Netflix English subtitling of idioms in Egyptian movies: challenges and strategies

Abstract

Recently, subtitles in different languages have become more available and accessible, thanks to streaming platforms like Netflix, which provide viewers with multiple language choices, including Arabic and English. This study examines the strategies of subtitling Egyptian phraseological units, particularly idioms, into English. The parallel corpus of data under examination consists of two Egyptian movies, namely, “The Great Chinese Beans” and “The Humans and the Mongoose”. Following Baker’s taxonomy of translation strategies, the analysis showed that the examined idioms were predominantly translated through cultural substitution. The analysis also showed that there were instances of erroneous literal translation. Furthermore, several cases of mistranslation were identified, which could be attributed to a potential lack of understanding of the nuances and subtleties of the source and target cultures, as well as limitations and difficulties in finding appropriate equivalents. This study may hold significance for translation practitioners and scholars, specifically those focusing on subtitling, cultural translation, and the translation of idiomatic expressions.