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Title: Translation Quality Assessment (TQA) of Subtitles

Translation Quality Assessment (TQA) of Subtitles

Criteria for the Evaluation of Persian Subtitles of English Movies Focusing on Semiotic Model of TQA for Poetry Translation and Appraisal Theory

by Yasamin Khosravani (Author)
©2019 Thesis 196 Pages
Linguistics
Series: Sprache – Kultur – Gesellschaft, Volume 19

Summary

Translation quality assessment (TQA) is a growing topic in the field of Translation Studies. The present book focuses mainly on the translation quality assessment in Persian subtitles of English movies as an almost ignored topic in Translation Studies. The aim is to propose criteria for the evaluation of subtitles. To reach this goal, the author divides the case studies of the present research into two subcategories, i.e., musical movies and non-musical ones. The base for the quality assessment of musical movies is the Semiotic Model of TQA for poetry applied to three movie subtitles, «Anastasia, «Sweeney Todd» and «Les Misérables». This leads to a tentative model for the evaluation of Persian subtitles of English musical movies. The second part of the book focuses mainly on the omission of the interpersonal elements in Persian subtitles of English movies using appraisal theory as the theoretical framework. The theory is applied to the subtitles of two movies, «Prisoners» and «Houdini» leading to criteria for the evaluation of Persian subtitles of English movies.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the author(s)/editor(s)
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Contents
  • List of Figures
  • List of Tables
  • List of Abbreviations
  • Acknowledgments
  • 1 Introduction
  • 1.1 Overview
  • 1.2 Motivation and Summary of the Work
  • 1.3 Statement of the Problem
  • 1.4 Significance of the Study
  • 1.5 Purpose of the Thesis
  • 1.5.1 Research Questions and Hypotheses
  • 1.6 Organization of the Thesis
  • 1.7 Definition of the Key Terms
  • 2 Review of Literature
  • 2.1 Overview
  • 2.1.1 Translation Studies and the Emergence of New Disciplines
  • 2.1.2 The Concept of Translation
  • 2.1.3 Translation Studies as a New Discipline
  • 2.1.4 Equivalence
  • 2.1.5 The Concept of Equivalence in Translation
  • 2.1.6 Types of Equivalence
  • 2.2 Typology of Translation
  • 2.2.1 Word for Word (Literal) vs. Sense for Sense Translation
  • 2.2.2 Faithful Translation
  • 2.2.3 Semantic vs. Communicative Translation
  • 2.2.4 Adaptive Translation
  • 2.2.5 Free Translation
  • 2.2.6 Idiomatic Translation
  • 2.3 Translation of Poetry
  • 2.4 Strategies for Translation of Poetry
  • 2.5 Audiovisual Translation
  • 2.5.1 Subtitling vs. Dubbing
  • 2.5.2 Subcategories of Subtitling
  • 2.5.3 Surtitles
  • 2.5.4 Intertitles
  • 2.5.5 Fansubs
  • 2.5.6 Translation of Subtitles
  • 2.5.7 Focus of the Present Work
  • 3 Translation Quality Assessment (TQA): Background and History
  • 3.1 Overview
  • 3.2 Criticism vs. Quality Assessment
  • 3.3 Translation Quality Assessment: Approaches to TQA from Past to Present
  • 3.4 Importance of Evaluation
  • 3.5 History of TQA
  • 3.5.1 Nida’s Approach
  • 3.5.2 Nida and Taber’s Approach
  • 3.5.3 Nord’s Approach
  • 3.5.4 Wilss’ Approach
  • 3.5.5 Hatim and Mason’s Approach
  • 3.5.6 Venuti’s Approach
  • 3.5.7 Reiss’ Approach
  • 3.5.8 House’s Approach
  • 3.5.9 Baker’s Approach
  • 3.6 Approaches to TQA of Poetry
  • 3.6.1 A Practical Model for Translation Analysis and Assessment of Poetic Discourse
  • 3.6.2 Semiotic Model of TQA
  • 3.7 Approaches to TQA of Subtitles
  • 3.7.1 Translator’s Daffodil: A Model for the Quality Assessment of Subtitles
  • 3.7.2 High Felicity as an Approach to the Quality Assessment of Subtitles
  • 3.7.3 Appraisal Theory as an Approach to the Quality Assessment of Subtitles
  • 3.7.3.1 Attitude
  • 3.7.3.2 Graduation
  • 3.7.3.3 Engagement
  • 3.8 Appraisal and Translation Studies
  • 3.9 The Focus of the Present Work
  • 4 Subtitles and TQA:A Model for the Evaluation of Musical Parts of the Persian Subtitles of English Movies
  • 4.1 Overview
  • 4.2 Semiotics and TQA
  • 4.3 Summary of the Semiotic Model of TQA for Poetry
  • 4.4 Musical Movies
  • 4.4.1 Musical Films: History
  • 4.4.2 Translation of Musical Movies: Problems
  • 4.5 Summary of the Chapter
  • 4.6 Methodology
  • 4.7 Data Collection
  • 4.7.1 Selection of the Movies
  • 4.7.2 Selection of the Subtitles
  • 4.7.3 Data Procedures
  • 4.8 Data Analysis and Interpretation
  • 4.8.1 Analysis of Anastasia
  • 4.8.1.1 Textual Analysis
  • 4.8.1.2 Extratextual Analysis
  • 4.8.1.3 Concluding Remarks on the Analysis of Anastasia
  • 4.8.2 Extratextual Analysis of Les Misérables
  • 4.8.2.1 Concluding Remarks of Les Misérables
  • 4.8.3 Extratextual Analysis of Sweeney Todd
  • 4.8.3.1 Concluding Remarks of Sweeney Todd
  • 4.9 A Tentative Model for the Evaluation of Persian Subtitles of English Musical Movies
  • 5 Evaluation of Subtitles Regarding the Omisskion of Interpersonal Elements of Language
  • 5.1 Overview
  • 5.2 Summary of Appraisal Theory
  • 5.3 Fansubs and the Problem of Evaluation
  • 5.4 Summary of the Chapter
  • 5.5 Methodology
  • 5.5.1 Data Collection
  • 5.5.1.1 Selection of the Movies
  • 5.5.1.2 Selection of the Subtitles
  • 5.5.2 Data Procedures (Visual Basic and Automation)
  • 5.5.2.1 Data Analysis and Interpretation
  • 5.5.2.2 The Application of Appraisal Theory to the Persian Subtitles of Prisoners
  • 5.5.2.3 Omission of the Interpersonal Elements in Persian Version of Prisoners: Tentative Reasons
  • 5.5.2.4 The Application of Appraisal Theory to Persian Subtitles of Houdini
  • 5.5.2.5 Results of the Analysis and Comparison in two Movies
  • 5.5.2.6 Automating the Process of the Analysis
  • 5.6 Main Findings of the Chapter
  • 6 Results and Conclusions
  • 6.1 Overview
  • 6.2 Concluding Remarks on the Evaluation of the Translation of Persian Subtitles of English Movies
  • 6.2.1 Concluding Remarks Regarding the Application of Semiotic Model of TQA to the Persian Subtitles of English Musical Movies
  • 6.2.2 Concluding Remarks Regarding the Application of Appraisal Theory to the Persian Subtitles of English Musical Movies
  • 6.2.3 Application of Appraisal Theory and Semiotic Model of TQA to the Subtitles: a Comparison
  • 6.3 Major Findings of the Study
  • 6.4 Implications of the Study
  • 6.5 Limitations of the Study
  • 6.6 Suggestions for Further Research
  • Bibliography
  • Appendix I Transcription Guide

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List of Figures

Fig. 2–1: Holmes’s ‘map’ of Translation Studies from Toury (1995:10)

Fig. 2–2: The Position of Free Translation in Translation Studies

Fig. 2–3: The Subtitler’s Work by Antonini (2005)

Fig. 3–1: House’s Model of Translation Quality Assessment (1997:108)

Fig. 3–2: A Tentative Model of Poetic Translation Analysis Discourse Assessment: Textual Level (Vahid, Hakimshafaaii, and Jannesaari 2008)

Fig. 3–3: A Tentative Model of Poetic Translation Analysis Discourse Assessment: Extratextual Level (Vahid, Hakimshafaaii, and Jannesaari 2008)

Fig. 3–4: Vahid et al.’s Semiotic Model of Translation Quality Assessment for Poetry (2011)

Fig. 3–5: The Translator’s Daffodil (Bittner 2011)

Fig. 3–6: Taxonomy of Translation Strategies (Pedersen 2008:103)

Fig. 3–7: Clark’s Participant Model (adapted from Clark (1996:14))

Fig. 3–8: Communication Structure in Television (Pedersen 2008:110)

Fig. 3–9: Hierarchy of Translation Studies Based on Illocutionary Points (Pedersen 2008:112)

Fig. 3–10: Munday’s (2012:16) Illustration of Sense and Sensibility Adopted from (James R. Martin, 2004a and 2004b)

Fig. 3–11: Summary of the Appraisal System

Fig. 3–12: Continuum of Attitude by Munday (2012)

Fig. 3–13: The Illustration of Strategies of Inscribing Attitude by Munday (adapted from Martin & White 2005)

Fig. 3–14: The Engagement System (Martin and White 2005:122)

Fig. 3–15: The Process of Interpersonal Communication in Translation

Fig. 4–1: Screenshot from Anastasia min. 01:20–02:02

Fig. 4–2: Screenshot from Anastasia min. 15:30–17:28 ← 13 | 14 →

Fig. 4–3: Screenshot from Les Misérables min. 19:00–21:02

Fig. 4–4: Screenshot from Les Misérables min. 19:00–21:02

Fig. 4–5: Screenshot from Les Misérables min. 19:00–21:02

Fig. 4–6: Screenshot from Sweeney Todd min. 12:49–12:53

Fig. 4–7: The Interrelation of Available Codes

Fig. 4–8: Codes and Coherence

Fig. 4–9: Tentative TQA Model of Musical Film Subtitles

Fig. 5–1: The System of Appraisal

Fig. 5–2: Summary of Engagement

Fig. 5–3: Table Generated for the Analysis of Translations.

Fig. 5–4: Separation of Interpersonal Elements Using the Developed Program

Fig. 5–5: Frequency of Interpersonal Elements Omission Reasons within the two Translations

Fig. 6–1: Tentative TQA Model of Musical Film Subtitle

Fig. 6–2: The System of Appraisal

Chart 5–1: The Frequency of Tentative Reasons of Omission of the Interpersonal Elements in Prisoners by two Translators

Chart 5–2: The Frequency of Tentative Reasons of Omission of the Interpersonal Elements in Houdini by the two Translators

Chart 5–3: The Comparison of the Frequency of Tentative Reasons of Omission of the Interpersonal Elements in Prisoners and Houdini by the two Translators

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List of Tables

Tab. 4–1: Elements for Textual Analysis of Poems according to Vahid et al’s (2011) Model

Tab. 4–2: Criteria for the Evaluation of Translated Poem

Tab. 4–3: English and Persian Subtitles of Anastasia

Tab. 4–4: The Comparison of Persian and English Rhyme Patterns

Tab. 4–5: Comparisons of Figures of Speech in English and Persian Subtitles of Anastasia

Tab. 4–6: English and Persian Subtitles of Les Misérables

Tab. 4–7: English and Persian Subtitles of Les Misérables

Tab. 5–1: Reasons of the Omission of the Interpersonal Elements in Prisoners

Tab. 5–2: Reasons of the Omission of the Interpersonal Elements in Houdini

Details

Pages
196
Publication Year
2019
ISBN (PDF)
9783631771075
ISBN (ePUB)
9783631771082
ISBN (MOBI)
9783631771099
ISBN (Hardcover)
9783631770108
DOI
10.3726/b15329
Language
English
Publication date
2019 (November)
Keywords
Translation Studies Audiovisual Translation SFL Linguistics Evaluation Model Criticism
Published
Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2019. 193 S., 2 farb. Abb., 31 s/w Abb., 9 Tab., 2 Graf.
Product Safety
Peter Lang Group AG

Biographical notes

Yasamin Khosravani (Author)

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Title: Translation Quality Assessment (TQA) of Subtitles