Translation of personal proper names in the subtitling of Animation Movies

Translation has many challenges, one of which is the problem of translating proper nouns (PNs). The focus of this study lies within translation of personal names, which are a subclass of proper nouns. The translation of personal proper names seems to be an effortless task, but several minor setbacks may occur during the process of the translation of these items. This paper presents some translation techniques proposed by various researchers in this regard, then aimed at determining the translation procedures involved in the translation of personal proper names in 4 animation movies: Smurf1, Smurf2, Mr. P Body, Lego movie. The framework of this study was Newmark’s (1988a) translation procedures for translating proper names in general. The study also attempted to identify which methods of translation in this case had best conveyed the national flavor of the original text. The study concluded that two procedures, i.e. transference and naturalization, were applied in the subtitling for translating personal proper names.

Keywords:

naturalization , personal proper name , transference , translation procedure