A Comparison between Translation Strategies of Professional and Non-professional Subtitlers - The case of VS Arashi

This thesis concerns the translation strategies used by professional and non-professional subtitlers to translate the Japanese variety show VS Arashi into English. Previous research indicates that target texts of non-professional subtitlers are more source-oriented than those of professional subtitlers. Since the majority of previous research has focussed on anime, the aim of this thesis was to discover whether this is also the case for the English translation of a Japanese variety show. This was investigated using the methodology proposed by Gottlieb (2009), in which extra-linguistic culture-specific references are assigned a place on a scale ranging from source- to target-oriented. The analysis of the results showed that the non-professional subtitles are indeed more source-oriented than the professional subtitles. This may be the result of the non-professional subtitlers prioritising authenticity where the professional subtitlers prioritise readability, a lack of training on the...Show moreThis thesis concerns the translation strategies used by professional and non-professional subtitlers to translate the Japanese variety show VS Arashi into English. Previous research indicates that target texts of non-professional subtitlers are more source-oriented than those of professional subtitlers. Since the majority of previous research has focussed on anime, the aim of this thesis was to discover whether this is also the case for the English translation of a Japanese variety show. This was investigated using the methodology proposed by Gottlieb (2009), in which extra-linguistic culture-specific references are assigned a place on a scale ranging from source- to target-oriented. The analysis of the results showed that the non-professional subtitles are indeed more source-oriented than the professional subtitles. This may be the result of the non-professional subtitlers prioritising authenticity where the professional subtitlers prioritise readability, a lack of training on the part of the non-professional subtitlers, a difference in target audience with the professional subtitlers targeting a more general audience than the non-professional subtitlers, and the Japanese to English direction of translation causing the professional subtitlers to translate more target-oriented.Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

A Comparison between Translation Strategies of Professional and Non-professional Subtitlers - The case of VS Arashi