Translation, swearing and streaming: A case study

Abstract

Based on the assumption that elements external to translation shape the translation process (Even-Zohar, 1978, 1979), this paper addresses audiovisual translation (AVT) and focus on translation for subtitling by comparing the translation of the film Cobra(1986) released on DVD (remastered copy of 2005) with the translation available on the Amazon Prime streaming platform accessed in 2023. For translation purposes, the subtitles were also compared with the dubbed version, which is the same for both media: DVD and the aforementioned streaming platform. We discuss the functioning of streaming platforms as well as part of the rules currently used by Netflix which is still considered the leader of the streaming market and a legitimatized disseminator of translation rules by means of its style guides. The case study focuses on the analysis of insults present in the source text and translated into Portuguese in both media. We observed levels of “softening” of the tone of the insults in the subtitles of both media, as well as in the dubbed version.

Keywords
audiovisual translation; streaming; insults