A socio-cultural study of taboo rendition in Persian fansubbing: an issue of resistance

ABSTRACT

This article examined the translation of taboo language in English language films subtitled into Persian by Iranian fansubbers. Based on the results, the fansubbers’ strategies towards taboo language translation were classified into maintaining, deleting, mitigating, substituting, and amplifying. Further analysis suggested that their approach was guided by the source culture norms rather than the target culture norms as evidenced by their attempts to keep as many taboos as possible irrespective of the disapproval of the recipient dominant conventions. Such an exercise appears to be a subversion and resistance to the hegemonic doctrine and conservative ideology advocated in the Iranian society and mass media.

ABSTRAIT

Le but de cette recherche est de vérifier la traduction de la langue taboue dans le fansubbing persan des films anglais. Les résultats indiquent que les stratégies de traduction se divisent en catégories suivantes: conservation, suppression, réduction, remplacement et ajout; en plus les stratégies que les traducteurs ont adoptées sont plus influencées par les coutumes de la culture source; car beaucoup de ses tabous, étant en contradiction avec les coutumes et les principes dominants de la société, se transmettent en langue cible. Un tel comportement se considère comme une résistance contre l'idéologie dominante de la société et des médias nationaux en Iran.

KEYWORDS:

• Fansubbing
• taboo language
• audiovisual translation
• resistance
• norms
• Persian language

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Masood Khoshsaligheh is associate professor at the Department of English Language and Literature at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad where he is program coordinator for MA and PhD in translation studies. He is on the editorial board of several international journals including International Journal of Society, Culture and Language and SKASE Journal of Translation and Interpretation. His research interests include translator education and audiovisual translation.

Saeed Ameri is a PhD student in translation studies at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad where he works as a research and teaching assistant. He holds a BA in translation and interpreting from Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman and an MA in translation studies from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Saeed is a member of the National Elites Foundation in Iran. He was chosen as top student at the Department of English Language and Literature in 2016. His main research interests are audiovisual translation and non-professional translation.

Milad Mehdizadkhani earned his BA in translation and interpreting from the University of Zanjan in 2012. During his Master's studies, he was an exchange student at the University of Warsaw. In 2016, he received his MA in translation studies from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. He is recently admitted to start his PhD at the Department of English Applied Linguistics at the University of Szeged, Hungary.

ORCID

Masood Khoshsaligheh http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6508-1986

Saeed Ameri http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7706-0552

Milad Mehdizadkhani http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3453-4065

Notes

1. More information can be found at http://ketab.farhang.gov.ir/fa/principles/principles89 (last accessed 28 October 2016).