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Journals / İstanbul Üniversitesi Çeviribilim Dergisi / 2024 / Sayı: 21

Censoring or Queering? TV-Subtitling of South Park in Türkiye

Sansür mü, yoksa Kuirleştirme mi? Türkiye’de South Park’ın TV Altyazı Çevirisi

Cihan Alan(Hacettepe University, Faculty of Letters, Department of Translation and Interpreting)0000-0001-5220-3473
Pages
150–163
Publication Date
2024-12-18
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

The case presented in this study can also give an insight into the translator’s performativity in AVT through which meanings are created in the target culture under repressive circumstances.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

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Objective & Hypothesis:TV subtitles are mostly euphemized and ideologically recontextualized with individual and/or institutional motivations for the target viewer in Türkiye due to varying socio-cultural and political factors.
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Key Findings & Data:The qualitative and quantitative analyses provide an overview of the translation strategies employed and the pragmatic effect created by freelance subtitlers translating for private media institutions from English into Turkish in the case of the taboo language.
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Conclusion & Impact:The case presented in this study can also give an insight into the translator’s performativity in AVT through which meanings are created in the target culture under repressive circumstances.
🔬Design:Araştırma Makalesi
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:altyazı çevirisi · çevirin kuirleştirilmesi · Lubunca

Abstract

TV subtitles are mostly euphemized and ideologically recontextualized with individual and/or institutional motivations for the target viewer in Türkiye due to varying socio-cultural and political factors. Accordingly, subtitlers are faced with challenges in providing adequate translations for source taboo language, including sexually explicit swearwords and vulgar slang. However, censorship policies in AVT may conversely urge translators to be involved in a more creative process, which may, in turn, result in the subversion of the very censorious discourse. The aim of this study is to investigate censorship as an ideological and translation constraint in TV subtitling, as well as a factor laying the grounds for creating possible meanings in subtitling. To this end, a descriptive analysis was conducted based on the TV subtitles of South Park, an American sitcom animation show. The analysis shows that institutional norms force translators to be creative in transferring the taboo language to preserve humorous and obscene narrative content, which appears as a queer effort whereby the taboo meaning is destabilized, particularly in the case of references to sexual organs and homosexuality. The qualitative and quantitative analyses provide an overview of the translation strategies employed and the pragmatic effect created by freelance subtitlers translating for private media institutions from English into Turkish in the case of the taboo language. The case presented in this study can also give an insight into the translator’s performativity in AVT through which meanings are created in the target culture under repressive circumstances.

Özet

Türkiye’de TV altyazıları, çeşitli sosyo-kültürel ve politik etmenler temelinde, bireysel ve/veya kurumsal motivasyonlarla, hedef izleyici için ideolojik olarak örtmeceli ve yeniden bağlamsallaştırılmış şekilde sunulmaktadır. Buna bağlı olarak, altyazı çevirmenleri, cinsel içerikli küfürler ve kaba argo ifadeler de dahil, kaynak tabu dilin çevirisinde yeterliliği sağlamakta zorluklarla karşılaşmaktadır. Ancak, görsel-işitsel çeviride sansür politikaları, aksi yönde çevirmenleri daha yaratıcı bir sürece dahil edebilir ve bu da sansürcü söylemin altüst edilmesiyle sonuçlanabilir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, TV altyazılamada bir ideolojik ve çeviri kısıtı olarak, yanı sıra altyazıda olası anlamların yaratılmasına zemin hazırlayan bir etmen olarak sansür olgusunu incelemektir. Bu amaçla, Amerikan yapımı bir durum komedisi animasyonu olan South Park’ın Türkçe TV altyazıları üzerinden betimleyici bir çözümleme gerçekleştirilmiştir. Çözümlemenin sonuçları, kurumsal normlara bağlı çevirmenlerin tabu dili aktarırken mizahi ve müstehcen anlatıyı korumak amacıyla yaratıcı çözümler bulmaya zorladığını; bunun durumun da, özellikle cinsel organlara ya da eşcinselliğe gönderme içeren anlamların istikrarsızlaştırıldığı, kuir bir çaba olarak kendini göstediğini ortaya koymaktadır. Bu nitel ve nicel çözümleme, özel medya kuruluşları için İngilizce’den Türkçe’ye çeviri yapan serbest altyazı çevirmenlerinin tabu dil söz konusu olduğunda kullandıkları çeviri stratejilerine ve yarattıkları pragmatik etkiye genel bir bakış sunmaktadır. Çalışma olgusu aynı zamanda baskıcı koşullar altında çevirmenin performatifliği yoluyla erek kültürde anlamların nasıl yaratıldığına ilişkin bir fikir de verebilir.

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Cite This Article

Alan, C. (2024). Censoring or Queering? TV-Subtitling of South Park in Türkiye. İstanbul Üniversitesi Çeviribilim Dergisi, Sayı: 21, 150–163. https://doi.org/10.26650/iujts.2024.1552761

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