Codeswitching in Arabic reality food competition shows through the lens of partial subtitling: A case study of the MENA adaptation of top chef

Abstract

Localized reality television competitions centering on food merge language and food to express the emotional depth that stems from identity. While many have examined the relationship between food and identity and language and identity separately, few have combined the two. Thus, this paper aims to study the cases of codeswitching (CS) in Arabic food competitions. The research is qualitative and quantitative in nature. Selected episodes of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) version of the reality series Top Chef were watched, and the instances of codeswitching were transcribed alongside the partial Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) subtitles that translate them. The use of English was examined and classified based on context, speaker, and translation strategy to better understand its use. The code switches were categorized into food-related and non-food-related. Food-related examples include universal food items, food textures and flavors, culture-specific food items, desserts, food preparation and presentation, courses, techniques, and tools. In contrast, non-food-related examples included general statements and sentences which typically had Arabic equivalents. The results show that subtitlers use a variety of strategies to domesticate food-related items, including direct translation, explicitation, transliteration, addition, and omission. The study found that understanding the use of CS aids in the choice of the most suitable translation technique, but this was not seen in the actual practice. The results also indicate that the frequency of codeswitching is influenced by the competitor’s gender and geographical area. The study recommends that further studies be conducted on language choice and codeswitching in other contexts.

Keywords

• code switching
• food
• top chef
• subtitling
• localization