Subtitling strategies in multilingual films

Abstract

The present paper investigates the multilingualism in films and how it is dealt with in the subtitling process. In cinema, the term “multilingual” is used to address those films depicting intercultural encounters, where two different languages at least are uttered. Multilingual films actually refer to a group of works that emphasise the shared feature of that important and vital stance of multilingualism in the story and its context. The process of subtitling in such films needs to be investigated since subtitling is the means by which viewers comprehend and understand what is the language spoken on screen. The researcher reviews the history of multilingual films, the reasons behind making such films and the relation between multilingualism and subtitling. The multilingual film “Babel” is investigated as a case study since it depicts four different languages and cultures (Arabic, English, Spanish, and Japanese). The present paper investigates the subtitling process in this movie as has been displayed on Cinemana Application. The researcher reviews the strategies used in the subtitling process for the part related to the Arabic and English pair in the film.