Subtitling Historical Drama TV Series: Constraints and Considerations

Subtitling Historical Drama TV Series: Constraints and Considerations
[PP: 45-59]
Şirin Okyayuz
Department of Translation and Interpreting
Bilkent University
Ankara, Turkey
ABSTRACT
Although there are a large number of books and articles on subtitling concentrating on different aspects of
the endeavour, less attention seems to be devoted to the subtitling constraints and the possible strategies to
be used in film and television series genres. For example, the subtitling of historical drama TV series, which
have become very popular and reach a wide audience across the world, is a rarely studied endeavour. The
following article is an effort to present a framework for the subtitlers of historical drama in consideration of
the constraints of subtitling, as well as the features of the genre itself. Following an introduction about
historical distance in translation, the linguistic, cultural and discoursal elements used in the production of the
genre, the constraints of subtitling are exemplified with a comparative analysis of a historical drama and its
subtitles into English. Particular attention is devoted to the translation strategies used in rendering registers
and temporal and geographical varieties of language and, the strategies used to convey military, imperial,
religious culture and social stratification. In conclusion, the study hopes to suggest points of practical use for
subtitlers, concerning the subtitling of, what is explained in the study as, pseudo historical distance in
historical drama and formulating a subtitling metatext
Keywords: Subtitling, Historical drama, Historical distance, Metatext, Subtitling constraints
ARTICLE The paper received on: 27/12/2015 Reviewed on: 17/01/2016 Accepted after revisions on: 06/02/2016
INFO
Suggested citation:
Okyayuz, S. (2016). Subtitling Historical Drama TV Series: Constraints and Considerations International Journal of
English Language & Translation Studies. 4(1), 45-59. Retrieved from http://www.eltsjournal.org
1. Introduction translation and subtitling from a lager

Audiovisual translation in general and outlook with books discussing the new
subtitling as a prominent type of points of view on audiovisual translation
audiovisual translation is diligently studied and media accessibility (i.e., Jankowska &
within the scope of translation studies. Szarkowska, 2016; Bruti & Perego, 2015;
Today, a majority of books and articles Baños Piñero & Díaz Cintas, 2015), there
concentrate on the many different aspects are also works about new technologies for
and uses of subtitling. For example, some audiovisual translation (i.e., Sánchez-Gijón
authors prefer to discuss audiovisual & Torres-Hostench, 2015; Romero-Fresco,
International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN:2308-5460
Volume: 04 Issue: 01 January- March, 2016
2014), books on taking stock of the the ambience of a particular period in the
audiovisual markets around the world (i.e., past. The term is used in the context of
Diaz-Cintas & Neves, 2015). There are drama for the stage as well as film,
other examples concentrating on the act of television productions, and it can apply to
translation and the specific difficulties genres like romance, adventure and merged
encountered in subtitling. For example, versions of these.
authors who discuss the difficulty of The narrative of historical drama may
translating different genres like humour be explained as, scripted stylized dialogues
(i.e., De Rosa et al, 2014), translation containing historical and rhetorical features
scholars discussing linguistic variation (i.e., to achieve historical distancing to place the
Ellender, 2015), the sociocultural impact of story in a certain time frame.
subtitling (i.e., Mezei, 2015), subtitling In reference to historical distance, J. D.
practices in a specific country (i.e., Hollander et al (2011, p. 4) state that, if past
Massidda, 2015), subtitling strategies used and present have to be seen as stages in a
for a certain type of audiovisual product grand-scale process of development, then
(i.e., Sohrabi, 2015), or works outlining past and present must somehow be
strategies that can be used in subtitling (i.e., different. In terms of producing this
Kalemba, 2014). Much less attention is difference, (i.e. the historical distance), in
devoted to the translation problems inherent the contemporary now, generally historical
in a certain genre of audiovisual product drama bears the marks of its historical
and the translation strategies that can be period through the use of certain style and
employed by the translators. lexicon.
Today, some genres of films and J. D. Hollander et al (2011, p. 5), refer
television series such as sit-coms, hospital to two typical attitudes held with regard to
series, series on law and order and historical historical distance, the first being the
drama are frequently produced and viewed minimizers approach, which sees the past
by audiences all over the world, thus and the present as separated by a gap that
translated into many languages. From a ought to be bridged in order to have
translator’s perspective, it is possible to historical understanding, and the
study the generic features of these series maximizers approach, which argues that
and to study the options available in clear distinction between past and present
overcoming the problematic features in the do not exist, as the present is a result of the
translations of such series. This study aims past, it is hard to say where one stops and
to initially outline the features that compose the other begins. Thus, historical drama
a historical drama series, and go on to produced in the present can be said to using
exemplify the difficulties in translating both approaches, as, if the gap referred to by
these series, as well as providing possible minimizers is not present then there is no
translation strategies for the translation of historical flavour, but the continuum
historical drama series and films. implied by the maximizers also has to be
Historical drama otherwise referred to present for it to have a meaning for the
as historical period or costume drama, or present day viewers. Historical drama
period pieces are audiovisual products in contains historico-geographical references
which elaborate costumes, sets and that are used in a way that allows them to be
properties are featured in order to capture
Cite this article as: Okyayuz, S. (2016). Subtitling Historical Drama TV Series: Constraints and Considerations
International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies. 4(1), 45-59. Retrieved from
http://www.eltsjournal.org
Page | 46
Subtitling Historical Drama TV Series: Constraints and Considerations Okyayuz, Sirin
easily perceived by the viewer’s due to The series is an international success

well-crafted dialogue. sold to over 56 countries reaching over 200
Historical distance is not merely million viewers3. It has been both subtitled
shorthand for temporal distance, but it (for example, in Russia and Greece) and
rather indicates a variety of strategies dubbed (for example, in Macedonia, USA
employed to achieve proximity and and Iran), the choice of AVT mode
separation. In this, the strategies used by the changing according to viewer profiles and
screenwriters may be considered to be channel policies.
markers to be used for achieving the same The series is not a documentary on
in the translations. Turkish history, nor is it a text, for example,
J. Holmes’ (1972) assumption is that by an Ottoman author to be translated into a
the antiquity of a text is apparent on three foreign language, which would be an
levels: the linguistic, the literary and poetic, example of real historical distance. It is an
and the socio-cultural. In the case of example of concocted historical distance
contemporized versions of retelling of (based in actual history to a certain extent)
history in the historical drama genre, the in the telling of a love story filled with
presence of the visual and in subtitling even action and intrigue.
the audial1, is essentially what characterizes In this case, the historical distance is a
the historical nature of such productions. In backdrop for flavouring and presenting
this sense contemporary renditions of something new for the audience. This is
historical drama actually have a pseudo similar to the case of the movie
historical distance. Shakespeare in Love (without the literary
Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Aşk-I Derun (The references) or Disney movies like Aladdin
Magnificent Century) is a historical drama (without the caricaturization and
written by Meral Okay and following her Americanisms), where there is foreignness
demise by Yılmaz Şahin, directed by and exoticism side by side in dressing up a
Yağmur and Durul Taylan and produced by production. The tendency to concoct
TIMS Productions. The series ran from Western style mediated representations of
2011 through 2014, airing 139 episodes in otherness was investigated by E. Said
Turkey2. The fictional series, set in the 16th (1995, p. 3) where he used the term
century in the Ottoman Empire tells the orientalism to refer to all forms of
story of the longest reigning Ottoman representation of distant cultures created by
Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent and his Western civilization. Disney movies like
wife Hürrem who rose from being a slave to Aladdin for example which portray cultural
a power wielding Sultana. otherness reveal a well-devised mixture of
references to exotic worlds and modern
1 harpsichord in portraying the music of a past period

Whereas the target audience may not understand
the dialogues, the audial track also contains music in English or American drama.
2
which in the case of historical drama very often For details see: http://en.tims.tv/serie/magnificent-
contains cannonized music with instruments and century
3
sound which contemporary audiences may identify http://www.al-
as belonging to a time past. Classical examples may monitor.com/pulse/tr/contents/articles/opinion/2013
be given as the use of the pipe organ or the /08/magnificent-century-turkey.html#

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thought and present a balance between subtitlers, that is of interest for the
novelty and familiarity (Di Giovanni, 2003, translation scholar. The translator has
p. 211). limited options as he is working with a
The screen writer, Okay, has used this prototext which he can manipulate only in
basic strategy in scripting the series. Just as so far as the visual and the audial permits it
the translators of the “past” tend to be more in forming a metatext and has to consider
open and straightforward than the originals many strategies and deal with multiple
and their text can be viewed as illustrations, constraints including the constraints of
Okay, in translating the past into the present subtitling itself.
in her script has chosen to flavour her 2. Subtitling Historical Drama: General
essentially contemporary Turkish narrative Constraints Involved
with references of the past instead of In subtitling, an essentially ancillary
linguistically and sometimes even and extraneous element added to the
realistically situating it in the past. finished product, limitations of space and
Subtitling such culturally and time, rendering speech with writing, the
historically flavoured series for another presence of image and the source dialogue,
culture and language implies that we are the fact that the narrative must include
interpreting otherness through the images propositional content of utterances and
and words used by the narrators’ culture- formal features of the dialogue as well
which is contemporary Turkish culture. The (Diaz Cintas, 2009, p. 49) are some
contemporary Turkish culture differs on challenges, there is also the vulnerability
many scales from the Ottoman culture in (Diaz Cintas, 2009, p. 57) such as the
that the language is different (Ottoman scrutiny of the audience who may have
Turkish vs. contemporary Turkish), the knowledge of the source language.
socio-political setting is different (an Basically the act of subtitling involves
Empire vs. a democracy), the cultural eliminating what is not relevant and
realities are different (a Muslim Empire vs. reformulating what is in a concise form
a secular state), the time/era is different (the (Diaz Cintas, 2009, pp. 145-146). H.
16th century vs. the 21st century) and so on. Gottlieb (1998, p. 247) stresses that
Essentially the problems involved with “…slight condensation will enhance rather
dealing with this type of a historical than impair the effectiveness of the intended
distance are not so different than translating message.” This condensation has to be done
across languages, as in each case there is a with minimal loss of content in two lines,
distance be it temporal, spatial or textual. and though quantitative reduction does not
But, according to P. Fawcett (1998, p. 120) always imply rhetoric simplification, the
a writer in his source language can call up lexical choices must be made appropriately.
complexes of language very economically But, what cannot be immediately and
and it follows logically that the initial economically expressed in English subtitles
economic scripting of an Ottoman era is the specificity of the features and the
through the voice of a Turkish writer (who familiarity that allows the associated
is essentially a descendent of this era) is narrative to remain unexpressed in the
simpler. It is the endeavour that is to be reflection of the Ottoman other in the
undertaken to call up references to Ottoman Turkish version
culture which is problematic for the
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On the other hand, foreign viewers who moments of resistance in the subtitling
recognize a subtitled version as a translation process.
realise that it comes from a cultural and In these instances of resistance,
historical setting different from their own, subtitling is never innocent, there is always
presenting them with what could be referred some rewriting of the source, even when
to as contextual mismatches. In some cases there is no ideology involved. The decisions
these mismatches are filled in by the made by the translator govern the
viewers. For example, F. Chaume’s (2004 realisation of the AV product and the way
as quoted in Diaz Cintas, 2009) semiotic in which it is perceived. But, in the case of
cohesion entails the filling of gaps by a pseudo historical drama, subtitled and
viewers with information from images subject to other constraints, how plausible
when not given in subtitles. During the is it to expect anything beyond a metatext of
reading, interpretation and mental subtitles to be used by the viewers to
recreation of a subtitle questions may arise understand the original?
which will probably be answered based on 3. Working with Culture, Discourse, and
previous linguistic and cultural knowledge, Dialogue in Subtitling to Achieve a
this according to R. M. Olher (2004, p. 74) Balance between Preservation of the
is the use of “internal aid strategies”. Original and Transfer of the Message
Viewers may also overlook contextual According to Y. Gambier (2003, p.
mismatches and use contextual skipping 179) an AV product has to be different
and apply the context to their own context. enough to be foreign, but similar enough to
For example, the sultan becomes the king of be able to retain the viewers’ attention. In
the past in their cultures. this respect, culture poses one of the most
The images also serve to support this, important hurdles for the subtitler.
as anchoring occurs when words and L. Lorenzo (2003, p. 272), in defining
images convey more or less the same cultural aspects of AV products refers to
information and thus subtitling makes the “all those elements that make one society
most of the narrative functions of images. In different from another.” In the case of
this sense the bi-text of subtitled versions culture specific references, translation,
enter into a unique communication with the being a discursive practice, influences the
viewers. L. Venuti (1998, p. 67) states that way the source culture is perceived in the
“translation wields enormous power in target.
constructing representations of foreign Culture specific references are the
cultures”, in this vein, AV products wield verbal and the nonverbal, both visual and
power as in their social impact and visibility auditory signs, which constitute a problem
as a mode of intercultural exchange they in intercultural transfer because they refer to
affect cultural representations. sociocultural realities of the source culture
Linguistic difference is one of the of the AV product. V. Ivır’s (1987, p. 42)
major obstacles in this communication; differentiation of culture-in-focus and
however, language and culture being deeply culture-as-background are important
intertwined and whole texts being culturally because as outlined in the case of pseudo
embedded and based on a community of historical distance in drama the writer has
references predictably shared by most used an extinct culture as background. This
members of the source, there are other is not to say it can be delegated to the realm
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of unimportance, but the strategies to deal classification of strategies for dealing with
with it need to be devised accordingly. these. But, it can also be argued that due to
It could be argued that, due to the wide the lack of grounding for the audience as
spread presence of for example historical well (i.e., they have probably not watched a
drama disseminated from Britain (i.e., films historical drama set in the Ottoman era
about Queen Elizabeth or the Elizabethan either), this is not as simplistic.
Era) and the USA (i.e., films about the Some examples as regards palace
American Civil War), the subtitler for those culture, religious culture of the Ottomans
products would have the advantage of and the scripting of these in conveying
studying previous examples from historical distance in the original may serve
colleagues, or there is less of a referential to clarify this issue.
vacuum due to dissemination of AV In terms of the scripting of audiovisual
products originally from English and productions the interaction between words
American sources. In this case, there is no and images used to convey meaning is
previously acclaimed or widely distributed formulated purposefully. It is here that for
example to draw from, as the peripheral example the proxemics (i.e., only his kin
Turkish television culture has not produced kiss the Sultan’s hand, others kiss the skirts
widely disseminated and translated of his robe) kinesics heritage (i.e., tongue
historical drama. clicking to imply the negative) of different
A. Pym (2000, p. 2), states that, “to communities come into play.
look at translation is immediately to be Another example can be provided from
engaged in issues of how cultures the palace culture conveyed in the original.
interrelate.” Though of course on a wider Since there is a dialectal interrelationship
plane it would be arguable that Turkish between language and social structure, in
culture has interacted and interrelated with that the variables of linguistic usage are
other cultures including the English productions and reflexes of factors such as
speaking one, in this case there is no power relations, occupational roles, social
previous example of cultures actually stratifications, the old Turkish and Ottoman
interrelating through translation in the genre language abound in terms used to refer to
and medium in question. professions or social stratification. In some
Of course, it could also be argued that, cases the translation of the use of ‘vezir,
a cultural feature is a universal notion and paşa, kalfa, kaftan, sultan,’ are pretty much
that the subtitler draws from the repertoire straightforward as one can assume (whether
of strategies made use of in previous correctly or not is another issue, as the best
examples. B. Nedergaar-Larsen (1993), N. of intentions does not guarantee that the
Ramiere (2004), are a few of the scholars result will meet the intended purposes in
who have worked on classifying cultural translation) that these have well known
references in subtitling, Rabadan (1991, p. equivalents in English like ‘vizier, pasha,
164 as quoted in Diaz Cintas, 2009) sultan, caftan etc.’. But, what of others less
proposes the term “referential vacuum” for widely known such as: ‘hekim kadın’ (the
those items which have no equivalent or are sole female doctor in the Palace who serves
unknown in the target culture, and others the Sultanas in the harem and the only
such as J. Diaz Cintaz (2003 as quoted in doctor allowed to touch them), or kapıkulu
Dias Cintas, 2009) have developed a (a group of imperial infantry who are
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employed by the state, recruited from versions would not be foreignizing the text
among non-Muslim families at a young age for the generally Christian or non-Muslim
and trained in one of the military battalions English speakers, but would be
or imperial schools), or Cellat Kara Ali (the exoticisizing the text to the extent that it
head of the squad of executioners under the would be harder for the audience to
command of the Sultan in the imperial associate with it. On the other hand it may
palace). It becomes troublesome for the also be argued that in the subtitled versions
subtitler to find concise versions of these the audience is going to hear some familiar
social statuses. undubbed vocabulary, for example, Allah is
Also to be considered is that, the known to refer to God in the Muslim
context of culture is a wide scope which culture, so to delete the religious culture
subsumes context of situation within it, thus may also lead to suspicions about the
any utterance is an expression of a specific quality of the subtitling.
situation and also a wider, social, historical, The English subtitling of international
ideological context. In this context, how series over the Internet, which is the version
does the subtitler relay the presence of studied, also entails the problem of not
religious culture as a backdrop, without having a direct cultural audience to address.
giving rise to misconceptions like the series The series may be viewed by a native
refers exclusively to the dominance of a English speaker, an Arab speaking English
Muslim culture? In Ottoman times Muslim wishing to watch episodes prior to the time
culture and the use of inşallah (if god is they are aired in his country, or a
willing), ben senden razıyım Rabbim de razı Macedonian who will understand many of
olsun (I am thankful for you, may you also the cultural references, or a Greek who will
be looked favourably upon in the eyes of be familiar will most of the culinary terms,
God), maaşallah (may God protect you or a Chilean who has no inkling of how
from evil doings), Rabbim bir daha Ottomans lived, or a Hispanic American
göstermesin (may God never allow this to who is made aware of the existence of an
happen again) were used as daily Ottoman Empire in the 16th century by the
expressions like (in the respective order as series. In short, there is no narrowing down
presented above) ‘hopefully, hopefully all of audience expectations or scope of
will go well, I hope nothing happens to audience knowledge. In this context the
you’. Translating these with the reflection subtitler needs to carefully devise
of the religious culture poses an exoticism translation strategies to deal with the
that is not intended in the original. dialogues. Though the other subtitled
It is important to differentiate between versions aimed at specific audiences such as
foreignization and exoticism when Macedonians watching prime time soap
choosing the correct strategy in what to operas or Greeks watching Turkish
translate. Foreignization and exoticism historical drama may present a more
have come to be used interchangeably in homogenous profile, this still does not help
some contexts, but as Kwiecinski (2001, p. the translator solve the problem of the lack
15) states though the terms are used rather of overlap between the cultures involved,
loosely, they refer to different phenomena. though there may be some commonalities
For example, it may be argued that the use between cultures the translators can draw
of religious culture in the English subtitled
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from with groups who have shared a The study of speech to written mode
common history. transition has been covered by A. Remael
Since linguistic choices in dialogue are (2001) and A. Assis Rosa (2001) and others
never random in AV production, AV who establish that in subtitling which is
dialogue has a prefabricated orality in that never a complete and detailed rendering,
these inform viewers as well as mimicking also some of the typical features of spoken
the features of everyday conversation language will disappear; grammar and lexis
(Chaume 2004, p. 168 as quoted in Dias tend to be simplified and interactional
Cintas, 2009). The ways the characters features and intonation only maintained to a
speak gives away their personalities and certain extent, in whatever subgenre the AV
backgrounds, the stylistic variants used by production belongs to. Due to the
characters carry connotative meaning over unchanging visual, the main foreign
and above the denotative functions. Some elements of the original essentially remain
AV productions are replete with stylistic the same, and it follows that characters must
variants to the extent that they become an speak as would be envisioned by the
integral part of the story, which is the case viewers (i.e., the sultan must speak in
with historical drama, where, for example, cultured, authoritative, imperial tones.)
in the series studied contemporary Turkish Spoken language of an AV (the audial
and Ottoman styles are mixed. track) is the main source that needs to be
M. Bakthin (1986, pp. 61-62) refers to subtitled, but there are other semiotic
secondary complex speech genres such as systems that make up an AV product. D.
novels, drama (in our context also including Delabastita (1989, p. 199) refers to visual
AV products) arising in more complex and and acoustic presentation each entailing
comparatively highly developed and verbal and non-verbal signs. For example,
organized cultural communication that is in the series studied historical distance is
artistic, socio-political and so forth; but also present in the visual images of Arabic
during the process of their formation they script use in writing by the characters.
absorb and digest and reflect various The subtitler, realistically, turns to
primary simple genres that have taken form what can be done with these discourses and
in the unmediated speech communion. This the presentation of these in dialogues in
is the balance – the artistic use of the searching for markers that will facilitate the
Ottoman culture and the use of translation. The process becomes one of
contemporary Turkish- that Okay used in identifying what these discoursal markers
scripting this historical drama in are, how they have been reflected in the
contemporary Turkish. dialogue (and the formulation of the
H. Reid (1996, pp. 106-107) states that, dialogue as a whole) and devising strategies
it may be preferable not to adapt the for transfer within the constraints of
subtitles to that of the style presented as this subtitling this particular genre.
would slow down comprehension. In the A. Pym (1992, p. 228) states that “what
case of historical drama, the audience translation theory wants to know about
through the setting, props, costumes etc. discourses is the relative degree of difficulty
will understand that people spoke a and success involved in their extension and
different variant of the source language at the degree in which they may undergo
the time. transformation through translation.”
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Discourse choices may be viewed as The second would be varieties of

packaging the communication so as to be language used for special purposes. There is
more effective (Dooley 2008, p. 4). These geographical variety, for example the lead
choices made in the original packaging may character Hürrem, the wife of the sultan,
be met with different ways to package the speaks with a foreign accent marking her as
message for the same effect or the same a foreigner in the environment she is
communicative function, but they have to enslaved in. As with most of the women in
be met to a certain degree for the historical the harem she starts out her life in the
drama genre to remain at least a semblance Ottoman capital as a slave brought to the
of historical drama in translation. M. Morini Ottoman imperial harem. There is also the
(2008, p. 33) states that the initial decisions temporal variety, for example the frequent
by the translator are of a pragmatic nature use of Farsi and Arabic as is common to
and it is important to analyse the choices Ottoman Turkish of the time, which colours
they have in each translating situation. the text as cross temporal, but the use is
At this juncture, there is an added limited not incapacitating the understanding
bonus of subtitling, (and for example not of the contemporary Turkish viewers. An
dubbing), in that paralinguistic features example may be provided as follows: ‘yola
such as intonation, stress patterns in spoken revan olalım’ vs. ‘yola cikalım’ (both
discourse are heard during viewing of meaning ‘let’s get going’) the use of ‘revan
subtitled versions and these can sometimes olmak’ an older expression not currently
have universal effects (i.e., the whispering used which is understood from the context
of someone to relay a confidence, shouting as the characters use it when going
to show outrage, the way a person’s voice somewhere, so it is straightforward in the
changes in talking to a superior etc.). But, Turkish version, but it adds historical and
other features can cause problems. In the temporal flavour. And lastly there are social
case of historical drama these can be varieties such as the Sultan’s educated code
divided into several categories: The first switching between Farsi when he wants to
category can be referred to as register recite poetry which accentuates his cultural
markers and then of course there are wealth.
temporal and geographical varieties of In consideration of the historical
language. distance scripted in the original, the lack of
3.1. Subtitling Register Markers and previous examples from which to draw
Temporal / Geographical Language from, the wideness of the viewership, the
Varieties cultural features of the original, all these
Under register markers, the first type must then be further evaluated carefully by
would be those used to denote a characters the subtitler.
social position. P. Trudgill (1999) refers to 3.2. Using Explicitation to Translate
lexis being almost exclusively the markers Cultural Features
of register which also indicates a characters In looking at some of strategies
social reality. Examples given previously employed by the subtitler in nine random
for palace social culture are difficulties episodes4 and classifying these according to
within this context. J. Diaz Cintas’ (2009, pp. 202-207)
4Season 1, Episodes 1, 6, 7, 10,11 Season 2, Episodes 2,
40, 41, 44.
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categorization of strategies for translation In terms of religious culture, the

of culture and discourse marking terms translation of ‘Allah, do not separate me
would yield the following tableaux: from my soul and those who are my flesh
In analysing the subtitlers choices the and blood- ‘Rabbim beni kendi kanımdan,
preferred strategy seems to be explicitation canımdan ayrı düşürme’(Season1, Episode
which basically implies that the subtitler is 10, 39:20) as ‘do not spill my blood and
trying to make a feature more protect my soul’ is an explicitation in the
understandable or apparent through the use sense that it retains the prayer, but
of hyponymy, generalizations or neutralizes the reference to the Muslim
neutralizations. There are differences in the culture.
actual type of explicitation involved: In terms of social culture, the
In terms of military culture, in translation of ‘the subjects of the Sultan’-
reference to ‘the Imperial tent of the Sultan ‘kul’(Season 1, Episode 1, 12:06) with
at the centre of the encampment of war’ the ‘servant’, which may imply anything from
Ottoman term ‘Ordugah Otağı’(Season 1, an individual paid for duties performed to
Episode 1, 5:42) of the original is met with subservience, explicates the original in the
‘military camp tent’, neutralizing the sense deleting the historicizing concept of
Ottoman military culture and providing the an Empire of subjects of the Sultan.
main features of there being a camp and a This strategy of neutralizing the cultural
tent in it. and discoursal elements with culturally
In terms of Ottoman discourse, the unmarked, or discourse wise simplistic
social stratification of the addresser and the alternatives does not detract from the
addressee as implied with the use of ‘he overall sense of the message conveyed and
humbly requests that he be admitted into the it is a common feature in subtitling, but on
presence of the Sultan’-‘huzura kabülünü the other hand this decomposes the
arz eder’ (Season 1, Episode 1, 22:13) and historical distance of the original into a
the answer ‘welcome him in’ – ‘buyursun’ neutralized tone.
respectively as, ‘he asks for admittance’ and 3.3. Using Transpositioning to Translate
‘let him in’ are explicitations in the fact that Cultural Features
the tone of humbleness of the original in the A second strategy diligently employed
first case and the politically correct by the subtitler is transpositioning, which is
kindness in the second case are replaced basically the replacement of a source
with a simple request and an authoritative cultural feature with a target culture feature.
reply. In this some examples are as follows:
In terms of the Ottoman palace culture, In reference to military culture, the
the translation of the term implying ‘a translation of ‘the head of the Sultan’s
woman who has given the Sultan a child and private professional armed guards who
risen to the status of Sultana herself’- protect him in battle’- ‘Silahtar Kethüdası’
‘Haseki’ (Season 1, Episode 1, 34:32) as (Season 1, episode 1, 2:30) as ‘Chamberlain
‘the Sultan’s favourite concubine’ is a of Armours’ is a substitution for the concept
explication in the sense that it retains the through the use of the European concept of
feature of the woman being a member of the a Chamberlain in imperial palaces.
Sultan’s harem, but deletes features about In reference to social culture the
her status in the palace. translation of ‘non-Muslim children, 1 from
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every 40 household, between ages 8-16 who most examples of literal translation the
have been assimilated with the Sultan’s results sound ‘misplaced’ in English, the
subjects as either technocrats for the state or examples being the translation of discourse
foot soldiers for the army’- in ‘Hünkarımız Sultan Süleyman Han
‘devşirme’(Season 1, Episode 1, 29:13) as Hazretleri’ (Season 1, Episode 1, 4:30), as
‘recruits’ is transpositioning of the whole ‘our majesty’ and ‘hünkarım’ (Season 1,
social system of the Ottomans with army Episode 1, 19:55) as ‘my majesty’, versus
recruits system of legions of the West. the more widely used forms in English
In reference to discourse of the imperial ‘your majesty’ or ‘his majesty’.
house, the translation of ‘a member of the 3.5. Using Loan Words to Translate
house of the Sultan is passing, please allow Cultural Features
for passage’- ‘destur’ (Season 2, Episode A fourth strategy employed by the
44, 17:34) as ‘attention’ is a replacement of subtitler is the use of loan words which have
the said discourse with the military made it into the English vocabulary such as
discourse of the West as in troops ready for the translation of ‘the mother of the Sultan’-
inspection standing at attention. ‘Valide Sultan’ (social culture, Season 1,
In reference to religious culture the Episode 1, 34:24) as ‘Sultana’, deleting the
translation of ‘muharrem ul haram, the fact that she is the mother of the Sultan and
month of the Muslim calendar coinciding also leading to confusion as she is not his
with September’- ‘muharrem’ (Season 1, wife as Sultana would imply. Other
Episode 1, 5:41) as ‘September’ is the examples are ‘paşa’-‘pasha’ (military
transpositioning of the Muslim calendar culture, Season 1, Episode 1, 5:41), ‘kalfa’-
with the Gregorian calendar. ‘calfa’ (palace culture, Season 1, Episode 1,
In reference to palace culture the 23:45) and so on.
translation of ‘the head of the caretakers of 3.6. Omitting Cultural Features in
the Sultan’s fields, gardens and crops’- Subtitling
‘bostancı başı’ (Season 1, Episode 1, A fifth strategy employed by the
1:23:20) as ‘chief gardener’ is the subtitler is the omission of such markers of
transpositioning of Ottoman culture with historical distance and Ottoman culture
European palace culture. such as deletion of ‘Rum’(S1/E1: social
In using transpositioning the subtitler culture, Greek of Ottoman nationality),
draws on the repertoire of references to mesabirin (S1/E1: religious culture, may
cultures known to the target audience, this Allah grant me patience), ‘zatı
is a common strategy in subtitling and şahaneleriniz’ (S1/E1: palace culture- ‘your
though this does not detract from the overall greatness’) and so on.
sense of the message conveyed, in the case 4. Conclusion
of the example studied, it decomposes the In summary of all the choices made by
historical distance of the original into a the subtitler several features stand out:
neutralized tone. Initially the subtitles have deleted either
3.4. Using Calque to Translate Cultural through omission or through the use of
Features various other strategies references to the
A third strategy employed by the Ottoman culture which are the primary
subtitler is calque, which is basically the markers that the original uses to situate the
equivalent of literal translation. As with AV product as a historical drama.
Page | 55
Secondly, the subtitler has used strategies referred to as the prototext and the metatext
that will strip the subtitled text of any in that order, and argues that the two texts
feature that impairs understanding in stand in an intertextual relationship to one
making it shorter, culturally neutral or another because the metatext repeats the
moving towards the European culture of prototext in terms of content without being
old, thus eliminating the discourse and limited to it.
cultural markers branding it a historical J. Holmes’ model (see Holmes 1972, p.
drama set in the Ottoman period. 103) of the metapoetic process can be
In view of the findings of the interpreted and used for subtitling purposes
comparative analysis a question that if adapted: a shift from one linguistic
requires answering is: In view of the system to another, a shift from the
constraints of subtitling itself and the sociocultural system of the original to the
features of the historical drama genre, and sociocultural system of the metatext; a shift
in light of the translation strategies from the audiovisual text system of the
embraced by the subtitler, how does original within which the original series has
translation classify this subtitled version? a place to the a written system in which it
If evaluated in the strictest terms as a must find expression. There are intersystem
translation retaining the historical drama incompatibilities that must be resolved or
flavour of the original, it would rate very must at least give the viewers the
poorly as one. In the case of historical impression that it has been resolved.
drama the script is written by the Metatextual translation may refer to in this
screenwriter with the express purpose of context a process of transferring a spoken
providing a pseudo historical distance with text into a written text and also into a
old rhetoric, lexicon, cultural and discoursal culture, thus the metatext is basically an
features. On the other hand, the constraints overall image a text creates of itself in a
of subtitling coupled with the realities like, given culture. This is determined not only
cultural vacuums in Ottoman-English by the subtitled text itself, but what is said
translation, the lack of shared background (or in this case viewed) in that culture about
knowledge between the source and the the text.
target audience, the problems of stylized In short, in summary of the analysis and
and manipulated text filled with discourse considerations referred to in the study, the
and culture markers in order to present following points become of value in
historical distance and flavour have left the formulating strategies in subtitling
subtitler with little room to manoeuvre in. historical drama: Initial decision by the
In these cases of primal subtitled subtitler have to be decisions to do with
versions (with no previous examples of the genre. The question at this juncture is,
genre in the source language translated) it should historical drama subtitle text read as
may be wise to evaluate the subtitled such? In the case of this being possible in
versions as metatext in the sense that J. the language and culture pairs involved the
Holmes (1972) refers to a metapoem. F. decision would be apparent, but since this
Farahzad (2009, p. 125) refers to the use of would rarely be the case, the subtitler must
insight from the theory of intertexuality in be aware that the subtitles read as a
order to explain the relationship between metatext.
the source text and the target text which is
Page | 56
Also it is important to understand if the generally the intensity with which the
historical distance is actually central to the information is given (i.e., the historical facts
narrative. Of course it may be argued that in the story serve to form the context in
the way in which a story is told is the actual which a love story is played out, the historic
richness of the story as otherwise all love information is relevant for contextualizing
stories would read the same. On the other the events that happen). In short, how does
hand historical drama series hinges on the the text convey information, how does in
use of ambience to relay a story thus making stratify information, how much and which
it attractive for audiences. This is presented type of information is presented to achieve
in the visual with costumes, sets, props etc. a pseudo historical distance.
So whatever strategy one employs in the Once these have been decided then
subtitles the ambience of the pseudo related choices follow on the linguistic
historical distance will be present in an AV plane and the options have been mapped out
product. by translation scholars.
Secondly, there is the pseudo historical According to E. Branigan (1992, p. 34)
distance created by the script writer. The in AV products there are two systems of
subtitler then decides how to translate the space, time and causal interaction: one in
markers of historical distance as front of our eyes and another that we
manipulated by the scriptwriter. In this case conceptualize in our heads. In the case of
the primary difficulty becomes one of subtitling historical drama, in most cases,
transferring cultural features as exemplified the subtitles form the metatext that help the
in the study. foreign viewers in the conceptualization
A third concern is register. Discourse and the rest is basically left to their
markers as exemplified in the study are imaginations and knowledge. The subtitlers
probably the most important historical awareness of this is primal in devising the
flavouring touches the scriptwriter uses and translation strategies to be employed.
these are of concern for the subtitler. Studies such as the one conducted have
Finally there is relevance. This is two beneficial uses. Initially, these types of
basically answering the question how the studies with specific strategies and
historically distanced, culturally embedded, explanations help translators who are asked
and manipulated and scripted text is to be to translate in this genre as they will be
relevant in the target. The issues of looking for examples of what colleagues
relevance of dealing with pseudo historical before them were able to do and the
distance in translation are: how the series strategies that they employed. Usually
chooses to tell its viewers what it wants to when a translator is asked to translate a
tell them, the ratio between explicit and series or a film in a genre that is not familiar,
implicit information conveyed (i.e., how professionals tend to turn to examples
much of the now extinct Ottoman palace provided by other translators to see the
culture is given as information and what is possibilities and understand the limitations
implied), the signalling of relevant presented by a product of the genre.
information versus irrelevant information Also such studies are extremely
(i.e., not focusing on, but supplying, the beneficial for the translator trainers in
inevitable presence of the Muslim culture as training students for subtitling. Such studies
the Ottomans were a Muslim empire), and serve as examples that may be used in class
Page | 57
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Subtitling Historical Drama TV Series: Constraints and Considerations

1. Introduction translation and subtitling from a lager

easily perceived by the viewer’s due to The series is an international success

1 harpsichord in portraying the music of a past period

International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN:2308-5460

Discourse choices may be viewed as The second would be varieties of

categorization of strategies for translation In terms of religious culture, the

Kalemba, P. (2014). Translation Strategies in

International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN:2308-5460

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