Pragmatic Equivalence in Subtitling Arabic Culture-Specific Idiomatic Expressions into English

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the possibility of achieving pragmatic equivalence in the translation of culture-specific Idiomatic Expressions (IE) used in a number of Egyptian Arabic movies into English. It is hypothesized that pragmatic equivalence is achievable, pending the choice of the right translation strategy that fits the context. Translation samples of parts of seven Egyptian movies, attempted by undergraduate students enrolled in a subtitling course in a private Egyptian university, are analyzed according to Baker’s pragmatic equivalence concept (1992). The analysis focuses on the strategies adopted by the students to deal with culture-specific idiomatic expressions, and how far the selected strategy can affect the Source Language (SL) intended message and the Target Language (TL) audience. The results reveal that pragmatic equivalence is achievable, and that there is no such thing as “the best” translation strategy to deal with IEs, though paraphrase is the most common strategy adopted by the students. The decision regarding the translation strategy is usually made on an ad hoc basis, depending on the context of situation and the competence of the translator. Therefore, there is a need to introduce classroom activities that train students to consider the pragmatic dimension of the SL message when translating IEs. The study concludes that would-be translators should perfect their translation skills by acquiring pragmatic competence to be able to function in the culture of the language they are translating into as native speakers do