MA Translation

TR7P79 Independent Research Project

Dialects and Subtitling: Language and Context from the Neapolitan

dialect into standard Italian and English in My Brilliant Friend

Student ID: 19021912

Supervisor: Dr Marcella De Marco
2019/2020

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Table of contents
Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................ 3
Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 4
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 5
Literature review ................................................................................................................. 6
Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 11
Discussion of methods of research ................................................................................... 16
Discussion of material investigated .................................................................................. 23
Evaluation of results .......................................................................................................... 28
Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 34
Recommendations for further research .......................................................................... 35
Appendices ......................................................................................................................... 36
Appendix 1.1 .................................................................................................................... 36
Appendix 1.2 ................................................................................................................ 37
Appendix 1.3............................................................................................................ 37
List of references ................................................................................................................ 38
Personal development portfolio ........................................................................................ 41
Project personal document............................................................................................. 41
Supervision report ..................................................................................................... 43
Annotated bibliography ......................................................................................... 44
Statement ............................................................................................................................ 46

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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my supervisor, Marcella De Marco, for her support not only on this
project, but on the Subtitling module too. Her take on the subject was interesting, and it
inspired me in part to write my dissertation on audiovisual translation. I would also like to
thank all the other lecturers: Nadia Rahab, Piero Toto, Giacinto Palmieri, Maite Gonzalez,
and Renata Mliczak, for the valuable insights they have imparted me.
A big thank you goes to everyone that has been by my side during this path, including my
university colleagues, and especially Ilaria, Andres and Federica: I wish I could still stay
at the library until 11:00PM with you, sipping Costa’s coffee, or go to Nando’s on Holloway
Road after classes. Thank you Lia, for being the best colleague and friend I could hope for
to have by my side in this city, you are one of the bravest and kindest persons I know and I
hope one day you will adopt as many sphynx cats as you want.
Thank you to all the people that are in Italy and, despise the distance, have supported me no
matter what. Mamma, your resilience and attitude to life is a constant source of inspiration
for me, I hope one day I will be half the woman you are... Also, as much as we both love
quality movies, I love watching trash Real Time programmes with you, I always look forward
to it. Papà, you will always be the most important man in my life, I am grateful for all the
things you have taught me and all the support you give me every day. Thank you for
explaining to me what a “per ‘e vruoccolo” is, this was a valuable lesson. Carmine, you are
nothing short of a hero, you deserve nothing but the best in this world and I am so proud to
have a brother like you… I will be sure to give you my share of the Netflix money one day, I
swear. Nonna, your whole life is an inspiration for me, you have been my number one
supporter since the first day and I know Nonno would be proud of me too… I miss cleaning
the soggiorno in San Giorgio, sometimes. Zio, I want to thank you not only for your support
and affection during these years, but also because this dissertation would not have been
possible without you… I cannot specify why for legal reasons, but you know what I mean.
Zia, I cannot believe I am saying this again, but it is true: all the women in this family are a
huge inspiration for me, and you are no exception, you are a great, brave woman. Also thank
you for the toilet paper during the lockdown, that saved my life.
To all my friends in Italy: I am glad I do not have to see you daily! Regardless, you deserve
a thank you as well. Raffaele, I miss your monthly trips to London! But I am grateful for
having someone I can always count on, even if it is just over the telephone. You have always
my best friend forever and you deserve all the Checcos in this world. Annalisa and
Valentina, I love how our friendship is mainly based on trying to organise how to see each
other when I come back to Naples! We have known each other for forever now and we have
always supported each other despite the distance, so thank you. Tania, what would I do
without your complaints and mental breakdowns? I hope you find the courage to do what
you really want in life and pursue happiness, you deserve it. Laura, I have known you forever
too, I am glad we are still friends and I hope you can succeed in life, it is good to know I can
always count on you for a sushi all you can eat. Tommaso, we have had our ups and downs,
but always with one certainty: I was there for you and you were there for me. I have got to
say, since you left things have become harder for me, and I miss you on a daily basis – this
you know. But your love is the reason I keep doing what I do. I hope we can be together
again one day and realise all our dreams, hand in hand. I love you.

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Abstract

This research is a descriptive study of the translation strategies used in the subtitling of the

Italian television series My Brilliant Friend from the Neapolitan dialect into standard Italian

and English, and their relation to the cultural and socio-economic context. Its aim is to

identify the subtitling strategies adopted in both versions and evaluate their rendering in the

target text, with a focus on cultural terms and sentences. Being as it is an audiovisual

translation, the research undertaken considers the visual aspects as well, and how they

influence the transfer from the source language (or dialect, in this case) into the target

language(s). The methodology for conducting this research is based on conceptual,

qualitative, and comparative models, with the integration of specific subtitling comparative

research methods. The corpora chosen includes five episodes from the television series, from

both the first and second seasons. The results will demonstrate what strategies have been

applied in subtitling the episodes, evaluating their efficacy in terms of linguistic and cultural

rendering.

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Introduction

The study of dialects in the translation field has been of great interest for many scholars and

researcher, as they represent a significant challenge when transferring them from the source

text to the target text. It is a greater challenge in the audiovisual translation field because of

the time and space constraints to which it is subject. This research aims to explore the

different strategies used in the subtitling translation of dialects, and specifically their

renderings of not only dialectical words and expressions, but the social, economic and

cultural context of the source text too. The object of study is My Brilliant Friend, an Italian

television series set in Naples during the 1950s, adapted from Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan

Novels books series, and the translation of the Neapolitan dialect in both standard Italian and

English. The context of the story has been investigated as it is fundamental to understand the

role of dialect, and the importance of the messages it carries that should ideally not be lost

in the target text. The first part is an introduction of the literature that has been used in this

research to investigate both the cultural context of the object of study and the translation

strategies adopted, including translation books, audiovisual translation books and research

papers. It is followed by the methodology and discussion of methods of research sections:

the methodology section outlines the theoretical approaches underlying this research,

whereas the discussion of methods of research section investigates the practical translation

strategies applied in the target texts. After these two sections, the discussion of material

investigated illustrates the corpora chosen in this research, including a brief description of

each episode and their relevance for the purpose of this research. Examples of how the

translation strategies have been applied can be found in the evaluation of results, with an in-

depth analysis of the episodes and specific scenes, in order to evaluate said strategies.

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Literature review

Subtitling is a relatively new translation practice, although Nornes (in Venuti, 2000, p.455)

identifies in Herman Weinberg the inventor of subtitles in the early years of the 20th century.

However, studies and research on subtitling have gained visibility starting from the 1990s

(Cintas and Remael, 2007, p.8) because of the rapid growth of multimedia technology and

the worldwide spread of foreign cinematographic productions and television series and

programmes. Cintas and Ramael (2007, p.9) identify three main components in subtitling:

the spoken word, the image and the subtitles. Subtitles, in fact, “must appear in synchrony

with the image and the dialogue, provide a semantically adequate account of the SL dialogue,

and remain displayed on screen long enough for the viewers to be able to read them”.

For this reason, the translation is subject to spatial and temporal limitations, making the

translation and adaptation of the source text more challenging. Scholars agree on a set

number of conventions, that include the maximum number of lines on the screen, the font

type, the duration of the text on the screen, rules on punctuation and many more, to guide

subtitlers towards an efficient rendering of the source text into the target text in audiovisual

materials. Moreover, they distinguish between intralingual subtitling, the subtitling within

the same language for deaf or hard of hearing people, and interlingual subtitling, the

subtitling from one language to another (De Linde and Kay, 1999 p.1). Therefore, the

subtitler needs to take into consideration these conventions when translating, and this is

particularly true when dealing with those issues that are common in translation practice, such

as the translation of humour, songs, neologisms or, as in the case of this research, culture-

bound terms and dialects.

For this purpose, the literature research conducted has its focus on scholars, translation books

and research papers that have investigated the connection between language and culture, and

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in particular the function of dialects, and the strategies they found for an effective translation

into the target text. As far as translation theory books are concerned, Nida (1993) was of

particular interest, as he explores the sociological functions of language and the relation

between language and culture. Not only does he describe diglossia and its function in the

verbal and written communication, he also highlights the importance of biculturalism, which

he considers “even more important than bilingualism” (1993, p. 110), especially when

dealing with jargon, dialects, sociolects or idiolects. Newmark (2005) was an equally useful

contribution, as he investigates the bond between translation and culture, too. Not only does

he describe the concept of culture and how it relates to translation, but he also categorises

cultural words, which is helpful in order to have an outline of culture-bound terms and how

to investigate them. Furthermore, Hatim and Mason (1994) add another concept to the

translation of language variations, that is the question of “identity”, and they also investigate

the role of accent in geographical variations, both concepts fundamental for the purpose of

this research.

Along with general translation theory books, the research was conducted using books

relevant to audiovisual translations, and even more specifically on the audiovisual translation

of dialects. Concerning this point, the most pertinent source was Federici’s Translating

Regionalised Voices in Audiovisuals. Federici, in collaboration with other scholars,

investigates the concept of “regionalised voices” and the connection between language and

cultural identity and background, and how audiovisual translation can “portray more

faithfully as well as meaningfully” the minoritarian regional identities (2009, p.15), because

of its fast-paced nature. Particularly helpful in his book was Minelli’s research on Gabriele

Salvatore’s Io Non Ho Paura, an Italian movie set in a fictional town in the South of the

peninsula. In fact, Minelli analyses how “the role of language in communication is lost in

the subtitled version, where only standard Italian is translated” (2009, p.106). In the same

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publication, Baldo’s research was also very important for this present research, as she

analyses the subtitling of multilingual films – specifically the Canadian TV screenplay Lives

of the Saints. Baldo uses a key word in her analysis, which is “code-switching”, a concept

that recalls Nida’s definition of diglossia, and she applies this concept specifically for the

shift from Italian and Southern Italian dialect into Canadian English. Finally, she lists the

most suitable translation strategies adopted by her (expansion, transfer, paraphrasing,

condensation, and omission), all of which have been used with an analytical approach for

this research.

However, the strategies applied in this research come mainly from the work of Cintas and

Remael in Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling, and Cintas in New Trends in Audiovisual

Translation. In the first, after giving a wide definition of culture-bound terms, Cintas and

Remael list nine strategies that are mostly used in subtitling translation (loan, calque,

explicitation, substitution, transposition, lexical recreation, compensation, omission, and

addition), adding explanations and examples. The second includes research from other

scholars, and Pettit’s Connecting Cultures: Cultural Transfer in Subtitling and Dubbing in

particular was analysed in comparison to the aforementioned strategies. Pettit lists seven

strategies (omission, literal translation, borrowing, equivalence, adaptation, replacement,

generalisation, and explication), and although they bear some similarities with the other

study, a comparative study allowed this research to conduct a wider investigation.

Furthermore, Longo’s research in New Trends in Audiovisual Translation, called Subtitling

the Italian South, has contributed to the analysis of what she calls the “conflictual

relationship between dialect and Italian” (2009, p.102), and how some features of the dialect

inevitably become lost in the target text.

As previously mentioned, subtitling is a relatively new practice in the translation field, and

the same goes for its related literature. When narrowing the research further to the subtitling

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of dialects, it becomes more challenging to find a wide selection of literature. However,

articles and research papers can help and provide more information and analysis. Pinto’s

article called Film, dialects and subtitles: an analytical framework for the study of non-

standard varieties in subtitling has been extremely important for this research, as it takes

into consideration other aspects of the subtitling of dialects. In fact, Pinto explores the

relationship between the spoken mode, the mise-en-scene, and the subtitles mode, and she

conducts her research with particular focus on the “textual, diegetic and sociocultural

dimensions of the translation of non-standard varieties” (2018, p.19). In Translating

Register, Style and Tone in Dubbing and Subtitling, on the other hand, Pettit analysis the

connection between orality, levels of language and subtitling, taking into consideration in

particular the geographical, socio-historical, and temporal settings. With abundant examples,

she compares all her strategies to determine “whether the language registers and stylistic

effects are maintained or deleted” (2005, p.5). Other papers have also proven a very useful

addition to the rest of the literature, in order to develop some key concepts in this research

and add some interesting facts and considerations.

Finally, a history book called Storia di Napoli, by the Italian journalist and writer Antonio

Ghirelli, has been used as an additional support for this research, along with translation

books. Given the strict connection between language and history, and more specifically non-

standard varieties of language and history, Ghirelli’s book has proved essential to frame

Naples from the post-war years to the 70s. The dichotomy between standard Italian and

dialect is especially present in Italy (and Naples) and especially during those years, despite

the Unification of Italy in 1861. Ghirelli depicts the devastating conditions in which Naples

has been left after the Second World War, the industrial backwardness and the “social and

civic underdevelopment” (2015, p.529), leading to criminality as an alternative to

unemployment and misery. A consideration of this backdrop is crucial to understanding, too,

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the context of the television series analysed in this research, and its close connections to the

Neapolitan dialect as well its distinctiveness with standard Italian. To reinforce this idea,

very interesting and insightful was an online article published on Arcade, a blog owned by

Stanford University, called Riflessioni sociolinguistiche a margine de L’amica geniale di

Elena Ferrante by Andrea Villarini. It reflects on the close relationship between standard

language and dialect during the post-war years, with comparative examples from the book

My Brillant Friend, from which the television series was adapted. Villarini, like Nida,

mentions code-switching (or code-mixing) and analyses how this linguistic phenomenon

relates to the social, economic and political background.

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Methodology

Every research needs a theoretical model of the object being studied. The methodology

framework of this research is based on the models proposed by Chesterman and Williams in

The Map, A Beginner’s Guide to Doing Research in Translation Studies (2002), Saldanha

and O’Brien’s Research Methodologies in Translation Studies (2014), and Toury’s

Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond (1995). A conceptual and qualitative type of

research, with a comparative model has been conducted, as suggested by Chesterman and

Williams (2002) and with the integration of specific subtitling comparative research by

Pérez-González in Audiovisual Translation: Theories, Methods and Issues (2014), opting

for a product-oriented type of research, based on Saldanha and O’Brien’s models (2014),

and adopting a descriptive approach as discussed by Toury (1995).

Chesterman and Williams define models as “a map showing what are thought to be the most

important features of the object” (2002, p.80), where the “object” in this case is the

translation, that helps the researcher to compare different models used in a critical way. They

identify three types of models: comparative, process and causal models. The theoretical

model used in this research is a comparative one, which is “static and product-oriented”

(2002, p.81), and that investigates the relation of equivalence between the source text and

the target text. The comparative model sees the translation as the research of the chosen

element of the target language that “aligns” most closely to the element of the source

language, given a particular context. Furthermore, this type of model is useful when

analysing “shifts” between the source language and the target language, by putting the two

texts side by side and comparing the respective differences. The present research has been

conducted by comparing the original source text – in the Neapolitan dialect – with the target

texts – in standard Italian and English –, analysing the differences in rendering the same

11
concept, and evaluating whether the original message was in fact conveyed in both

translations.

A conceptual kind of research has been conducted for this study. According to Chesterman

and Williams (2002, p.92), “conceptual research aims to define and clarify concepts, to

interpret or reinterpret ideas, to relate concepts into larger systems (…) that allow a better

understanding of the object of research”. This research, in fact, aims to identify the subtitling

strategies used in the intralingual and interlingual translation of the television series My

Brilliant Friend, and to analyse and interpret them in relation to their challenges. While

empirical research analyse data to produce new data, conceptual research “often takes the

form of an argument” (2002, p.93); by analysing different strategies with examples from

various episodes and scenes, the most suitable strategies can be identified and discussed,

following different types of approaches. This type of research, in fact, allows a comparison

of a variety of strategies from different scholars, and their different approaches, offering a

wide range for evaluation and interpretation of data.

For this reason, this research is a qualitative one as well, as its goal is to “describe the quality

of something in some enlightening way” (2002, p.101). Throughout the analysis of the

different strategies, their performance has been evaluated in terms of the effects produced

on the target text, as well as the rendering of the context, the mise-en-scene and the status of

the characters. This type of research aims to achieve a better understanding of the techniques

applied and how they conveyed the intended message, as Chesterman and Williams clarify:

“More strictly, qualitative research can lead to conclusions about what is possible, what can

happen, or what can happen at least sometimes; it does not allow conclusions about what is

probable, general, or universal.” (2002, p.101)

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This type of research provides a richer picture of the target text, providing the target audience

with a deeper and wider understanding of the source text and its complexities.

The methodological approach adopted in this research is product-oriented. Bell (in Saldanha

and O’Brien, 2014, p.50) suggests that “by observing the products of translation it is possible

to make inferences about the process as well”, analysing the context of production of a

translation and the choices that have been made in the target text. Saldanha and O’Brien

introduce critical discourse analysis (CDA) and corpus linguistics (CL) as means of

investigating and interpret texts, and of introducing the concept of discourse as “language

above the sentence” (2014, p.52). According to them, words, clauses, phrases, and sentences

are not considered separately, but rather as a whole. For this reason, language and context

need to analysed together, thus making it possible to establish a relationship between the

context itself and the choices made in the target text. CDA, in fact, sees discourse “as an

element of social life which is closely interconnected with other elements” (Fairclough in

Saldanha and O’Brien, 2014, p.52), and it entails that the way people think and speak is

influenced by social and ideological practices. Furthermore, the research needs to be

conducted with a defined set of corpora, in order to define the object of study and the means

through which it is to be analysed. In the words of Kennedy (in Saldanha and O’Brien, 2014,

p.56), CL answers to the question: “How do people really use language?”. Conrad (in

Saldanha and O’Brien, 2014, p.56) identifies four approaches with CL: the first approach

studies the language features and the associations triggered by those features; the second

examines the realisations of a particular function of a language; the third analyses the

characterisation of a variety of language; the fourth analyses the occurrence of a language

feature across a text. This research investigates CL as an integrated part of the social, cultural

and economic part of the context.

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Words and sentences, in fact, are strictly connected to extra-linguistic factors, and vary

according the socio-cultural background of the characters – even those who share a common

background. With Conrad’s third approach in mind, the corpora have been selected

analysing the language variations first – between the Neapolitan dialect and standard Italian

– and then their rendering into English. Furthermore, as this research has been conducted on

an audiovisual product, it needs to consider the text as a semiotic unit as well. According to

Saldanha and O’Brien (2014, p.65), “there are non-verbal elements that interact with the

texts and thereby contribute to meaning making”. In audiovisual texts, in fact, there are other

factors that need to be considered: in fact, according to Pérez-González (2014, p.145), “the

manifold aspects of reality presented to viewers are articulated through a range of scapes –

such as sound, colour, light or perspective – that interact with one another”. Pérez-González

mentions Curti and his concept of living subtitling, or the “snippets of text prioritising the

affective force of the speech over the accuracy of the translation they deliver” (2014, p.144).

Curti states that subtitles “should no longer be confined to providing a faithful representation

of the original speech through static written representations in the bottom regions of the

frame” (in Pérez-González, 2014, p.146). The question, he adds, is not what the meaning of

the subtitles is, or even what they represent, but rather what it is that they accomplish. Thus,

characters, setting, make-up and costume, accents and intonations, and use of words and

language, and facial expressions constitute those non-verbal elements, or semiotic units, that

are fundamental in a conceptual research in subtitling, as they become part of the text

themselves.

Finally, the approach adopted in this research is descriptive. With this type of approach, the

corpora of the texts have been examined, in an attempt to evaluate the translation process

and the end results. This research’s focus is on patterns and tendencies, and on the

observation of strategies and techniques adopted by scholars and translators. In this research,

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in fact, a number of corpora has been selected and analysed, evaluating the strategies used

for the adaptation and the effects produced on the target text. The descriptive approach,

furthermore, regards the translation as a cultural fact. Toury (1995, p.27) refers to translation

as a way to fill the gap between the source text and the target text, asserting that “translations

are facts of target cultures; on occasion facts of a special status, sometimes even constituting

identifiable (sub)systems of their own, but of the target culture in any event” (1995, p.29).

He adds that it is not to be assumed that the translation is known only because the language

is known; it could, in fact, be misleading and lacking the proper contextualisation. For this

reason, this research takes into consideration the extra-textual factors of the source text,

putting them into social and historical context as well before evaluating the translation in the

target text.

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Discussion of methods of research

The methods adopted for this research can be divided into two categories that represent two

different types of approach to the source text: the theoretical approach, which allowed a pre-

analysis of the social and cultural context of the source text, and the practical approach,

based on actual strategies employed after the initial analysis. The theoretical approach is

based on models proposed in Nida’s Language, Culture and Translating (1993), Hatim and

Mason’s Discourse and the Translator (1990), Federici’s Translating Regionalised Voices

in Audiovisuals (2009), Pinto’s Film, dialects and subtitles: an analytical framework for the

study of non-standard varieties in subtitling (2018), and Pettit’s Translating register, style

and tone in dubbing and subtitling (2005). The practical approach investigates the strategies

and methods proposed by Cintas and Remael in Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling (2007),

and Pettit in Connecting Cultures: Cultural Transfer in Subtitling and Dubbing (in Cinta’s

New Trends in Audiovisual Translation, 2009).

The analysis of the sociological functions of language provided by Nida is one of the

methods applied in this research to investigate the influence that context has on the source

language. He asserts that “in-groups, whether professional or social, often develop their own

jargons and distinctive slang, and such social dialects may become so distinctive that one

needs to speak of diglossia, two different forms of the same language” (1990, p.12)

In My Brilliant Friend, diglossia is found in almost all characters and it represents a clear

social statement. In fact, Nida adds that language may even be used “for the purpose of

maintaining a relation rather than for saying anything that is overly relevant” (1990, p.13),

and when a given character in My Brilliant Friend decides to use standard Italian instead of

the Neapolitan dialect, and vice versa, he/she is making a determined choice, based on the

type of relation he/she wants to establish with the other character. In most cases, the dialect

16
has been used as a way to assert supremacy, especially in the boundaries of the rione, while

Italian is seen as a language reserved for educated people, and is usually employed in

mockery of people who prefer it to the Neapolitan dialect. On the other hand, when Lenù,

one of the main characters, goes to Pisa, in the North of Italy, the circumstances change:

although she only speaks Italian, her dialectical accent can still be recognised, and she

becomes the subject of abuse by her friends from Pisa, inverting the linguistic “rules” of the

rione. Therefore, according to Nida, to achieve a successful translation being bilingual is

insufficient, whereas being bicultural is even more important. He states that “social dialects

carry much more information than we might suspect” (1990, p.112), hence an in-depth

analysis of the social context and the meanings carried by the dialect. An investigation on

diglossia allows a distinction between the different functions of both the standard language

and the non-standard variety of language, thus allowing to keep the distinction clear in the

target text avoiding the loss of “realism and pathos” (1990, p.13).

Hatim and Mason’s concept of “identity” reinforces this idea, and it has been used in this

research to highlight those language features that represent a statement more than just a

linguistic act. In fact, according to Hatim and Mason, “in understanding and describing

standards/non-standards, it is, therefore, important to take into consideration functional

variation and the way this finds expression in language. In situations where two or more

codes coexist in a speech community, code switching is not random and the translator or

interpreter, like all language users, must be able to recognise the question of ‘identity’

involved” (1990, p.43).

In most occasions, language use is related to characters’ actions. Language and behaviour

are therefore connected as a means of establishing one’s identity, and the code switching

applies to the language use as well as to personal behaviour. A character talks and behaves

in a way in a given context for specific sociocultural reasons, but then appears to talk and

17
behave in a completely different way in another context. Power shifts appear all the time,

and they are marked by specific changes in both the language and the personal conduct. So,

the switches and their precise choice represent a way of defining their “identity”, in relation

to themselves and the other characters, both inside the boundaries of their rione and outside.

The same concept is expressed by Federici, who states that “When engaging in reflections

on subtitling ethnolects and contrasting these elements with their narrative functions and

representations, the contributors start from the assumption of representational force:

regionalism is more than ever tied in to notions of linguistic and cultural identity” (2009,

pp.18-19).

Federici’s work, with the contribution of other scholars, has proved a useful method of

analysis of dialects and context in audiovisual material. All the scholars in Translating

regionalised voices in audiovisuals, in fact, investigate the relationship between dialects and

context in audiovisuals and their translation into the target text. In analysing the English

subtitles of Gabriele Salvatore’s Io Non Ho Paura, Minelli highlights the clash that occurs

between the dialect spoken amongst the characters (a Southern Italian dialect from a made-

up city) and the one spoken by other characters from Milan, and how the emphasis is lost in

the English subtitled version. According to Minelli, in fact, “language is a socio-cultural

construct that can work as a barrier to communication, even within people of the same

country” (2009, p.106). Similarly to Io Non Ho Paura, in My Brilliant Friend this “barrier”

is evident throughout the entire series, and it marks a clear distinction between people not

only from the same country or from the same city, but from the same neighbourhood, also.

The North/South dichotomy, hence standard Italian/dialect, is evident in the rione when

Lenù goes to Pisa to study, especially when she comes back to Naples to visit her family and

friends; she struggles to speak Neapolitan now, and her choice of speaking Italian to

everyone (except her mother) marks her identity as an educated, cultured person, to the point

18
where she begins to feel as a stranger in her own birthplace. Following Minelli, Baldo gives

another example of translation of dialects analysing the Italian-Canadian television series

Lives of the Saints. Baldo examines in depth the concept of code-switching, as the characters

in Lives of the Saints alternate between standard Italian, Southern Italian dialect (from

Molise region), and Italian/”English-Canadian”, a variation of Canadian English spoken by

Italians who emigrated to Canada in the 50s and 60s. In this case, according to Baldo, “code-

switching represents the switch between two contrasting cultural worlds: Italy and Canada.

This device is neither arbitrary, nor simply a mimetic device used to give the reader or

spectator a flavour of the author’s heritage language, but has a more symbolic function. It

signals a character’s perspective, in terms of emotions and feelings, and is therefore an aspect

of focalisation” (2009, p.119).

The switch between standard Italian and dialect, and the choice of using one instead of the

other, indeed symbolises not only a linguistic choice, but both the cultural worlds that

represents them. One represents economic wealth, the other poorness; one represents

education, the other the low-level of it; in some cases, one represents “good” or

“correctness”, the other represents “violence”, or “criminality”. Life in the rione is well

defined by these dichotomies and language is but one way of conveying them.

Pinto states that “the presence of the non-standard variety serves the purpose of distancing

the character from the others around him/her” (2018, p.10). It is true especially when

characters need to form “hierarchies” with people around them, or, in the case of Lenù,

subvert those hierarchies. This research has also adopted Pinto’s method of analysing this

relationship between language and context, in particular when she highlights the connection

between “the spoken mode, the mise-en-scene mode and the subtitles mode” (2018, p.3), as

the mise-en-scene constitutes another way of contextualising the use of dialect. In the case

of the mise-en-scene, clear dichotomies are found in the way the characters are dressed, the

19
make-up they wear, what their houses look like, what type of cars they drive (if they have a

car at all), their professions, and so on. During her university years in Pisa, Lenù not only

drops the dialect, but she changes her aesthetic too: she starts wearing finer clothes, she

coiffeurs her hair to the latest trend and she changes her glasses too for more expensive ones;

these changes, along with adopting standard Italian as her main language, marks the

definitive distancing with the rione.

Finally, Pettit’s approach in analysing in translation of registers in subtitling has also been

taken into consideration for this research. She states that “geographical, socio-historical and

temporal settings” (2005, p.4) also constitute an important part of the analysis of language

variations. These factors are indeed fundamental for the purpose of this research, as they

influence the relationship between standard Italian and the Neapolitan dialect. The story is

set in post-World War II Naples, where the level of poverty and unemployment, which was

spiking even before the onset of the War, increases to the point where the distinction between

wealth and poverty is very clear, even in the disparate areas of the same city. The action

takes place in a (fictional) neighbourhood in the outskirts of Naples, where the social and

economic situation of the city has led to an increase in violence and criminality, and in a

decline in education. Furthermore, despite the Unification of Italy in 1861, as Ghirelli says,

“in the course of those decades, the city could not find a new and vital economic collocation”

(2015, p.531). All these factors contextualise the setting of the story and the use of the

language, and how the dialect represents, in a way, them all.

As for the practical approach, this research has investigated the methods proposed by Cintas

and Remael when it comes to the translation of culture-bound terms in subtitling. They

define culture-bound terms as “extralinguistic references to items that are tied up with a

country’s culture, history, or geography” (2014, p.200), and introduce nine strategies to fill

the “cultural gap” between the source text and the target text. These strategies are: loan,

20
calque, explicitation, substitution, transposition, lexical recreation, compensation, omission,

and addition. The strategies adopted in this research are:

1) Loan, where the source text word or phrase is incorporated into the target language

and text, because no translation is possible and both languages use the exact same

word.

2) Transposition, where a cultural concept from one culture is replaced by a cultural

concept from another.

3) Omission, which is sometimes unavoidable either because of space-time limitations

or because the target language does not have the corresponding term.

(2014, pp.202-207)

These strategies have been integrated with the ones proposed by Pettit in Connecting

Cultures: Cultural Transfer in Subtitling and Dubbing (in Cinta’s New Trends in

Audiovisual Translation). Pettit suggests eight strategies: omission, literal translation,

borrowing, equivalence, adaptation, replacement, generalisation, explication. This research

has adopted four of these strategies, namely:

1) Literal Translation, where the solution in the target text matches the original as

closely as possible.

2) Equivalence, where translation has a similar meaning and function in the target

culture.

3) Adaptation, where the translation is adjusted to the target language and culture in an

attempt to evoke similar connotations to the original.

4) Replacement of the cultural term with deictics, particularly when supported by an

on-screen gesture or a visual clue.

(2009, p.45)

21
All these strategies, as discussed further in the Evaluation of results, have been applied in

analysing the transfer from the source text (Neapolitan dialect) into the target texts (Italian

and English) in specific scenes from different episodes, from both seasons one two of My

Brilliant Friend.

22
Discussion of material investigated

My Brilliant Friend (ita: L’Amica Geniale) is an Italian and Neapolitan television series by

Italian film director Saverio Costanzo. The first season premiered in Italy in 2018 on RAI,

the second one (called The Story of a New Name) in 2020, and on HBO in the United States

in the same period. The series is an adaptation of the Neapolitan Novels series by author

Elena Ferrante (a pseudonym, his/her actual identity is still unknown), that include four

novels: My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who

Stay, and The Story of The Lost Child.

The story, set in Naples at the beginning of the 1950s, is a coming-of-age drama that follows

the life of two bright girls, from their childhood to the old age, and their struggle to escape

the poverty and the violence of their rione (suburb). Both Elena “Lenù” Greco (portrayed by

Elisa Del Genio) and Raffaella “Lila” Cerullo (portrayed by Ludovica Nasti) grow up in a

poor neighbourhood, where violence and tyranny are an everyday occurrence, and where the

level of education is extremely low. Their friendship begins in primary school. Lenù is the

brightest student of the class and she always receives high grades; one day, however, their

teacher Maestra Oliviero finds out that Lila has taught herself to read and write, and she

rapidly becomes the best student in the class. Lila turns out to be a true prodigy, capable of

memorising notions without any effort, so Lenù becomes immediately attracted to her and

her intelligence. One day they decide to buy Alcott’s Little Women together and they read it

repeatedly because, according to Lila, that would have helped them learn to write books,

become famous novelists and become wealthy. Seeing their potential, Maestra Oliviero

encourages both their parents to let the girls continue studying and go to middle school,

which is something considered extraordinary at that time, and in that place. Both girls come

from poor and uneducated families: Lenù’s father is a porter and her mother is a housewife,

and she has three siblings; Lila’s father is a shoemaker and her mother is a housewife too,

23
and she has a brother (Rino) and an unspecified number of siblings. Although Lenù’s mother

is not happy with the decision, claiming that she needs help in the house and that money is

not enough, she is eventually convinced by her husband to allow Lenù to attend middle

school, providing that she outperforms her peers. Lila’s parents, on the other hand, after long

and violent fights, decide to not let their daughter go further with her education, both because

she is a female and because she needs to stay home and help the family. Lilà’s talent,

therefore, goes to waste, whereas Lila develops her abilities and she gets to attend high

school too, and eventually university (in Pisa).

In this scenario, the rione and the Neapolitan dialect play a fundamental role, to the point

where they can be considered to be characters in every way. The devastated neighbourhood

where the story is set, in the outskirts of Naples, and the people living there are the

representation of post-war Naples and its disastrous effects. Everything in the mise-en-scene

recalls the poverty and the violence of the rione, especially the dichotomy of the characters

in the way they are dressed, in the way they interact with the other characters and in the way

they speak. Pinto (2018, p.8) classifies the mise-en-scene into three categories: costume and

makeup, figure behaviour and setting. The stark difference between Maestra Oliviero, an

educated and wealthy woman, and Nunzia Cerullo (Lila’s mother), a poor housekeeper is

rendered in all these categories. Maestra Oliviero is always dressed in fine clothes, whereas

Nunzia Cerullo wears simple, worn out clothes; Maestra Oliviero is an educated,

emancipated woman that encourages Lenù and Lila to study, whereas Nunzia Cerullo is

submissive towards her husband and has denied her daughter any education; finally, Maestra

Oliviero’s house is modern and full of books, whereas Cerullo’s house is old and

deteriorating. Language and dialect, furthermore, play a fundamental role in accentuating

the mise-en-scene. According to Pinto (2018, p.6), the sub-standard regional variety of a

language (Neapolitan, in this case) “is associated with low prestige (…) and it also reflects

24
low educational background and low social status”. In those years, when education was

considered a privilege, as Villarini (2018) points out in his article “the variation of linguistic

uses between Italian and dialect is not chaotic, but rather governed by precise sociolinguistic

rules”. Choosing Neapolitan over Italian, or switching between the two, has specific reasons

and it categorises the characters in specific social environments. Maestra Oliviero speaks

standard Italian all the time, no matter who she is talking to; Nunzia Cerullo switches to

standard Italian when talking to the teacher, but immediately switches back to the Neapolitan

dialect when Maestra Olivero confronts her on her daughter’s education. In her everyday

life, Nunzia Cerullo, like all the other inhabitants of the rione, speaks exclusively the

Neapolitan dialect. The dichotomy becomes more evident when Lenù goes to Pisa, in the

North of Italy, to study at University “La Normale”; as she proceeds with her education, she

slowly starts adopting standard Italian as her primary language, to the point where the

Neapolitan variety begins to acquire a feigned sound. She switches to the dialect only when

talking to her parents, as a way of still feeling part of the family.

This research analyses five episodes of the series: episode 1 (The Dolls), episode 2 (The

Money), episode 3 (Metamorphoses) and episode 5 (The Shoes) of season 1, and episode 7

(The Secret Notebooks) of season 2. The episodes were selected based on their relevance for

the purpose of the research, taking into consideration particular scenes, events and

translation renderings. Episode 1x01 shows the birth of the friendship between Lenù and

Lila, it gives an overall view of the rione, its everyday life, its inhabitants and all the

characters that evolve around the two friends’ life. This episode features an important event:

Lenù and Lila confronting Don Achille, the usurer and villain of the neighbourhood, in an

attempt to get their dolls back which they think he stole from them. From that day, their

friendship is consolidated and everything that happens in their life is inevitably bound

together. In episode 1x02, Lenù and Lila buy Little Women and decide to write books when

25
they grow up, in order to become famous and wealthy. It is the first time that the two girls’

paths become clear, as Lila is denied the education that she deserves. In what regards

subtitling, the episode shows code-switching and subtitling techniques, and it makes it clear

that the dialect is a statement of identity. In episode 1x03, Lenù portrayed by Margherita

Mazzuocco) and Lila (portrayed by Gaia Girace) are now pre-teens; their bodies are

changing as they are. Lila, saddened by her image in the mirror and by the absence of her

friend at middle school, starts to receive low grades and almost convinces herself that she is

not capable of studying anymore. When she finds out that Lila is secretly studying by herself,

hiding from her parents, she starts studying together with her and regains confidence in

herself. In episode 1x05, Marcello Solara (Don Achille’s son, who inherited his father’s

wealth and business) asks Lila’s father for her hand in marriage, generating more conflicts

in Lila’s family, as she does not want to marry the son of a usurer. This episode shows clearly

the dichotomy between social status, especially when Lila, Lenù and their friends from the

rione decide to take a walk in a rich area in Naples. That summer, following Maestra

Oliviero’s advice, Lenù makes her first trip ever and goes to Ischia, an island in the Gulf of

Naples. Finally, episode 2x07 show Lenù during her years in Pisa at University “La

Normale”, and her struggle to “fit in” with her equals in age. Although she has completely

dropped the Neapolitan dialect in her everyday life, her accent still gives away her origins,

for which she is mocked by others. The only time she speaks Neapolitan is when her mother

goes to Pisa to visit her when Lenù gets sick, as to regain a sense of “belonging” and in fear

that, this time, the mockery would come from her mother. Lila, in the meantime, is still stuck

in the rione, in an unhappy and abusive marriage with Stefano Carracci, the other wealthy

man of the neighbourhood who inherited his father’s delicatessen, and a child. This episode

shows clearly the different directions that Lenù and Lila’s lives have taken, and the great

impact that education (or the lack of it) has had on them.

26
In Italy, on RAI, the episodes were broadcasted to clearly show the uses of both standard

Italian and Neapolitan dialect, with standard Italian subtitles in scenes acted in the latter. In

the USA, on HBO, the episodes were still broadcasted in the original dialects (rather than

dubbed) with English subtitles. In both countries, the type used is the interlingual subtitles.

27
Evaluation of results

As discussed in the Discussion of methods of research section, this research has adopted

both theoretical approaches and practical approaches to analyse the translation and the

cultural rendering of My Brilliant Friend from the source text (Neapolitan dialect) into the

target text (standard Italian and English).

Episode 1x01, called Le Bambole in Italian and The Dolls in English, is the first that has

been investigated. The episode introduces all the major characters and families to the viewer

and gives an overview of the rione, as well as the socio-economic situation in which they

live. The strategies found in this episode are: the role of the mise-en-scene (Pinto, 2018),

diglossia (Nida, 1990), Pettit’s analysis of geographical, socio-historical and temporal

settings (2005), and adaptation strategy by Pettit (2009). The role of the mise-en-scene is

found in different scenes. At 00:06:30, Maestra Oliviero invites Lila’s mother, Nunzia

Cerullo, to the class to show her, and all the children, her daughter’s talent. Maestra Oliviero

is dressed in fine, elegant clothes, whereas Lila’s mother is dressed in humble clothes

(Appendix 1.1). As early as this scene the viewer is informed of the different social and

economic difference between the two characters, which will be confirmed in further scenes

and episodes. At 00:13:12, a glimpse of the rione can be found: it is constituted mainly of

old residential buildings, and the only stores are the soon-to-open Salumeria Carracci, a

delicatessen bought out by Don Achille Carracci through usury and threats (Appendix 1.2),

and, as it can be seen at 00:14:57, the Bar Solara, a café owned by the other only wealthy

family in the rione, the Solaras, who also made money through usury (Appendix 1.3). The

striking difference between the Carracci family and the Solara family and the rest of the

neighbourhood is the representation of the geographical, socio-historical and temporal

factors that reflect the characters. The Solaras, head of the rione mob, and the Carracci both

made their fortune through crime, whereas the other families still struggle through poverty

28
with modest jobs, victims of the tyranny of the two sinister families. The adaptation strategy

can be found at 00:12:30, along with diglossia: Maestro Ferraro, the primary school teacher

in boys’ class, is scolding one of his pupils, Enzo Scanno, for his academic

underperformance. As does Maestra Oliviero, Maestro Ferraro only speaks standard Italian,

but he uses diglossia and switches to the Neapolitan dialect while scolding Enzo, with a

proverb. He calls him a “ciuccio” (“donkey”, “dunce”), and adds that “a lava’ ‘a capa ‘o

ciuccio, se perde l’acqua e o’ sapone” (lit: “to wash a donkey’s head is only a waste of water

and soap”), by which he means that there is no use in talking to him, as it is only a waste of

energy. As there is a literal version of this proverb in standard Italian too, the subtitles in

Italy have kept that same version, which is “a lavare la testa al ciuccio, si perde acqua e

sapone”. In English, however, the translation is “you can lead a donkey to water, but you

can’t make him drink”; in this case, the strategy used is that of adaptation, as the subtitler

opted for adjusting the translation for the target reader and culture in order to convey a

similar meaning. According to the Cambridge Dictionary1, the saying goes “you can lead a

horse to water, but you can’t make him drink”; in this case, as the teacher referred to the

pupil as a “donkey”, the translator opted for the adaptation of the Italian proverb and used

“donkey” instead of “horse”, thus evoking the same connotation.

In episode 1x02, called I Soldi in Italian and The Money in English, there are examples of

code-switching and statement of identity (Federici, 2009), and omission strategy (Cintas and

Remael, 2007). Code-switching and statement of identity can be found in the same scene, at

00:19:39, when Lenù, her mother and her father are discussing the possibility of allowing

Lenù to attend middle school. Her mother does not agree with Maestra Oliviero’s choice of

signing Lenù up for private lessons in order to pass the exam to access middle school, as she

1
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/it/dizionario/inglese/you-can-lead-a-horse-to-water-but-you-can-t-
make-him-drink

29
states that she needs help in the house, and they cannot afford those lessons. She does not

believe Lenù is as bright as Maestra Oliviero wants them to believe – she is, according to

her, only trying to take money from them – and she becomes increasingly upset during the

conversation, speaking entirely in the Neapolitan dialect. Confronted with her daughter’s

silence, though, she switches to standard Italian and says “te lo devo dire in italiano?”, and

then she adds in the Neapolitan dialect “o’ ddialetto nun t’o ricuordi cchiù?” (lit: “do I have

to say it in Italian? You don’t remember the dialect anymore?”). Code-switching to standard

Italian has a specific intent here: to mock Lenù. Her mother, an uneducated housewife, does

not see the point in letting her daughter attend middle school, but she actually thinks it is a

ridicule and she mocks her using standard Italian, the language of educated people. She

switches back to the Neapolitan dialect and asks, “you don’t remember the dialect

anymore?” as a way of stating her – and her daughter’s – identity, as if she is trying to remind

her daughter where she really comes from, and whether studying made her forget who she

really is. What she is in essence asking is “did you become too ‘superior’ and you can’t

understand your dialect anymore?”. Another proverb is found at 00:21:27, when Lila’s

family is having the same conversation about letting her attend middle school. Her father

decided that she will not go further with her education, but Rino, her brother, decides to

confront him about his decision. First, he demands to be paid for his work in his father’s

shoemaking shop; then, he adds that with his money, he is going to pay for her sister’s

education. At this statement, his father replies “che rè, pure ‘e pullece tenene a’ tosse?” (lit:

what’s that, even fleas cough?”), a derogatory way of saying that even small, insignificant

people take the liberty of talking and having their voice heard. Again, there is the literal

version of this proverb in standard Italian, too, and it was kept in the subtitles (“che c’è,

anche le pulci hanno la tosse?”); in English, however, the translator opted for the omission

of said proverb, and it was only translated as “what was that?” – and nothing else. The

30
omission, probably due to the lack of an equivalent or a proper adaptation, leaves a

significant gap in the target text: the “abusive” and almost tyrannical type of relationship

that his father establishes with him, and that leads to him being hit in the face by his father

few seconds later. Rino’s father, in fact, considers him a “flea”, a good-for-nothing (as it will

be made clear in numerous scenes), and he loses his patience when his son dares to speak to

him in such a way.

Episode 1x03, called Le Metamorfosi in Italian and The Metamorphosis in English, shows a

clear example of biculturalism as mentioned by Nida (1990). The girls are now pre-teens,

and they both have to deal with their bodies changing. One morning, while in the bathroom,

Lenù notices she has bled on some toilet paper. Confused and scared, at 00:05:22 she decides

to confide with Lila and Carmela, another childhood friend of theirs, as she is convinced that

she “hurt herself between the legs”. Carmela, who had already got her first period months

before, explains what just happened to her, but Lila still does not understand what they are

referring to. Then Carmela says “c’è venuto o’ marchese” (lit: “the marquis has arrived”);

as “period” and “menstrual cycle” were still considered taboo words, and something to be

ashamed of, “the marquis” was a very popular way of referring to it – and it still is for elderly

people. The expression is the same in standard Italian and it is kept in the subtitles (“le è

venuto il marchese”). Biculturalism, other than bilingualism, is necessary in order to

translate this expression. In English, in fact, it is translated using Cintas and Remael’s

transposition strategy with “Aunt Flo’s paid her visit”, so “the cultural concept from one

culture is replaced by a cultural concept from another” (2014, pp.204-205).

In episode 1x05, called Le Scarpe in Italian and The Shoes in English, three strategies can

be found: loan (Cintas and Remael, 2007), equivalence and replacement (Pettit, 2009). At

00:02:00, Lila’s mother goes into the kitchen where her daughter is setting up the table for

breakfast, to announce that Rino has left “a’ calza d’a Befana” (lit: “Befana’s stocking”) for

31
her. In Italy, on the night of January 5th (Epiphany Eve), similarly to Father Christmas on

Christmas Day, it is said that an old woman, the Befana, delivers sweets in a stocking to

children – or coal, if the children have misbehaved during the past year. Being as it is part

of the Italian folklore, there is no English equivalent to this: the English subtitles read “the

Befana stocking”, so the translator opted for the loan strategy, incorporating the source text

word to the target text. Whereas Rino put in her mother’s stocking sweets, she put in her

sister’s stocking coal, because according to him she is a “bitch” and a good-for-nothing, thus

starting a fight with Lila. During the fight, Lila tells him “jetta o’ sange” (lit: “throw the

blood”), a vulgar expression that stands for “die from excessive bleeding”. Both the standard

Italian (“crepa”) and English (“drop dead”) subtitles show the same strategy: equivalence,

giving the target text, and culture, the same meaning. Both versions convey the same cultural

value: the clash between the siblings is violent, similarly as their relationship with their father

and the environment where they grew up, hence the use of strong and vulgar language

between them. Later in the episode Lila has another fight, this time with Gigliola, another

girl from the rione. At 00:27:08, Gigliola calls Lila “pere ‘e vruoccolo” (lit: “broccoli stem”)

to insult her. This is a typical expression in the Neapolitan dialect that stands for “stupid”,

or even “useless”, as the stem is not considered an edible part of the broccoli. The standard

Italian subtitles read “rimbambita” (lit: “senile”), employing another deictic to convey, more

or less, the same message. The English subtitles, though, read “ferret face”. According to

Pettit, replacement can be “supported by an on-screen gesture or a visual clue” (2009, p.45),

so the choice made in this case refers to the fact that Lila might resemble, in a way, to a

ferret, thus insulting her on her appearance rather than her intellect.

Finally, in episode 2x07, called I Fantasmi in Italian and The Secret Notebooks in English,

Lenù is now living in Pisa to attend University “La Normale”. Two things can be noted in

this episode: the literal translation strategy adopted in one of the scenes, and other examples

32
of cultural identity and code-switching. Although Lenù has completing dropped the

Neapolitan accent, she still has a strong accent that gives away her origins. At 00:02:47, her

friends from Pisa start talking to her in an approximate Neapolitan dialect, with the intent of

mocking her: “Dai, convincilo ‘nu poco, stamme tutti quanti sciupati, ce facimm ‘nu bello

piatto ‘e maccarune tutti quanti, jamm!” (lit: “Come on, convince him a little, we are all

starving, let us have a nice dish of pasta, come one!”). The standard Italian subtitle read the

literal translation of the sentence (“Convincilo un po’, siamo tutti sciupati, ci facciamo un

piatto di maccheroni!”) as do the English subtitles (“Convince him, we’re all wasting away,

let’s go eat macaroni!”). An Italian speaker would certainly recognise the mockery from the

Pisan guy, trying to imitate the Neapolitan dialect, whereas it is not so obvious for an English

speaking viewer; when Lenù boyfriend gets angry at the man, the anglophone viewer might

not understand the reason. The only occasion when Lenù switches back to the Neapolitan

dialect is when her mother goes to Pisa to visit her, as she is sick with high fever: as soon as

she realises that her mother is there for her, at 00:16:01, she says “ma’, sto ccà” (lit: mom,

I’m here). The switch cannot be recognised by an English-speaking viewer as it is literally

translated as “ma, I’m here”, although it is Lenù’s way of going back to her roots, after being

mocked by her Pisan friends.

33
Conclusions

This research has analysed the different subtitling strategies applied in the translation of My

Brilliant Friend from the Neapolitan dialect into standard Italian and English. The literature

available has made it possible to investigate the translation on different levels, including not

only the evaluation of the rendering of words and sentences in the target texts, but also the

importance of the cultural value that they carry in terms of statement of identity, social status,

and historic background. The methodology framework has given a wider perspective on the

approaches to conduct this research, and the methods adopted have allowed a comparison

between the different subtitling strategies found in the source text, that have been then

applied and evaluated in the results. The evaluation of the strategies has shown the

constraints found in the subtitling of the dialects, and how those strategies can assist

translators when faced with such challenges. Furthermore, the analysis of the mise-en-scene

and the socio-cultural context has highlighted the importance of external factors in

audiovisual translations, where the visual impact and the language(s) are intertwined. This

research can open the doors to further studies on the relationship between dialects and

cultural context, and explore what else can be done in the subtitling fields when dialects and

culture weave together in such a way. Moreover, it can be beneficial for in-depth studies on

Italian dialects, which in Italy are often considered languages in their own right, and they

can be conducted to give a broader prospective on how to approach them in translation, and

specifically in subtitling.

34
Recommendations for further research

Due to constraints on word counts, this research has selected few episodes of one specific

series where the Neapolitan dialect is spoken. It would be interesting to investigate other

television series (or films) as well, confronting them and evaluating the different translation

strategies. Although the literature consulted has informed this research in analysing the

different ways of subtitling dialects and non-standard varieties, it could still be improved

and enriched with more studies and research. In fact, many translation manuals take little if

any consideration of the subtitling practice and audiovisual translation in general, thus

lacking deep comparative studies and focused strategies. The literature on subtitling dialects

and non-standard varieties is even more lacking, and it tends to be generalised to all kinds

of varieties of language rather than focussing on specific aspects of dialects. Literature on

subtitling Italian dialects is very scarce as well, almost non-existent; scholars and researchers

would do well to narrow down their studies in order to make this type of specific and

complex translation less challenging, thus giving room for even further studies and

improvements. As Italy is rich with regional non-standard varieties of Italian, an in-depth

research of the dialects can be conducted – even of a specific dialect, such as the Neapolitan

one in this case.

35
Appendices

Appendix 1.1

The dichotomy between Maestra Olivero’s and Nunzia Cerullo’s way of dressing.

Appendix 1.2

36
 The streets of the “rione” and the Salumeria Carracci on the right.

Appendix 1.3

The Bar Solara.

37
List of references

- De Linde, Z. and Kay, N. (1999) The Semiotics of Subtitling. Manchester: St. Jerome.

- Díaz-Cintas, J. (2009) New Trends in Audiovisual Translation. Briston: Tonawanda.

- Díaz-Cintas, J. and Remael, A. (2007) Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling. Manchester: St.

Jerome.

- Federici, F.M. (ed) (2009) Translating Regionalised Voices in Audiovisuals. Rome:

Aracne.

- Ferrante, E. (2011) L’Amica Geniale. 1st edn. Roma: Edizioni e/o.

- Ferrante, E. (2012) My Brilliant Friend. 1st edn. New York: Europa Editions.

- Ghirelli, A. (2015) Storia di Napoli. 3rd edn. Torino: Einaudi.

- Hatim, B. and Mason, I. (1990) Discourse and the Translator. 1st edn. London: Longman.

- Hatim, B. and Munday, J. (2011) Translation: An Advanced Resource Book. 2nd edn.

London: Routledge.

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August 2020)

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series]. Rai 1. Italy: Umedia, The Apartment, Rai Fiction, Rai 1, TIMvision.

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- My Brilliant Friend (2018) Directed by Saverio Costanzo [Tv series]. HBO. USA:

Wildside, Fandango, Umedia, The Apartment, Mowe.

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Personal development portfolio

Project proposal document

Your name and student number

Diletta Tassari
19021912
Your email address
diletta.tassari@libero.it
Working title
“Dialects and Subtitling: Language and Context from Neapolitan into Italian and
English in My Brilliant Friend”
Research question(s)/hypothesis
1) When it comes to subtitling dialects, does the translation in the TT employ an
equivalent of the dialect in the target language too, in order to convey the
original meaning? Or is it adapted in another way?
2) What strategy is used by the subtitlers to convey dialect use in the ST?
Aims of your research
My aim is to investigate the strategies used to translate dialects in audio visual
material, that convey the exact same message of the original dialect – including
social and economic backgrounds.
Key literature consulted (secondary sources)
- Ramos Pinto, S. (2018) Film, dialects and subtitles: an analytical framework
for the study of non-standard varieties in subtitling, The Translator, 24:1, 17-34,
DOI: 10.1080/13556509.2017.1338551
- Pettit, Z. (2005) Translating register, style and tone in dubbing and subtitling.
University of Greenwich. Retrieved from:
https://www.jostrans.org/issue04/art_pettit.pdf
- Hatim, B. and Mason, I. (1990) Discourse and the Translator. 1st edn. London:
Longman.
- F.M., Federici (ed.), Translating Regionalised Voices in Audiovisuals, Roma,
Aracne, 2009.
Methodology
I am going to use Pettit’s strategy to investigate whether the language registers
and stylistic effects are maintained in the translation as expression of dialect –
but instead of including the dubbed version too, I am going to compare the
original version with the subtitles only. By doing so, I can carry my discussion
based on examples and comparisons, which is going to help me in analysing the
strategies. I will follow Ramos Pinto’s strategy too and talk about neutralisation,
standardisation and preservation strategies that will allow my discussion to go
further into the analysis of the strategies.

Research methods/tools

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- Explanation of the social, historical and economic background of the story and
how it influences the dialect
- Examples of renditions of some dialect’s words/expressions and analysis of how
the original message was conveyed (if it was conveyed)
- Analysis of the translations from the original dialect into Italian and English
- Discussion of strategies
Your corpus of texts (primary sources)
- “Le Bambole”. L’Amica Geniale. Writ. Saverio Costanzo. Dir. Saverio
Costanzo and Alice Rohrwacher. Rai Fiction, 2018. Television.
- “The Dolls”. My Brilliant Friend. Writ. Saverio Costanzo. Dir. Saverio
Costanzo and Alice Rohrwacher. HBO, 2018. Television.
Anticipated conclusion [not necessarily expected at this stage]

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Supervision report

Your name and student number

Diletta Tassari
19021912
Your email address
diletta.tassari@libero.it

Supervisor
Dr Marcella De Marco
Supervision number (1, Mode (f2f, Skype, email
Date of supervision
2, 3 etc.) etc.)
03/09/20
1 Skype
Work emailed in advance
of supervision (brief Time used from Time remaining in
details e.g. ‘draft Lit supervision allocation supervision allocation
Review 700 words’)
Draft methodology &
30 minutes -
methods, 3330 words

Record of what was discussed in the supervision, including any

recommendations made by supervisor:

Revision of:
- Methodology
- Discussion of methods of research
Recommendations:
- To doublecheck the Harvard referencing guide
- To move some parts of the sections into the other, or merge them
- To improve in-text quotations

Reflection on the supervision itself, on the current stage of your research and
writing, and on any action points you will be following up before your next
supervision:
I found the supervision very helpful and encouraging as well. I had some doubts
on both sections, but after the supervision I adjusted some parts and I felt more
confident. At the time of the supervision, I had written almost all my dissertation
– excluding the conclusions -, so with those revisions I managed to review the
rest of the document and improve some parts.

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Annotated bibliography

Your name and student number

Diletta Tassari
19021912
Your email address
diletta.tassari@libero.it
Bibliographic entry for source 1 (Harvard style)

Federici, F.M. (ed) (2009) Translating Regionalised Voices in Audiovisuals. Rome:

Aracne.

Critical resume of source 1 (200-250 words)

Along with other researchers, Federici investigates the definition and the role of
non-standard varieties of languages in translation, and especially in audiovisual
materials, as they impose additional constraints. The book includes articles and
research on dialects and regionalised languages from a variety of authors,
exploring the different issues of subtitling and dubbing of non-standard varieties
of languages. It is divided into four sections, where each section is introduced by
a chapter that illustrates general issues and questions confronted by the authors.
The focus of the research is on exploring regionalism as a matter of cultural
identity, and the representation of minoritarian linguistic communities in
translation, where usually the emphasis and the notion of identity is lost. The
authors analyse also how code-switching is a common phenomenon in such
communities, and what the switch from a certain variety of language to its
standard, and vice versa, represents on a socio-cultural level. Furthermore,
especially in subtitling, the meaning conveyed not only but the words, but also by
the rhythm and timbre of speech, which represent another important aspect of
regionalised voices, tends to be lost. The goal of this volume is to highlight those
issues and pose new questions, analysing them and giving practical answers,
where possible.

Bibliographic entry for source 2 (Harvard style)

- Díaz-Cintas, J. (2009) New Trends in Audiovisual Translation. Briston: Tonawanda.

Critical resume of source 2 (200-250 words)

After an introduction on what audiovisual translation is and an outline of its history, Díaz-
Cintas defines the goal of this book: to explore audiovisual translation from a broader
perspective, including not only linguistic approaches but cultural ones as well, and
analysing the impact of tradition, too. The book features different contributors and it is
divided into three parts: Crossing Cultural Borders, Juggling with Humour, and Dealing
with Linguistic Variation. The first part, which was the one mainly referred to for this
research, analyses the connection between culture and language with specific examples
from Danish, Spanish, French and Southern Italian. The second part explores the different
strategies in subtitling and dubbing comedies, humour and puns, with examples from
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specific movies and television series, such as The Simpson and Bridget Jones’s Diary, and
a chapter that analyses the portrayal of gender in subtitled comedies. The third part is an
in-depth analysis of language variations, in order to perform what Díaz-Cintas calls “a
systematic quantitative analyses of spoken language”, as, according to him, language
variations tend to be neutralised and standardised in subtitling and dubbing. The goal of
this volume is to reflect on the many aspects of the audiovisual translation, be it subtitling,
dubbing or voiceover, in order to answer questions to crucial issues and stimulate further
research.

Bibliographic entry for source 3 (Harvard style)

- Ramos Pinto, S. (2018) Film, dialects and subtitles: an analytical framework for the

study of non-standard varieties in subtitling. The Translator, 24:1, 17-34. DOI:

10.1080/13556509.2017.1338551

Critical resume of source 3 (200-250 words)

Pinto proposes a framework of analysis to study the language variations in audiovisual
translation, specifically in subtitling. The author suggests a three-dimensional analysis:
textual, diegetic, and sociocultural, in order to identify the linguistic varieties, their
rendering from the source text to the target text, the function they fulfil in the text, the
impact of the strategies that might be used, and the possible factors behind translators’
choices. As for the textual dimension, she identifies five strategies: discourse
standardisation, discourse dialectisation, centralisation, maintenance, and
decentralisation. For the diegetic dimension, Pinto selects three modes that actively
construct non-standard varieties’ communicative meaning: the spoken mode, the mise-en-
scene and the subtitles. For the sociocultural context, Pinto invites the reader to
contextualise the strategies identified in the last sections with a broader cultural context,
and lists the factors that have an impact on the final product: ideological context, source-
target cultures’ differences, status recognised to subtitling and subtitlers, target audience’s
profile, target product’s function, legibility and intelligibility challenge, and working
conditions. To conclude, the author suggests that the analysis of non-standard varieties
should take into consideration extra-linguistic factors as well, recreating the linguistic
varieties in its entire context.

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 Statement

I hereby declare that I wrote this thesis independently without the help of anybody and that

I did not use any publications other than those cited in the introduction, the research paper

or the bibliography. This thesis has been proofread by my native English-speaker university

colleague, and friend, Andres Felipe Linares.

Signature and date removed because of confidentiality regulations

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