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Cultural and Linguistic Issues of Sitcom Dubbing: An Analysis of "Friends"

Vierrether, Tanja
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1494865832944617

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, German.
In this thesis, I analyze the different obstacles of audiovisual translation, in particular those of dubbing, by reference to the German dubbing of the American Sitcom Friends. One of the main reasons why audiovisual translation is so complex is that it requires interdisciplinary knowledge. Being fluent in the source and target language is not enough anymore, Translation Studies must open up to Communication Studies, Media and Film Studies, Cultural Studies, as well as to Semiotics, Sociology, Anthropology” (Gambier and Gottlieb xii), and possibly other disciplines, in order to provide a sufficient translation that does not lose the entertaining value of the source text, within the new environment of the target language. The following analysis investigates the balance between translating cultural and linguistic aspects, and their effects on humor retention in the target text. Therefore, the first part of this thesis provides an overview of translation theory, and in particular humor translation, and translation of culture-bound references. In the next part, I analyze a selection of dubbing examples from the fourth season of Friends, divided into intra-linguistic culture-bound references and extra-linguistic culture-bound references. After comparing those results, my final claim is that giving precedence to the translation of stylistic devices over cultural references, often results in loss of humor, context, and sometimes even sense. Since humor and socio-critical references are the two main components of sitcoms, the translation of culture-bound reference plays a big part in whether a dubbed version is successful in the target culture or not.
Kristie Foell (Advisor)
Geoffrey Howes (Committee Member)
100 p.
Film Studies; Foreign Language; Language; Linguistics; Mass Media; Sociolinguistics
Friends; dubbing; sitcom; humor translation; cultural translation; culture-bound references; TV show; audiovisual translation

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Vierrether, T. (2017). Cultural and Linguistic Issues of Sitcom Dubbing: An Analysis of "Friends" [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1494865832944617

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Vierrether, Tanja. Cultural and Linguistic Issues of Sitcom Dubbing: An Analysis of "Friends". 2017. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1494865832944617.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Vierrether, Tanja. "Cultural and Linguistic Issues of Sitcom Dubbing: An Analysis of "Friends"." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1494865832944617

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1494865832944617
15,564
© 2017, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Cultural and Linguistic Issues of Sitcom Dubbing: An Analysis of "Friends" by Tanja Vierrether is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.