The Representation of Non-Linguistic Sounds in Persian and English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing: A Comparative Study

Subject Areas : All areas of language and translation

Sepideh Bohlouli ¹ , Aida Firooziyan Pour Esfahani ² , Mohammadreza Rastgar Moghaddam ³

1 - M.A. Graduate of Translation Studies Department of English Language, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Imam Reza International University, Mashhad, Iran
2 - English Department, Imam Reza International University, Mashhad, Iran
3 - Faculty of Humanities, Department of English Language Studies, Imam Reza International University of Mashhad, Iran

Received: 2018-07-11 Accepted : 2018-07-11 Published : 2018-01-01

Keywords: Deaf and Hard-of-hearing, Nonlinguistic Sounds, SDH,

Abstract :

Subtitling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing (SDH) is an area which deserves a special attention as it ena- bles these people to access to the part of the ‘world’ intended for hearing people, including the world of ‘motion pictures’, and particularly movie sounds. Compared to linguistic sounds, non-linguistic sounds have received little attention in the field of translation, although they are inseparable part of daily life. To address the gap, the present study aimed to investigate the strategies applied by subtitlers to translate non- linguistic sounds in English and Persian subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. To conduct the re- search, 25 out of 100 movies released between 2006 and 2016 with both Persian and English subtitles were selected. Based on Gottlieb’s (1992) translation strategy model, all the subtitling strategies for ren- dering the non-linguistic sounds were analyzed and their frequencies were measured. The findings re- vealed that ‘paraphrasing’ about half of the non-linguistic sounds, English subtitlers were well aware of their significance, while Persian subtitlers were neglectful of rendering the sounds since the most fre- quently used strategy in Persian subtitles was ‘deletion’. The results stressed the need for the inclusion of subtitling in academic training programs, especially in Persian Language context.

References:

De Moraes Abrahão, V. (2014). A corpus based analysis of verbs in subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing and audiodescriptions: University of Filologia, Madrid.

Gottlieb, H. (1992). Subtitling-a new university discipline. Paper presented at the Teaching Translation and Interpreting: Training, Talent and Experience.

Gottlieb, H. (2004). Language-political implications of subtitling.Benjamins Translation Library,      56, 83-100.

IRIARTE, M. M. (2014). The reception of subtitling by the deaf and hard of hearing.Preliminary    findings.Translation Research Project.  5, 63, Retrieved 2017, April 23, from http://isg.urv.es/publicity/isg/publications/trp_5_2014/index.htm

Iriarte, M. M. (2014). The reception of subtitling by the deaf and hard of hearing.Retrieved from Intercultural Studies Group.

Luyken, G., &Herbst, T. (1991). Overcoming language barriers in television: Dubbing and subtitling            for the European audience, Manchester: The European Institute for the Media. 13, 29-31.

McIntyre, D., &Lugea, J. (2015). The effects of deaf and hard-of-hearing subtitles on the     characterisation process: a cognitive stylistic study of The Wire. Routledge, 23(1), 62-88, Retrieved 2016, April 10, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2014.919008

Neves, J. (2005). Audiovisual translation: Subtitling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Roehampton Research Papers, 15-20.

Romero-Fresco, P. (2015). The Reception of Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Europe: UK,      Spain, Italy, Poland, Denmark, France and Germany, Bern: Peter Lang AG, International    Academic Publishers, 17-371.

Szarkowska, A. (2013). Towards interlingual subtitling for the deaf and the hard of hearing. Perspectives, 21(1), 68-81, Retrieved 2017, January 28, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2012.722650

Szarkowska, A., Żbikowska, J., &Krejtz, I. (2013).Subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing in       multilingual films.International Journal of Multilingualism, 10 (3), 292-312, Retrieved 2017,         January 28, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2013.766195

WHO (World Health Organization).(2014). Deafness and hearing loss, Fact sheet N°300. Retrieved             2017, January 28, from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheet/fs300/en/

Zárate, S. (2008).Subtitling for Deaf children on British television.The Sign Language Translator and          Interpreter, 2(1), 15-34.