Investigating subtitle translation of swear words in whiplash an audience movie reception study

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER INVESTIGATING SUBTITLE TRANSLATION

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

INVESTIGATING SUBTITLE TRANSLATION OF

SWEAR WORDS IN "WHIPLASH" -

AN AUDIENCE MOVIE RECEPTION STUDY

Supervisor: H u tudent u H n G n Course: QH2013

Hanoi, May - 2017

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

RƯỜ G ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA Ư PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

GHI Ề Ả H HƯ G A IỆ H

HỮ G GỮ H RO G PHI

HIP A H I Ự IẾP HẬ A KH GIẢ

G áo v ên ớng dẫn: Thạc sĩ Ngô H u

n v ên u H n G n Khóa: QH2013

Hà Nội, Tháng 5 - 2017

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ACCEPTANCE PAGE

I r y st t t t I: C u T H n G n QH F E 6 n n t or the degree of Bachelor of Arts accept the requirements of the University relating to the

r t nt on n us o B lor‟s Gr u t on P p r pos t n t l r ry

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Signature

Date

June 1, 2017

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

F rst n or most t s my s r pl sur to sup rv s y Ms N H T u

to whom I would like to send my deepest gratitude Without her prompt support and helpful guidance, none of this paper would be possible

With no less sincerity, the researcher would like to thank her friends and relatives who participated in this research It is clear that without their support, this paper could not be finished either

In addition, my thanks should go to my dear friend Tr n L u Ly rom l ss E 6 University of Languages and International Studies VNU for her nt us sm n onst nt support n t pro ss o ompl t n t r s r Mor ov r I m n t to

my oll u Ho n T B Ly or r symp t y n un rstanding during the time I struggled balancing between working and completing the study

Last but not least, all my heart is dedicated to my parents and siblings, who have been providing me every piece of care and encouragement to conduct this research

of swear words and the movie; meanwhile, content analysis was the main data analysis method The findings indicated that swear words identification and the feelings about those words were different within and across the two surveyed groups Moreover, the Vietnamese su t tl v rs on o “W pl s ” w s s t s tory n not s n ntly alter the initial intention of the movie

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

ABSTRACT ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF TABLES AND IMAGES v

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Problem statement and rationale 1

1.2 Research questions 2

1.3 Significance of the study 2

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Thesis structure 4

Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Subtitling 5

2.2 Swear words 7

2.3 Subtitle translation of swear words 8

4 Au n ‟s r pt on 12

Chapter 3: Methodology 3.1 Research design 14

3.2 The movie 15

3.3 The screening process 16

3.4 The participants 16

3.5 Data collection instruments 17

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3.6 Data collection procedures 21

3.8 Data analysis method 23

Chapter 4: Results and discussions 4.1 Research question 1 24

4.2 Research question 2 30

4.3 Further discussion of the study 34

Chapter 5: Conclusion 5.1 Summary of the study 38

5.2 Limitations of the study 39

5.3 Suggestions for further studies 39

References 41

Appendices 44

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LIST OF FIGURES AND IMAGES List of figures

F ur : V w rs‟ op n ons on t r qu n y o sw r wor s n “W pl s ” Figure : V w rs‟ op n ons on t l n u o “W pl s ”

F ur : F l n o Group tow r s sw r wor s n “W pl s ”

F ur 4: F l n o Group tow r s sw r wor s n “W pl s ”

F ur 5: T ontr ut on o sw r wor s to portr y n r t r “Fl t r”

Figure 6: The contribution of swear words to portraying character "Neiman" Figure 7: The suitable age group for "Whiplash"

List of images

Image 1 Question 1 and 2 in part 1 of the questionnaire

Image 2 Question 3 and 4 in part 1 of the questionnaire

Image 3 Question 1 in part 2 of the questionnaire

Image 4 Question 2 and 3 in part 2 of the questionnaire

Image 5 Question 4 in part 2 of the questionnaire

Image 6 Question 5 in part 2 of the questionnaire

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CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION

This initial chapter provided justifications for the study to be conducted Research questions, significance of the research, scope of the research and the overall structure were presented

1.1 Problem statement and rationale

The unprecedented advancement of digital technology and the worldwide access

to the Internet have created an incessant influx of audiovisual products in and out of the country every day Thanks to the proliferation of film industry worldwide and the integration process, a multitude of foreign language movies have been widely accessible to Vietnamese audience With constant releases of blockbusters and cinematic products around the world comes ever-increasing demand from domestic audience for the translated versions of those products to come out Admittedly, this fact has put translators in a dilemma of producing the highest quality but as-fast-as possible renditions; the choice of audio-visual translation (AVT) methods, as a consequence, deserves serious consideration Admittedly, the economy of subtitling as compared to other AVT techniques (Driest, cited in Baker & Malmkjær 2001), has made it the most favorable on online movie websites in Vietnam Thanks to their popularity, subtitling and subtitle translation have held a strong appeal to researchers in the branch of AVT Having said that, few have set their sights on works of translators on online movie websites

Furthermore, when AVT is concerned, not only do translation techniques receive special interests from researchers, but specific linguistic features draw much attention of scholars as well It is the fact that since swear words have long been an established concept in any languages; they are frequently used in movies to vividly

p t not only t r t rs‟ p rson l ty but also the atmosphere of the movie Nonetheless, considered as foul language, swear words tend to be frowned upon in whichever situation, including in movies Given that, swear words have presented a challenge for the translators in many cases More notably, with regards to subtitles

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tr nsl t on w s o t n r t r z y “t t m um-r l t onstr nts” (Fawcett, cited in Baker & Malmkjær 2001, p.16), it calls for particular strategies and special skills to produce a perfect rendering of swear words

However, while most studies on the issue adopt a descriptive and text-oriented approach, not much attention has been paid to the reception of the translation by the very people for whom it was conducted: the audience All the aforementioned factors, henceforth, offered the researcher an opportunity to undertake a study titled:

“Investigating Subtitle Translation of Swear words in "Whiplash" - an audience movie reception study” This study aimed at investigating whether the subtitle

translation of swear words would retain or warp audi n ‟s r pt on o t mov

1.2 Research Questions

The study was undertaken with a view to seeking tentative answers to the

following research questions:

Question 1: What are the opinions of different viewer groups on swear words translation in the movie?

Question 2: To what extent did the subtitles of swear words affect the portrayal of the main characters?

1.3 Significance of the study

According to Battarbee (cited in Baker & Malmkjær 2001), subtitling is a form

o “ov rt tr nsl t on” s u n n ss to t sour n t r t sp t t same time Moreover, in the context of globalization and integration, English as a foreign language has been spoken by a growing number of people in the world,

n lu n V tn m s T v ry n tur o su t tl n s “ov rt tr nsl t on” om n

w t u n ‟s n r s n ompr ns on o En l s s sur to v som rt n

mp ts on t u n ‟s r pt on o t tr nsl t on How v r, the fact is that the viewership of a movie includes not just people having good command of English though their population is increasing; there are viewers whose proficiency of the language is very low as well As a result, the quandary resides as to how the translators

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can address the requirements of different groups of audience Especially in the case of swear words translation, whether the strategies applied (with omission and softening being stark examples) will affect understanding, or more severely t u n ‟s reception will definitely depend on different groups of viewership, more specifically,

on their source language competency Therefore, this paper might provide the translators with an insight into the influence of their works on different groups of

u n ‟s r pt on Moreover, this could be used as a reference for other translators

to refer to when translating movies incorporating swear words

Besides, though subtitle translation and swear words are not novel realms of research, few have adopted a receptor-oriented approach, which presented a research gap for this study to fill in In addition, comparison of reactions from different audience groups was provided for an objective, comprehensive, and discerning evaluation Therefore, it is expected to complement other text-oriented studies Furthermore, this study might help enlighten the audience about the conditions under which the translators had to work, or the restrictions which they had to abide by in the hope of seeking a more critical assessment and empathy for the much head-scratching and brain-racking work of the translators

1.4 Scope of the study

The reception of the audience might be affected by many factors However, in this paper, the researcher just investigated one linguistic feature, namely swear words

In addition, although “W pl s ” mov many Vietnamese subtitle versions which appear in various websites, the researcher just selected one version from Kitesvn.com – a well-known and prestigious website for movie lovers to conduct research on That the movie had no official Vietnamese subtitle version was also a reason for the choice of investigating the translation of online movie website

Moreover, when it comes to elements of a movie, aspects for consideration are quite voluminous because they range widely from the script, the characters, the acting,

to the visuals or sound effects However, within the time and financial constraints of

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the researcher t woul un s l to l t u n ‟s v lu t on on v ry sp t of

“W pl s ” T r or t r s r r just s l t t most prom n nt and more importantly, the elements that swear words and swear word translation had impacts on

As a result, the portrayal of the two main characters, which was also the focus of the second research question, was shortlisted for scrutiny

Last but not least, with regard to the sample size of this study, there were 40 participants from both groups; hence, no generalization to any bigger scope would be made The result, therefore, was only indicative of the chosen groups of participants

Chapter 2: Literature review

This consisted of the explanation of key terms as well as the review on previous works in the realms of subtitle translation, swear words, and audience reception

Chapter 3: Methodology

This section elaborated on the description of research participants, their population and sampling method, the movie, data collection method and data analysis method

Chapter 4: Findings and discussion

In this chapter, answers to the two research questioned were submitted by analyzing the collected data

Chapter 5: Conclusion

Summary of the research, implication of the findings, the limitation of the study and suggestion for further research were presented in this chapter

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CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter was constructed to lay the theoretical foundation for the entire research

In this chapter, the following key concepts were comprehensively discussed

(1) Subtitling

(2) Swear words

(3) Subtitle translation of swear words

(4) Translation strategies for subtitles

A or n to Gottl „s t n B k r & M lmkjær l ss t on subtitles are composed of two main types: interlingual and intralingual As the names imply, the former is subtitling between two languages, and the latter is subtitling within the same language In other words, interlingual subtitling must entail language transfer

or translation between two different languages In contrast, the language of intralingual subtitles is identical to the language being uttered or broadcast Gambier (2003)

su st not r typ w “ l v rs two l n u v rs ons o t s m sour

r m nt on n o t two onst tut v l n s o su t tl ” It s known s “ ilingual

su t tl s” To sum up l n u s o t su t tl s n t sp o not n ss r ly v

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to be different, which underpins the definition given by Cambridge Dictionary However, the conspicuous prominence of interlingual subtitles among the three may just y T Ox or A v n L rn r‟s D t on ry‟s ssumpt on t t su t tl s r translated version of what is said in a film

A more comprehensive definition was given by Diaz-Cintas and Remael

7 p 8 : “Su t tl n m y n s tr nsl t on practice that consists of presenting a written text, generally on the lower part of the screen, that discursive elements that appear in the image (letters, inserts, graffiti, inscriptions, placards, and the like), and the information that is contained on t soun tr k son s vo s o ” The important remark made by Diaz-Cintas and Remael (2007) is the written rendition

of spoken words This characteristic makes subtitling distinctive from translating (from written words to written words) and interpreting (from spoken words to spoken words)

T r or su t tl n s n n s n “ nt rmo l” orm o u ov su l translation by Gottlieb (cited in Baker & Malmkjær 2001)

As a result, it could be concluded that subtitles are words appearing near the bottom of the screen in audiovisual product The language of subtitles can be the same as or different from that of the speech More importantly, subtitling involves a shift from a spoken to a written medium, and most frequently entails translation

on the screen at the same time As a result, the subtitles are supposed to be concise for viewers to spare enough time to multitask Therefore, the fact that subtitling entails a substantial reduction of text is quite comprehensible More specifically, according to de

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L n & K y t n B k r & M lmkjær p 5 “su titles can deliver 43

p r nt l ss t xt t n t spok n lo u t y r v rom” T w ly pt spatial parameters are two lines of text at maximum, each accommodating up to 35 characters (Karamitrouglou, 1998)

Due to the aforementioned constraint, the subtitle translators are required to be selective in their choice of the content that will take up the screen Koolstra, Peeters & Spinhof (2002) pointed out that a subtitler frequently has to make decision on which parts of the original version they n om t “w t out l v n out n orm t on t t s

ss nt l or t v w r‟s un rst n n ” p 8 In t s r sp t Gottl 998 t

in Baker & Malmkjær 2001) believed that the overall communicative function of an utterance should be prioritized ov r ts s m nt tur s As oppos to Gottl ‟s claim, Danan (1991) ascertained that subordinating lexical and semantic aspects of the original text to the communicative intention would definitely undermine the aesthetic and artistic integrity of the original text This discrepancy in viewpoints of different scholars presented a cause for the researcher to test whether text reduction, more specifically the omission of swear words in the Vietnamese subtitled version of

“W pl s ” woul t t or m ntioned aesthetic and artistic value of the movie

2.2 Swear words

2.2.1 Definition

They are words considered foul in a language (OALD) In fact, they are often

r r s “ wor s” How v r p k n sp t rm or t os “ wor s” s intriguing as they can be referred to by many other terms such as vulgarism, profanities, taboo words, apart from swear words Hence, a clear cut distinction between swear words and the above terms is ill defined

In an attempt to give definition to swearing, Andersson & Trudgill (1990, p.53) suggest

t t t s “ typ o l n u us n w t xpr ss on: r rs to som t n t t s

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taboo and/or stigmatized in the culture; (b) should not be interpreted literally; (c) can

be used to express strong emotion and tt tu s ”

2.2.2 Classification

W n t om s to l ss t on o sw r wor s sp k rs‟ nt nt on w n t y utter those words was paid special attention to since a study conducted by Wang (2013) suggested that a text uttered under different purposes would fulfill different communicative functions Admittedly, it is communicative intention of the ST that should be carefully determined by the translators in order to adequately transfer the ST

to t TT B s on sp k r‟s nt nt on sw r wor s r t gorized into four groups

The second group includes words that are understood based on their figurative

m n n For nst n t wor “ u k” n “ u k up” or “ u k o ” s not n to o

w t t pr m ry m n n “ v s x” Inst t orm r m ns “m ss up” n t former is equivalent to “ o w y”

The third group is made up of words used just for emphasis They are known as

nt ns rs On typ l x mpl s t wor “ u k” n s nt n s l k “H ‟s u k n

l zy” or “w t t u k r you o n ” It s pp r nt t t nt ns rs m k l ttl contribution to the meaning of a sentence as their primary function is to emphasize

The last group contains words used for cursing It is a way of insulting or

w s n rm to om to t r ss T prom n nt uss p r s s “ u k you”

2.3 Subtitle translation of swear words

2.3.1 Subtitles translation approach to swear words based on speaker’s intention

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In view of subtitle translation of swear words, as mentioned earlier in the discussion on subtitles, an enormous deal of text is supposed to be cut out from the subtitles, but what matters most is the choice of omitted text From the aforementioned

characteristics of each category of swear words discussed in 2.2.2, we can expect

which words are more likely to be translated and which will be omitted Ferklova (2014) proposed ways to handle different swear words in subtitles According to this scholar, when swear words make up the essential meaning of a sentence, either used literally or figuratively, they cannot be left out in the translation because it may affect understanding However, Ferklova (2014) believed that the subtitle translators may opt for less offensive synonyms The third category of swear words, namely intensifiers, on the other hand, can be omitted without harming the message of the sentence Within the tight constraints of subtitles, it is possible that swear words used as intensifiers will largely be reduced Also, curses play a specific part in the dialogues, and need to be expressed in the translation However, according to Ferklova (2014, p.29 “ t r r repetitions of these elements, which is typical of spoken language, subtitlers are likely

to eliminate them.”

Also according to Ferklova (2014, p 27 “t w y t r t rs sp k s on

of their basic defining characteristics and if they use many slangs or swear words, the

tr nsl tor nnot s n ntly r u t m w t out n lu n n t r t rs‟

p rson l ty” Thus, it could be deduced that a tough decision resides whether to translate or to omit the swear words whose function is for emphasis without influencing the style of the movie This claim also formed the pivotal ground for this study As a matter of fact, the researcher was aware that reduction and omission were crucial in subtitle translation and swear words translation; however, to what extent the decision of the translator may affect as to how the characters are perceived or how the movie is portrayed? In other words, does swear word translation play any role in

u n ‟s r pt on o t mov ?

2.3.2 Translation strategies for subtitles

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There are various translation models, or lists of strategies introduced by celebrated scholars (Newmark, 1995; Baker, 1992) Notwithstanding, up till now there has been only one framework of translation strategies restrictively applied to subtitles Proposed by Gottlieb (1992), the comprehensive model consists of 10 strategies as followed:

1 Transfer refers to the strategy of translating the source text completely and

correctly

2 Imitation even maintains the same forms, typically with names of people

and places

3 Transcription is used in those cases where a term is unusual even in the

source text, for example the use of a third language or nonsense language

4 Expansion is used when the original requires an explanation because of

some cultural nuance not retrievable in the target language

5 Paraphrase is resorted to in cases where the phraseology of the original

cannot be reconstructed in the same syntactic way in the target language

6 Dislocation is adopted when the original employs some sort of special effect,

for example a silly song in a cartoon film, where the translation of the effect

is more important than the content

7 Condensation would seem to be the typical strategy used, that is the

shortening of the text in the least obtrusive way possible

8 Decimation is an extreme form of condensation where, perhaps for reasons

of discourse speed, even potentially important elements are omitted

9 Deletion refers to the total elimination of parts of a text

10 Resignation describes the strategy adopted when no translation solution can

be found and meaning is inevitably lost

It can be seen that some strategies proposed by Gottlieb (1992) are similar to those of other scholars despite their different names For example, transfer (1), imitation (2), transcription (3), and expansion (4) are more or less equal to literal

More importantly, with respect to subtitle translation of swear words, some of the aforementioned strategies seem to have slight chance of being used For example, paraphrase is concerned with syntax; however t k n sp k r‟s nt nt on nto account, the translators may set more sight on the semantic aspect Besides, if a phrase went untranslated, it would be rather difficult to decide whether the strategy is resignation or transcription Additionally, in the case when the content is preserved but the expressiveness is altered, then what would be the strategy?

Taking the above remarks into consideration, it is reasonable to conclude that the sole model of Gottlieb (1992) is not perfectly suitable for subtitle translation with swear words being the focus Hence, a synthesis of translation strategies from different scholars is necessary A number of applicable strategies for swear words are identified

Transfer

It is a faithful transmission of the whole form and also message from SL (source language) into acceptable TL (target language) equivalent Every single piece of the original SL aspects, both form and message, are transmitted to and emanated by the TL accurately This strategy is also referred to as literal translation by Newmark (1995)

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T s str t y s nt y B k r s “m k n up or t loss o ST t y

r r t n s m l r t n t TT” T s su or n t s t m n n o t wor or ts effect on the audience

Deletion

This strategy is also called omission by Baker (1992, p.234) in which the words

or phrases are not translated, and omitted from the subtitles

2.4 Audience reception

T r v n v ry w syst m t stu s on t l o r pt on “ lt ou

we constantly make re r n to r rs v w rs onsum rs us r t ” G m r cited in Omar, Haroon & Ghani 2009, p.52)

According to Gambier (cited in Omar, Haroon & Ghani 2009), there is no such

t n s n “ v r ” v w r v n t ou tr nsl tor n only m t certain target audience, whose profile they inevitably construct on the basis of their own stereotypes and prejudices Being aware of this fact, the researcher would like to investigate whether one subtitled version, which is presumably targeted at a potential group of audience as pointed out by Gambier, would leave any different marks if tested on a different viewer groups

Moreover, because there are differences between the impact of a translation upon r pt on r p nt‟s l n n tr nsl t on s fects (response of viewers), it

is important to differentiate between three types of receptions:

1 Response or the perceptual decoding

2 Reaction or the psycho-cognitive issue (readability): what shared knowledge must be assumed by all the partners to allow efficient communication? What is the inference process when watching a subtitled program? The answers to those questions have consequences for translation micro-str t s T r t r t v w r‟s pro ss n effort, the lower the relevance of the translation

3 Repercussion, understood both as attitudal issue (what are viewers; preferences and habits regarding the mode of AVT?), and the socio-cultural dimension

age, level of education, and command of foreign language

(5) Data collection instruments

(6) Data analysis method

3.1 Research design

According to Pope & Mays (1995), qualitative r s r s “ v lopm nt o concepts which help us to understand social phenomena in natural (rather than experimental) settings, giving due emphasis to the meanings, experiences, and views of

t p rt p nts” p 4 S r n t s m n 2008, Jonassen stated that,

qu l t t v r s r s on u t n “ n tur l s tt n w t out nt nt on lly

m n pul t n t nv ronm nt” p 46 O v ously t s l v t t qu l t t v research is more concerned with the uniqueness of a particular setting and participants;

n spl y n mor “n tur l n ol st p tur o t p nom n n stu ” (Mackey & Gass, 2005, p.163) Moreover, while a quantitative study is often aimed at

a generalized result, a qualitative research usually emphasizes more on individual response, and generalization is of less concern in qualitative research

Taking those aforementioned characteristics into meticulous consideration, the researcher decided to choose qualitative research approach as the research design To

be more specific, when it comes to the focus of this research, say, movie perception, personal opinions and experiences will undoubtedly make up most of the data content Plus, in order to generalize findings from data related to viewpoints and personal experience, only tremendous sample size could ensure the reliability of the research

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However, within the time and financial constraints of the researcher, collecting data rom l r s mpl s nsurmount l Furt rmor w n t om s to u n ‟s perception of the movie, it is highly likely that views will diverge greatly since movie perception is a subjective matter As a result, qualitative is definitely a more decent

o s n t “typ lly nvolv s ly t l r s r pt on o um n v ors and op n ons” Jon ss n 8, p 1046)

3.2 The movie

T s o t s stu y s “W pl s ” mov directed by Damien Chazelle Nominated with six Academy Awards in 2014, the movie was, however, R-rated due to excessive profanities A or n to IMD ‟s st m tion, there are total 80-90 F-words,

n t mov w s l m to ont n “stron l n u t rou out” (IMDb.com) This fact had triggered the researcher to discover whether language use, especially swear words would have any impacts on how the movie was perceived by the audience

“W pl s ” plot nt r roun “ prom s n youn rumm r – Neiman enrolling at a cut-throat music institution where his dreams of greatness are mentored

by an instructor – Fletcher who will stop at nothing to realize a student's pot nt l” (IMDb.com) The director and script writer - Damien Chazelle revealed that the story

in the movie was based on his personal experience at a competitive music school back

in New Jersey The use of swear words along with violence and insults in the movie vividly depicted the mounting tension in the relationships between characters, as well

as the callousness of Fletcher – the instructor who always pushed his students to their limits There are various ideas about the topic or the theme of the movie, but the most prominent one was: passion, diligence, and persistency are vital for fulfilling on ‟s

r m n v rs ty s som t m s r qu r to r l z on ‟s pot nt l

The Vietnamese subtitle version selected for analysis was from Kitesvn.com – a popular online movie website with up-to- t pro u ts As “W pl s ” w s not officially released in Vietnam, the researchers had to opt for Kitesvn.com‟s v rs on More importantly, the Vietnamese subtitle version of this website complied to the

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widely accepted form of subtitle, which includes maximum 2 lines of text at the bottom

of the screen

3.3 The screening process

In fact, not all the participants had watched the movie before, and even if some did the researcher could not ascertain whether the Vietnamese subtitled version of

“W pl s ” that they had watched was achieved from Kitesvn.com (since there are various ones on the Internet) As a result, the researcher decided to show the movie to all of the participants in order for their viewing experience to be equal Specifically, they were gathered in a darkened room equipped with enough seats, a wide screen and

a projector to render a natural movie-going session rather than give them the impression that they are operating under laboratory conditions After everyone had arrived, the film was shown on the screen

Furt rmor s n t r s r r woul l k to u t p rt p nts‟ op n ons right after they finished watching the movie, the screening process was closely followed by the data collection process so as for their memory not to be faded as well

as their feeling about the film to be pristine That was also one motive of the researcher when organizing the movie watching session instead of asking the participants to watch the movie by themselves

3.4 The participants

As the central hypothesis in this research is t t “V w rs‟ op n ons out

swear word translation and about the movie depend on their English proficiency”, the researcher targeted at individuals who are either fairly good at English (i.e C1 CEFR)

– Group 1 or, on the other hand, in the dark about the language (i.e little or no knowledge of English language) – Group 2 Since the researcher could not be sure of

n v u l‟s En l s pro n y or n , m t o ll “snow ll” w s

deployed to resolve that uncertainty The questionnaire (see Appendix 1) was sent

The questionnaire (see Appendix 2) includes 2 parts The first part is associated

wit r spon nts‟ op n ons on sw r wor s n t mov which is corresponding to

RQ1, and the second part was designed to seek answer to RQ2

3.5.1.1 As for RQ1: What are the opinions of different viewer groups on swear words translation in the movie?

Hypothesis 1: Swear word identification is different across two groups of

different English proficiency levels

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Admittedly, s n s n nt proport on o sw r wor s n “W pl s ” w r

softened and omitted (see Appendix 3), the researcher alleged that members of Group 1

(with good English proficiency) would realize more swear words and find them more offensive than those from Group 2 As a result, the first two questions in this part were designed to test this hypothesis

Image 1 Questions 1 and 2 in part 1 of the questionnaire

However, among members of the same group, their feeling towards those profanities might be different Admittedly, it was reasonable to assume that those who frequently hear or use profanities might find it perfectly normal; however, those who have few experiences with swear words both from the screen and in real life might not feel as comfortable even though their recognition of swear words could be relatively similar Hence, the third hypothesis was formed

Hypothesis 2: Feeling about swear words in the movie would vary within a

roup p n n on t p rt p nts‟ xposur to sw r wor s

The researcher, thereby, would base on the data analyzed from Questions 3 and 4

(see Appendix 2) to test Hypothesis 2

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Image 2 Questions 3 and 4 in part 1 of the questionnaire

3.5.1.2 As for RQ2: To what extent did the subtitles of swear words affect the

portrayal of the main characters?

Image 3 Questions 1 part 2 of the questionnaire

In this question, the viewers were asked to specify what they particularly enjoyed

about the movie On completing the questionnaire, the participants had no awareness of

the focus of this part was on the characters The underlying intention of this question is

to find out whether the translation of swear words might promote or undermine certain

features of the film, including the characters To be more precise, while some answers

are translation-r l t su s “ onv rs t on” ot rs r only n r tly l nk to

tr nsl t on su s “t plot” n t nsw r “ n m to r p y” s not p n nt on t

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quality of the subtitles or the translation of swear words The response to this question

woul n t w l m nt o t tur ‟s pp l r m n n v w rs‟ m mory t r

the screening session Justifications were further probed into in the interview

Image 4 Questions 2 and 3 in part 2 of the questionnaire

The researcher was aware that reduction and omission were crucial in subtitle

translation, especially when it comes to swear words used as intensifiers (since they

made little contribution to the meaning of the sentence) However, when it comes to

characters in a movie, Cowgill (2007) l m t t “all great roles begin with words -

words that create the emotions, thoughts and actions that actors can embody and play”

In other words, the way the characters speak is one of their primary features, and if they

use many profanities, the translator cannot substantially cut down on them without

affecting their portrayal With the audience whose English is at advanced level,

because they can comprehend both source speech and the translated subtitles, the effect

of swear words omission on the depiction of characters might be insignificant

However, with those having little or no knowledge of the English language, whether

the translation strategies applied to swear words in the movie make any changes to how

the characters are perceived or not still remains a question Therefore, by exploring

r nt v w r roups‟ op n ons on t mov ‟s r t rs the researcher could

discover the effect of subtitle translation

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Image 6 Question 5 in part 2 of the questionnaire

This question was intended to wrap up the questionnaire in a quite straightforward manner, by asking the audience to think about whether they would recommend the film to other people This is a familiar thought-process for cinema goers and film lovers Room was given for additional comments in case participants wished to elaborate on their evaluation

3.5.2 Semi-structured interview

According to Mackey & Gass (2005), in a semi-structured interview, the

r s r r s to us wr tt n qu st on l st s u ut st ll n “ r ss n pro or mor n orm t on” O v ously t s r t r st llows nt rv w r to pr p r n appear competent during the interview In addition, Cohen & Crabtree (2006) pointed out t t “s m -stru tur nt rv w n prov r l l omp r l qu l t t v t ” without deterring the informants from freely expressing their ideas With semi-structured interview, the researcher is able to ask additional questions that have not been prepared beforehand; thus, being able collect more data, especially in cases when interviewees come up with unexpected answers Therefore, choosing semi-structured interview as the last data collection instrument, the researcher could glean more thoughts, ideas, opinions,

et cetera, which, due to the restriction of the close-ended questionnaire, the participants might not have the chance to share

This instrument was applied to collect data for both research questions Since the

u n ‟s o s n los -ended questions could not sufficiently reflect their thought, the researchers decided to conduct the interviews with a certain number of respondents

to investigate the reasons for their answers In other words, the interview just followed closely to each questionnaire item to seek elaborate justifications

In this paper, the researcher used letter A for those belong to Group 1 and letter

B for participants of Group 2 See figure 3.1 below for list of interviewees

Figure 3.1 List of interviewees

4 Data analysis method

A number of scholars have pointed out that one of the most common methods applied to analyzing qualitative data is content analysis (Zhang & Wildemuth, 2009; Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) Given that, there are various approaches to content analysis; however, no matter what approach that the researchers may choose, the analysis all aims at drawing out patterns from concepts and insights (Nigatu, 2009) Therefore, Nigatu (2009) put forward a 5-step procedure of content analysis, including: organizing data, identifying framework, sorting data into framework, checking coding consistency, and formulating report In this research, this 5-step procedure was applied to data analysis

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CHAPTER 4 – FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter was concerned with the result of the study by comprehensively analyzing the collected data to come up with answers to the two research questions This chapter consisted of three main parts as followed

(1) Research question 1

(2) Research question 2

(3) Further discussion of the findings

4.1 Research question 1: What are the opinions of different viewer groups on swear words in the movie?

The following part analyzed data accumulated from the questionnaires of 40

respondents, who fell equally into 2 groups: Group 1 with good English competency (i.e C1 CEFR) and Group 2 with little English competency Justifications for the

p rt p nts‟ o s n qu st onn r t ms w r lso pr s nt y nt rpr t n t elicited from the interviews with 5 shortlisted respondents from each group

For this research question, the researcher had 2 hypotheses to test, the results, therefore, were demonstrated based on hypotheses

4.1.1 Hypothesis 1: Swear word identification is different across two groups of different English proficiency levels (Questions 1, 2 in Part 1 of the Questionnaire)

Figure 4.1 Viewers’ opinions on the frequency of swear words in “Whiplash”

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

High Nomal Low Bare

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Figure 4.2 Viewers’ opinions on the language of “Whiplash”

4.1.1.1 Group 1 (Good English Competency)

16 out of 20 respondents in Group 1 indicated that swear words were uttered

very frequently throughout the movie Only 4 admitted these words were used in average number Unsurprisingly, no one found that the movie was free of profanities,

or just dotted with some More notably, no one among the surveyed reported the

l n u us n “W pl s ” t r xtr m ly vul r or r ly vul r H n t oul

be deduced from the statistics that all of the 20 chosen participants in this group had recognized swear words and its vulgarity, to, at least, a moderate extent

4.1.1.2 Group 2 (Little English Competency)

Unlike data of Group 1, that of Group 2 witnessed a wider divergence The

common thing that the respondents shared was probably their heavy dependence on the subtitles for the understanding of the movie because all of the 5 interviewees admitted that without the Vietnamese subtitles, they could hardly grasp what was going on on the screen

With respect to the frequency of swear words and their vulgarity in the movie, opinions were rather mixed Although a significant number of swear words were omitted, or toned down in the subtitles, mu to t r s r r‟s surpr s nearly half of the respondents still asserted the high frequency of foul language in the movie One of

2 4 6 8 10 12

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the explanations was because they took into consideration the context of this movie; more specifically, the teacher and student relationship between the two main characters

in the film For example, according to B1‟s st r otyp t r must rol mo l

o r t ons n ; s r sult t r l n u us s suppos to orm l T r or

s v r ly r t z p r s s su s “l k n n n” or “l t u n n ” t t t t r

in the movie had used to address his students, and thus considering them vulgar

Furthermore, from B1‟s p rspective, as a student, one had to s ow r sp t to t

t r n ot l n u us n v ors H n oul not st n p r s s l k “m

m y” or “ on m m y” utt r by the student in the film to curse the teacher Sharing

the same viewpoint with B1, B4 added t t “I‟m sur ny t r l k t t n V tn m

woul n t ly on mn ”

How v r t r w r st ll r spon nts rom Group s r n “w pl s ” s

a profanity-free movie The reason was further exploited in the interview with one of

the 3 respondents B2 hardly recognized swear words in the movie because she thought

t t t l n u o “W pl s ” w s just stron l n u us n or r to urt ot r peopl ‟s l n W n n sk so w t k n o wor s s oul ons r sw r wor s s w nt on to xpl n “T y must r lly vy urs s su s som p r s s

r qu ntly us n V tn m s ”

In short, the researcher had the chance to explore the justifications behind choices of some participants Given the fact that all of them had to depend entirely on the subtitles to understand the film, factor dividing them was their perception of swear words in their mother tongue To illustrate, there were words considered as foul by som n v u ls ut rom ot rs‟ p rsp t v s oul w s r t r str t t rm to r ss such words Moreover, whether a word or phrases are considered foul or not hinged on the context in which they are uttered

4.1.1.3 Comparison between two groups

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While no one in Group 1 v n t ou t o sw r wor s‟ r r pr s n n t film, let alone their absence, there were 5 members of Group 2 admitted the low

frequency of profanities, and 3 claimed the non-existence of those words in

“W pl s ” In addition, while half of Group 1 found the language of the movie vulgar, just nearly one third of Group 2 shared the idea

The hypothesis, as a result, turned out to be true More particularly, in view of

swear word frequency and their vulgarity, members of Group 1 could realize and felt more than those from Group 2

4.1.2 Hypothesis 2: Feeling about swear words in the movie would vary within

a group, depending on the participants’ exposure to swear words (Linked to question

3 in Part 1 of the Questionnaire)

4.1.2.1 Within group 1

Figure 4.3 Feeling of Group 1 towards swear words in “Whiplash”

From figure 4.3 it is obvious that even though recognition of swear words was

comparatively uniform among Group 1‟s m m rs their views diverged greatly when it

came to their feelings tow r t mov ‟s oul l n u Alt ou no o y oun t extremely offensive, not everyone was at ease with the profanities Apart from those who were totally fine with the foul language, some admitted that they felt slightly uncomfortable, and there were still a margin number of respondents reporting their quite uncomfortable experience

Slightly uncomfortable Totally comfortable

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First of all, 40% of this group claimed not to be o n t ll y t mov ‟s

language Some reasons were discovered in the interview Firstly, A1 and A2 stressed

the necessity of swear words in movie since they contributed to t mov ‟s dramatics and made it become more thrilling However, the main reason lied in their frequent

exposure to swear words A1 admitted that he and his friend often used swear words, both English and Vietnamese, in real life For A2‟s p rt s xpl n s was

accustomed to English swear words In addition, the fact the words she heard in the movie were in a foreign language, not her mother tongue has helped lessen its offensiveness to a large extent Moreover, because she did not ons r wor s su s

“ qu ” “k ” “m ” n t su t tl v rs on s V tn m s sw r wor s, she felt totally comfortable

Const tut 45% o t roup‟s popul t on, those were individuals getting

slig tly s k n y oul l n u o “W pl s ” A4, who did not need the subtitle to

t t st o t mov s t t “I m m l r w t t F-wor s so I‟m ok w t t t but homosexual slurs sometimes disgust me, especially in such an educational

context” D sp t s r n t s m tt tu tow r s t mov ‟s sw r wor s w t A4, A5 had a different reason, which seemed a bit contradictory She claimed that since she

has been a fan of Hollywood movies, some of which even contain very strong language such as Fight Club or Good Will Hunting, she just felt slightly uncomfortable Much to

t r s r r‟s surpr s v n t t t t s was familiar with movie saturated with

swear words, A5 was supposed to feel at ease with this one

15% of the people reported their discomfort with the profanities Interviewee

A3, was one of those She confessed that it was not superbly shocking, but it did render

a sense of uneasiness in her She, of course, had watched movies with swear words before; however, it was the ns ty o t os wor s n “w pl s ” that made her feel a bit awkward

4.1.2.2 Within Group 2

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Figure 4.4 Feeling of Group 2 towards swear words in “Whiplash”

As can be seen from figure 4.4, among 20 individuals responding to the question

of their feeling towards the language use in the movie, the majority which constituted roughly more than half of the responses confirmed that they were totally comfortable with the viewing experience The researcher had the opportunity to delve into some

justifications underlying the choice by interviewing 2 of the respondents For B3‟s p rt

she not n t mov ‟s l n u o ns v t ll revealing that in her personal experience, it is normal for teacher to yell at students who fail to perform well Moreover, she took into account the fact that the situation was in a movie, whose content, she thought, was often exaggerated, and surreal; thus, the language in the

movie was “p r tly norm l” H v n t s m r spons w t B3, B5 further

explained that her frequent exposure to and her frequent use of foul language in real life had rendered her impervious to swear words in the movie

35% of the viewers in this group were a bit offended by the utterances in the

film B2 reported her feeling as such because of the cultural difference in the relationship between a teacher and a student To be more specific, B2 justified that

displayed on the screen were the tense, rigid and expletive-crammed conversations between the mentor and his students, and such conversations and communicating styles, she ascertained, would hardly be able to fit in the culture of Vietnam though

they might be normally received in the US Furthermore, B4 reasoned that in real life,

hearing curses usually rendered a nasty feeling in her; accordingly, it was quite

Slightly uncomfortable Totally comfortable

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comprehensible that the appearance of those words on the screen slightly nauseated her

Being the representative of 10% of respondents feeling uncomfortable, B1

signified the respect that a student was supposed to have for his mentor, and the dedication and tenderness in the behavior of the teacher Therefore, the treatment of the teacher to his students in the movie, which was typified by offensive language, was uncomfortable

4.2 Research question 2: To what extent did the subtitles of swear words affect the portrayal of the main characters?

In t su st nt l proport on o sw r wor s n “W pl s ” w r so t ned and omitted, which made them less offensive in the Vietnamese subtitled version than the original one Accordingly, it was rather uncertain whether the depiction of the main characters, whose speech was saturated with expletives, still remains intact once the utterances were translated The chances were that viewers whose English are advanced

(Group 1) might be able to identify the swear words uttered in English; hence, the

portrayal of characters might not be warped However, with those who had to depend entirely on the subtitles to understand the film, whether their impression of the characters is close to the original intention of the producers is still questionable By xplor n two r nt roups o v w rs‟ op n ons o t two m n r t rs the researcher stood a chance of investigating the influence of the Vietnamese subtitled version on the portrayal of the main characters

4.2.1 Character “Fletcher”

4.2.1.1 Brief description of character Fletcher

Terence Fletcher is the conductor of a jazz band in the prestigious musical institution - Shaffer Conservatory He is a merciless perfectionist who pushes students to the pinnacle of their ability Unlike what is often expected of a teacher, Fletcher constantly abuses his students by insulting, taunting and mocking them fiercely The cause behind