Abstract:
Subtitling is a prevalent method used to translate foreign dialogues of a movie or
television program to be usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. Viewers
are generally well motivated to understand what is shown and said on television
and cinema. Subtitled television programs seem to constitute a rich context for
foreign language acquisition and it can raise awareness and provide motivation
for language learning, in both formal and informal contexts, and consequently
contributes to creating an environment that encourages multilingual ism.
However, language and culture are closely interrelated. In subtitling, as in all
forms of interlingual transfer, this may cause problems in rendering culturespecific
or language-specific elements. This research provides a descriptive
analysis of the issues of subtitling based on three questions: What are the
problematic circumstances faced by children, old viewers and the deaf? What are
the advantages and disadvantages of this method? Which skills do viewers
acquire by the use of this adaptation method? The information was collected by
referring to web articles. The responses made to these questions are based on the
results of this research on the issues of subtitling. The results listed down by
former researches on these issues of subtitling are its fast pace of subtitles as
complained by young and old viewers, continuous integration with regards to its
limited processing capacity, and the issues related to the part of the screen of
which the subtitles are placed. Moreover, further investigations have not been
done to figure out the problems encountered by viewers, but this seems likely
because they apparently do not grasp to the fullest from the information provided
in the subtitles. There would be an increase in the number of co-productions of
television programmes and the future introduction of digital television
broadcasts with globalisation. Consequently, the use of language adaptation,
specifically subtitling, will therefore undoubtedly improve gradually. Abundant
opportunities would be provided for those engaged in the field as a result.
