Subtitling profanity into Malay: Balancing formal and creative taboo expressions

Abstract

Introduction: Translation of swearwords has unceasingly gained traction in audiovisual translation. In subtitling, swearing does not only warrant linguistic consideration but other multimodal elements, such as intonation and body movement. Apart from subtitling technicalities, the difficulties of swearword translation are also impeded by their explicit and implicit forms, as well as the linguistic-cultural differences in source-target texts. This study aims to deliberate on the Malay translation of English swearwords of ‘fuck’ and ‘shit’ in two episodes of Netflix TV series The History of Swearwords.Methods: To this end, it employs a comparative and descriptive analysis by developing a parallel corpus by utilising AntConc and AntPConc software. The selection of Netflix posits no local law or policy restrictions and censorship.Results: The comparative analysis found a linkup between creative and formal subtitling of the swearwords, which signals a prevalent pragmatic and cultural foundation in the translation, especially vis-à-vis the deletion and neutralisation procedures. The study also raises other notable concerns, such as the identification and semantic comprehension of swearwords by the series subtitlers.Conclusions: Overall, the study posits that the socio-pragmatic factors, among others are still central for the English-Malay translation strategies of the swearwords in maintaining both linguistic accuracy and cultural appropriateness for target audience