This study focuses on the translation of idioms in the subtitles of the TV show Supernatural. Additionally, even when omission was used, it was mostly due to the limitations of the chosen medium.
Introduction
Thus, the present study differs from those by having an audiovisual source material, which brings the challenges of subtitling into this study. In this study, I first introduce the main topics of this study in Sections 2 and 3, which are idioms and their translation, and audiovisual translation, especially subtitling.
Idioms and their translation
Idiom definition
To repeat, non-compositionality means that the meaning of the idiom is not transparent, it cannot (usually) be derived from its parts, while the limited syntactic variation indicates that idioms are usually considered to be quite frozen. The only frequently given characteristic of idioms that will not be used in the definition in this study is that of syntactic restriction.
Idiom classification
Grant and Nation (2006, p. 2) explain that if the answer to the first question is no, MWU is non-compositional. If the answer to the second question is also no, the MWU is non-figurative.
Translation strategies for idioms
Although individual cases of individual translation problems may be solved differently, the general agreement of the text must be analogous. For a more detailed review of both strategies and measures, see Cragie and Pattinson (2018). In the first, the translator can focus on the meaning of the original text, where he strives for stylistic fidelity, the verbal atmosphere of the original.
Idiom-to-idiom strategy does not always work because finding a matching idiom in the target language to a source language idiom is not always possible. Ingo (1990, p. 247) states that a translator only resorts to this strategy when, after a thorough search, they cannot find an equivalent idiom in the target language. With this strategy, Ingo (1990, p. 247) states that the translator can compensate for the lost idioms in the translation process.
While it may seem like the most ideal strategy, Baker (2011, p. 76) notes that it does not always suit the style or register in the target language. Translators may use this method when many of the actual expressions in the source language cannot be translated into expressions in the target language.
Audiovisual translation
With dubbing, it is easier to leave out unwanted lines in the dialogue, i.e. censor things. Bousseaux (2019, p. 50) notes that the importance lies in matching the phonetic aspects of the text, rather than translating the semantic match, as the aim is to "match the screen actor's mouth movements". Pérez-González (2019, p. 20) also mentions that electronic subtitling was first introduced in the 1970s and was first used on television.
In addition, they mention that subtitles can contain the content of the discursive elements in the image, such as letters, inserts, and placards. Pérez-González (2019, p. 31-32) points out that subtitling methods have changed in recent years. The subtitler transitions from the spoken source language dialogue to display it in a written translated form in the subtitles.
When translating American shows into Finnish, one of the main things that is often omitted is the constant repetition of people's names, as it is not a common practice in Finnish culture (ibid.). It is difficult for the subtitles to convey the tone, intonation, accent, or pauses in the dialogue.
Data and methods
Research material
Collecting and categorizing the data
However, I also collected some possible idioms that I thought were semantically opaque, even though they weren't in the dictionary. In the context of the scene, it seems to indicate that God has left and is not expected to return. While it otherwise fits the definition of an idiom, it was also not found in any dictionary and was left out of the study.
There were also some instances where the idiom appeared to be a slightly modified version of an institutionalized idiom, as in Examples 3 and 4. In Example 3, Dean is apparently using a modified version of the idiom with a foot in the door. In the context of the show, the idiom is modified to mean that Harry will not remove himself from the situation, as he can handle the pressure.
In example 5, it is a bit difficult to determine whether the idiom contains one or two words. This idiom fits the idiom definition used in this study, but I chose to exclude it because of the context in which it appears.
Method of analysis
This is done by comparing the idiom of the source language and its translation and seeing which translation strategy seems more appropriate. The names for Baker's (2011) categories are quite long, so for the sake of clarity, I will use abbreviated category names in my study, which will be 1.
Results
Compositionality in the ST
In Example 7, the idiom is you('ve) lost me, which basically means that the person saying it doesn't understand, has been confused, etc. Depending on how one expresses the meaning, the idiom can be classified as wholly or partially not - compositionally. The same could be said of example 8, where the idiom is take (something) like a man.
However, if there were an idiom that could be defined by one of its constituents that retained its literal meaning, but had a much more natural and clear definition that made the idiom completely non-compositional, that natural definition would be used. Here in example 7, the natural way to define the idiom would most likely be "I don't understand", making it completely non-. The idiom in example 9, work (oneself) up, means 'to make oneself feel very nervous', and so would be partially non-compositional if the object/pronoun is part of the idiom.
Since the core of the idiom seems to be the words work and up, and the pronoun always changes according to the context, I was unsure if that would be enough to make the idiom partially uncompounded. However, I came to the conclusion that since the idiom clearly needs the pronoun to function, it is thus part of the idiom, and since it has its literal meaning in the definition, this idiom is partly non-compositional.
Quantitative translation strategy results
Similar form language (11%), literal meaning (9%), and omission (9%) are all used about equally, about tenths of the time. It is interesting to see that almost all strategies were used quite a lot. While most expressions were fairly easy to categorize, there were some borderline cases.
First, in cases like example 10, none of the translation strategies completely match the translation. The word puolamme can modify the idiom to have a similar meaning, but unfortunately that word is not part of the idiom. My data also featured cases where many of the translation strategies were a viable option, as in example 11.
Example 11 uses the idiom end of the line, which is defined as 'the conclusion or last step of something'. Within most of the strategies there were only one or two partially non-compositional idioms, but at the same time these strategies were also used about 10% of the time each in total.
Qualitative translation strategy results
- Similar form idiom
- Similar meaning idiom
- Borrowing
- Paraphrase
- Literal meaning
- Omission
Other times, even when the idiom was a bit longer, the other dialogue around it was sometimes made more compact, leaving enough space to use an actual idiom in the subtitles. The source text uses a modified version of the idiom there's no smoke without fire, meaning "there's usually truth behind a rumor." In this case, the translation of the idiom is longer than in the source text, but it still fits the subtitles without cutting off the rest of the sentence.
Although, at least in this strategy the form of the idiom did not matter, as long as the meaning of the idiom was close to the original. Example 16 shows one such example where the translation uses a target language idiom which carries exactly the same meaning as the source language idiom, and thus leaves the dialogue as expressive as it was. If the idiom was slightly longer, it often appeared on its own, as in example 17.
In example 23, the idiom go on a hike could be translated with a somewhat similar meaning idiom, such as välää lipettiit. If this is not the case, the literal translation of the idiom would be quite confusing.
Discussion and conclusion
Whenever the translator was mentioned in the episodes when I collected my data from Viaplay, the subtitle provider was also mentioned. The translation chosen should always be the one least likely to jump out and cause reactions in the viewer. In cases where multiple strategies can explain the translation, I believe the error is not really in the strategy classification.
Here, the strategy seemed to be idiom + addition, as it used an idiom in the translation, but its meaning did not correspond to the original. However, in the chosen medium of subtitling, paraphrasing often seems to be the best choice as it can make the idiom more compact. Omission was only used 15 times in the data, proving that idioms do not seem to pose a major translation problem as they were most often successfully translated.
In terms of idiom classification, my study showed that 81% of the idioms in the data were completely non-compositional, meaning that none of their elements have their typical, literal meaning. Translating Idioms in Describing Speech in Drama and Fiction: A Case Study of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. eds.), Mission, vision, strategies and values.
