Article published In:
BabelVol. 66:1 (2020) ► pp.46–69
A metaphorical map of subtitling
Idiom vs. explicit meaning in translated filmic texts
This study explores the metaphorical dimension of idioms in original filmic texts and their translations in
subtitles, in order to shed light on strategies used in the translation process. The research focuses on a corpus of 20 films
from the Library of Foreign Language Film Clips (LFLFC), at the Berkeley Language Center of the University of California,
Berkeley. More specifically, I analyze films in German and Spanish with English subtitles from a cognitive and contrastive
perspective. My goal is to explore how translation can affect understanding and reception by an audience with limited or no skills
in the original language. Results of the analysis show a tendency towards reduction of metaphorical expressions in translated
English subtitles, these varying according to the original language of the film. Contrastive analysis demonstrates that in
translation from Spanish, the explicit meaning strategy is far more frequent than in translation from German. The findings of this
study can be applied in foreign language teaching as a means of developing learners’ cultural awareness and language
comprehension, as well as in the field of audiovisual subtitling translation.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Filmic text, subtitles and subtitling
- 3.Idioms and their importance
- 4.Metaphor, culture and translation
- 5.Methodology and corpus
- 6.Results of the analysis
- 6.1Omission
- 6.1.1Idiom: No comerse un rosco. Film: Te doy mis ojos (2003)
- 6.1.2Idiom: Den Ton angeben. Film: Die Welle (2008)
- 6.1.3Idiom: Auf den Hintern sitzen bleiben. Film: Die Welle (2008)
- 6.2Explicit meaning translation
- 6.2.1Idiom: Hacerle una putada a alguien. Film: Bajo las estrellas (2006)
- 6.2.2Idiom: Tener en el bote. Film: Te doy mis ojos (2003)
- 6.3Partial equivalence
- 6.3.1Idiom: Einige Leichen im Keller haben. Film: Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer (2015)
- 6.3.2Idiom: Die Schnauze voll haben. Film: Die Berliner Mauer (2009)
- 6.3.3Idiom: Die Schnauze voll haben. Film: Im Juli (2000)
- 6.3.4Idiom: Nicht mehr alle Tassen im Schrank haben. Film: Die Berliner Mauer (2009)
- 6.3.5Idiom: Nicht mehr alle Tassen im Schrank haben. Film: Im Juli (2000)
- 6.3.6Idiom: Scheiße bauen. Film: Die Fetten Jahren sind vorbei (2004)
- 6.3.7Idiom: Despachar a alguien. Film: Los lunes al sol (2002)
- 6.4Total equivalence
- 6.4.1Idiom: Comersele el gato la lengua a alguien. Film: Bajo las estrellas (2007)
- 6.4.2Idiom: Die Augen aufmachen. Film: Die Welle (2008)
- 6.4.3Idiom: Blöde Kuh. Film: Die Berliner Mauer (2009)
- 6.5Loan translation
- 6.6Creation
- 6.6.1
From the film Mar adentro (2004)
- 7.Conclusion
- Notes
-
References
References (51)
References
Primary sources
Films in German
Ade, Maren. 2009. Alle anderen [Everyone else]. Germany: The Cinema Guild.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Akin, Fatih. 2000. Im Juli [In July]. Germany, Hungary and Turkey: KOCH Lorber Films, LP.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Akin, Fatih. 2004. Gegen die Wand [Head on]. Germany and Turkey: KOCH Lorber Films, LP.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cotter, Paul. 2009. Die Berliner Mauer [The Berlin Wall]. Germany: Film Movement.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gansel, Dennis. 2008. Die Welle [The Wave]. Germany: Sundance Selects.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Henckel von Donnersmarck, Florian. 2006. Das Leben der anderen [The Life of Others]. Germany: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kraume, Lars. 2015. Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer [The People vs. Fritz Bauer]. Germany: Netflix.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schütte, Jan Georg. 2008. Die Glücklichen [Lucky people]. Germany: WVG Medien GmbH.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Weingartner, Hans. 2005. Die Fetten Jahren sind vorbei [The Edukators]. Germany: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Weingartner, Hans. 2005. Goodbye, Lenin! [Goodbye, Lenin!]. Germany: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Films in Spanish
Sariñana, Fernando. 2002. Amar te duele [Love Hurts]. México: Distrimax Inc, Lionsgate.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Viscarret, Felix. 2007. Bajo las estrellas [Beneath the Stars]. Spain: Notro Films SL.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Almodóvar, Pedro. 1997. Carne trémula [Live Flesh]. Spain: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Serrano, David. 2003. Dias de futbol [Soccer Days]. Spain: Venevision International, Warner Bros Entertainment Inc.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sorin, Carlos. 2012. Historias mínimas [Minimal / Intimate Stories]. Argentina: Optimum Releasing, BBC Discoveries.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
León de Aranoa, Fernando. 2002. Los lunes al sol [Mondays in the Sun]. Spain, Italy, and France: Lions Gate Entertainment.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Campanella, Juan José. 2004. Luna de Avellaneda [Moon of Avellaneda]. Argentina: A.V.H. San Luis SRL.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Amenábar, Alejandro. 2004. Mar adentro [The Sea Inside]. Spain: New Line Home Entertainment, Inc.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bollain, Iciar. 2003. Te doy mis ojos [Take my eyes]. Spain: Manga Films, S.L.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bollain, Iciar. 2007. Mataharis [Mataharis]. Spain: Vene Vision International.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Secondary sources
Attardo, Salvatore. 2002. “Translation and Humour”. The Translator 8 (2): 173–194. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Baker, Mona. 1992. In Other Words – A Coursbook of Translation. London: Routledge. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cacciari, Cristina. 2001. “Cognitive Psychology of Figurative Thought and Figurative Language”. In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, ed. by Neil J. Smelser; and Paul B. Baltes, 5632–5637. Amsterdam: Elsevier. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chaume, Frederic. 2004. “Discourse markers in audiovisual translating”. Meta 49 (4): 843–855. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Conca, Maria; and Guia, Josep. 2014. La fraseologia. Principis, mètode i aplicacions. Alzira: Bromera /Institut Interuniversitari de Filologia Valenciana.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Corpas, Gloria. 1997. Manual de fraseología española. Madrid: Gredos.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Corpas, Gloria. 2000. “Acerca de la (in)traducibilidad de la fraseología”. In Las lenguas de Europa: Estudios de fraseología, fraseografía y traducción, ed. by Gloria Corpas, 483–522. Granada: Comares.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Díaz Cintas, Jorge; and Anderman, Gunilla. 2009. Audiovisual Translation. Language Transfer on Screen. Houndmills Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Díaz Cintas, Jorge; and Remael, Aline. 2014. Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling. London: Routledge. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ebeling, Signe Oksefjell. 2012. “Textual reduction in translated dialogue in film versus literary fiction”. Nordic Journal of English Studies 11 (3): 100–126.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fernando, Chitra; and Flavell, Roger. 1981. On Idiom. Critical Views and Perspectives. Exeter: University of Exeter.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gibbs, Raymond W.; Nayak, Nandini P.; and Cutting, Cooper. 1989. “How to kick the Bucket and Not Decompose: Analyzabitity and Idiom Processing”. Journal of Memory and Language 281: 576–593. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gibbs, Raymond W.; and O’Brien, J. E. 1990. “Idioms and mental imagery: The metaphorical motivation for idiomatic meaning”. Cognition 361: 35–68. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gibbs, Raymond W. 1996. “Why many concepts are metaphorical”. Cognition 611: 309–319. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gibbs, Raymond W.; Bogdanovich, Josephine M.; Sykes, Jeffrey R.; and Barr, Dale J. 1997. “Metaphor in Idiom Comprehension”. Journal of Memory and Language 371: 141–154. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gibbs, Raymond. 2001. “Proverbial themes we live by”. Poetics 291: 167–188. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gottlieb, Henrik. 1994. “Subtitling: Diagonal Translation”. Perspectives 2 (1): 101–121. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Harvey, Keith. 1995. “A descriptive framework for compensation”. The translator 1 (1): 65–86. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lakoff, George; and Johnson, Mark. 1980. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lakoff, George. 1987. Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lakoff, Georg. 1993. “The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor”. In Metaphor and Thought (2nd ed), ed. by Andrew Ortony, 202–251. Cambridge: CUP. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Morvay, Karoly. 1996. “Harri batez bi kolpe. Cuestiones de fraseología comparada”. Euskera: Euskaltzaindiaren Ian eta agiriak 41 (3): 719–767.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Newmark, Peter. 1988. A textbook of translation. New York: Prentice Hall International.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Oltra, Maria D. 2015. La traducció de la fraseologia en obras literàrias contemporànies i les seues adaptacions cinematogràfiques (anglés-català-espanyol). Castelló de la Plana: Universitat Jaume I, PhD Dissertation. ![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Penadés, Inmaculada. 2013. “La imagen subyacente a las locuciones como criterio de marcación diafásica”. In Fraseopragmática, ed. by Inés Olza; and Elisa Manero, 23–48. Berlin: Frank & Timme.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sancho Cremades, Pelegrí. 2017. “Fraseología, enacción y traducción”. In Enacción y léxico, ed. by Ángel López; and Daniel Jorques, 145–163. Valencia: Tirant lo Blanc.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schellheimer, Sybille. 2016. La función evocadora de la fraseología en la oralidad ficcional y su traducción. Berlin: Frank & Timme.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Timofeeva, Larissa. 2012. El significado fraseológico. En torno a un modelo explicativo y aplicado: Madrid: Liceus.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Trim, Richard. 2007. Metaphor Networks. The Comparative Evolution of Figurative Language. Houndmills Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Van Lawick, Heike. 2006. Metàfora, fraseologia i traducció. Aplicació als somatismes en una obra de Bertold Brecht. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für Katalanistik. Aachen: Shaker Verlag.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Obeidat, Mohammed M.
2023.
Translating Culture in the Jordanian T.V. Comedy Series “al jar gabl al dar” (My American Neighbor) Into English.
SAGE Open 13:3
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Labarta Postigo, María
2022.
Metaphorical dimension of idioms in TV series for German, Norwegian and Spanish audiences.
Estudios de Traducción 12
► pp. 151 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.