Subtitling and dubbing: with special reference to the portrayal of fantasy culture in the Sinhalese subtitled and dubbed versions of the film trilogy ‘the lord of the rings’

Abstract

Being the two most prominent translation approaches in audiovisual translation (AVT), subtitling and dubbing are concerned with the written and oral transference of the linguistic components contained in audiovisual products from one language into another. Determining the most effective translation approach among the two has been an eternal dilemma in AVT research, and it has been looked into from many perspectives by many scholars. In a context where translating culture has forever been a conundrum for translators, translating cultural concepts that are non-existent in the real world poses an obvious challenge. The present study aims to determine the most effective translation approach from subtitling and dubbing through linguistic and cultural perspectives based on the translation quality and translation techniques in translating films that fall under the fantasy genre. In pursuance of the said task, the high fantasy film trilogy, the Lord of the Rings, with its Sinhalese subtitling and dubbing translations, is selected, and a database of fantasy cultural words is created. The study follows a mixed research approach where the quality of translation is assessed on a quantitative translation quality assessment, and the translation techniques are identified through qualitative content analysis. Through the analysis of the gathered data on the quality of translation, it could be identified that the dubbing approach evidently has a high accuracy and acceptability score compared to the subtitling approach. Additionally, 15 translation techniques utilised in the two approaches to transfer fantasy culture into the target language could be identified. The study concludes that in translating fantasy culture, the dubbing approach, with its effective utilisation of translation techniques, stands out as the most effective translation approach.