Swear words in non-professional subtitling

Abstract

Translation of subtitles cannot be considered to be a thoroughly researched topic. The approach towards translation of swear words can depend on a variety of factors, such as the translator’s education or the requirements imposed by a party commissioning audiovisual translation service. The task is made even more difficult due to the fact that there still is a significant disagreement between researchers with regard to the question whether written versions of swear words have a stronger effect on receivers than their spoken equivalents. The main purpose behind this paper is the analysis of non-professional translator’s approach to the translation of swear words.