The Impact of Function and Context on Translating Film Titles and their Occurrences in Subtitles

Film titles are often comprised of single words or short phrases, their length rarely exceeding a sentence. Despite this, translating titles for new audiences is a complex task. This study examines this complexity by comparing how the same phrases are translated from English into Arabic when used as film titles versus when they appear within the dialogue as subtitles. Films where the title was uttered during the film were selected. The subtitles of the lines that contained the title reference were contrasted with the official target language title. The comparison focused on the influence of context and function on the translation strategies. The analysis confirmed the extent of this influence and showed that translating titles tended to take a more general approach that focuses on appeal rather than fidelity, while subtitles were specified by context and were thus more sense-oriented. The study recommends that both title localisers and subtitlers resort to the context of the film to produce accurate renditions.