The Translation of Taboo Words in the Deadpool 2 Movie Subtitle
on
https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/linguistika/
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24843/ling.2022.v29.i02.p09
LINGUISTIKA, SEPTEMBER 2022
p-ISSN: 0854-9613 e-ISSN: 2656-6419
Vol. 29 No.2
The Translation of Taboo Words in the Deadpool 2 Movie Subtitle
I Wayan Gede Candra Wibawa1, I Made Netra2, I Made Rajeg3
Udayana University, Denpasar, Bali
Correspondence email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Abstract--This study is entitled “The Translation of Taboo Words in the Deadpool 2 Movie Subtitle”. This study aimed at describing the types of taboo words found in the Deadpool 2 movie and analyzing the translation procedures applied in translating the taboo words from English subtitle text into Indonesian. The data sources of this study were the Deadpool 2 movie subtitle, both its English and Indonesian versions. The descriptive qualitative method was applied in analyzing the data. The taboo words were analyzed using Jay’s theory about the types of taboo words. Meanwhile, the theory proposed by Vinay and Dalbernet was used to describe the translation procedure in translating taboo words into Indonesian. The results of the study show that not all types of taboo words and translation procedures were found. Through the analysis of taboo words obscenity was the most type of taboo word shown in the movie and there were only two translation procedures applied in translating the taboo words.
Keywords : taboo words, translation, translation procedure
Abstrak--Skripsi ini berjudul “Terjemahan Kata Tabu dalam Subtitel Film Deadpool 2”. Skripsi ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan tipe kata tabu yang ditemukan di film Deadpool 2 dan menganaisis prosedur penerjemahan yang digunakan dalam menerjemahkan kata tabu yang berasal dari subtitel bahasa Inggris yang diterjemahkan ke bahasa Indonesia. Sumber data yang digunakan adalah film Deadpool 2 beserta subtitel versi bahasa Inggris dan bahasa Indonesianya. Metode deskripsi qualitatif digunakan dalam menganalisis data yang diperoleh. Kata tabu dianalisis menggunakan teori yang dikemukakan oleh Timothy Jay, sedangkan teori yang dikemukakan oleh Vinay dan Dalbelnet digunakan untuk menganalisis prosedur penerjemahan yang digunakan dalam menerjemahkan kata tabu yang telah diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Indonesia. Hasil dari skripsi ini memperlihatkan tidak semua tipe kata tabu dapat ditemukan. Melalui analisa kata tabu, obscenity adalah tipe dari kata tabu yang paling banyak ditemukan dalam film Deadpool 2. Dalam analisis prosedur penerjemahan, hanya ada dua prosedur penerjemahan yang digunakan dalam penerjemahkan kata tabu dari bahasa Inggris ke dalam bahasa Indnesia. Tidak semua kata tabu yang ada dalam subtitel bahasa Inggris yang diterjemahkan ke bahasa Indonesia.
Kata Kunci : kata tabu, penerjemahan, prosedur penerjemahan
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Language is a system which takes an important aspect in human life as a means of communication. It conveys the idea, emotions, opinions, and intentions of people. Language can be in the form of oral communication or may be in written form. According to Ethnologue, there were 6909 distinct languages spread around the world in 2009 (Anderson, 2010). People in one language will have a struggle to understand another language. Therefore, the term translation is important.
The translation is a part of applied linguistics. Applied linguistics the study of language and linguistics concerning practical problems, such as lexicography, translation, speech pathology, etc (Richards et al. 1992: 19). The translation is a process of transferring the meaning of words in the form of texts from one language into another language. In order to make a good translation, translators need to have a good understanding of more than one languages. A translator should have a wide variety of lexicons or vocabularies and know the types of words, such as taboo words.
Taboo is a cultural custom that should be avoided to do, use or talk about a particular thing as people find it offensive and embarrassing. A Taboo word refers to a word that seems inappropriate in a certain context. According to (Fairman, 2009), every society has its particular taboo act and taboo words. Any activities related to taboo acts should be avoided, and then any words that are related to taboo words should not be uttered. Due to its associated with harsh meaning, taboo words are always considered inappropriate words to utter in a daily conversation. For Indonesian people, taboo words are the same as a reproach. However, the use of the taboo words still can be found in media such as, in the movie.
American movies, especially the R rated ones, usually contain taboo words. R rated movie means restricted which children less than 17 years old without parents or adult guardians are not allowed to watch. A movie such as Deadpool 2 is
an R rated movie, contains inappropriate language. This movie seems interesting to be analyzed. It is a famous movie directed by David Leitch. This movie carries some inappropriate languages that were uttered by the actor and actress inside the movie. It made the Deadpool 2 movie a good object in analyzing taboo words.
There were some previous studies that analyzed translation and also taboo words including, the study entitled The Indonesian Translation of Taboo Words in the Hangover 1&2 Movies (Dian, 2016). It was analyzed the types and the translation types of taboo words in the movie. Also the other study entitled Procedure of Translating Dialogues in Carrol's Alice's Adventure in Wonderland from English into Indonesian (Asriana, 2019). This study analized the translation procedure used by the translator. It focused on the dialogue in Alice's Adventure in Wonderland novel. Through the previous analyses, this study was expected to make further analysis about taboo word and translation procedure.
This analysis was focused on the taboo words and their translations into Indonesian. The taboo words in all word classes such as noun, verb, adjective, etc. were classified according to Jay’s theory about the types of taboo words. The translation of taboo words from English into Indonesian was described according to the theory of translation procedure proposed by Vinay and Dalbernet. All data in this analysis were collected from a movie subtitle text.
In this thesis, the primary data were taken from the Deadpool 2 movie’s subtitles, the English version and the Indonesian version. The movie was released on May 18, 2018, by 21st Century Fox. This movie was chosen because it contains strong languages. The Indonesian subtitle of this movie was written by Dimas Daffa Yaniardi. Dimas or also known as EveryAgent is an Indonesian translator. Starting his career as a translator in 2014 by translating movies and now he starts to translate TV series and games. He is a member of IDFLTM SubCrews, one of the biggest
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subtitle communities in Indonesia (Wirastama, 2018).
Documentation and observation methods were applied during the collection of the data and it was assisted with the note-taking technique. The techniques used in collecting data were observation and documentation. The data collected were in the form of words. The collected data were written in two notes. The first note included the data taken from the English subtitle. The second note included the data taken from the Indonesian subtitle that was based on the first note.
The descriptive qualitative method was used in analyzing data (Stephanie, 2016). The data of this thesis was analyzed using qualitative analysis based on the theories used. First of all the taboo words need to be classified into their word class. Then the taboo words should be classified and analyzed by the types of taboo words propose by Jay (1992). (Jay, 1992) stated there are 10 types of taboo words including, cursing, profanity, blasphemy, taboo, obscenity, slang, epithet, insult and slur, vulgarity and scatology. After that, the Indonesian translations of the taboo words need to be analyzed on what translation procedure is used to translate the taboo words based on Vinay and Dalbernet’s theory. The theory is divided into two strategies namely, direct and oblique translation. Direct translation consists of three procedures including, borrowing, literal translation and calque. In the other hand, the oblique translation consists of four procedures. They are transposition, modulation, equivalence and adaptation (Hatim & Munday, 2004).
In the presenting data, the descriptive method was used in presenting the analysis in this study. The data and analysis were described in the informal form. The data from the first problems of discussion were shown in the form of utterance that contains the taboo word. Data from the second problems were shown in the form of a table. The table contains the source language, target language translation and the translation procedure applied.
The taboo word and its translation were marked by bold words to be easily noticed by the reader.
The analysis is focused on the taboo words used by the characters and the Indonesian translation of taboo words in the movie. The taboo words are analyzed based on Jay's (1998) theory about ten types of taboo words. On the other hand, the theory from Vinay and Dalbernet (2004) about translation procedures are used to analyze the translation of taboo words in the movie. Below are the analysis of types of taboo words and the procedure of translation on taboo words that have been translated into Indonesian through the movie's subtitle.
Types of Taboo Words
(3-1) Wade : Fuck Wolverine (00:02:16)
Data (3-1) occurs at the beginning of the movie. Here Wade Wilson feels dejected to Wolverine (the main character in one of the X-Man movies). Wade hates Wolverine because the X-Man movies made the same R-rated movie and up the ante by dying. The word fuck here was classified into a verb. Word fuck in this data was concluded into a taboo word. It was considered a restricted word since has a meaning as having sexual intercourse with someone. In this data the word fuck was uttered to harm a person. The taboo word fuck in this data was concluded into a cursing. Cursing is the category of the taboo word that is used to evoke harm to another person by using certain words or phrases. These words are imbued with a power to them mainly through religious or social demarcation.
-
(3-2) Wade : then the hairy motherfucker ups the ante by dying (00:02:21)
The taboo word in data (3-2) occurs when Wade explains his movie to the viewer. The word motherfucker was classified into a noun. Word motherfucker is an offensive word. It gains universal restriction and it cannot be used freely. This taboo word was concluded into obscenity.
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Obscenity words are considered the most offensive and are rarely if ever used in public media. Motherfucker means a despicable or very unpleasant person. The word motherfucker in this data was referred to Wolverine. Wade said Wolverine was an unpleasant person.
(3-3) Wade : What a dick! (00:02:25)
The taboo word in data (3-3) occurs after Wade tells the audience about the other movie that makes him feel dejected. He shows his dejected feeling by saying “what a dick”. The word dick is sexual. It was classified into a noun based on the word class. The word dick is a taboo word. This word should not be uttered in such speech. This word concluded as obscenity. Obscenity words are considered the most offensive and are rarely if ever used in public media. Word dick literally means a man sexual part. This type of taboo word gains a universal restriction. Obscenities are pointedly sexual in nature. This kind of expression is indecent. It is offensive and repulsive. To call a word obscene means that it cannot be used freely.
(3-4) Wade : that babysitter of yours is high as fuck right now (00:07:12)
In data (3-4) Wade actually speaks to the viewer and guesses that they are glad to leave their kids at home and thrusting their babysitter to take care of them. However, Wade gives the viewer a bad suggestion by saying “that babysitter of yours is high as fuck right now”. The Word as fuck in this data was an adverb. The word fuck was concluded into a too word. This word gained a universal restriction and should not be uttered in public. According to the types of taboo words, this word concluded into obscenity. Obscenities are pointedly sexual in nature. This kind of expression is indecent. It is offensive and repulsive. To call a word obscene means that it cannot be used freely.
(3-5) Dopinder : I shit my pants (00:08:25)
In data (3-5) Dopinder feels scared after Wade jumps in his car by the rear window and straight to hit the car’s throttle. Due to Wade's action, he said “I shit my pants”. The word shit was classified into a verb. The
word shit in this case is a taboo word since it has a meaning as human waste processes. It concludes into a scatology type. Scatology refers to human waste products or processes.
(3-6) Vanessa : no, dick for brains (00:12:30)
The taboo word dick in this data was classified into a noun. This word concluded into a taboo word since it is a sexual word and meaning as man intimation. This word concluded into an obscenity. Obscenity is sexual in nature. This word cannot be used freely, especially in public media. Obscenity laws control the content of books and broadcasts. It is an offensive word when it is applied to someone. In this data, the phrase dick for brain was used to represent a stupid person in a despicable way or a person with a nasty thought.
(3-7) Althea : it is a little hard to hear you with that pity dick in your mouth (00:22:40)
In data (3-7) Wade was talking to Althea and blaming himself for Vanessa’s death. Althea who is a blind person could not hear what Wade was talking and saying “it is a little hard to hear you with that pity dick in your mouth” to Wade. The word dick was concluded into a taboo word and classified into a noun. Dick is a word for man’s sexual organ. This word should not be uttered in a public place or media. This word was concluded into obscenity. Obscenities are pointedly sexual in nature. It is offensive and repulsive.
(3-8) Wade : you wasting your time, shinning Jesus (00:27:40)
The taboo word in data (3-8) occurs when Collosus persuade Wade to become X-Man. However, Wade refused to do it by saying Collosus was a shinning Jesus. This word is classified into a noun. The word Jesus was a taboo word based on religious distinction. Profanity would be a word or phrase with seeks not to denigrate God, religion or holy but would be based on ignorance of these matters. Here Wade was ignorant of the guideline of the religious order. He was ignorantly brought God’s name in his utterance. Furthermore, in his utterance, he refers Collosus as Jesus.
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(3-9) Russell : fucker hates mutant (00:47:33)
In this data, the word fucker was classified into a noun. This word was concluded into obscenity type of taboo word. According to English dictionary, fucker means an unpleasant person or stupid person. The word fucker was uttered by Russell while talking with Wade in their cell. Fucker was referred to the headmaster in the mutant rehabilitation school by Russell. He said fucker as the headmaster because he hates him. This word is offensive, especially when uttered in public media. It cannot be used freely. According to Jay, obscenity laws control the content of the books and the content of broadcast.
(3-10) Russell : Tomorrow, we find the biggest guy in here and we’ll make him our bitch (00:47:48)
The situation in data (3-10) occurs when Russell talk to Wade about taking his revenge on the headmaster in the mutant’s rehabilitation place who have a willingness to remove the mutants gen by torturing them. Here Russell wants to recruit the biggest guy in the jail to make him his bitch to fulfil his ambition. The word bitch is classified as a noun and taboo word since it has a literal meaning as a female dog. However, in this data, the word bitch means a derogatory term to a subordinate person since it refers to a male. The word bitch is concluded as an insult. Insults and slurs are verbal attacks on other people. These words are spoken to harm the people by the word alone. It is an animal imagery insult.
Translation Procedures
After the analysis of the taboo words in Deadpool movie, below were the analyses of the translation procedure of taboo words from English to Indonesian. Each data of the translation procedure analysis was written inside the table.
Table (3-1)
|
English |
Indonesian |
Translation Procedure |
|
Wade : Fuck |
Wade : |
Literal |
|
Wolverine |
Wolverine |
translation |
|
(00:02:16) |
brengsek |
The data (3-1) indicated the taboo word fuck translated into brengsek in the target language. Brengsek is a word that is used when someone feels angry and disappointed. Word brengsek also has a meaning as an unpleasant person. Furthermore, in English, the word fuck used when someone feels angry and disappointed. This translation concluded as a literal translation. Literal, word for word, translation is a translation procedure where the source language text is directly transferred into grammatically and idiomatically appropriate target language text.
Table (3-2)
|
English |
Indonesian |
Translation Procedure |
|
Wade : then the |
Wade : lalu si |
Literal |
|
hairy |
bedebah itu |
Translation |
|
motherfucker |
menaikan | |
|
ups the ante by |
taruhanya | |
|
dying (00:02:21) |
dengan mati |
The taboo word in data (3-2) was translated to bedebah in the target language. The word bedebah in the target language means a despicable person. By considering the translation product in the target language, this translation applied the literal translation procedure. The meaning of the
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source language text was directly transferred into grammatical and idiomatically appropriate target language text. In principle, a literal translation is a unique solution reversible and complete in itself. The translation does not need to make any change other than the obvious one, like those concerning grammatical concord or inflectional endings.
Table (3-3)
English Indonesian Translation
Procedure
Wade : What Wade : dasar Equivalence
a dick! menyebalkan
(00:02:25)
The word dick in the source language is translated to menyebalkan in the target language. In the target language, menyebalkan means irritating. This word is used to show a dejected feeling. This translation is done through an equivalence procedure. The word in the source language was not directly translated into the target language since the word dick in the source language has a meaning as man sexual part. In this data, the word dick represents an irritating situation. In the target language text, the word menyebalkan was an adjective and it showed a characteristic of a situation. The word in the target language describes the same situation as in the source language by a different style and structural method.
Table (3-4)
English
Wade : that babysitter of yours is high as fuck right now (00:07:12)
Indonesian
Translation Procedure
Wade : pengasuh anakmu saat ini sedang teller
Literal translation
The taboo word in data (3-4) was translated through the phrase high as fuck. In this case, the word teler in the target language has the same meaning as high in the source language and the word as fuck was not directly translated in the target language. The translator in this case translated the phrase high as fuck into teler in the target language. The translation procedure applied was literal translation due to the direct transfer of the meaning in the source language text into the target language. However, this translation actually reduced the taboo content in the target language.
Table (3-5)
English Indonesian Translation
Procedure
Dopinder : I Dopinder : aku Literal
shit my buang air di Translation
pants celana
(00:08:25)
The word shit is translated to buang air in the target language. The source language text is directly translated into the target language text. In the target language buang air has the same meaning as shit in the source language. However, the words buang air in the target language has a
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more general meaning as the human waste process. The word shit means human waste process on poop while the word buang air means human waste process on piss or poop. It is concluded into a literal translation procedure since Literal translation is the direct transfer of a source language text into a grammatically and idiomatically appropriate target language text. In principle, a literal translation is a unique solution reversible and complete in itself.
Table (3-7)
English
Indonesian
Translation Procedure
Table (3-6)
English Indonesian Translation
Procedure
Vanessa : no, Vanessa : tidak, Equivalence
dick for brain bodoh
(00:12:30)
Althea : it is a Althea : agak sulit little hard to mendengarkan
hear you with mu dengan penis
that pity dick menyedihkan di
in your mouth mulut mu
(00:22:40)
Literal translation
In data (3-6) the taboo word in the source language was not directly translated into the target language. Here the translator translated the idiom dick for brain which contained the taboo word into the target language. The source language dick for brain is translated to bodoh in the target language. The idiom dick for brain means a stupid person or having a low level of intelligence. In the target language that clause is translated to bodoh. In Indonesian, the word bodoh also have the same meaning as stupid. This translation concluded as equivalence since the source language text is translated in different stylistic and structural methods but still share the same meaning.
The word dick in the source language was translated to penis in the target language. The translation procedure applied in this translation was literal translation procedure. Through the meaning, both dick and penis share the same meaning as a man’s sexual organ. The meaning of the source language text was directly transferred into grammatical and idiomatic appropriate target language text. However, the meaning of the word penis in the target language has more politeness to be uttered rather than the word dick in the target language. The word dick is more offensive and is usually found in an informal conversation
Table (3-8)
English
Indonesian
Translation Procedure
Wade : you Wade: kau
wasting your buang – buang
time, shining waktu, Yesus
Jesus berkilau
(00:27:40)
Litral translation
In data (3-8), the source language word Jesus is translated to Yesus in the target language.
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This translation is concluded as a literal translation. The meaning of the word in the source language is directly transferred into the target language. Literal, or word for word, translation is the direct transfer of a source language text into a grammatically and idiomatically appropriate target language text in which the translator's task is limited to observing the adherence to the linguistic servitudes of the target language. In principle, a literal translation is a unique solution reversible and complete in itself. The translation does not need to make any change other than the obvious one, like those concerning grammatical concord or inflectional endings.
|
Table (3-9) | ||
|
English |
Indonesian |
Translation Procedure |
|
Russell : fucker hates mutant (00:47:33) |
Russell : dia benci mutan |
Literal translation |
In data (3-9) the taboo word fucker was referred to the headmaster in the mutant rehabilitation school. In the source language fucker means an unpleasant person. The translator translated the word fucker into dia in the target language. In this translation, the word class from the source language has changed in the target language. In the source language, the word fucker was a noun but in the target language, the word dia was a pronoun. Although there was a change in the word class this translation concluded into a literal translation. The meaning in the source and target language was referred to the headmaster and it was directly translated in the target language. However, there was no taboo content in the target language.
Table (3-10)
|
English |
Indonesian |
Translation Procedure |
|
Russell : |
Russell : besok |
Literal |
|
Tomorrow, |
kita akan cari |
translation |
|
we find the |
orang terbesar | |
|
biggest guy |
di penjara ini | |
|
in here and |
dan akan kita | |
|
we’ll make |
jadikan anak | |
|
him our |
buah kita! | |
|
bitch | ||
|
(00:47:48) |
In data (3-10, the word bitch in the source language is translated to anak buah in the target language. The translation procedure applied in data (3-10) is concluded as a literal translation. The word bitch means as a subordinate person and the word anak buah in the target language also means a subordinate person under a leader. The meaning in the source language is directly transferred idiomatically appropriate into the target language. The translation does not need to make any change other than the obvious one, like those concerning grammatical concord or inflectional endings.
In this study many taboo words were found in the movie. However, not all types of taboo words were found. The data shows the types of taboo words found were obscenity, cursing, scatology, profanity and insult. In the analysis of the translation procedure, literal translation procedure was the most procedure used by the translator followed by equivalence translation procedure. There were only two translation procedures were used by the translator.
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