Cover not available
Article published In:
Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts
Vol. 3:2 (2017) ► pp.254–269

Racial slurs in Italian film dubbing

| University of Macerata

This paper explores how racial slurs are dealt with in Anglo-American films and rendered in films dubbed in Italian. It focuses on the racist epithets ‘nigger’, ‘gook’ and ‘zipper head’ with a view to unveiling the linguistic choices made by Italian audiovisual translators. Furthermore, it supports the claim that taboo topics vary from culture to culture and sheds some light on self-censorship, which has allegedly shifted from sexual and religious topics to ethnic slurs (Allan and Burridge 2006; Hughes 2006). In some cases the analysis reveals a wide spectrum of translation choices accompanied by subtle linguistic manipulations. In other cases translation choices tend to be fixed owing to the limited range of corresponding slurs in Italian. Also, the paper discusses self-censorship in contemporary Anglo-American films. In this regard, it is observed that ‘the n-word’ has characterized the majority of Anglo-American films since 2000 and has hallmarked a shift in self-censorship. The final question that this paper addresses is whether Italian culture is ready or not for this change.

Keywords: racial slurs, film dubbing, Italian dubbed films, racist epithets, audiovisual translation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Analysis
    • 2.1Insulting
    • 2.2Teasing oneself
    • 2.3Togetherness
    • 2.4Feeling under threat
    • 2.5Final remarks
    • 2.6Other slurs
    • 2.7The N-word
  • 3.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • References


This article is currently available as a sample article.

Published online: 23 June 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.3.2.06gia
References
Allan, Keith, and Kate Burridge
2006 Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hughes, Geoffrey
2006 An Encyclopedia of Swearing: The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in the English- Speaking World. London: M.E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Nobili, Paola
2007 Insulti e Pregiudizi: Discriminazione Etnica e Turpiloquio in Film, Canzone e Giornali. Rome: Aracne.Google Scholar
Pavesi, Maria
2005 La Traduzione Filmica: Aspetti del Parlato Doppiato dall’Inglese all’Italiano. Rome: Carocci.Google Scholar
Scatasta, Gino
2002 “Tradurre l’Intraducibile. Il Turpiloquio.” In Manuale di Traduzione dall’Inglese, ed. by Romana Zacchi, and Massimiliano Morini, 96–102. Milan: Bruno Mondadori.Google Scholar
Wisnewski, Jeremy
2007 Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure for the Petarded. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar

Electronic Sources

Sana, Giuliana
2009 “ Gran Torino, USA 2008.” aSinc online journal on the criticism of the art of dubbing. [URL].

Film list

McTiernan J.
1995, Die Hard with a Vengeance, USA.Google Scholar
Clark L.
1995, Kids, UK.Google Scholar
MacFarlane S.
2000, Family Guy, Season 2 Episode 8 – I am Peter Hear me Roar, USA.Google Scholar
Kubrick S.
1987, Full Metal Jacket, USA.Google Scholar
Stoller N.
2010, Get Him to The Greek, USA.Google Scholar
Eastwood C.
2008, Gran Torino, USA.Google Scholar
Badham J.
1977, Saturday Night Fever, USA.Google Scholar
Wayans I.
2000, Scary Movie 2, USA.Google Scholar
2001, Scary Movie, USA.Google Scholar
Scorsese M.
2013, The Wolf of Wall Street, USA.Google Scholar
Tarantino Q.
1994, Pulp Fiction, USA.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Giampieri, Patrizia
2018. Spoken language features (and anomalies) in films for ESL classes. Language Learning in Higher Education 8:2 ► pp. 399 ff. DOI logo
Valdeón, Roberto A.
2024. The vulgarization hypothesis and the translation of swearwords by male and female translators in AVT in Spain. Journal of Pragmatics 219 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.