The dilemma of subtitling Arabic metaphors into English: Pedagogical and practical perspectives

Abstract

Despite the fact that subtitling is the most prominent form of audiovisual translation (AVT) in the Arab World, few training centers and academic institutions prepare subtitlers for the industry. The present paper sheds light on one of the thorny issues that Arab subtitlers often encounter, namely that of translating metaphorical expressions into English. In particular, it investigates how fourteen students enrolled in the MA program in Audiovisual Translation at Hamad Bin Khalifa University dealt with Arabic metaphors in their subtitling tasks. The students were asked to subtitle two extracts from the famous Syrian series Maraya, and write a commentary on the most problematic issues they encountered during the process. Drawing mainly on Pedersen's (2017) translation strategies for metaphors, the analysis reveals that the students resorted to four strategies: converting metaphor to sense, reproducing the same image in the target language (TL), replacing the image in the source language (SL) with a standard TL image and literal translation. It is also noted that some students faced issues with the Syrian dialect spoken by the original characters of the series, and this resulted in an inaccurate or even in some instances incorrect translation. It is recommended that during their training students should be exposed to more audiovisual materials that contain challenging metaphorical expressions, and should be encouraged to research and read relevant literature on the topic. This will qualify them to become professional subtitlers with a strong academic background, and will certainly improve the quality of their subtitling.