A Study of Translation Techniques Used in The Thai Subtitles of The American Movie “Deadpool”

Abstract

This research is an analysis of the English to Thai subtitle translation techniques used in the American movie ‘Deadpool’. The aims of the study are 1) to investigate the translation problems which occur with the subtitles in the action, adventure, and comedy American film Deadpool, and 2) to examine the translation strategies based on Baker (2011), Newmark (1988) and Ngampradit (2012). Two hundred and twenty-two tokens were collected from the movie written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, translated by Thanatcha Saksiamkul. The scope of this study is to classify the types of words used with translation theories concerning language equivalence.

            The tokens were categorized into ten translation techniques. The results show the most frequently used translation techniques were as follows: 1) cultural substitution 2) more intensely expressive words 3) more neutral/less expressive words 4) omission 5) more general words (superordinate). The results of this research demonstrate that the problems which were found with translation are often cross-cultural. They could be solved by using more than one translation strategy.