LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 22:1 January 2022
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

Celebrate India!
Unity in Diversity!!

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2022
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

A Study of Translation Strategies Used in the Diary Of Tootsie's LGBTQ Slang

Sutatta Vatjinda, M.A.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is 1) to identify Baker’s translation strategies on LGBTQ slang in Diary of Tootsie, season 1 on Netflix as pro-subbing and YouTube as fan-subbing., 2) to identify the different types of LGBTQ slang found in research question 1, and 3) to analyze how translation strategy affects the socio-cultural attitudes towards Thai LGBTQ community. This research employed a qualitative research method to process the data collection and data analysis. The data of this research were taken Thai LGBTQ slang words found in Diary of Tootsie, season 1 on Netflix and YouTube. The findings represented that translation by paraphrase using an unrelated word was the most common translation strategy used in Netflix (15 slang) and YouTube (14 slang), and translation by a more general word (superordinate) was the least used translation strategy use in Netflix and YouTube (1 slang). Second, ambiguous terms in five characteristics of LGBTQ language in Thai were the most frequent use of these categories (8 slang) to conceal the true meaning of the slang terms that convey the sexual meaning. The swear and taboo words (2 slang) were the least used in these categories. Last, English translation of the slang terms has no effects on the Thai LGBTQ community as well as the findings clearly indicate that the slang have represented a positive attitude rather than negative attitude towards the Thai LGBTQ community.

Keywords: Diary of Tootsie, LGBTQ, LGBTQ slang, Translation strategies, TV series, Pro-subbing, Fan-subbing

Introduction

LGBTQ is an acronym connected with human sexuality which describes a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (Grinberg, 2019). This term LGBTQ was first introduced to the world in the 1990s and was used to replace more pejorative words such as gay, queer or fag in reference to the LGBTQ community beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s (Shankle, 2006).

Baker (1992) stated that “non-equivalence at word level means that the target language has no direct equivalent for a word which occurs in the source text” (p. 20). Different translation strategies are needed to apply in different types of non-equivalence. Baker (1992) described the various common problems of non-equivalence at word level and some common strategies to deal with. First, some words in source language have to deal with culture in target language, which include religious, custom, belief, or food. Second, some concepts or word in source language sometimes could not find the translation in target language or some concepts or words are too complicated to translate into target language.

The study is focused on the translation methods from Thai to English on slang which appear in a LGBTQ Thai series which is popular among Thai LGBTQ, Diary of Tootsie. There are several slang words that emerge in the dialogues in this series which are used or understood among the Thai LGBTQ community. This series has been available on both Netflix and YouTube with English subtitles. The slang words and in the series need to be translated correctly into English, as such this study also focuses on the analysis of slang translation from Thai to English. Furthermore, the study also focuses on those LGBTQ slang words that might affect the attitudes towards the Thai LGBTQ community which are represented via this series.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Sutatta Vatjinda, M.A.
Faculty of Human Sciences
Assumption University, Thailand
sutattafah@gmail.com
Tel: +668-2667-5499
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.