Equivalence in the vietnamese translation of sherlock from netflix

Descriptive translation study of translation universals and laws is used as a theoretical framework applied to evaluate the dynamic equivalence in subtitle translation.. The Vietnamese s

4.1.5 Exaggeration of Target Language Features 52

APPENDIX: SAMPLES OF ENGLISH TRANSCRIPT AND VIETNAMESE SUBTITLE

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ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the equivalence in the Vietnamese translation of Sherlock on Netflix Most previous studies used the formal equivalence approach, which focused mainly on the form and content relationship between source text and target text This study uses dynamic equivalence approach, which describes functional relationship in translation Dynamic equivalence is considered to be a more suitable approach for evaluating equivalence in film subtitle translation because of the specific characteristics of subtitle translating Subtitle translators must ensure that the translated text can be read within the exact duration of the scene as well as ensure that the audience still has time to watch the images while preserving the meaning and effect Descriptive translation study of translation universals and laws is used as a theoretical framework applied to evaluate the dynamic equivalence in subtitle translation The Vietnamese subtitles of Sherlock on Netflix were analyzed on the basis of a theoretical framework derived from Baker's hypotheses on translation universals and Toury’s translation laws

Research has shown that there are translation universals and laws in Vietnamese subtitles, through which functional relationship between the original and Vietnamese subtitles of Sherlock on Netflix are found Most of the translation universals is used to shorten or minimize the subtitles in order to meet the constraints of subtitle translation The parts that are omitted are mostly repetitive words or can be understood through images on film This shortening hardly affects the content that the audience needs On the other hand, some translation universals and laws are used to normalize grammar as well as explain cultural features that can be confusing to the audience However, this research also pointed out some of the audience’s experiences are sometimes lost due to circumstances such as repetition or lack of grammar is intended by the filmmaker to create humor or represent the character

There have also been a few studies on translation and equivalence in the translation of subtitles in Vietnam such as the study by Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà on subtitles for translating some selected films from the website kst.net.vn, the

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research by Lê Thị Nhung about the equivalence in translating English subtitles

of some documentary films However, there are no research studies on translation and dynamic equivalence based on descriptive translation study in the translated subtitles by Netflix, an American service, as well as a famous TV series like Sherlock Therefore, I chose to do a thesis on “EQUIVALENCE IN THE VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF SHERLOCK FROM NETFLIX”

1.2 Aim(s) of the Study

The thesis goal is to examine the dynamic equivalence in the Vietnamese subtitles of Sherlock series on Netflix To achieve the goal of this thesis, three main targets need to be implemented include finding out the existence of translation universals and laws in translating subtitles of Sherlock on Netflix, investigating the behavior of translation universals in Vietnamese subtitles, evaluating the relationship between English and Vietnamese subtitles of Sherlock based on the descriptive translation study theory

1.3 Research Questions

This thesis is implemented to answer the following questions:

- What are the translation universals and laws used in translating subtitles of Sherlock on Netflix?

- What are the behaviors of translation universals in Vietnamese subtitles of Sherlock on Netflix?

- What is the relationship between English and Vietnamese subtitles of Sherlock on Netflix?

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1.4 Scope of the Study

This thesis focuses on equivalence of original English transcript and Vietnamese subtitle version of Sherlock on Netflix Samples were taken from 9 episodes throughout 3 seasons of the series The research only focuses on dynamic equivalence, which is evaluated based on translation universal and law analysis of descriptive translation study Therefore only the most outstanding representative samples were selected for dynamic equivalence analysis

1.5 Significance of the Study

Theoretical significance: This thesis gives an overview of subtitle translation This thesis also strengthened the theory of descriptive translation study and the theory of dynamic equivalence

Practical significance: This thesis supports subtitle translators by giving the translation universals and laws used for subtitle translation as well as providing the behavior of translation universals, which draw the relationship, equivalent,

in translating movie subtitles This thesis also aims to arouse the interest of English translation students with subtitle translation in particular and translation study in general

1.6 Research Methods

Qualitative methods were applied to implement this thesis The data obtained were evaluated on the basis of a theoretical framework derived from Baker's hypotheses on translation universals and Toury’s translation laws Subtitle translation equivalence assessment would be explored by using dynamic equivalence framework combining with descriptive translation study in subtiles One-by-one translation universals and laws will be discussed by looking at their behaviors in nine episodes of Sherlock Only the most striking instances of each

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translation universals or laws will be investigated because the scope of this thesis does not allow a detailed examination of every single occurrence

1.7 Structure of the Study

The thesis consists of five chapters:

Chapter 1 is the Introduction which describes the reasons for the choice of the topic, the aims, the scope, method, significance, and organization of the study

Chapter 2 provides the literature review of subtitle translation, equivalence

in translation and descriptive translation study

Chapter 3 gives the translation universals used in translating Sherlock on Netflix

Chapter 4 gives the translation laws used in translating Sherlock on Netflix Chapter 5 is the Conclusion and suggestion for further study

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CHAPTER 2 LIRTERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Sherlock from Netflix

Netflix, an American streaming application with over hundred million international subscribers, becoming one of the world's largest entertainment services Sherlock, a modern adaptation of the classic Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is a 90-minute, incredibly fast-paced television show created and written by Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss and occasional guest writers Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant consulting detective who excels in solving crimes by deducing clues from apparently insignificant matters His brilliant intellect, however, is countered by his poor social skills The stories are narrated by his friend, Dr John Watson, a general practitioner who was injured when he was an army doctor Sherlock has been praised for the quality of its writing, acting, and direction It has been nominated for numerous awards including Emmys, BAFTAs and a Golden Globe, winning several awards across a variety of categories Sherlock has been sold to 180 territories

On Netflix, Sherlock is translated into many languages in the world including Vietnamese Out of all the odd habits of Sherlock, deductions are likely to give the most trouble to a subtitle translator They are littered with marked words The sentences are remarkably long, and they are delivered at an impressive pace Since the word count in these deductions is extremely high, the subtitles will most likely be forced to omit details Most likely, important information that drives the story forward will be retained in the subtitles, while non-essential information will be the first to be removed Sherlock's companion, John Watson,

on the other hand, seems to be a simpler man than Sherlock He is humble and

2.2 Subtitle translation

Subtitling is a form of literary translation that deviates significantly from other types of translation In order to achieve a satisfactory result, more attention must be paid to the subtitle than just the source text The visual images and sound effects of the original product, together with the space and time constraints that are inextricably linked to subtitling, are just a few issues that a subtitled translator must keep in mind According to Henrik Gottlieb, a subtitle translator needs to have a variety of skills in order to produce a decent translation: “Apart from being an excellent translator of foreign-language lines,

a good subtitler needs the musical ears of an interpreter, the no-nonsense judgment of a news editor, and a designer's sense of esthetics In addition, as most subtitlers do the electronic time-cueing themselves, the subtitler must also have the steady hand of a surgeon and the timing of a percussionist” (Gottlieb 2004) This idea certainly sets high standards for every subtitle translator

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2.2.1 Subtitle and subtitle translation

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “subtitles” as “a subtitles that appear across the lower part of a cinema screen, or in the frame of a television program, video recording, etc., and typically provide a translation of a dialog or

a version of it for the benefit of the deaf or the hard of hearing” Thus, the spoken dialog is changed into a written text that must be read from the screen instead of being heard by the audience This is what Henrik Gottlieb calls

“diagonal translation” because the subtitle deals with “diagonal” translation from spoken to written, rather than “horizontal” translation from written to written or spoken to spoken (Ying-Ting 2006) Gottlieb expands this notion by explaining that subtitling uses a set of channels other than the translation of a written text

An example of a monosemiotic text is a book without pictures or drawings The only channel used in this book is a written channel No other channels, such

as visuals or sounds, are present and the translator is therefore able to translate 100% of the source text The translation of this book is an example of an isosemotic translation because there is no channel switching; the written source text is translated into the written target text Therefore, this form of translation can be included in what Gottlieb calls “horizontal translation” (Ying-Ting 2006) Films and other forms of multimedia can be found in polysemiotic texts These texts use a variety of channels, such as visuals and audio, to convey the story to the audience Subtitles created in film and television translation fall within the category of diasemiotic translation The spoken dialog is transferred

to the written text in the form of subtitles

Films and other forms of multimedia contain four channels that play a key role in their translation:

4 Visual non-verbal channel: image composition and flow

In a non-translated television program or film, the verbal audio channel takes the most prominent position The audience follows the course of the narrative by listening to the characters on the screen in a spoken dialog When subtitles are added to the program, the priority of this channel is shifted to the priority of the verbal visual channel However, unlike dubbing where the source language is completely replaced by the target language, the subtitling leaves the complete verbal audio channel exactly as it does in the non-translated version of the program The only difference is that the verbal auditory channel loses its primary position on the verbal visual channel However, since the source text is still present in the translated version, the translator must be aware that the audience may have knowledge of the source language

Today, in the 21st century, the exposure of people in the world to English

is so high that people understand English more or less It is therefore important that the translator should try to remain as close as possible to the original text in terms of how the text is constructed If grammatical and linguistic structures deviate too much from the original text, the audience may be distracted from the narrative These inconsistencies remind the audience “that they read a translation, and feel that something is missing or wrong, and thus lose confidence in the subtitles” (Sanchez 2004) If the audience notices inconsistencies that are too striking, the translator will not only be criticized for

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his or her work, but the emphasis will also be drawn on the subtitles rather than

on the film or the program itself

As we have seen, Gottlieb argues that subtitling is a diagonal translation by shifting channels from the oral to the written channel However, Ying-Ting Chuang argues that this notion of diasemiotic translation does not entirely cover the field of subtitles of translation She explains that other features of the multimedia are capable of conveying information that can be of paramount importance in the creation of subtitles

Thus, Ying-Ting argues that a subtitle translator should not only pay attention to spoken dialogue but also consider other modes when creating subtitles For this form of translation, the term “intersemiotic translation” is used

by Roman Jakobson This term is defined as “an interpretation of verbal signs by means of non-verbal sign systems” (Munday 2008) Indeed, this definition applies to subtitling, because all modes of subtitling translation are interconnected in order to create a single form of multimedia, be it film, television series or documentary Ying-Ting presents “five semiotic modes most frequently represented in film text: spoken mode, written mode, mode of music, mode of sound effects and mode of moving images” (Ying-Ting 2006)

In other words, the subtitles of the translator should take into account, in addition to the dialog: the written text on the screen, the film score and accompanying sound effects, and the actual visual images on the screen showing the actions of the actors Ying-Ting concludes that the information obtained from all of these modes can replace the information presented in the dialogue

“[ ] the translator does not have to render everything in the dialogs into subtitles, but he can choose to ignore the meanings represented in other semiotic modes Thus, there are not one-to-one relationships in the translation subtitles, but many-to-many” (Ying-Ting 2006) The fact that other modes are capable of

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transferring information to the translator may reduce the number and length of the subtitles shown on the screen This could be seen as a positive development, because subtitles are essentially a tool for informing a foreign audience about what is being said on the screen Subtitles do, however, contain most information, so that exclusion should not be taken lightly I agree that any semiotic modes that Ying-Ting puts forward should be taken into account when creating subtitles However, in many situations, other modes will not be able to provide the same amount of information and therefore subtitle omissions will not be possible For example, if other modes are not present or if the information they carry is not sufficiently conclusive It is of the utmost importance that the audience understands how the story is developing Therefore, the translator should not make changes and only use this method if he or she is absolutely certain that the audience will be able to follow the narrative

2.2.2 Subtitle constraints

Audio-visual translation differs from other forms of translation in that it is subject to a number of constraints These constraints force the translator to make certain translation decisions that might not have been taken if these constraints were not linked to the translation of the subtitles Paola Guardini sets out a list of three different categories of constraints that affect the translation of audiovisual products These include technical constraints, textual limitations and linguistic constraints

Technical limitations are concerned with the “time and space of presentation imposed by the original work” (Guardini 1998) In subtitling, the limits on the number of characters per subtitle line with a maximum of two lines per six to seven seconds belong to this category The amount of time that two subtitles can be displayed on the screen varies depending on the speed of speech

a speaker in a film or television program uses a large number of words, the translator is obliged to reduce the number of words in his or her translation in order to comply with the technical constraints Also, in accordance with Ying- Ting theory, visuals played a vital part in storytelling, so that the translator needs to pay close attention to avoid any inconsistencies between image and audio Frederic Chaume supports this notion by saying that “audio-visual translation differs from other types of translation in that the non-existence of an image linked to verbal text in these other types allows for the free translation of

an existing sentence, or a play with words, or a joke, for example, without causing errors of coherence in the semiotic construction of the target text” (Chaume 19) Images restrict the freedom of the translator because the presence

of images requires the audio to remain as close to the source text as possible In the end, this may lead to a loss of stylistic features in the target text Wordplay

or other forms of humor may be lost in the translation subtitles if the visuals reduce the translation options of the translator

Linguistic constraints are the final category of constraints found in audiovisual translation Guardini divides this category into two subcategories, namely the “intra-linguistic” category, which deals with “the differences in syntax and grammar between the two languages” and the “extra-linguistic”

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category explained as “the problems relating to the surrounding reality” (Guardini 1998) Intra-linguistic constraints deal with grammatical and syntactic issues of which there is no equivalent in the target language In such cases, the translators must devise other grammatical constructions in order to perform a satisfactory translation Extra-Linguistic constraints are related to the source and target culture All types of text are influenced by the culture in which the author resides The audience with the same cultural background will not be consciously aware of these cultural influences However, these features will be noted by a foreign audience who are not familiar with the customs of the source culture In order to avoid a confused audience, the translator needs to provide missing information As Denton (2007) elaborates: “Again, this may prove to be a challenge if the technical constraints of space and time are also taken into account Information on the cultural background needs to be added, but information also needs to be removed, as the dialog is often too long to fit into the dual subtitles”

2.3 Equivalence in translation

Equivalence is the relationship between the source text (ST) and the target text (TT) that allows the TT to be considered as a ST translation Equivalence is considered to be a key concept in translation Some theorists define translation

in terms of equivalence relations (Catford, 1976; Nida and Taber, 1969; Toury, 1995; Koller, 1990) while others reject the theoretical notion of equivalence, claiming that it is either irrelevant or harmful (Gentzler, 2001) to translation studies Other theorists take the middle course One of them is Baker (1993) who uses the notion of equivalence “or the sake of convenience—because most

of the translators are used to it rather than because it has any theoretical status”

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2.3.1 Different approaches to translation equivalence

The theorists gradually adopted the theory of equivalence and introduced different approaches to translation equivalence

- Function-based approach: Functional equivalence highlights the impact of the message on the target language and on the source language reader Šarčević (Sarčević 1989) describes the legal functional equivalent as a term in the target legal system that designates a principle or institution, the function of which is the same as that of the source legal system Weston (1991) explains the importance of functional equivalence in legal translation by implying that the approach of using a functional equivalent can be considered the optimal form of translation

Nida and Taber (1974) proposed two different types of equivalence:

 Formal equivalence: this type of equivalence can be accomplished if the source language and target language match the form and content

of the message as closely as possible They also add that there is not always such a perfect fit between the two languages and recommend that formal equivalence should be used wherever possible Formal equivalence attempts to translate word-by-word

 Dynamic equivalence: unlike formal equivalence, dynamic equivalence puts more emphasis on equivalent effects In other words, this is a kind of equivalence in which translators try to express meaning in a way that has the same impact on the target audience as it does on the source language

- Form-based approach: Form-based or structure-based equivalence is defined as a more or less direct transmission of source text structures to the corresponding structures in the target language It is a process in which the

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interpreter follows the surface form of the source text as much as possible when constructing the target text

Baker (1993) introduced four levels of from-based equivalence:

 Equivalence at word level: baker defines the term “word” and states that one word can have different meanings in different languages, and she also relates meaning of words with morpheme Baker introduces problems at word level and above word level before proposing some strategies to deal with them

 Grammatical equivalence: grammatical rules may differ across the language This can cause some difficulty in finding direct correspondence in the TL

 Textual equivalence refers to the equivalence of information and cohesion between the ST and the TT Whether the cohesive relation between TT and ST should be maintained is based on three key factors: the target audience, the purpose of the translation and the type of test

 Pragmatic equivalence refers to the implication of the target text The translator’s job is to recognize the implied meaning of the source text and then reproduce it in such a way that the readers of the target text can understand it clearly without any misunderstandings

- Meaning-based approach: meaning-based equivalence is defined as a relationship in terms of meaning in the messages of source language and target language

Koller (1990) considered five types of meaning-based equivalence:

 Denotative equivalence: the source language and target language words have the same denotations

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 Connotative equivalence: also referred to as stylistic equivalence, offers additional values in addition to denotative values and relates to lexical choices between close synonyms

 Text-normative equivalence: the source language and the target language are used in the same or identical way in their respective languages

 Pragmatic equivalence: is the equivalence in which the source language and the target language words have the same impact on the reader

 Formal equivalence: produces and analogy of form in the translation

by either exploiting formal possibilities of target language, or creating new forms in target language

As mentioned above, with high standards and constraints, subtitle translation has very specific characteristics compared to other translations Equivalence approach is an important part of evaluating translation equivalence Therefore, this thesis chooses dynamic equivalence translation approach and uses the criteria of translation universals, laws in descriptive translation study to evaluate the translation equivalence of Sherlock series subtitles The theoretical framework of translation equivalence in descriptive translation study has been addressed by many translation theorists

There is really a new perspective of equivalence in the descriptive theory of translation, this is when (Toury 1995) describes equivalence as “equivalence as

it is used here is not one target-source relationship at all, established on the basis

of a particular type of invariant Rather, it is a Functional-relational concept; namely, that set of relationships which will have been found to distinguish appropriate from inappropriate modes of translation performance for the culture

in question” As a result, Descriptive analysis or research does not focus on

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whether the target-text section is “equivalent” to the source-text segment, but rather on the discovery of translational patterns, and the descriptive translation study tries to examine the choices made by the translator under any translational factors, such as laws, universals or other factors that affect those choices

One should not only concentrate on evaluating the semantic or even cultural aspects of each translational section individually and make a decision as

to whether or not it is acceptable Rather, the descriptive translation study focuses on the techniques and methods that have created translation, which is at the heart of the translation process In other words, if a text is published or pretended to be a translation of another text, it is recognized as ST equivalent Thus, as (Gentzler, 2001) explains, “translation equivalence becomes a fact, an empirical matter, to be analyzed rather than assessed against the ST for a presumed or ideal correctness, and translated texts exist as “replacements” of specific ST in the receiving culture” The idea is, therefore, to define them, trying

to recognize possible standard patterns that rule translation decisions The goal

is not to judge the TT as correct or incorrect, accepted or not accepted In other words, equivalence exists wherever it is translated, it is the products of the translation process, from which the world view of translation and equivalence of researchers changes and varies, as they will try to elucidate the processes that generated the equivalence and participated in the process

2.3.2 Descriptive Translation Studies

Gideon Toury (1995) argues that descriptive studies provide the means to define the regular language features found in the translated texts The descriptive element is therefore a vital component of empirical research The primary components of the descriptive studies are the prediction of the data that is likely

to be found during research and the description and explanation of the data

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found Descriptive research is trying to answer the following question of whether the information collected confirms the researcher's expectations If not, why did the outcome differ from the assumptions? By investigating the credibility of the theory, the data will be found to either match or challenge the theory tested If the data received are not consistent with the predicted theory, the assumptions should be revised in order to match the accumulated data Mona Baker summarizes Toury’s argument by saying that “its agenda consists primarily of investigating what translation is “under any defined set of circumstances and how it is realized” (Baker 1993) Baker points out that it is important to investigate why certain patterns can be seen in translation This research should be carried out by closely monitoring the universal features of translations If particular deviations from the source text are found throughout a large body of texts, it is highly likely that translation universals can be found Another important feature of Descriptive Translation Studies is that its research methods must be designed in such a way that they can be duplicated by future scholars ‘One of its main objectives is to make the findings of individual studies intersubjective and to make the studies themselves “repeatable, either for the same or for another corpus”’(Baker 1993) By conducting research in a similar manner, the data found will be more reliable because the research method has already been validated by previous research Careful selection of a well-defined corpus will also help to achieve the best possible results Descriptive studies therefore rely heavily on empirical research

2.3.3 Translation universals

The concept of translation universal was first proposed in 1995 by Gideon Toury, an Israeli scholar and translator In his work Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond, Toury (1995) sets out his ideas on this translation

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phenomenon, claiming that “the cumulative findings of descriptive studies should make it possible to formulate a series of coherent laws that would establish an inherent relationship between all the variables found to be relevant

to translation” In other words, by conducting empirical research, descriptive studies should provide evidence that confirms the presence of certain regularities that exist in all translated texts There are two important aspects to these translation regularities

First, these regularities contain syntactic, linguistic or lexical behaviors that deviate from the source text Second, these translation variations need to occur

on a regular basis Toury referred to these phenomena as “translation laws” Not all scholars, however, agree with this terminology The majority prefer the term

“translation universal” because they consider these translation features to be universally present in all translations These translation laws or translation universals have become the starting point for a lot of academic research in the field of translation studies Scholars still speculate whether translation universals actually exist and, if so, what categories can be identified

The fact that Translation Studies has developed into an empiric science can

be traced back to an American scholar named James Holmes (Toury 1995) According to Toury, until 1987, Holmes’ theories were largely unknown to a wide audience He believed that Holmes' work was the cornerstone of Translation Studies and that his ideas should therefore be known to the wider public Toury finally made his theories known to an international audience Baker (1993) uses the following quotation from Holmes to illustrate his views

on Translation Studies: “Many of the weaknesses and naiveties of contemporary translation theories are the result of the fact that the theories were largely deductively developed, without the use of actual translated texts, or, at best, of a very limited corpus introduced for illustration rather than for verification”

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Holmes therefore argues that translation studies used to be based on assumptions rather than actual data acquired through empirical research into existing translations It is precisely this empirical research that is the hallmark of Descriptive Translation Studies These “probabilistic norms of behavior” are what Toury (1995) calls “laws of translational behavior” and which were later dubbed “translation universal” by other scholars But what exactly does the term

“translation universals” mean? Judging from its terminology, it must be

“something” that is universally present in translations According to Anna Mauranen (2004), it has been reported that she uses generally unmarked grammar, clichés, and typical, common lexis instead of unusual or unique They are said to replace the standard dialect language, normalize punctuation and exaggerate target-language features Translation universals, then, are rules that predict translation behavior and are established by critical examination and comparison of translations Scholars such as Andrew Chesterman and Mona Baker give two very clear definitions of what translation universal is all about The definition of Mona Baker is more concise “Universal features [ ] can

be seen as a product of the constraints inherent in the translation process itself, and this accounts for the fact that they are universal (or at least we assume they are, pending further research) They don't vary across cultures” According to Baker (1993) translation universals are “features which typically occur in translated texts rather than in original texts and which are not the result of interference by specific linguistic systems” So, to sum up, the translation universal is: (1) Characteristic of each translation (2) Not to be present in non-translation (3) A constant factor even when language pairs, text-types, translators, and time periods vary

Although Chesterman argues that universal language is “a feature found (or

at least claimed) to characterize all translations,” there seems to be a difference

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of opinion between the various critics (Chesterman 2004) Mauranen (2004) explains: “The term “universals” does not necessarily mean only absolute laws, which are true without exception Rather, most of the universal features suggested are general or law-like trends or high probability of occurrence” Thus, she argues that translation universals are, in fact, not universally present in translations, but rather have a tendency to occur Their presence in translations is likely, but not inevitable The definition of Mauranen corresponds to the ideas of Gideon Toury on the laws of translational behavior He defines his translation laws by saying: “The envisaged laws are anything but absolute, designed to state the likelihood that a kind of behavior or surface realization would occur under one set of specific conditions or under another” (Toury 1995) Even though Mauranen and Toury agree on their definition of translation laws, other scholars

do not share their views

2.3.4 Categories of Translation Universals

Translation universal is an umbrella term that can be divided into a variety

of subcategories Mona Baker (1993) published her work Corpus Linguistics and Translation Studies Implications and Applications in which it presents a list

of possible translation universals that have been further developed by other scholars Baker argues that these universals are “linked to the nature of the process of translation itself rather than to the confrontation of specific linguistic systems” (Baker 1993) These translation universals should therefore be present

in all translations between all language pairs

The initial list of five potential translation universals presented by Baker (1993) includes: (1) A marked increase in the level of explicitness compared to the specific source texts and the original texts in general (2) A tendency towards ambiguity and simplification (3) A strong preference for conventional

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grammaticality (4) A tendency to avoid repetition in source texts, either by omitting or by rewording them (5) A general tendency to exaggerate the characteristics of the target language

The first translation universal, also known as explicitation, includes a tendency for translations to clarify linguistic obscurities and to be more specific than the original source text Mauranen (2004) defines the explicitation as “The process of translation tends to add information and linguistic material to the text being translated” With the inclusion of additional information, it is unlikely that the explicitation will be present in the subtitles because the subtitles are bound

to a specific number of characters per screen This space constraint often forces source text information to be deleted from the translation because there is no space to incorporate a translation into a lengthy speech or dialogue It seems unlikely, therefore, that the explicitation will be present in the subtitles

The second translation universal put forward by Mona Baker is a tendency towards ambiguity and simplification This simplification includes phenomena such as the use of shorter sentences in translation, preferring finite rather than non-finite structures, resolving ambiguity, eliminating unusual punctuation and producing texts with a lower lexical density and a lower type-token ration (Pym 2008) Baker also calls this “levelling out” phenomenon Defines “levelling out”

as “the tendency of the translated text to gravitate towards the center of the continuum” (Pym 2008) Overall, simplification seems to be the exact opposite

of explicitity Simplification will no doubt be found in subtitles because the deletion of information caused by space constraint, as briefly discussed above, is already a form of simplification

The third translation universal, a strong preference for conventional

“grammaticality”, is, in fact, a translator trying to correct some of the language errors or marked grammatical constructions made in the source text This

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translation universal is also known as standardization or conservatism (Pym 2008) Baker (1993) usually call it normalization and define “[Normalization] manifests itself in an overwhelming tendency to round off unfinished sentences,

“grammaticize” ungrammatical utterances, and to omit such things as false beginnings and self-corrections, even those that are clearly intentional” The correction of clearly intentional errors is an interesting feature in particular When this translation universal is found, the translator has simply created a target text that deviates significantly from the source text and does not maintain the level of ambiguity found in the original It is entirely possible that the source text contains deliberate ambiguity, either as a comical effect or as a narrative device, to throw the audience out of balance If this is the case, intentional errors form the narrative of the text and, by correcting these “mistakes”, the translator may accidentally create inconsistencies between the source and the target text However, choosing to leave unintentional errors out of translation can be a very logical course of action, especially in subtitles where the translator has to deal with a limited number of words Since these unintentional errors are of no importance to the narrative, the translator can easily remove them in order to create more space for the text that is important Normalization will therefore most likely be present in subtitles

The fourth translation universal introduced by Baker deals with the lack of repetition in translation In the case of novel or other translations, the translator will not get into trouble by increasing or decreasing the total number of words

In the case of book translations, a few more pages will not be a problem for the publisher, so that repeated omissions will not be appropriate in this case If space restriction is not an issue, there is no reason not to include all repetitions However, this is a completely different matter when it comes to subtitling There are two reasons why a translator may have chosen to omit repetition when

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discussing subtitling If the source text contains a large amount of replication, it seems reasonable for the translator to omit some replication if the amount of space needed to be replicated in the subtitling could be used in a more useful way and the target text will not suffer from quality loss by omitting information that is important to the narrative Baker points out that “Toury reports this feature as one of the most persistent and unbending translation standards in all the languages studied so far” (Baker 1993) Toury's statement therefore predicts that this translation universal will be most commonly found when it comes to translation universal research And indeed, recurrence will most certainly be present in subtitling, because recurrence does not provide any new information and will therefore easily be excluded from subtitles

The fifth and final translation universal presented by Baker is the “general tendency to exaggerate the features of the target language” (Baker 1993) This translation universal involves a tendency for translations to make use of certain linguistic constructions present in the target language, which make up the fact that these characteristics do not appear in the source text Vanderauwera is quoted by Baker, and she “suggests that translations over-represent the features

of their host environment in order to make up for the fact that they were not originally meant to work in that environment” (Baker 1993) This means that a specific language characteristic that is not present in the source text will be found in the target text on a number of occasions in order to validate its occurrence in the translation This translation universal seems unlikely to be present in subtitles for the same reason that it seems unlikely to be made explicit It includes information that is not present in the source text of the translation Again, the space constraint limits the amount of information that can

be included in the subtitles so that there is no room for additional content

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Gideon Toury also elaborates on two translation laws, as he calls them, in his book Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond It defines two translation laws, which it calls “the law of increasing standardization” and “the law of interference.” Toury gives three rather long and complicated definitions of the first law, but the following definition is the most concise one: “in translation, the textual relations obtained in the original are often modified, sometimes to the point of being completely ignored, in favor of the usual options offered by the target repertoire” (Toury 1995) Toury's law of increasing standardization therefore predicts that the marked or unusual language features found in the source text are likely to be replaced by a less marked or more common language feature in the target text Sara Laviosa argues that this law “leads to the dissolution of the original set of textual relations” (Laviosa 2004)

In other words, when standardization takes place in translation, the specific language features that characterize the source text become more general in the target text These changes create a target text that no longer contains the same interconnected language features as the source text Interestingly, this explanation is similar to the definition of other translation universals mentioned above Mauranen (2004) argues that the law of increasing standardization may also be included in the heading of conventionalization or standardization In addition, it maintains that “the hypothesis of conventionalization seems to overlap to a degree with simplification; both regard the noticeably high lexical frequencies of certain items as supporting evidence of their hypothesis” (Mauranen 2004) Taking into account Mauranen’s argument, Toury’s Law of Increasing Standardization and Translation Universal Conventionalization, Normalization and Simplification all appear to be synonymous with the same phenomenon Standardization is likely to be present in subtitles because I think subtitles often choose less marked and more general terms in order to make

in the target system” (Pym 2008) Thus, an example of a negative transfer can be source language words that have not been translated because translation would result in a loss of information Positive transfer includes features that do not deviate from the target text and that are why these features will not be recognized by the readers of the translation However, the fact that the transfer is not recognizable does not mean that there is no interference It is simply invisible because this transfer contains language characteristics that are essential

to the translation process (Pym 2008) Pym gives a very clear illustration of the positive transfer in the following passage: 'at least, between European languages, there is a default rule that translates sentence by phrase, paragraph by paragraph, text section by text section, and that all default behavior can be described as

“interference” (Pym 2008) He explains that translators are used to translating texts in a certain chronological order While reading the text, the target audience

is not only consciously aware of this translation universal procedure, but also is nevertheless present The law of interference also has a high potential to be present in subtitles because loan words are quite common

Sanitization will be the final universal category of translation discussed This translation universal includes “the suspected adaptation of source text reality to make it more palatable for target audiences” (Kenny 1998) Again, this universal generalizes the source text in order to create a translation that is easier

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to understand and therefore faster to read Sanitization therefore shares the same characteristics as standardization and normalization Chesterman (2004), however, adds a little extra depth to this universal, arguing that sanitization creates “more conventional collocations” As a result, sanitization has a high probability of appearing in subtitles, as collocations often do not correspond across language boundaries

2.4 Conceptual framework

As stated at the beginning of this chapter, subtitle translation has a wide variety of requirements and constraints One of them is to ensure that the audience has a similar experience when watching the translated film as they did when watching the original Furthermore, the subtitle translation must adhere to time and space constraints, such as no more than two lines in one scene and a reading time that does not exceed the content of the scene being described by the subtitles When watching a movie, the audience continuously archives four channels of information at the same time, so the translated subtitles must also ensure that the impact of the other channels on the audience is maintained Translators must maintain that watching subtitle movies involves more than just reading subtitles They must also enjoy the impact of images, sound, and other effects As a result, it is critical to select an approach to investigate translation equivalence for subtitles

Previously, most film translation equivalence studies used the familiar equivalent approaches The most common approach for analyzing translation equivalence is structural equivalence, which examines the grammatical structure relationship between the source and target texts Semantic equivalence is another commonly used approach for analysis that ensures the text's meaningful content remains unchanged during translation These two approaches are widely used in

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evaluating text and book translations However, using these methods for subtitle translation is not a good idea Previous studies of subtitle translation have presented more non-equivalence factors and have covered more about how to deal with non-equivalence Some researchers have mentioned dynamic equivalence approaches as well as descriptive translation studies such as translation universals or translation laws in their proposed solution to non-equivalence

Descriptive translation studies, as mentioned in the previous section, are concerned with the techniques and methods that have created translation, which

is at the heart of the translation process The descriptive translation study focuses on the experiences of recipients with the target text compared to the source text by taking into account the translator's choices under any translational factors, such as laws, universals, norms, or other factors that influence those choices This theory is an appropriate tool for dynamic equivalence analysis, also known as functional relation assessment The functional relationship investigates the experiences (textual functions) that the source and target texts bring to their respective audiences Some theorists have also argued that it is perfectly reasonable to analyze the translation of film subtitles using the dynamic equivalence approach, descriptive translation studies, or both

The Vietnamese translation of the Sherlock series on Netflix was chosen as

a sample for investigation in this study Despite the fact that classical British cultural works such as Sherlock Holmes and Romeo and Juliet have been chosen

as subjects for numerous studies Sherlock, on the order hand, was not only the film based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes storyline, but it was also designed in a modern and approachable style The Sherlock film has received a lot of appreciation and has won a lot of awards It is regarded as a significant step toward encouraging younger generations to become interested in classical

This makes Sherlock on Netflix an appealing research subject because there are many cultural elements in Sherlock, as well as many unique words that come from special personalities characters These factors will complicate the translation process significantly When analyzed using dynamic equivalence and descriptive translation study, this makes Sherlock’s Vietnamese translation on Netflix more relevant These are the aims of study

In order to achieve these aims, there are three research questions, which will be answered in the following chapters of this research: (1) What are the translation universals and laws used in translating subtitles of Sherlock on Netflix? (2) What are the behaviors of translation universals in Vietnamese subtitles? (3) How is the functional relationship between English and Vietnamese subtitles?

2.5 Chapter summary

In this chapter, the literature review includes a review of theoretical background and the previous studies An overview of some theoretical background dealing with the general concepts of subtitle translation, subtitle constraints, equivalence in translation, descriptive translation study and translation universal is presented for background of analyzing the dynamic

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equivalence in the Vietnamese subtitles of Sherlock series on Netflix In terms

of previous research works, the studies by oversea and Vietnamese authors are given to briefly review what has been found and discussed to find out the gap of the study

After collecting and transcribing the subtitles, the English and Vietnamese subtitles are analyzed in order to determine the universals and laws that translators used to render the series These translation universals and laws will

be investigated for their behavior in the subtitle translation During this process, functional relationships for the final part of the research findings in each sample would be recognized Following that, the results are systematically classified into appropriate universals and laws based on the theoretical framework

3.2 Sampling and Methods of data collection

The data collection procedure was basically divided into two steps, which were as follows:

Step 1: Collecting subtitle samples

The first and most important step in this research is to collect selected words from the subtitles of Sherlock on Netflix This was accomplished by watching the entire nine episodes of Sherlock with Vietnamese subtitles Selected subtitles and original transcripts were written down for further analysis Step 2: Create a database of original transcripted and translated subtitles

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It was necessary to create a database that included both the original English subtitles and their Vietnamese translations so that it would be easier and more convenient to investigate the samples for analysis and comparison

3.3 Analysis methodology

Baker’s and Toury’s assessment frameworks were used to guide the data analysis procedures The frameworks are divided into four parts: 1) ST and TT analysis, 2) Translator's universals and laws analysis, 3) Universals and laws behavior analysis, and 4) Functional relationship evaluation (dynamic equivalence of translation) The assessment procedure could be broken down as follows:

Step 1: Examine the source and target text

The characteristics of the original subtitles were examined The characteristics of translated subtitles were also investigated This was done to identify whether the translator had used any translation universals or laws when translating the subtitles

Step 2: Examine the universals and laws of the translator

The translation universals and laws used to translate subtitles would be investigated Analyzing and categorizing translation universals and laws were found in various words and scenes throughout the series

Step 3: Analyze the behavior of translation universals and laws

In this case, the behavior of translations universals and laws would be investigated in the translated subtitle The impact of the translated subtitle on viewers will be assessed The major issues that arose when using universals or laws to translate the subtitles, as well as how they were handled, would be discussed

Step 4: Assess the functional relationship

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Following an examination of the impact of the translated subtitle, the impact of the original will be examined These two impacts will be compared in order to determine the functional relationships This is the point at which we can assess the dynamic equivalence of translation Following each step, the findings were synthesized to answer the research question of how well the translations met the requirements of the translation equivalence framework

In the following chapter, the information on translation universals that were presented by Baker (1993) were connected to the principles of subtitling and subtitles translating The television series Sherlock functioned as the corpus for this research A short summary of these translation universals is shown for easy reference

 Explicitation: translation is more specific and clarifies obscurities of source text

 Simplification: translation makes use of less complicated language features such as grammar and lexical choices

 Normalization: translation corrects certain languages mistakes or marked constructions

 Omission of repetition

 Exaggeration of target language features

The provided examples are presented in a table with two windows In the left window, the English utterance can be read while the right window shows the accompanying Vietnamese subtitles If an English sentence does not have a Vietnamese counterpart it simply means that the utterance has not been translated

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As for translation laws, Toury’s translation laws will be evaluated in the translation of Sherlock on Netflix in this chapter A short summary of two translation laws is shown for easy reference

 Law of growing standardization: marked or uncommon language features found in a source text have a large probability of being replaced by a less marked or more common language feature in the target text

 Law of interference: Translations possess language features that can also be found in the source text These language features are divided into negative and positive transfer

3.4 Chapter summary

The approach of the thesis has been presented in this chapter This chapter also contains information on data processing processes Furthermore, data collection instruments and procedures, as well as data processing procedures, are defined The study's findings will be presented in the following chapter

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CHAPTER 4 TRANSLATION UNIVERSALS AND

TRANSLATION LAWS IN SHERLOCK

4.1 Translation Universals in Sherlock

The Blind Banker, Season 1 Episode 2, presents the first interesting case of

explicitation In this scene, Sherlock and John discussed the graffiti signs left in the office building to threaten one of the employees

John: Some sort of code? John: Có vẻ như là một loại mật mã?

As we can see, the Vietnamese translation is much more explicit than the original English translation The translation uses the verb “là” whereas the source text does not contain any verb at all This verb addition creates a grammatically correct interrogative sentence when the original only uses a noun phrase The inflection in John’s voice is the only sign that his utterance is a question This makes the translation much more formal than the original one The reason for this grammatical and lexical explanation remains unclear because the literal translation of “Một loại mã nào đó?” would have been sufficient in

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meaning, and this translation would have been more faithful to the source text than to the current translation

Another example of explicitation can be found in Season 1 Episode 3, The

Great Game In this particular scene, John (by orders of Sherlock) investigates

the peculiar circumstances surrounding the death of a man named Andrew

“Westie” West The following quote is from his fiancée, Lucy Harrison

Lucy Harrison: I knew Westie He was

a good man He was my good man

Lucy Harrison: Tôi biết Westie Anh

ấy là người tốt Anh ấy là người chồng tốt của tôi

The source text uses repetition and the fact that the word “man” is a homonym First of all Lucy tells John that her fiancée had done nothing wrong;

he was a good human being Next, she makes her sentence more personal by changing the article “a” to the possessive adjective “my” to show that Westie was her fiancée and that she loved him “Man” also has the same two possible meanings in Vietnamese Thus, even if a literal translation of the source text is possible, the translation chosen is understandable because the Vietnamese equivalent of the English language “a good man” is “một người tốt” The use of the Vietnamese language, and thus the word “man” requires a more explicit translation in order to show the audience what Lucy means The chosen translation seems to be a good option because it keeps repeating itself, uses the correct Vietnamese language and still manages to convey the same message

In Season 3 Episode 1, The Empty Hearse, we find another prominent

example of explicitation The following quote can be found in a scene in which John is walking up to his apartment on Baker Street Two boys, who push a dummy in a wheelchair, approach and ask John the following question:

to the customs of the Vietnamese currency and therefore this instance is part of the universal standardization of translation

Let us go back to the explicitation The boys ask John if he has got some money to give to “the guy.” At a later point in this episode, the audience finds that a criminal organization wants to blow the Houses of Parliament in imitation

of the failed of Gunpowder Plot on 5 November 1605 “The guy” the boys are asking for money is a reference to the man behind the Gunpowder Plot Residents of the United Kingdom are probably familiar with the Gunpowder Plot, but a fair number of foreigners are probably not Subtitles provide additional information to the audience by providing “the guy” as “Người Pháo” The addition of “Người Pháo” makes it explicit that boys don't just ask for money for “some” guy The inclusion of “Pháo” will make the larger audience aware of the significance of the boy's request

A further instance of explicitation can be found in Season 3 Episode 1 In

this scene, Sherlock and John are talking about the terrorist organization threatening the British nation Suddenly, Sherlock understands who and what they are dealing with

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Sherlock: Not an underground network

but an underground network!

Sherlock: không phải là một mạng lưới ngầm? mà là một Mạng Lưới Ngầm!

While the source text remains brilliantly ambiguous, the subtitles already inform the audience of the solution As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, John Watson is equal to the audience He is a common man who reacts with surprise and wonder to the genius of Sherlock, just as the audience does This makes John an easily recognizable character The look on John’s face shows that he doesn't understand what Sherlock means, but the subtitles already point to the difference between the two networks The subtitles make the solution explicit, while the audience should stay in the dark for a little longer Sherlock is an inimitable genius, so it's only natural that the audience doesn't understand his reasoning before he explains it

Season 1 Episode 1, A Study in Pink provides yet another example of

explicitation It can be found in a scene where Sherlock and John are looking for their first time in their new apartment, 221B Baker Street During their conversation, John tells Sherlock that he's done some research to find out more about Sherlock and his work

John: I looked you up on the Internet

last night

John: Hôm qua tôi đã tra google về anh

The verb “tra google” is an interesting translation choice because it is much more explicit than the English verb “looking up.” The verb indicates that the speaker uses the Google internet search engine Google is undoubtedly the most popular search engine on the Internet, and “tra google” has become a widely accepted verb to search the Internet for information One reason why this verb