14.184142900

International Journal of English and Education 142
ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014
An Analysis of English Subtitling of Verbal Cultural Signs in the ‘A Separation’

Iranian Film
Maryam Fathi1
Department of Foreign Languages
Science and Research Branch of Sirjan Islamic Azad University, Iran
Dr. Reza Pasha Moghimizadeh2

Department of Foreign Languages
Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran
Abstract: Communicating methods between nations, which lead to transfer the cultural
entities and identify the communities, have a wide field such as movie and among them
Audio Visual Translation (AVT) has the most important function for conveying cultural
concepts and signs. Subtitling as a subcategory of AVT has a widespread application in
communicating and issuing cultural traits. This article aims at investigating the extent that
English subtitles used from the ‘A Separation’ Iranian film could transfer the potential
concept of verbal cultural signs. The researcher has used Gottlieb’s (1992) strategies of
subtitling for the first part of study and the suggestions of Hatim and Mason (1990) for
translation of the cultural signs for the main part of analysis of the subtitles. The results
show that in translation of verbal cultural signs of the ‘A Separation’ Iranian film, transfer
strategy happened with the highest rank among the other Gottlieb’s strategies and this
strategy with the most frequency could transfer the potential meaning, also most of the
religious concepts were translated by using the imitation and transfer strategies. The more
analysis indicate that in some cases the translator could not convey the potential meaning
of verbal cultural signs from the original dialogues of the film to English subtitles.
Key words: Audiovisual translation (AVT), Cultural sign, Potential concept, Semiotic, Subtitlin
1. Introduction
Audiovisual translation (AVT) is a branch of translation studies concerned with the transfer
of multimodal and multimedial texts into another language and/or culture. The two most
widespread modalities adopted for translating products for the screen are dubbing and subtitling.
Copyright © International Journal of English and Education | www.ijee.org

Dubbing is “a process which uses the acoustic channel for translational purposes, while subtitling
is visual and involves a written translation that is superimposed on to the screen” (Chiaro, 2009,
p. 141). Due to the survey is concerned with the subtitle and cross cultural sign, the researcher
focuses on subtitling and the translation of intercultural communication.
Based on Gottlieb subtitles (sometimes it is referred to as captions) usually consist of one or

two lines which usually are placed at the bottom of the picture and also he provides the following
definition for subtitling: the rendering in a different language of verbal message in filmic media
in the shape of one or more line of written text presented on the screen (Gottlieb 1998; 2004, p.
135). The written, subtitled text has to be shorter than the audio, simply because the viewer
needs the necessary time to read the captions while at the same time remaining unaware that he
or she is actually reading. The fact that the source language is not distorted is surely the most
significant benefit of subtitles. However, both dubbing translators and subtitling translators have
to contend with three basic categories of translational hurdles: highly culture-specific references,
Language-specific features and areas of overlap between language and culture (Chiaro, 2009).
Translation typically has been used to transfer written or spoken source language texts to
equivalent written or spoken target language text. However, the difference between source
language and target language and the variation in their cultures make the process of translating a
real challenge. As the most scholars of language have stated, Language is an expression of
culture and culture is expressed through language. An audiovisual text offers a cultural
representation of the world, both through language and the image (Pettit, 2009). Culture-specific
items designate specific phenomena to the culture in which they are used. In films and other
artifacts from non-dominant cultures, almost all such items will be known only to their original
audiences (Gottlieb, 2009). With respect to the meaning of ‘cultural signs’ as verbal or non-
verbal cultural specific information (ibid.), in this investigation the researcher explored the
translation of English subtitling strategies employed when a verbal culture-specific item is used
in the dialogue of ‘A Separation’ Iranian film and then analysis the potential concept of these
subtitled-cultural signs.
2. Translation problems and Audiovisual Translation

As it is generally believed, the more different the structure of SL and TL, the more difficult
the translation of SL into TL will be. Difficulties may also arise in translation when the SL genre
has no equivalent in the TL. In this way, it shows difficult structural characteristics since the TL
genres are constructed with different norms and conventions. Because of the differences between
the two languages (English and Persian) such as structural and cultural differences, these
difficulties may occur in the translation between these two languages. Not having enough
knowledge of each of these languages or both will make much more difficulties for the
translators in the process of translating in the different areas such as subtitling.
The space and time constraints in the interlingual subtitling process usually enhance
traditional translation challenges, such as grammar and word order, as well as problems related
to cultural transfer.
Most of the translation difficulties are due to cultural disparities or discrepancies between two
languages. Even when the two cultures involved in any translation process are not distant,
according to Gonzalez (2004, p. 1, as cited in Thawabteh, 2007, p. 1) “the difficulty in decoding
cultural signs can be more problematic for the translator than semantic or syntactic difficulties”.
Then the sign must not only have a material form, its body, “it must also have a ‘soul’, that is, it
must embody a recognizable message, at least potentially” (Gorlee, 1994, p. 118). Moreover, the
sign can have a concept in the SL culture as it does not have the same register the TL culture
does have. Then it is a hard task that optimal communication takes place in translation of a sign.
Audio and visual cultural signs are an integral part of the audiovisual Message (Pettit, 2009) and
the translations of cultural specifics are one of the most challenging areas of intercultural
transfer. Therefore the researcher will investigate that how the subtitle strategies used for the
translation of verbal cultural signs could deal with the problems of intercultural transfer in the “A
Separation” Iranian film and to find out to what extent English subtitles could transfer the
potential concept of verbal cultural sign.
3. Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework of the study is eclectic. First, the researcher surveyed the strategies
which have been used by subtitler based on typology of Gottlieb (1992). Gottlieb argued that the

difficulty in translating cultural issues goes hand in hand with the degree of their specificity and
the distance between the source and the target culture.The summary of the ten strategies are
showed in the following Table 1:
Table 1. Gottlieb’s Typology of subtitling strategy
Types of strategy Character of translation

1) Extension Expanded expression, adequate rendering (culture-specific references)
Altered expression, adequate content (non-visualized language-specific
2) Paraphrase
items)
3) Transfer
Full expression, adequate rendering (slow, unmarked speech)
Identical expression, equivalent rendering (proper nouns, international

4) Imitation
greetings etc.)
5) Transcription Non standard expression, adequate rendering ( intended speech defects)
Differing expression, adjusted content (musical or visualized language-
6) Dislocation
specific item)
Condensed expression, concise rendering (mid-tempo speech with some
7) Condensation
redundancy)
Abridged expression, reduced content (fast speech, low redundancy
8) Decimation
speech)
9) Deletion Omitted expression, no verbal content (fast speech with high redundancy)
Deviant expression, distorted content (incomprehensible or
10) Resignation
‘untranslatable’ speech)
For the main part of analysis of the subtitles, the researcher has used the suggestions of Hatim
and Mason for translation of the cultural signs. Hatim and Mason (1990, pp. 105-106) suggest
four stages for translation of a semiotic entity. The first is Identification of a source-system
semiotic entity. The second one is informational core (a suitable TL denotation equivalent). The
Stage three is related to explication in detail. And final stage is the transformation of data. Then,
they mention that the process of translating of semiotic must be adjusted to incorporate the
implications of the scope of semiotics for the practical task of the translator. Semiotics deals with
syntactic, semantic and/or pragmatic properties of the sign. As a result, the semiotic description
of a given sign must include one or more than one of the types of relation, i.e. syntactic, semantic
and pragmatic (ibid.). They mentioned that after identification of the cultural sign and relay

information content, the translator has to give an indication of connotative value to the sign so
that the real potential concept of the sign is to be transferred. Due to the limitation of space and
time in the screen for subtitling, this is a hard task for translator. Therefore the researcher wanted
to survey to what extent the translator (subtitler) has been successful to transfer the potential
concept of the Persian verbal cultural signs in the subtitle.
4. Significance of the study
Translators mediate between cultures (including ideologies, moral systems and sociocultural
structures), seeking to overcome the incompatibilities which stand in the way of transfer of
meaning (Hatim & Mason, 1990).
The ‘screen’ and ‘audiovisual translation’ are two major ways of transferring the specific
cultural value to other languages. Some films have become popular in worldwide by using
dubbing and subtitles. ‘A Separation’ Iranian film is one of them. The dialogues of ‘A
Separation’ film are full of the Persian verbal cultural signs which the selection of translation
strategies for these cultural signs is very important to transfer their value. The audiovisual
translator deals with a complex semiotic text, a film or television programme which is composed
by sings, all of which combine to form a network of codes, creating the message to be received
by the viewer (Delabastita, 1989; Gottlieb, 1994 as cited in Pettit, 2009, p. 44). The message
might get lost in translation of the sign. Sometimes, an idea or concept does not exist in another
language. Therefore the role of translation is “fundamental in the very constitution of the sign,
both verbal and nonverbal, in the very determination of its meaning” (Petrilli, 1992, p. 234).
As Hatim (2005, p. 43) stated “The unit of semiotic analysis is the ‘sign’, a semiotic construct
which has proved admirably suited for dealing with how cultures come in contact, clash, or live
in harmony”. By analyzing the translated signs and semiosis in the target language and
comparing the potential values of translated sign with its source language, the researchers and
translators can identify that to what extent the translation could transfer the maximum expression
value (the potential concept) of the source sign.
The present study intends to investigate the procedures which are proposed by Gottlieb and
used in the English subtitling of the ‘A Separation’ Iranian film and compare them with the
originals to find out how they are applicable in the process of translating in the subtitling
translations and analyze them to figure out to what extent the employed strategies can transfer
the potential concepts of the verbal cultural signs, because this issue is so important for us as
Iranian and this movie won the Academy Award for best foreign language film in 2012,
becoming the first Iranian film to win the award. It also received the Golden Bear for best film
and the Silver Bears for best actress and best actor at the 61st Berlin-International Film Festival,
becoming the first Iranian film to win the Golden Bear. It also won the Golden Globe for best
foreign language film. The film was nominated for the best original screenplay Academy Award,
making it the first non-English film in five years to achieve this. This would help improve the
quality of subtitling by identifying the problematic areas and trying to eliminate them in the
future subtitling of the movies.
One of the most important reasons to select ‘A Separation’ Iranian film is because of having
verbal cultural signs and transferring them correctly is so important for us as Iranian and this
movie won the Academy Award for the best foreign language film in 2012, becoming the first
Iranian film to win the award, Golden Bear and Silver Bears. This would help to improve the
quality of subtitling by identifying the problematic areas and trying to eliminate them in the
future subtitling of the movies.
5. Methodology
5.1. Data collection procedures
The following procedures were used to answer the research Question. First, ‘A
Separation’ film and English subtitles were watched, simultaneously the verbal cultural signs
in dialogs and their subtitles were being extracted which could be recognized by expressions
of customs, cultural concepts, religious, symbols, etc. Second, the source text was analyzed
based on categories of customs, cultural concepts, religious, symbols, etc. Next, the extracted
English subtitles were confirmed by the supervisor(s), and then the researcher categorized
them based on Gottlieb’s Typology of subtitling strategy. For each strategy, the researcher
used two columns to show the original words or expressions with their translated ones. Finally

the researcher analyzed the used subtitles to find out to what extent the potential concept of
verbal cultural signs has been transferred by the subtitles.
5.1.1. Source text analysis
To analyze the source text, the criteria of selecting the signs such as customs, cultural
concepts and religious expressions were defined and next cultural signs collected in each
category. According to Wikipedia:
Custom: is convention (norm), a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted rules, norms,
standards or criteria, often taking the form of a custom or a rule that is socially enforced or a
practice followed by people of a particular group or region.
Culture concept: is the product of a group’s shared beliefs, values, traditions, stories, rituals,
and inventions.
Religion: is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate
humanity to an order of existence. Also Merriam Webster defines it, an organized system of
beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods.
5.2. Methods of data analysis

To analyze the data, the researcher used the classification of interlingual subtitling
strategies are proposed by Gottlieb (1992) as the theoretical framework. Gottlieb’s translation
strategies for the Subtitling of Film are as follows:
1. Expansion is used when the original requires an explanation because of some cultural nuance
not retrievable in the target language.
2. Paraphrase is resorted to in cases where the phraseology of the original cannot be
reconstructed in the same syntactic way in the target language.
3. Transfer refers to the strategy of translating the source text completely and accurately.
4. Imitation maintains the same forms, typically with names of people and places.
5. Transcription is used in those cases where a term is unusual even in the source text, for
example the use of a third language or nonsense language.

6. Dislocation is adopted when the original employs some sort of special effect, e.g. a silly song
in a cartoon film, where the translation of the effect is more important than the content
7. Condensation would seem to be the typical strategy used, that is the shortening of the text in
the least obtrusive way possible, but as we shall see later, and this is not necessarily the case.
8. Decimation is an extreme form of condensation where, perhaps for reasons of discourse
speed, even potentially important elements are omitted.
9. Deletion refers to the total elimination of parts of a text.
10. Resignation describes the strategy adopted when no translation solution can be found and
meaning is inevitably lost.
In order to analyze the subtitling translations, the unit of translation as the basis for
analysis should be clarified. The basic unit of a film is a frame; consequently, the unit of
analysis in this study was considered to be a frame. A frame is defined as a word or a stretch
of words in the form of subtitle which appeared together for a length of time on screen and
disappeared together before another frame appeared. After determining the strategies used for
subtitling, the researcher analyzed the potential concept of verbal cultural sign in the original
dialogs and compared them with the potential concept of their subtitle. For this purpose, the
researcher used the suggestion of Hatim and Mason (1990) for semiotic translation. They
suggested a number of important procedures for semiotic translation as unit of translation
(ibid, p. 105-106):
Stage 1, Identification:
The translator identifies a source-system semiotic entity. This will be a constituent element of
a certain cultural (sub) system.
Stage 2, Information:
The translator identifies an informational core.
Stage 3, Explication:
If the informational equivalent is not self-sufficient, the translator will seek to explicate by
means of synonym, expansion, paraphrase, etc.
Stage 4, Transformation:

Having retrieved the information core and carried out the necessary modification, the
translator then considers what is missing in terms of intentionality and status as a sign.
After analysis of the potential concepts of signs between two languages (English and
Persian), the researcher dealt with the relation between syntactic, semantic and pragmatic of
the sign in the subtitle briefly. As Hatim and Mason (1990, p. 117) stated “the description of a
sign would be impoverished if it restricted attention to either the syntactic, semantic or
pragmatics of the sign”. They believed that overlap is inevitable for analysis of the sign. Then,
the frequency and the percentage of the different strategies used in subtitling and the extent of
transferring of potential concept of the sign are measured and shown in tables as well as bar
charts. Finally, tables are analyzed and their results are discussed.
6. The result of analyzing
After analyzing the data, the below table is presented to specify the frequency and
percentage of the ten subtitling strategies based on Gottlieb’s. After identification of each
strategy used, the data showed that the translator used only half of the ten strategies
introduced by Gottlieb. Moreover, each strategy used in the mixed strategies accounted as an
independent strategy in frequency and percentage. Likewise, the wrong translation did not
account in the frequency and percentage of strategies used for subtitles translation of cultural
signs in the film. A table and a bar chart were prepared to show the frequencies and
percentages of strategies used for subtitles translation of cultural signs in the film (see Table
4.9 and Figure 1).
Type of strategy Frequency Percentage
transfer 15 39.47
imitation 10 26.31
deletion 6 15.78
paraphrase 4 10.52
condensation 3 7.89

Table 4.9: Frequency and percentage of strategies used for subtitles translation of cultural signs
in the film.
Analysis of the data gathered in the present study reveals that the subtitler (s) of the films
under study has used different strategies to transfer the verbal cultural signs in the original
films. The only 39.47% of the subtitles have been able to transfer the potential meaning of the
cultural signs completely and accurately. In the next section, each of the samples and their
subtitles will be discussed in detail.
39.47
40
35
26.31
30
25
15.78
20
10.52
15
7.89
10
0
Transfer Imitation Deletion Paraphrase Condensation
Figure 1. Subtitling strategies’ percentages
7. Some samples
7.1. Transfer
a) In translation of the word of ‫ﺣﺮﺍﻡ‬, the translator used the word of sin.
sin Ḥarām (‫ ) َﺣ َﺮﺍﻡ‬is an
Arabic term meaning sinful.. In Islamic Jurisprudence,, haram is used to refer to any act that is
‫ﺍﻷﺣﻜﺎﻡ ﺍﻟﺨﻤﺴﺔ‬
forbidden by Allah,, and is one of five al-ahkam al-khamsah (‫ﺍﻟﺨﻤﺴﺔ‬ ‫ )ﺍﻷﺣﻜﺎﻡ‬that defines the
morality of human action. Acts that are haram are typically prohibited in the religious texts of the
Quran and the Sunnah. In Abrahamic contexts, sin is the act of violating God’s will
will. Sin can also

be viewed as anything that violates the ideal relationship between an individual and God.
Therefore the translator used the word of sin for translation of ‫ ﺣﺮﺍﻡ‬accurately even so the cases
of Haram or sin are different between religions.
b) The word of blood money was used for translation of ‫ ﺩﻳﻪ‬or Diyya. Blood money is
money or some sort of compensation paid by an offender (usually a murderer) or his/her family
group to the family or kin group of the victim (online Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013). In Islamic
terms, Qisas can in some cases result in blood money being paid out to the family of victims. The
amount varies from country to country and from case to case. In the Christian Bible, the term is
used to refer to the thirty pieces of silver Judas Iscariot receives in exchange for revealing the
identity of Jesus Christ to the forces sent by the Pharisees and/or the Sanhedrin. After
the crucifixion of Christ, Judas returns the payment to the chief priests, who took the silver
pieces and said, “It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of
blood’’ (the bible Matthew 27:6). Due to the same function of the blood money and Diyya, the
translation has transferred the potential meaning of the original. However there are differences
between two concepts in performance in Islam and Christianity.
7.2. Imitation
In the current study the translator used the soiled and dirty for translation of ‫ﻧﺠﺲ‬. The translator
has tried to present a suitable TL denotation equivalent for the sign (informational core). But the
potential meaning of the ‫ ﻧﺠﺲ‬has not been conveyed. In Islamic law, najis (‫ )ﻧﺠﺲ‬are things or
persons regarded as ritually unclean. According to Islam, there are two kinds of najis: the
essential najis which cannot be cleaned and the unessential najis which become najis while in
contact with another najis. The following things are some of najis in view of Islam : wine and
other spirituous drinks, dogs, swine, dead animals that were not ritually slaughtered, blood,
excrements. Likewise Shi’a jurists traditionally add dead bodies and non-believers to the list of
najis. In the second chapter (Surah of AL-TAWBA, BARA'AH, “REPENTANCE”) Ayah 28, the
Noble Quran says:
‫ﻑ‬ َ َ‫ﺎﻣ ِﻬ ْﻢ َﻫﺬَﺍ َﻭﺇِ ْﻥ ِﺧ ْﻔﺘ ُ ْﻢ َﻋ ْﻴﻠَ ًﺔ ﻓ‬

َ ‫ﺴ ْﻮ‬ َ ‫ﺲ ﻓَﻼَ ﻳَ ْﻘ َﺮﺑُﻮﺍْ ْﺍﻟ َﻤﺴ ِْﺠﺪَ ْﺍﻟ َﺤ َﺮ‬
ِ ‫ﺍﻡ ﺑَ ْﻌﺪَ َﻋ‬ ٌ ‫ﻳَﺎ ﺃَﻳﱡ َﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﱠﺬِﻳﻦَ ﺁ َﻣﻨُﻮﺍْ ِﺇﻧﱠ َﻤﺎ ْﺍﻟ ُﻤ ْﺸ ِﺮ ُﻛﻮﻥَ ﻧَ َﺠ‬
‫ﻋ ِﻠﻴ ٌﻢ َﺣ ِﻜﻴ ٌﻢ‬
َ َ:‫ﺍ‬ّ ‫ﻀ ِﻠ ِﻪ ﺇِﻥ ﺷَﺎء ِﺇ ﱠﻥ‬ ْ َ‫ُ ِﻣﻦ ﻓ‬:‫ﺍ‬ ّ ‫ﻳُ ْﻐﻨِﻴ ُﻜ ُﻢ‬


‫ﺍﻯ ﻛﺴﺎﻧﻰ ﻛﻪ ﺍﻳﻤﺎﻥ ﺁﻭﺭﺩﻩﺍﻳﺪ ﺣﻘﻴﻘﺖ ﺍﻳﻦ ﺍﺳﺖ ﻛﻪ ﻣﺸﺮﻛﺎﻥ ﻧﺎﭘﺎﻛﻨﺪ ﭘﺲ ﻧﺒﺎﻳﺪ ﺍﺯ ﺳﺎﻝ ﺁﻳﻨﺪﻩ ﺑﻪ ﻣﺴﺠﺪﺍﻟﺤﺮﺍﻡ ﻧﺰﺩﻳﻚ ﺷﻮﻧﺪ ﻭ ﺍﮔﺮ ]ﺩﺭ ﺍﻳﻦ ﻗﻄﻊ ﺭﺍﺑﻄﻪ[ ﺍﺯ ﻓﻘﺮ‬
.(‫ﺑﻴﻤﻨﺎﻛﻴﺪ ﭘﺲ ﺑﻪ ﺯﻭﺩﻯ ﺧﺪﺍ ﺍﮔﺮ ﺑﺨﻮﺍﻫﺪ ﺷﻤﺎ ﺭﺍ ﺑﻪ ﻓﻀﻞ ﺧﻮﻳﺶ ﺑﻰﻧﻴﺎﺯ ﻣﻰﮔﺮﺩﺍﻧﺪ ﻛﻪ ﺧﺪﺍ ﺩﺍﻧﺎﻯ ﺣﻜﻴﻢ ﺍﺳﺖ ) ﺗﺮﺟﻤﻪ ﻓﻮﻻﺩﻭﻧﺪ‬
The four English translation of the Ayah:
QARIB: believers, the idolaters are unclean. Do not let them approach the sacred mosque after this year. if you
fear poverty, Allah, if he wills, will enrich you through his bounty. He is knowing, wise.
SHAKIR: o you who believe! the idolaters are nothing but unclean, so they shall not approach the sacred
mosque after this year; and if you fear poverty then Allah will enrich you out of his grace if he please; surely
Allah is knowing wise
PICKTHAL: o ye who believe! The idolaters only are unclean. So let them not come near the inviolable place
of worship after this their year. If ye fear poverty (from the loss of their merchandise) Allah shall preserve you
of his bounty if he will. Lo! Allah is knower, wise.
YUSUFALI: o ye who believe! Truly the pagans are unclean; so let them not, after this year of theirs,
approach the sacred mosque. And if ye fear poverty, soon will Allah enrich you, if he wills, out of his bounty,
for Allah is all-knowing, all-wise.
7.3. Deletion
The translator deletes the cultural sign ‫ ﺁﺩﻡ ﭼﺸﻢ ﭘﺎک‬of ‫ﭘﻮﻝ ﺣﺮﺍﻡ‬. (s)he could use he is not a man’s
ogling or he is a chaste look for conveying the nearest meaning of it.
7.4. Paraphrase
In the current study, the translator use the sentence of But I don’t have the money to pay for
extortion for translation of ‫ﻭﻟﯽ ﭘﻮﻝ ﻧﺎﺣﻖ ﻧﻪ ﺩﺍﺭﻡﮐﻪ ﺑﺪﻡ ﻧﻪ ﻣﻴﺪﻡ‬. Someone’s behavior can be described
as extortion if he is trying to obtain more money for something than it is worth. But there is main
difference between potential meaning of ‫ ﭘﻮﻝ ﻧﺎﺣﻖ‬and extortion. ‫ﭘﻮﻝ ﻧﺎﺣﻖ‬ means unlawful
money. In the belief of Muslims, if someone earns unlawful money, he will lose the money
easily. While extortion is the crime of obtaining money by using force or threats. Then unlawful
money could be already earned by someone and now that person loses it again by extortion. But
the word of extortion talks about the receiver of the money while unlawful money (‫ )ﭘﻮﻝ ﻧﺎﺣﻖ‬is
related to both receiver and sender in this sentence. In some cases, this strategy was used
together with other strategies like condensation, imitation or even deletion (see part of 5.7).
7.4. Condensation
In translation of ‫ﭼﻘﺪﺭ ﻫﻢ ﺷﻤﺎ ﺍﻫﻞ ﺧﺪﺍ ﻭ ﭘﻴﻐﻤﺒﺮﻳﺪ‬, the subtitler used like you believe in God for the
translation. As Hatim and Mason (1990) stated the semiotic entity should be considered as a unit
of translation. Then translator has identified the informational core of the sign and considered the
two words of ‫ ﺧﺪﺍ‬and ‫ ﭘﻴﻐﻤﺒﺮ‬as a semiotic entity with a same function and used just the word of
God.
8. Conclusion
In this study, the researcher investigated that how the subtitle strategies used for the
translation of verbal cultural signs could deal with the problems of intercultural transfer in the ‘A
Separation’ Iranian film. The findings indicated that half of the strategies proposed by Gottlieb
were mainly used to Persian-English subtitling of verbal cultural signs of the film with some
degree of variation in the distribution of strategies. Having mentioned that sometimes more than
one strategy was used to translate a stretch of words in a frame, Transfer was the most frequently
used strategy (39.47%) in the film. Most of the religious concepts were translated by using the
imitation and transfer strategies.
The more analysis showed that in some cases the translator could not convey the potential
meaning of verbal cultural signs from the original dialogues of the film to English subtitles. The
researcher concludes that the limitation of time and place in screen, the absence of a real
equivalent in TL, different norms and conventions between two languages as well as insufficient
knowledge from the potential meaning of the cultural signs of the Source are the main reasons of
some problems in the subtitles.
As translation scholars say, translating only the linguistic component without taking into
account the value of the other semiotic dimensions of film would certainly be a recipe for
disaster. Culture plays a main role here. Regarding this subject, Diaz Cintas (2009, P. 9) stated:

Culture, cultural identity and pragmatic functioning in their more or less explicitly localized forms ooze
from all the film or programme’s semiotic systems and pragmatic. The translation of humor, dialect,
compliments, swearing or taboo language must be considered within this context and they are only a few
examples of the areas discussed in the present volume posing formidable challenges. Not only for their
very localized meaning, both in time and space, but also for being always embedded in the source
audiovisual text with a pragmatic and semiotic significance that goes well beyond the purely linguistic
dimension.
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______. (1997). You got the picture? On the polysemiotics of subtitling wordplay. In D.
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_____(2005), Screen translation: Eight studies in subtitling, dubbing and voice

over, Center for Translation Studies, Department of English, University of

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semiotics', Intercultural Communication Studies 14.4: 33–56.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality

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International Journal of English and Education 142

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

An Analysis of English Subtitling of Verbal Cultural Signs in the ‘A Separation’

Dr. Reza Pasha Moghimizadeh2

Copyright © International Journal of English and Education | www.ijee.org

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

Based on Gottlieb subtitles (sometimes it is referred to as captions) usually consist of one or

2. Translation problems and Audiovisual Translation

Copyright © International Journal of English and Education | www.ijee.org

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

Copyright © International Journal of English and Education | www.ijee.org

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

Table 1. Gottlieb’s Typology of subtitling strategy

Types of strategy Character of translation

Identical expression, equivalent rendering (proper nouns, international

Copyright © International Journal of English and Education | www.ijee.org

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

4. Significance of the study

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

5.1. Data collection procedures

Copyright © International Journal of English and Education | www.ijee.org

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

5.1.1. Source text analysis

5.2. Methods of data analysis

Copyright © International Journal of English and Education | www.ijee.org

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

Copyright © International Journal of English and Education | www.ijee.org

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

Type of strategy Frequency Percentage

Copyright © International Journal of English and Education | www.ijee.org

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

Figure 1. Subtitling strategies’ percentages

Copyright © International Journal of English and Education | www.ijee.org

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

‫ﻑ‬ َ َ‫ﺎﻣ ِﻬ ْﻢ َﻫﺬَﺍ َﻭﺇِ ْﻥ ِﺧ ْﻔﺘ ُ ْﻢ َﻋ ْﻴﻠَ ًﺔ ﻓ‬

Copyright © International Journal of English and Education | www.ijee.org

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

The four English translation of the Ayah:

Allah is knowing wise

of his bounty if he will. Lo! Allah is knower, wise.

for Allah is all-knowing, all-wise.

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

Copyright © International Journal of English and Education | www.ijee.org

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

_____, H. 1994. “Subtitling: people translating people”. In C. Dollerup and A. Lindegaard

_____ (1998) ‘subtitling’ in M. Baker (ed), Routledge encyclopaedia of translation studies.

_____(2005), Screen translation: Eight studies in subtitling, dubbing and voice

ISSN: 2278-4012, Volume:3, Issue:3, July 2014

over, Center for Translation Studies, Department of English, University of

——and Jeremy Munday (2004) Translation: An Advanced Resource Book,

Hatim, B. (2005) 'Intercultural communication and identity: an exercise in applied

Copyright © International Journal of English and Education | www.ijee.org

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