A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Polish and American Prison Slang within the Context of Selected Translation Techniques in Films with Subtitles

Abstract

Cultural differences around the world may pose problems for translators who face issues connected with finding equivalents in source and target language occurred in the films. One of the most difficult styles is constantly changing, the hermetic and colloquial variety known as slang. Depending on the environment, it may vary, even in one language, of which an example is prison slang used by convicts to communicate with one another. Although very pejorative and full of negative connotations, it is a very curious subject matter to analyze, as well as, to investigate how it is translated, because more and more films about criminal environments are being produced. This study examines which translation techniques were used in the cases of the movies: Lockdown (2000), American Me (1992) and Animal Factory (2000). The research focuses on the issues connected with the most often used translation techniques, the reasons of using them, the other possible solutions, the untranslatable phrases and with translating taboo words.

Keywords

• prison slang
• translation techniques
• sociolinguistics
• criminal environment
• equivalents
• American prison films
• taboo words
• subtitles