difficulties for the translator. Therefore, considering how these translations done in the film industry area is a crucial matter.

Fernandes (2006) strategies of translating proper nouns were applied to this study. These strategies, which will be elaborated in detail in the following part, are as follows:

rendition, copy, transcription, re-creation, substitution, deletion, addition, transposition, phonological replacement and conventionality which being explained

This model was chosen as to the best of the researchers’ knowledge; there is a gap in applying this method on the translations done from English into Persian especially in the area of film industry, i.e. in subtitling and dubbing, in Iran. Also, this strategy is the most recent one in this area of translation. These special films were considered as they are full of proper nouns.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the translations of proper nouns done in subtitled and dubbed versions of “Rise of Guardians” and “Cloud with a Chance of meatballs II” based on Fernandes (2006) strategies of translation of proper nouns. Then the researchers tried to find out differences and similarities between these two translations and finally the most frequent strategy used by the translators would be extracted.

2. Review of Literature

2.1 Proper nouns

2.1.1 Definition of proper nouns

The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary has defined a proper noun (or proper name) as "a word that is the name of a person, a place, an institution, etc. and is written with a capital letter".

Sanaty pour (2010, p: 3) stated that “A proper noun has these distinctive features in English: 1) it will be capitalized, no matter where it occurs in a sentence. 2) A proper name is a mono-referential name, i.e., it refers to a particular person, thing, or place. 3) It is not regularly preceded by a definite or indefinite article. 4) It is not used with limiting modifiers.”

2.2 Translating proper nouns

 Proper nouns and specifically personal nouns can imply different information about the person, nation, and culture, since all languages have particular proper names, some of which deeply rooted in the culture. Therefore, translating proper nouns shall never be considered trivial or easy.

Albert Peter Vermes (2003, p.92 ) has asserted that:

The translation of proper names has often been considered as a simple automatic process of transference from one language into another, due to the view that proper names are mere labels used to identify a person or a thing. Contrary to popular views, the translation of proper names is a non-trivial issue, closely related to the problem of the meaning of the proper name.

The translator must be aware of the culture of the source language and the meaning implied in the proper noun so as to choose the best strategy and transfer the correct information. Hervey and Higgins (2002) have focused on the issue of “cultural transposition” and believe that a translator has two options for transferring proper nouns. The first option causes the text to look like a translation not an original writing. But it can bring about some problems (Hervey & Higgins, 2002). They may be hard to spell or pronounce or even memorize. Therefore, as Hervey and Higgins (2002) believed, the second option, called transliteration, can be used to cope with such problems. They also stated that for those ST names which have not been transliterated before by others, the translator can transliterate them as he/she wishes. Shirinzadeh & Tengku Mahadi (2014) stated that proper nouns can either be transferred to the target text without any changes, or be adapted to follow the target language phonetic and orthographic conventions.

Moreover, Hervey and Higgins (2002) stated that there remains a third option for the translators while rendering nouns. It is cultural transplantation. Here, original nouns will be substituted by local target language nouns which have related “cultural connotations” to those of the ST nouns, but, they are not their “conventional or literal equivalents” (p. 33).

Beside Hervey and Higgins (2002), different models are suggested.

Vermes (2003) has stated the strategies that the translators may use to render proper nouns can be categorized into the following processes:

Transference, Translation, Substitution and Modification(pp. 93-94).

1. Transference is the strategy by which the translator makes use of the source text proper noun without any changes in the target languages (Vermes, 2003). In line with it, Newmark (1988, p. 81) mentions that transference is” the process of transferring a SL word to a TL text as a translation procedure”.
2. By translation strategy the translator renders the ST noun in the target text (Vermes, 2003). He/she uses a name in TT with the same connotation of the name in ST.
3. In substitution strategy the translator uses the conventional correspondent of the source language name in the target language (vermes, 2003). This strategy is mostly used for geographical nouns as in cases that the equivalent exists in translating language. For example using lahestan in Persian for the English word Poland. It should be notified that when the source text noun is used in the TT but with graphic changes in the target language, the situation is considered as a type of substitution.
4. Modification is the strategy by which the translator substitutes the original noun with a noun in the target language which is not related or even partly related to the ST noun (Vermes, 2003). For example, translating Jim as جواد (Javaad) in Persian. Vermes (2003) has considered omission, addition and generalization as sub-sects of modification. By omission the translator removes the source text noun and substitutes it with nothing in the TT. However, a translator may use expansion in the translation of the SL noun so as to use addition sub-strategy. Finally, generalization makes the translator use a super-ordinate noun in the TL instead of the SL noun.

Lincoln Fernandes (2006) has listed a set of ten procedures in the translation of personal names (cited in sanaty pour, 2009):

1. 1.      Rendition: When the in the ST is entangled in the TL, the meaning is rendered in the TL.
2. Copy: Actually, in this case, the name of the ST is exactly copied in the TT—without any orthographic adjustment.
3. 3.      Transcription: In this method a name is transcribed in the equivalent characters of the TL. In order to keep the word legible in TT, some changes such as addition or shift in the position of the letters may occur.
4. Re-creation: A newly coined name in the ST is recreated in the TT so that it reproduces the similar effects in the TL.
5. Substitution: A TL name replaces the SL name, although they are formally and/or semantically unrelated.
6. Deletion: In this type of strategy, the name in the ST is omitted, partially or totally, in the TT.
7. Addition: Extra information is added to the SL name so that it can be more understandable to the target readers. As a matter of fact, this method is a good way to release the TT readers from ambiguities.
8. Transposition: This is a change of one part of speech for another one without any semantic shift.
9. Phonological Replacement: In this procedure, the phonological features of the original name are imitated in the TL. In other words, the phonological features of TL name, corresponds to that of the SL name.
10. Conventionality: This strategy is defined as the acceptance of a typical translation of a name in the SL. This procedure is often used with historical or literary individuals as well as geographical names.

Among all the aforesaid strategies, the researchers have applied Fernandes (2006) strategies to the gathered data of this study because this strategy was the most recent one in the field of proper noun translation and it is more applicable to this case study.

2.3 Audiovisual Translation

Audiovisual translation refers to the transfer of verbal components in audiovisual products from one language to another (Díaz Cintas & Remael, 2007). Serban has divided audiovisual translation into two groups: interlingual and intralingual. In interlingual audiovisual translation the source language is the same as the target language. There are three main types of this kind of translation: subtitling for the hearing impaired, audio description for the blind, live subtitling and subtitling for the opera and theatre. However, in interlingual translation television programs, for example, are translated into foreign languages. The modes of translation employed in the audiovisual media contain subtitling, closed captioning, surtitling and revoicing (which may occur in the form of dubbing, voice-over, mobile translation, interpreting or audio description) (Cintas, Diaz & Anderman, 2009). This study only dealt with two modes of audiovisual translation, subtitling and dubbing. Cintas(2003) has defined subtitling as “a linguistic practice which consists in offering, generally in the lower portion of the screen, a written text which sets out to recount the actors' dialogues and the discursive elements that form part of the image (letters, graffiti, captions, hoardings, etc.) or the sound track (songs, off-screen voices, etc.)” (p. 32). However, dubbing is replacing the original speech in a film/ movie or television program with words in another language. Although these two types of production of audiovisual translation are obviously very different, they have one major feature in common: they interfuse linguistics, science, technology, art and aesthetics. All these have to be mixed harmoniously enough so as the final result is comprehensible and comfortable as much as possible for the viewer.

2.4 Research Questions

The present study has aimed to answer the following questions:

a)      Does the translation of proper nouns in dubbing differ from that of subtitling?

b)      Which is the most common strategy of translating proper nouns in subtitling and dubbing from English into Persian?

3. Methodology

3.1. Materials

Two animations were selected in both subtitled and dubbed versions to be analyzed for the present study. One of the animations was Rise of Guardians and the other Cloud with a Chance of Meatballs II. The translation of the subtitled versions of both films into Persian was done by a translation team of internet movie download (2012) and the dubbing versions were presented by Glory team of dubbing.The reason for choosing these animations was that they have a science fiction genre, including different neologism referring to people, places and creatures, i.e. proper nouns. Therefore, the translators had to carefully choose the best strategy to transfer the meaning and the sense to the target language. Fernandes (2006) strategies were chosen as being more recent and more inclusive than others.

3.2. Procedures

The following steps were taken to collect and analyze the data in the present study. First, the original films were watched carefully in the native language to detect the proper nouns. Second, the subtitled and dubbed versions were analyzed for the proper nouns to get the similarities and differences. Third, Fernandes (2006) strategies for translating proper nouns were applied to the study to see which strategies have been preferred by the translators. And finally, conclusions were drawn based on the gathered data.

4. Results and discussion

The researchers have analyzed both animations separately and classified the translations into two groups: those used the same strategy in translating proper nouns in subtitles and dubbings (group a), and the other group, those translated by using different strategies (group b).

4.1. Rise of Guardians

Rise of Guardians consisted of 39 proper nouns for translation of which the two translators used different strategies. Here the nouns of “group a” will be presented with their translations and strategies:

The globe: کره  , Groundhog: موش خرما , Big Foot:پاگنده  / Rendition strategy

Boogeyman:لولوخرخره / conventionality Strategy

Michigan: میشیگان, Claude: کلاد , Sophie: صوفی, Jamie:جیمی, dark Age: دوران تاریکی, Nightmares:کابوس ها/ Transcription strategy

“Group b” included more proper nouns with different translations in subtitle and dubbing and also different translation strategies, but this fact does not mean that the translations were completely non-relative. Most of them conveyed the same sense and meaning but some included a different meaning. Here are the members of this group (the first translation is the one in subtitle version and the second one is the translation in dubbing version of the film):

Pointy Heads:کله مخروطی ها / Rendition,  با اون کله هاتون / deletion. The subtitle translator has conveyed the exact sense and meaning but the dubbing translator has converted the noun to a sentence (deleted the noun) and hence a general sense is conveyed.

Dingle:دینگل /transcription , کوتوله/ Re-creation. The name Dingle has got a sound in itself which shows the type of character. The second translator has re-created a name which shows another aspect of the character but not the one indicated in the original name.

Maple Street: خیابان میپل/ transcription, خیابان افرا / rendition. As it is clear the subtitling translator transcribed the word in the TT but the dubbed translator render it.

North:شمال/ Rendition . The name is not translated in dubbing version and the deletion procedure is used.

Sandy: سندی/ Transcription, خوابان/ Re-Creation .the second translator has created a new name which is not related to the original name but completely related to the character and his responsibility which is making children sleep.

Pitch: ظلمات/ rendition, تارین /Re-Creation. The ST word has the new meaning in its original language which the dubbed translator tried to recreate the word in order to convey the same sense in TT.

Pole: قطب شمال/ addition, قطب/ rendition. The subtitle translator has added to the information without any reference in the film.

Easter: عید پاک/ conventionality, جشن بهاره/ Re-Creation. The dubbing translator has created a name which refers to another aspect of the original name, which is the time. The translator has created a harmony between this name and جشن زمستانه for Christmas.

Bunny: آقا خرگوشه/ addition, خرگوش/ Rendition. The subtitle translator has added the word آقا  in order to make the name more childish so as to fit the context.

Christmas: کریسمس/ Transcription, جشن زمستانه / re-creation. This example was elaborated previously above.

Tooth: دندون/ rendition, پری/ Re-Creation. The dubbing translator has tended to be consistent in nominating the characters; therefore has used the word previously used to refer to the character.

Man in Moon: مرد ماه نشین/ Rendition, نور درخشان/ re-Creation. The dubbing translator has created a name which unlike the original name does not show a living creature, but conveyed the sense.

Many: مانی/ transcription, نور/ re-creation. Both translators have tried to be consistent therefore they have used the same names.

Leprechaun: لپرکان/ transcription, the dubbing translator has deleted this name in the source text.

Jack Frost: جک فراست/ Transcription, سردین / Re-creation. The dubbing translator has conveyed the sense beautifully. In the whole text the translator has created the names in a way that matches the names in the target culture and they convey the exact sense as well. The suffix ین is common in Persian names. This consistency is admirable.

Egg Hunt: شکار تخم مرغ/rendition, پیدا کردن تخم مرغ رنگی/ re-creation.

Cupcake:  کیک فنجونی/ Rendition, شیرین/ substitution. The dubbing translators have substituted the name with a name in Persian which is common and have the sense of the original name in source text.

Tooth fairy: پری دندون/Rendition, پری /deletion.

Unicorn: تک شاخ/ Rendition, اسب تک شاخ/ addition

Yeti: یتی/ Transcription, غول برفی/ re-creation.

Naughty list: لیست شیطون ها/ rendition, the dubbing translator has omitted the proper noun and changed it into a sentence:نکنه شیطونی کردم/ deletion

Phil: فیل/transcription, but the dubbing translator has replaced the name with a general word which is not considered as a proper noun: رفیق/ deletion.

Elf: الف/ transcription, the dubbing translator has deleted the proper noun and not replaced it with anything.

Sandman: مردشنی/ Rendition, خوابان/ re-creation. Consistency is apparent in the dubbing translation.

Peter cotton tail: دم پنبه ای/  Rendition, خرگوش/ Re-creation. The dubbing translator has tended to be consistent; therefore he has not transferred the humiliating sense included in the original name.

Santa Clause: بابانوئل/ Conventionality, سانتای پیر/ transcription and addition. The subtitle has used a word more common in the target language which conveys the sense accurately but the dubbing translator has simply brought the word to TT and added information to it to make it more understandable.

Some of the data did not fall into these categories and therefore not mentioned in the table at the appendices (table 1). For example “trailer park” which is not considered as a proper noun was translated as one in the target language: کپرآباد , as a name of a place.

4.2. Cloud with a Chance of Meatballs II

As the film was about an invention, so many new names, neologism, were seen in it. The translators had to transfer the new idea as well as translating the proper noun. Cloud with a Chance of meatballs consisted of 41 proper nouns. Here in “group a” proper names and their translations in subtitle and dubbed versions were categorized and presented with their translation strategies. Then “group b” was elaborated similarly.

Group a

Transcription:

Flint Lockwood: فلینت لاکوود __Chester V: چستر وی__Barb: بارب __Sam Sparks: سم اسپارکس__ Sparkswood: اسپارکسوود__ Steve: استیو__ San Fran Jose: سان فرانخوزه__ California: کالیفرنا__ Earl: ارل__ Manny: مندی، منی__ Saspa: سمسپا، سسپا.

Re-creation:

Spray-on Shoes: اسپری کفش ساز __  کفش اسپری ای / both in subtitle and dubbing the Re-Creation strategy is used but with different word choice;

Cheespider: عنکبوت برگر_ عنکبوت چیز برگر/ in both versions Re-Creation is used;

Shrimpanzee: شامپانگو, شامپامیگو __ Tacodile Spreme: تاکوکودیل,  تاکوناسورس/ both translators have re-created the names but with different word choices. The new names convey the sense precisely.

Rendition:

Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator:

 برگردان غذای دیاتونیک سوپر جهشی غذای پویای فیلینگ لاکوود__

هم سان ساز غذای دینامیک ابر جهشی دیاتونیک فیلینت لاکوود/ in both versions the Rendition strategy is used;

Soy Latte: قهوه ی سویا __  نوشیدنی / Rendition is used both in subtitle and dubbing but the second translation is a more general word compared with the original name. which is the superordinate word for the original word;

Sardine Scramble: املت ساردین ;

Ratbird: موش پرنده;

Ghost Man: روح __ مرد / both in dubbing and subtitle the translators have rendered a part and deleted the other part of the name.

Conventionality:

 United Nations: سازمان ملل

Group b consisted of more nouns: (the first translations relate to the subtitled version and the second ones used in the dubbed version of the film)

The Humble food bar: بسته ی غذای فشرده ی کوچک / Rendition__ غذای میله ای / Re-Creation. The second translation is based on the shape of the object in the film; therefore re-creation has considered  another aspect of the object not reflected in the original name while it conveys the same sense as well.

Food Bar XL with Flavor Crystals: غذاهای فشرده ی بزرگ با کریستال های طعم دهنده/ rendition__ غذای میله ای با ذرات طعم دهنده/ re-Creation.

FLDSMDFER: فلدسمدفر/ transcription__ هق داژدفو  / re-creation. The name which is an acronym is re-created in the dubbed version with regards to the new name re-created in advance( the first letters of the new name in TT are used to make the acronym in TT.) but in subtitle the acronym is simply transcribed.

Mustache: سبیل قشنگ/ addition__ آوازاری / re-creation. The subtitle translator has added information to the original meaning of the name so as to add to the sense of humor and make it more communicative.

Swallow falls: سوالوفالز/ Transcription__ آبشار چلچله/ rendition.

Live Corp: شرکت زندگی / rendition__ The dubbed version has simply omitted this name which is quite important in the film.

Forkenknifenspooninator: قاشق چنگال چاقوی سرهم/ rendition__ خودغذاخوری رژیمی  / re-creation. The subtitle version has rendered the name into Persian but the dubbed on does not include the details of the name which are the parts included in the object.

Grocery Deliverator: پیک مواد غذایی/ rendition__  تحویل در محل  کهکشانی/ re-creation. The dubbing translator has re-created a name which refers to the speed of the deliverator which is apparent from the context but not included in the original name.

BS USB:  یو اس بی نابودگر= بساب/ addition__ بی اس یو اس بی / transcription.

Triple decaf mochaccino-boba-latte: سوبله ی بدون کافئین موکا- بوبا- لاته/ rendition and transcription __ بستنی کاپوچینو موهیتو ذرت مکزیکی با پنیر اضافه/ re-creation. The dubbed version includes a name more common in target language and similar to the original name.

Chicken Brent: جوجه برنت / rendition and transcription __  برنت / transcription. A kind of reduction can be seen in dubbed version.

N-Woo : ان-وو/Transcription __ عمو/ re-creation. The name in the dubbed version does not include anything related to the original name but simply a word used by children to refer to any man older than them.

Barry: بری/ transcription __ فرنگیس/ re-creation. The dubbing translator has created a name which includes a part of the word referring to the fruit represented in the film: توت فرنگی the name فرنگیس is used in Persian for the girls and that has made the character more charming.

Flamingo: فلامینبه/ re-creation __ فلامینگو/ transcription. The subtitle translator has made a name which shows the nature of the creature which is a combination of a mango and a flamingo.

Watermelophant: فیلدوونه/ re-creation __ the dubbed version has omitted this name but the subtitle translator has made a new name very precisely.

Susheep: سوشیفند/ re-creation __ the dubbing translator has deleted the name and changed it into a sentence which can convey the sense as well.

Cantalope: کانگابزه / re-creation __ طالبی کوهی/ re-creation and addition. The subtitle translator has used the same way to create the word as the original language, i.e. combination, but the dubbing translator has re-created a word while adding to the information.

Banaostrich: شترموز/ re-creation __ موز/ recreation. The subtitle translator has transferred the idea of neologism but the dubbing translator has somehow deleted information while rendering part of the name. Therefore, we may say a kind of reduction is seen in dubbing.

Gorilla stew: خورشت گوریل/ rendition __ آبگوشدوفو / re-creation. The dubbing translator has tend to be consistent.

Subwhale: زیردریایی نهنگی / re-creation __ the subtitle translator has transferred the idea but in dubbed version this name is deleted.

There were some new names in the original film which were made by combination. The translators had tried to make the new name in TT by using the same method.

Among 10 strategies of translating proper nouns by Fernandes (2006) three of them were not used at all in the translations of these two films. They were copy, substitution and phonological replacement. For translating some of the names more than one strategy was used.

There were 39 proper nouns included in Rise of Guardians and 41 in Cloud with Chance of Meatballs. Transcription was the strategy more used in the subtitled versions and re-creation was the one more used in dubbing versions. The number of the times each strategy was used in each film has been represented in table 3 and 4 in the appendices.

5. Conclusion

This study aimed to find out whether translation of proper nouns in subtitled versions of the films differ from that of dubbing and also to get which strategies of translating proper nouns presented by Fernandes(2006) were used more by the translators of the two versions. Wholly, we might say that considering the characters of the films and the references of the names, the two teams of translators had shown a specific aspect of the reference but the subtitle translators had shown a tendency to focus on the source text and transfer it into the target culture but in dubbed versions one could see that the translators had tried to consider the target culture while transferring one feature of the character although it might not be specified in the source text. Therefore, re-creation was mostly used in dubbed versions and transference in the subtitle ones. The new names created in TT included the common features of the names in Persian. In cases the names were meaningful for the target audience; the translators of both subtitled and dubbed versions had simply rendered the name into Persian. Since English and Persian have different phonological and orthographic feature the copy strategy and phonological replacement were not used in none of the versions of the films. In some parts partial deletion, reduction, were recognized by the researchers.

All in all, no one expects the translator to make an identical text to the original one but the translators here had tried their best to use different strategies to convey the sense and meaning and create the same effect.