Audiovisual Translation: The Dubbing of Idioms
Being essential in daily communication, idioms also occur in audiovisual contexts such as filmic dialogues “to reflect the reality of verbal communication” (Labarta Postigo 49). There, they are used for diverse purposes, for instance, “as a resource to enhance expressivity in dialogs, as well as a linguostylistic device to characterize characters” (ibid.). Further, idioms often fulfil an entertaining and humorous function in audiovisual contexts (cf. ibid.). This is also the case in Der Schuh des Manitu — Extra Large (2001), thus making idioms a significant humorous device in the German blockbuster. For this reason, after a brief definition of the concept of idioms, the challenges of and strategies for translating idioms will be presented in this blog entry.
Representing “frozen patterns of language which allow little or no variation in form and, in the case of idioms, often carry meanings which cannot be deduced from their individual components” (Baker 63), idioms are language-specific fixed expressions which can cause several difficulties within translation. Baker mentions, for example, the lack of an equivalent in the target language, different contexts of idiomatic use in source and target language, and the possibility of being an ambiguous idiom, i.e. “with both an idiomatic and a literal interpretation” (Cacciari et al. 5), as main difficulties when translating idioms (68f.). To overcome these problems, Baker has proposed the translation strategies for idioms listed in Table 3 below (72–78).
That is, Baker basically suggests the following methods to translate idioms: Either the translator finds a target language idiom with a similar meaning which differs in form more (translation strategy (2)) or less (translation strategy (1)) from the source language idiom, or the translator can only translate the explicit meaning, but not the form, i.e. the lexical items, of the source language idiom into the target language, resulting in a loss of expressivity (translation strategy (3)), or the translator must omit the source language idiom in the target language since no (partial) equivalent or paraphrase can be found (translation strategy (4)). Translation strategy (5) rather constitutes, as its name suggests, a compensation for elsewhere omitted source language idioms and, thus, no translation strategy in the strict sense.
There seems to be a consensus among scholars on the options to translate idioms as the majority takes up the translation strategies by Baker listed above. However, Labarta Postigo has added one further translation technique, namely loan translation, to these established translation strategies in her study of “the metaphorical dimension of idioms in original filmic texts and their translations in subtitles” (Labarta Postigo 46). Labarta Postigo’s options within idiom translation — including the rather newly defined and rare strategy of loan translation — can be found in Table 4 below. Of course, these can be used not only for subtitling idioms but also for their dubbing. Therefore, the typology of translation strategies for idioms used in the present study is based on Labarta Postigo (54–62).
In her study, Labarta Postigo also considers cultural information conveyed by idioms which represent an additional challenge for translators. To illustrate this, Labarta Postigo adduces the Spanish culture-specific idiom echar un capote literally meaning to throw a bull-fighter’s cape but metaphorically denoting to help someone out (52). Demonstrating the (former) importance of bullfighting in Spain, the idiomatic expression causes difficulties when being translated into a language in whose corresponding culture bullfighting has no cultural significance. However, as Labarta Postigo points out, there would be the option of translating the Spanish idiom into so-called Europeanisms such as the Portuguese dar uma mão, the Italian dare una mano and the French donner un coup de main that all share the meaning of “to lend a hand” or “to give a hand to” and, thus, the same meaning as the original idiomatic expression (52).
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The aforementioned Spanish idiom echar un capote also illustrates the metaphorical richness of idioms (cf. Labarta Postigo 50) which can also pose a challenge for translators. According to Labarta Postigo, “the use of an idiom may trigger a metaphorical cognitive process, evoking in the listener/reader an association with an image/idea that leads to its understanding” (51). If an idiom is translated through its explicit meaning — as in the case of the Spanish echar un capote due to its incomprehensibility in other cultures — this ‘metaphorical cognitive process’ is lost, resulting in a different processing of the paraphrased idiom in the TL which lacks the original’s expressive power.
In summary, it can be said that the metaphorical and cultural load of an idiom determines the difficulty of the translation process. As Labarta Postigo puts it, “the more metaphorically and culturally loaded an idiom is, the more difficult will be its translation” (52). In such cases, it is likely that the translator will have to resort to one of the translation strategies defined by Labarta Postigo that are not capable of maintaining the source language idiom’s metaphorical and cultural value in the target language, i.e. explicit meaning translation or omission. In addition to this, the language pair, i.e. from which source language into which target language a translator has to transfer an idiom, plays a decisive role. As with puns, related languages will probably cause fewer problems as long as the idiom in question is not too culture-specific.
Works Cited:
Baker, Mona. In Other Words: A coursebook on translation. Routledge, 1992.
Cacciari, Cristina, Paola Corrardini, and Fabio Ferlazzo. “Cognitive and Personality Components Underlying Spoken Idiom Comprehension in Context. An Exploratory Study.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 9, no. 659, 2018, pp. 1–17.
Herbig, Michael, director. Der Schuh des Manitu — Extra Large. Constantin Film, 2001.
Labarta Postigo, María. “A metaphorical map of subtitling: Idiom vs. explicit meaning in translated filmic texts.” Babel, vol. 66, no. 1, 2020, pp. 46–69.
