VERBAL HUMOR IN THE ENGLISH HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA MOVIE AND ITS BAHASA INDONESIA SUBTITLING TEXT.

VERBAL HUMOR IN THE ENGLISH HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA
MOVIE AND ITS BAHASA INDONESIA
SUBTITLING TEXT

A THESIS

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Attainment of
a Sarjana Sastra Degree in English Language and Literature

By:
Permadi Tenrisau
10211144004

ENGLISH LITERATURE STUDY PROGRAM
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
YOGYAKARTA STATE UNIVERSITY
2016

MOTTOS

“To be the BEST. You need to ACCEPT the fact that You’re NOT the

BEST and have theWILL to strive to be BETTER than anyone you
face.”

- Roronoa Zoro -

“Don’t just count everything you’ve lost. What has gone, is gone. Think
about what you have now.”
- Jinbei -

“Why so serious?”
- The Joker -

v

DEDICATIONS

This thesis is specially dedicated to:
My Mom,

All members of Lawet10 Family, and
All members of G class and my fellows of English
Literature 2010

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhamdulillah hirrobbil alamiin, all praise be to Allah SWT. There is no

way I could complete this thesis unless with His blessings. The completion of this
thesis is a long journey that I did not go through alone. There are some people
who have helped me reach the destination. Without their support, patience, and
guidance of the following people, this thesis would not have been completed. I
owe my deepest gratitude to:
1. my mom (Mama Heni), my sister (Goprit) and all members of Lawet10 family,
for their support, love, criticism advice, affection, support, and encouragement
so that I can be highly motivated to finish this study;
2. my first and second consultants, Pak Asruddin Barori Tou, M.A., Ph. D and
Pak Andy Bayu Nugroho, S.S., M.Hum. for all their help, guidance, and

patience throughout the undertaking of this study;
3. my academic consultant Pak Yosa Abduh Alzuhdy, S.S., M.Hum., who has
always given me the support to complete this thesis as soon as possible;
4. my best friends, the members of English Literature G class

2010:

Putri,

Nadindra, Evrilia, Damast, Rian KP, Arif Mendo, Hanif, Debby, Wulan, Okka
Mawon, Septian, Andhika, Anisa, and Nofiar Nox for the happiness that have
been shared crazy, stupid, and love things together in the this last six years;
5. all my friends in Translation concentration: Rizka, Tsasa, Aci, Ershandra,
Yunita, Koko, Agha, Edit, Hanif Wanabud, Medy Suhar, Arga, Ical, and
Wulandari for the memories that have been made together; and

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ............................................................................................................

i

APPROVAL SHEET .................................................................................................

ii

RATIFICATION SHEET .........................................................................................

iii

PERNYATAAN .........................................................................................................

iv

MOTTOS ...................................................................................................................

v

DEDICATIONS ........................................................................................................

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..........................................................................................

ix

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ......................................................................... xii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................... xiii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... xiv
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Problem .............................................................................

1

B. Identification of the Problem ...........................................................................

3

C. Focus of the Problem .......................................................................................

5

D. Formulation of the Problem .............................................................................

5

E. Objectives of the Research ................................................................... ...........

6

F. Significance of the Research ................................................................. ..........

6

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK
A. Theoretical Review ..........................................................................................

7

1. Translation .................................................................................................

7

a. Translation Phenomenon .....................................................................

7

b. Translation Classification.....................................................................

8

c. Translation Process .............................................................................. 10

ix

2. Audiovisual Translation ............................................................................. 11

a. Dubbing ................................................................................................ 12
b. Subtitling .............................................................................................. 13
3. Subtitling Strategies ................................................................................... 17
4. Verbal Humor............................................................................................. 20
5. Kinds of Verbal Humor .............................................................................. 22
a. Wordplay .............................................................................................. 22
b. Allusion ................................................................................................ 26
c. Verbal Irony ......................................................................................... 28
6. The Degree of Meaning Equivalence ......................................................... 30
7. Related Studies ........................................................................................... 34
8. Hotel Transylvania ..................................................................................... 35
B. Conceptual Framework ................................................................................... 36
C. Analytical Construct ........................................................................................ 41
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD
A. Type of Research.............................................................................................. 43
B. Data and Sources of Data ................................................................................. 43
C. Research Instruments ....................................................................................... 43
D. Technique of Data Collection .......................................................................... 44
E. Data Analysis Techniques ................................................................................ 46
F. Trustworthiness ............................................................................................... 46

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A. Findings ............................................................................................................ 48
1. Types of the English Verbal Humor .......................................................... 48
2. Subtitling Strategies of the English Verbal Humor.................................... 50
3. The Frequencies of the Degree of Meaning Equivalence of the Verbal
Humor ........................................................................................................ 51
B. Discussion ....................................................................................................... 54
1. Types of Verbal Humor in Hotel Transylvania Movie .............................. 54

x

2. Subtitling Strategies to Translate the Verbal

Humor in

Hotel

Transylvania Movie ................................................................................... 73

3. Degree of Meaning Equivalence of the Translation of Verbal Humor in

Hotel Transylvania Movie ......................................................................... 86

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 95
B. Suggestions ..................................................................................................... 97
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 99
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... 103
A. The Data Sheet ................................................................................................. 104
B. Surat Pernyataan Triangulasi ........................................................................... 139

xi

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1.The Example of Data Sheet ................................................................

45

Table 2.Data Finding of Types of English Verbal Humor in Hotel
Transylvania Movie ...........................................................................

49

Table 3.Data Finding of Subtitling Strategies to Translate the Verbal Humor in
Hotel Transylvania Movie .................................................................

50

Table 4.Data Finding of Degree of Equivalence of the Translation of Verbal
Humor in Hotel Transylvania Movies .................................................... 51
Table 5. Relationship of Types, Strategies and Degree of Meaning
Equivalence ......................................................................................................

52

Figure 1. Process of Translation ......................................................................

10

Figure 2. Analytical Construct .........................................................................

42

xii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AL

:

Allusion

Pp

:

Paraphrase

AVT :

Audiovisual translation

Pr

:

Paronymy

Con

:

Condensation

Res

:

Resignation

Dec

:

Decimation

SL

:

Source Language

Del

:

Deletion

ST

:

Source Text

Diff

:

Different meaning

Tc

:

Transcription

Dis

:

Dislocation

TL

:

Target Language

Ex

:

Expansion

Trf

:

Transfer

Full

:

Fully equivalent

TT

:

Target Text

Hf

:

Hyperformality

Tq

:

Tag question

Hg

:

Homograph

VI

:

Verbal Irony

Hm

:

Homonymy

WP

:

Wordplay

Hp

:

Homophony

Hy

:

Hyperbolic expression

Ij

:

Interjections

Imi

:

Imitation

In

:

Intensifiers

Ir

:

Ironic repetition

Kp

:

Key phrase allusion

No

:

No meaning

Part

:

Partially equivalent

Pn

:

Proper noun allusion

Po

:

Polysemy
xiii

VERBAL HUMOR IN THE ENGLISH HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA MOVIE
AND ITS BAHASA INDONESIA SUBTITLING TEXT
By
Permadi Tenrisau
10211144004
ABSTRACT
The aims of this research are to classify the types of verbal humor in the
English Hotel Transylvania and its Bahasa Indonesia subtitling text, to describe
subtitling strategies employed in translating the verbal humor, and to describe the
degree of meaning equivalence from the result of strategies employed.
This research employs a qualitative method since it provides descriptions of
translation phenomena in Hotel Transylvania movie. The data of this research
were taken from words, phrases, and sentences, that containing verbal humor,
which exist in the form of expressions or sentences. The data were categorized
based on some theories. The first is verbal humor theory proposed by Spanakaki
(2007) and the second is subtitling strategies theory proposed by Gottlieb (2001).
To achieve data trustworthiness, the data sheets are repeatedly checked by the
researcher and some peers and the results were discussed with the consultants and
the respondents. They are collected manually from English text as the phonic
channel and Bahasa Indonesia text as the graphic channel of the original DVD of
Hotel Transylvania movie. The researcher as the main instrument in this research
manually collected and analyzed the data from the movie.
The results of this research show three important findings. First, the types of
verbal humor found in the Hotel Transylvania movie text. Those are wordplay,
allusion, and verbal irony. Verbal irony is the most frequent occurrence of verbal
humor. It can be concluded that verbal irony is the most amusing verbal humor in
Hotel Transylvania movie. Paronymy becomes the most frequent wordplay found
in the data of this research because paronymy is the easiest verbal humor that can
be understood by the viewers. One of the possible reasons why paronymy
becomes the most frequent type of wordplay in Hotel Transylvania movie is that
it plays with two or more words that are almost similar, but there are slight
differences in both spelling and sound. Second, the translator applies seven
subtitling strategies in translating the verbal humor in which transfer becomes the
most frequently used strategy. It is because the translation of verbal humor in
Hotel Transylvania movie still focuses with transfer of meaning of the humor, not
on how to make the verbal humor in the target text. Third, from 67 data, 40 data
of verbal humor in this research is considered as fully equivalent; 19 data are
considered as partly equivalent; and there is no data considered as no meaning.

Keywords: types of verbal humor, Hotel Transylvania movie, subtitling strategies,
the degree of meaning equivalence

xiv

1

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Problem
Translation spreads rapidly into many fields because people‟s need of
information becomes higher every day. People recently not only want domestic
information but also overseas one. This situation gives translation an important
role to fulfill the needs. Because translation is a bridge to deliver meaning from
one language into another language, it is very important to be conveyed. For
example, there are many scholar books that have been translated into many
languages. Moreover, there are still numerous other foreign movies imported to
Indonesia and then translated into Bahasa Indonesia .
According to Jakobson (in Munday, 2001), there are three types of
translation. They are intralingual translation, interlingual translation, and
intersemiotic translation. The object of the research is interlingual translation
which refers to a translation in which verbal texts are interpreted by means of
other texts in different languages. Since it translates into different languages, there
are many aspects to deal with in order to keep the message of the source language.
It is common to change some expressions in phrase or sentence forms in order to
fit the different perspectives that mostly appear between the translations of two
languages from two different cultures.
Translation can be applied into several works. One of them as a popular
work is movie. Movie is very popular in this world. There are many movies made

1

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every day to entertain people. There are many aspects that can be taken from
movies. Movies provide enjoyment or pleasure, knowledge and experiences. A
good movie usually has some versions of languages. For example, some movies
produced by famous production house like Fast & Furious, Transformer , and The
Avengers have been translated into some versions of language although their

original language is English. It has business purpose to catch the global viewer,
including Indonesian movie lovers.
Most Indonesians tend to watch foreign movies rather than Indonesian
movies. However, not everyone or Indonesian viewers have access to the
language in which the movie is provided. Through translation, they are helped to
get and understand the information that has been translated into Bahasa
Indonesia . With translators‟ action of translating the source language, they are

responsible for conveying the messages in the movies in order to make it easier
for people who watch a foreign movie to understand it. They should know not
only both languages but also both cultures so that they can deliver the information
to the target language correctly. Hence, a good movie translation is very important
to help the viewers to appreciate the movies and furthermore learn from foreign
language movies.
A good movie translation must deliver all information and nuances of the
language in movies equivalently and naturally in the target language. The
translation should consider the target viewers. For that purpose, the target text
must be easy to read and understand. However, some expressions are difficult to
be transferred into another language because they are peculiar to that language,

3

such as humor. In this particular study however, the forms of the research is in the
particular problems in translation commonly found in translating movies and the
study choose Hotel Transylvania as the main movie. Hotel Transylvania animated
movie is one of the foreign comedy movies that has been translated into Bahasa
Indonesia .
Hotel Transylvania animated movie is chosen by the researcher as the object

of this research because animation movie is quite popular in Indonesia. It is
targeted for a wide range of viewers from children to adults. Furthermore, it has a
great deal of verbal and visual humor in it, which children may not understand, to
create a humorous nuance. However, there are problems in the subtitles when the
humorous dialogues appear. The difficulties in translating humor are reflected in
the object of this research since the Indonesian subtitling cannot render well.

B. Identification of the Problem
Due to the fact that the sense and taste for humor are always subjective
without mentioning a culture or language specifically, it causes problems for
translators, now it can be said that humor is difficult to translate. When translators
translate the humor, they have to make the source humor function as humor in the
target language. When translating humor a number of factors need to be taken into
consideration. Besides having to decide whether the target language reader
understands the humor, translators also have to render the humor‟s effect of the
source text.
In the Indonesian subtitling of Hotel Transylvania animated movie, there are
three major problems, especially for verbal humor translation that can be

4

identified. These problems are linguistic aspect, cultural aspect, and natural aspect
of subtitling.
The linguistic aspect of the humor is the first problem. In the process of
translation, translators may modify the structure of the language as long as the
meaning of the whole sentence is delivered. In the case of translating humor,
which is linguistics in nature, the problem is for more complicated. Humor of this
kind is very much dependent on the structure of the language.
The second problem, which is as problematic as the first one, is related to
the cultural aspect of humor. Many said that translation is not only an act of
translating the words from one language with those of another but also includes
the process of transferring the culture of the source language because every
language is always closely related to the culture to which it belongs. Translators
need to make sure that the translated text is culturally equivalence in meaning to
the target viewer. This situation may cause problems when there are no equivalent
words to be translated into the target text. In other words, what is humorous in one
culture may not be so in another culture.
The nature of audiovisual translation becomes the third problem.
Translating movies, or known as subtitling, owns a different challenge for
translators when compared to other forms of translation. Subtitling can cause
problems for the translators because the translators must pay attention to the rules
of the subtitling, like the length of the subtitle on the screen where the space is
limited. Definitely, this aspect influences the translation. As a result, translators

5

can use a variety of subtitling strategies whether they have to change or maintain
the meaning in order to fit with the limitation space of subtitling.
Moreover, the animation movie Hotel Transylvania is mainly targeted for
children which can cause other problems. Since children mostly do not have the
same background knowledge as adults do, the translators should concern with the
basic translation theories that can be applied to the translation for children.
Furthermore, the children‟s background knowledge and understanding depend on
their knowledge in intercultural differences.

C. Focus of the Problem
Considering that there are several aspects that cause problems in Hotel
Transylvania animated movie, this research focuses on three problems. They are

kinds of verbal humor found in English Hotel Transylvania animated movie and
how are they realized in the Bahasa Indonesia subtitling text, the subtitling
strategies employed by the translator in translating the verbal humor of the
English verbal humor, and the degree of meaning of equivalence of verbal humor
in the English Hotel Transylvania movie and the Bahasa Indonesia subtitling text.

D. Formulation of the Problem
Based on the problems identified above, the problems of this research are
formulated as follows.
1.

What types of verbal humor are found in the English Hotel Transylvania
movie?

6

2.

What are the subtitling strategies of the English verbal humor seen in the
Bahasa Indonesia subtitling text?

3.

What is the degree of meaning equivalence of the translation of the verbal
humor in Hotel Transylvania movie into Bahasa Indonesia?

E. Objectives of the Research
Based on the formulation of the problems, the objectives of this research
are:
1. to classify the types of verbal humor found in English Hotel Transylvania
movie,
2. to describe the subtitling strategies used by the translators in translating verbal
humor in Hotel Transylvania subtitling text, and
3. to describe the degree of meaning equivalence of the translation of verbal
humor in Hotel Transylvania movie into Bahasa Indonesia.
F. Significance of the Research
The aim of this research is to give understanding and information of humor
translation in animated movies. Hopefully, this research can bring the following
significances.
1. This research can be used as a reference for those who are interested in
conducting a study related to the translation of verbal humor, especially in
animated movies.
2. This research can give contribution to the field of translation studies especially
in relation to the translation of verbal humor.
3. This research enriches understanding of theories in subtitling of verbal humor.

7

CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

A. Theoretical Review
1.

Translation
Translation is generally seen as a process of translating a text or a piece of

information from one language to another language to make readers understand
the information of the text without necessarily learning the source language first.
It currently can be done by translation machine system such as Google Translate,
Bing Translator or online dictionary. They can just type a sentence into one of the

machines and the result will show up in a few seconds. However, translation is
more complex than replacing source language text with target language text. It has
various definitions depending on perspective of the experts who give the
definitions.
a.

Translation Phenomenon
Some experts have given some definitions of translation to clarify the exact

perception of what translation is. Hatim and Munday (2004: 6), for example,
define translation as “the process of transferring a written text from source
language (SL) to target language (TL), conducted by a translator, or translators.”
This definition seems too general because what is transferred in the written text is
not clearly stated.
A slightly different definition is proposed by Catford (1965: 20). In his book
A Linguistic Theory of Translation: An Essay in Applied Linguistics, he defines

7

8

translation as “the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by
equivalent textual material in another language (TL).” According to him,
translation is the process of transferring text from one language into another by
maintaining the equivalent level of the SL expressions.
In a similar way, Nida and Taber (2003: 12) suggest that, “translating
consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of
the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of
style.” It means that they emphasize on the equivalence between the SL and the
TL. This means that in translating the text from the SL translators should seek the
equivalence in the TL.
When it comes in defining translation, Newmark (in Anderman and Rogers
2003: 55) writes that there is no such thing as one basic or classical text that
defines translation. Translation is taking the meaning from one text and
integrating it into another language for a new and sometimes different readership.
In summary, translation has several meanings that can be seen above. It
refers to the product (the translated text) and the process done by the translator to
transfer the source text into the target text. It can be said that in translating the text
from source language translators should seek the equivalence in target language.

b. Translation Classification
Roman Jakobson (in Munday, 2001:5) in his paper, “On Linguistic Aspects
of Translation”, categorizes three types of translation.
1) Intralingual translation, or “rewarding” is an interpretation of verbal signs by
means of other signs of the same language. The example of intralingual

9

translation is synonyms in the same linguistic code or language, paraphrase or
replacing an idiom such as pass away by die.
2) Interlingual translation, or “translation proper” is an interpretation of verbal
signs by means of some other languages. What make different interlingual
translation from intralingual translation is that it involves two or more
language. This type of translation can be seen in replacing certain code-units
in the source language by equivalent code-units in the target language.
3) Intersemiotic translation, or “transmutation” is an interpretation of verbal
signs by means of signs of non-verbal signs system. It refers to the use of
signs or signals for the purpose of communication such as sign language and
traffic signals.
Larson (1984) classifies translation into two main types.
1) Form-based translation
In this kind of translation, the translators are attempting to follow the form of
the language.
2) Meaning-based translation
In this kind of translation, the translators express the meaning of source
language in the natural form of target language.
Translation grows bigger in recent time because the need of people to
communicate with another. They need to share and develop information since it is
the basic need of their life. In today‟s globalized world, there are media that
people use to communicate with one another across cultural borders, such as
movies. The growth of media, such as television and cinema, raises new theory,

10

that is audiovisual translation which is a sub-field of translation studies
(Baranauskienė and Blaževičienė, 2008 pp 14). A need to translate them into other
languages increase acutely. Therefore, along with the development of the media,
audiovisual translation (AVT) started to gain prominence. However, although
widely used in many non-English speaking countries, this area was not thoroughly
researched until relatively recently. During the last 20 years, the audiovisual
translation has grown at a remarkable rate and several researchers have addressed
the various forms of audiovisual translation, such as dubbing and subtitling.

c.

Translation Process
Translation process is an activity of a person (translator) when doing

translation. Nida has three steps of translation process that can be used by a
translator: 1) analysis, 2) transferring, and 3) restructuring (1975: 80). It is drawn
as follows.

Source Language
Text

Receptor Language
Translation

Analysis

Restructuring

Transfer

Figure 1. Process of Translation (Nida, 1975: 80)

11

The process of analysis is relatively complex. It contains three different sets
of features: the grammatical relationship between constituent parts, the referential
meanings of the semantic units, and the connotative values of the grammatical
structures and the semantic units. (Nida, 1975:80)

2.

Audiovisual Translation
Audiovisual translation (AVT) is relatively new in translation studies. It can

be defined as the translation of any material in audio, visual or audiovisual format.
The translation products of audiovisual translation are TV programs, TV series
and serials, films, videos, documentaries, sitcoms, advertisements, and so on.
Cintas and Anderman (2009: 8) describe that audiovisual translation is one
of the most vibrant and vigorous field within Translation Studies in recent times.
It becomes a prominent area of the study since the growth of media, especially in
television programs or cinemas and the need for audiovisual translation in most
countries. Cintas (in Chiaro, Heiss, and Bucaria 2008: 5) also explains that
Audiovisual translation (AVT) is a field that has been growing in significance and
visibility in recent decades, and many young, enterprising scholars are directing
their interests and efforts to the analysis of audiovisual programs. It clearly
explains that this field has been expanded rapidly increasing interest at
educational, professional, and research level.
Audiovisual translation provides a study about the way of language transfer
on screen. Chiaro (2008: 141) explains that it covers the interlingual transfer of
verbal language when it is transmitted and accessed both visually and
acoustically, usually, but not necessarily, through some kind of electronic device.

12

She also adds that audiovisual translation has two most widespread modalities
adopted for translating products for the screen. They are dubbing and subtitling.

a.

Dubbing
Dubbing or revoicing is a process which means “the replacement of the

original speech by a voice track which attempts to follow as closely as possible
the timing, phrasing and lip-movements of the original dialogue” (Luyken 1991:
31). The key of a dubbing process can be analyzed in the term „voice tract‟. The
voice track changes the original dialogues and attempts to follow as closely as
possible the timing, phrasing and lip movements of the original dialogue (Chiaro
2008: 144). Dubbing aims at making the target dialogues sound as if the original
actors are uttering them. With dubbing, viewers can actually watch the film in its
entirety as they are not distracted by also having to concentrate on reading the
dialogues (Chiaro 2008: 147).
Chiaro (2008: 145) divides the dubbing process into four basic steps that is
involved in the process of dubbing a film from start to finish. First, the script is
translated; second, it is adapted to sound both natural in the target language and to
fit in with the lip movements of the actors on screen; third, the new, translated
script is recorded by actors; and finally it is mixed into the original recording.
Dubbing is a complex process in audiovisual translation study because of
the number of operators involved in dubbing a film from start to finish. They are
the dubbing director, translators, dubbing translators, actors, sound engineers, and
so on. In other words, the dubbing process is teamwork, where the translator fully
involves in the whole process, not only to translate the text, but also to make

13

synchronic dialogues between the translation of each utterance and the lips
movement.
There are two advantages of dubbing according to Serban (2004:7).
Dubbing does not distract attention from the image. The viewers can focus their
attention on the images and the words at the same time whereas in subtitled
versions they constantly have to look up and down the screen to be able to follow
the story. Moreover, it is considered better for children who have not yet learnt to
read and for people with poor reading skills.
Synchronization is the major element that needs to be taken into account
and it poses considerable problems as dubbing disadvantages. When dubbing, the
writer is not free to modify the text as he wishes to make the speech in the target
language more natural. On the contrary, he has to strictly follow what appears on
the screen and the dubbed dialogue should fit the lip movements of the actors.
It is much more expensive than subtitling and it takes more time (Serban
2004:8). It can be up to 15 times more expensive than adding subtitles.
Furthermore, it may involve loss of the original soundtrack. The voices of
dubbing actors can be repetitive after sometime. Last, another disadvantage can be
noticed when a dubbed film contains some scenes in which the actors speak two
languages, particularly, if one of these two languages is said to be the TL of the
dubbed film.

b. Subtitling
Subtitling can be defined as “the rendering in a different language of verbal
messages in filmic media, in the shape of one or more lines of written text

14

presented on the screen in sync with the original written message” (Gottlieb,
2001: 87). If we watch a foreign movie in cinema, we may see that there is a text
in the bottom of the screen video. This text is subtitles, the translated text from the
source text on the dialog to the target text.
Subtitles usually consist of one or two lines of average maximum length of
30-40 characters including spaces. Chiaro (2008: 148) says subtitling consists of
incorporating on the screen a written text that is a condensed version in the target
text of what can be heard on screen. The subtitle text has to be shorter than the
audio so the viewers have enough time to read the subtitles while they enjoy the
visual image at the same time.
Furthermore, Hatim and Mason (2000: 430-1) mention four main
constraints on subtitling, which create particular kinds of difficulties for the
translator, they are:
1) the shift in style from speech to writing,
2) the physical constraints of available space and the position of the sound-track
dialogue,
3) the reduction of the source text as a consequence of the second constraint
above, and
4) the requirement of matching the visual image.
According to Chiaro (2008: 148), the subtitling process, like dubbing,
involves several operators. There are three stages in subtitling process. First stage,
called as spotting or cueing, is done by a technician who marks the transcript or
the dialogue list according to where subtitles should start and stop. Second stage is

15

the part of translator. With the aid of the dialogue list annotated for cueing, the
translator will then take over and carry out the actual translation. The last stage is
job for the third operator to check language and technical aspects, such as
ensuring that subtitles are in sync with changes of frame.
According to Gottlieb (in Baker, 2001: 247), subtitling can be distinguished
into two types from a linguistic viewpoint.
1) Intralingual subtitling is a subtitle in the original language that includes
subtitling of domestic programmes for the Deaf and hard of hearing and
subtiling of foreign-language programmes for language learners. Intralingual
subtitling involves taking speech down in writing, changing mode but not for
language.
2) Interlingual subtitling is a subtitle in another language (translation between
two cultural language). This type is diagonal, the subtitler crosses over from
speech in one language to writing in another, than changing made and
language. Whereas technically speakingsubtitles can be either open (not
optional, i.e. shown with the film) and closed (optional, i.e. shown via
teletext).
Additionally, Kuhiwczak and Littau (2007: 129) propose the other
categories of subtitling. They can be seen as follows.
1) Open subtitling usually used at the cinema or on television. The subtitle
cannot be removed from the video or the screen. The open subtitle cost
cheaper than dubbing, so many people prefer to use it.

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2) Closed subtitling is the opposite of closed subtitle. It mostly used in DVDs
with interlingual subtilting inmany language. It makes easier for the viewers,
because thay can choose which language that they want to use or even they
do not want to show the subtitles. Kuhiwczak and Littau also explain that
nowadays people tend to use closed subtitling.
Subtitling is considered the most neutral, minimally mediated method that
involves the least interference with the original Szarkowska (2005:10). For this
reason, it can be argued that subtitling makes the viewers experience the flavor of
the foreign language as well as the sense of a different 'other' culture. This is
because the original soundtrack is preserved.
Subtitling may have a role in language learning (Serban 2004:6) and in a
better understanding of the narrative network of a film. As Mera (1998:75)
mentions, "hearing the real voices of the characters not only facilitates
understanding in terms of the specific dialogue or plot structure, but gives vital
clues to status, class and relationship". The researcher believes that there is no one
could ever replace Adam Sandler or Morgan Freeman‟s voice. Furthermore,
subtitling is far less expensive than dubbing. In other words, subtitling is cheaper
to meet the needs of movie markets since it provides subtitles that are more
economical and easier to produce (Szarkowska 2005:10).
In spite of the above advantages, subtitling is characterized by having some
disadvantages. Having an intrinsic nature, subtitling involves significant cuts in
the length of the dialogue. It is easy for viewers who know both the original and

17

subtitled versions to detect mistakes. There is greater loss of information because
of compression (Serban 2004:6).
The viewers cannot see the screen clearly. The attention of the viewers is
split between soundtrack, image and subtitles. They have to pay too much
attention to the translated words at the expense of the other surrounding elements
such as the sound, the movie set or the characters.

3.

Subtitling Strategies
Subtitling does not only translate the dialogue, but also other meaningful

language in movies such as signs, letters, and captions. Subtitling becomes more
dominant rather than dubbing because it is simpler and cheaper. Some scholars
develop the technique or strategies of inserting subtitles onto movie. One
prominent scholar in the media translation field who has proposed corresponding
subtitle translation strategies is Henrik Gotlieb. In categorizing the subtitling
strategies, the researcher adopts theory comes from Gotlieb (2001) who introduce
ten kinds of subtitling strategies to deal with the problem of subtitling.
a.

Expansion
Expansion is used when the original text requires an explanation because

some cultural nuance are not retrievable in the target language. The following is
an example of this strategy.
SL: I‟m your Vlad-y daddy
TL: Aku ayahmu yang perkasa

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b. Paraphrase
This strategy is resorted to in cases where the phrase of the original text
cannot be reconstructed in the same syntactic way in the target language.
Translators usually apply this strategy when they considered the space is available
and the translated subtitles short enough. One example follows.
SL: I should really clear my throat before I speak.
TL: Aku seharusnya berdehem dulu sebelum bicara.

c.

Transfer
Transfer refers to the strategy of translating the same text completely and

accurately. The following is an example of this strategy.
SL: Welcome to Hotel Transylvania!
TL: Selamat datang di Hotel Transylvania!

d. Imitation
Imitation maintains the same forms, typically with names of people and
places. Here is an example.
SL: I've got tickets to six Dave Matthews Band concerts.
TL: Aku punya enam tiket ke konser Dave Matthews Band.

e.

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

source text. For example, the using of a third language or nonsense language. The
following is an example.
SL: Those humans are nas-tay.

19

TL: Manusia memang kejam.

f.

Dislocation
This method is normally employed in a situation where the special effect of

the text or subtitling needs to be maintained. For example, a silly song in a
cartoon movie, the translation of the effect is more important than the content.
The following is an example.
SL: He flips, he slides, he falls
TL: Berputar, Berseluncur, Jatuh

g.

Condensation
Condensation usually applies by the translator when there is a long dialogue

so those translators used necessarily reduction information and thus increases
coherence for the viewers. It can be said condensation is the shortening of the text.
The aim of this strategy is to reduce partially without deleting a meaning.
SL: Winnie! Front and center!
TL: Winnie! Kesinilah!

h. Decimation
Decimation is an extreme form of condensation where perhaps for reason of
discourse speed even partially important elements are entitled. The strategy is
characterized by using shorter expressions and a reduction in content. This
process may result the less of neither semantic nor stylistic content.
SL: Now, by my maid head at twelve years old. I bade her come.
What, lamb! What ladi bird. God Forbid! Where is the girl? Juliet

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TL: Aku akan memanggilnya. Tuhan melarang. Juliet

i.

Deletion
Deletion refers to the total elimination of parts of a text. Moreover, deletion

is mainly used to deal with non-verbal content. Repetitions word and tag question
can be deleted without losing any information from the source text to the semantic
or stylistic content.
SL: I was wrong, Devil-chops.
TL: Aku salah.

j.

Resignation
Resignation describes the strategy adopted when there is no translation

solution can be found and meaning inevitably lost.
SL: It is lockin’ in the crackin’, my friend.
TL: Ini tak baik.

4.

Verbal Humor
Humor, as an essential part phenomenon of daily life communication, is not

as easy to define as it seems. According to definitions taken from MSN Encarta 's
'humor' are (1) funny quality: the quality or content of something such as a story,
performance, or joke that elicits amusement and laughter, (2) ability to see
something as funny: the ability to see that something is funny, or the enjoyment of
things that are funny, and (3) funny things as genre: writings and other material
created to make people laugh.

21

Vandaele (2002: 147) explains that humor is defined as a humorous effect.
The humorous effect here refers to the fact that people will laugh and smile when
they find something humorous. According to the Incongruity Theory (Franzini
2002: 16), humor arises when there are unexpected outcomes in familiar
circumstances. A person may suddenly look or act in such a way that is
unexpected or different from the norm.
Humor might be defined as a humorous effect such as laugh or smile, but
analyzing the humor is not easy. According to Attardo (1994: 4 in Spanakaki
2007), laughter is not necessarily a condition for humor. Humor is whatever is
intended to be funny, even if it might not always be perceived or interpreted as
humor. This definition indicates that humor is a subjective thing since different
people react differently to the same humorous stimuli (Veiga in Cintas and
Anderman 2009: 163)
In analyzing the humor, laughter cannot be used as orientation of humor.
There are some considerations to take something humorous or not. Neale and
Krutnik (1990: 87-88 in Nieminen 2007: 8) have noticed that most examples of
dialogues based on humor specifically involve deviations from the norms that
govern conventional everyday communication. They also note that breaking the
rules of politeness is fairly characteristic to all kinds of comedy. The viewers will
know something is intended as humor if they can find the unconventional or
unexpected response of the characters.
These explanations quite enough to capture the essence of what could be
called general definition of humor, and they do capture the basics of what humor

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is, but there is more to humor than just the ability to make people laugh or to be
able to laugh at funny things. Spanakaki (2007) even states no matter how
ordinary or commonplace humor seems to be in everyday life, it is found to be
much more problematic and indefinable as a theoretical concept.
There are two types of humor. They are verbal humor and visual humor.
Verbal humor is, that can be written or spoken, usually plays with words to create
the humorous effects. Franzini (2002: 24) defines that verbal humor is specific
humor resulting from the manipulation of language as in riddles, wordplay, puns,
jokes, sarcasm, wit, and name-calling. Visual humor does not use words in order
to produce humorous effect. It can be defined as a humorous situation, which is
not created, described, and expressed by a text. It always uses visual image to
arise the humor, such as facial expression, body movement, make up or clothes
which are arranged in such a way that makes the viewers laugh.

5.

Kinds of Verbal Humor
Verbally expressed humor is among the most difficult to translate. As

opposed to referential humor, verbal humor is often viewed as untranslatable due
to its language dependent quality. Verbal humor divided into three (Spanakaki,
2007). They are wordplay, allusion, and verbal irony.
a.

Wordplay
Wordplay is widely known as one of kind of verbal humor for some

scholars. It is term that also can be said as humorous play with the meaning of a
word. Wordplay is usually used to create joke. Given that, Nieminen (2007:11)
proposes that a great deal of verbal humor is based on some kind of wordplay. In

23

addition, Chiaro (1992:2) states that wordplay is “the use of language with intent
to amuse”. From the definition above, the intention of wordplay is to arouse
laughterer and amusement.
Meanwhile, the most comprehensive definition about wordplay that covers
all the above-mentioned definitions is probably proposed by Delabastita (1996:
128 in Spanakaki 2007, in Vandaele 2010: 180). He states that
“Wordplay is the general name for the various textual phenomena in which
structural features of the language(s) are used are exploited in order to bring
about a communicatively significant confrontation of two (or more)
linguistic structures with more or less similar forms and more or less
different meanings.”
In sum, wordplay is textual phenomena. It means that wordplay needs to be
used in particular textual settings. In other words, wordplay requires context.
Moreover, wordplay occurs in a sentence which has ambiguity or confrontation of
two linguistic structure with more or less dissimilar meanings and more or less
similar forms. In some cases, wordplay also plays with the sounds of the words.
According to Delabastita (1996:128 in Spanakaki 2007), wordplay based on
the types on degree of similarity can be further divided in the following
categories.
1) Homonymy
Homonymy is a type of wordplay which has identical spelling and sounds
but different meaning. For example, the word left in English refers to two
different meanings. The first means „the past simple and past participle of leave‟
and the second is „the direction of left side‟. Here is the example of homonymy.

24

P1: You are on fire.
P2: Oh, thank you.
P1: No, you are really on fire!

In the example above, Person 1 (P1) told Person 2 (P2) that he/she is on fire.
P2 misunderstood what P1 means about on fire (enthusiasm). The fact is that P2 is
really on fire (gets burn).

2) Homophony
Homophony is two or more words which has identical sounds but different
spelling and meaning. A homophony is also considered as a type of homonymy.
For instance, there are the words in English meat and meet that are pronounced
the same but differ in meaning and spelling.

A: I need your advice.
B: I advise you to bring plastic bags.

3) Homograph
Homograph is a type of wordplay which has identical spelling but different
sounds and meaning. For example, the word object in English refers to a thing that
can be seen or touched but not a living animal, plant or person and the second
refers to feel or express opposition of something or someone.

TL: They seemed to think the opportunity lost, if they failed to point the
conversaton to me, evert now and then, and stick the point into me.
Both of the bold words are identical in spellings, but have different
meanings. The first point means direction and the second point means the idea.

25

4) Paronymy
Paronymy refers to a condition when words or group words are nearly but
not differences in both spelling and pronunciation. For example, the word naughty
with the word knotty in English.
SL: Did that just say Grand Central Station? Or my aunt‟s constipation?
TL: Katanya “Stasiun Grand Central” atau “bibiku mual”
Both of the words Central Station and constipation are considered as
paronymy—wordplay because they have similarity of sound. The translator
translates them into Bahasa Indonesia by replacing the wordplay with two words
with the same rhyme of „al‟, that is central and mual.
5) Polysemy
Polysemy is a type of wordplay which there is one word with different
meaning. It must be realized that the difference between polysemy and
homonymy sometimes is subtle since both are words with the same spelling and
pronunciation, but different meanings. The difference between polysemy and
homonymy can be seen from t