A Study of Translation of Ladyboy’s Swear Words from Thai to Chinese: A Case Study of Subtitle of Thai Movie “Hor Taew Taek”

Abstract

              This research aims to investigate the strategies used to translate swear words from Thai to Chinese in the "Hor Taew Taek" trilogy. The films are mainly about a group of ladyboys who own a dorm that has been haunted by a ghost. Their mission is to ward off evil spirits and bad people from their dorm. In the conversations exchanged among these ladyboy characters, a lot of swear words are used. the “Hor Taew Taek” trilogy is a movie with subtitles translated into English and Chinese and shown through the online movie application “Netflix”.  The study found that the translator chose three types of translation strategies, including 1) word-cutting strategy, 2) word-changing strategy, and 3) replacement translation strategy. The total of 37 sentences containing the swear words used by the ladyboy characters were included and the most common strategy used in translating the swear words was the replacement translation strategy which were found in 23 sentences, followed by the word-changing strategy which were found in 9 sentences, and the word-cutting strategy which were found in 5sentences. The researchers hope that the results of the present study will benefit translators and might serve as a guideline for the selection of the appropriate translation strategies and to make readers of Chinese better understan the meaning and context of swear words in Thai language.