The transfer of culture-specific vocabulary from one language to another has long been a subject of translation studies. In some cases, culture-specific items are characterised both by a national culture and by a subculture, which makes their translation even more challenging. This contribution examines expressions that are specific to drag culture as it is portrayed in the award-winning show RuPaul’s Drag Race. Due to its availability on Netflix, this US show has also been translated into other languages, among which are German and Dutch. This article analyses what strategies are used to translate drag-specific vocabulary in the first five episodes of Season 11 and in which ways the strategies differ between the two languages. An important aspect is also the consistency of the translations. As this chapter will show, the strategies are generally relatively similar: both versions display a tendency for omission and, to a lesser extent, neutralisation as well as direct translation. However, the Dutch translations, which have been produced by one translator, are more consistent than their German counterparts, which have been produced by different translators. This finding suggests that the consistency in translators is likely to increase the consistency in the target texts.

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“I’m catching the vibe, girl.” Subtitling Drag Culture in RuPaul’s Drag Race

  • Sylvia Jaki

摘要

The transfer of culture-specific vocabulary from one language to another has long been a subject of translation studies. In some cases, culture-specific items are characterised both by a national culture and by a subculture, which makes their translation even more challenging. This contribution examines expressions that are specific to drag culture as it is portrayed in the award-winning show RuPaul’s Drag Race. Due to its availability on Netflix, this US show has also been translated into other languages, among which are German and Dutch. This article analyses what strategies are used to translate drag-specific vocabulary in the first five episodes of Season 11 and in which ways the strategies differ between the two languages. An important aspect is also the consistency of the translations. As this chapter will show, the strategies are generally relatively similar: both versions display a tendency for omission and, to a lesser extent, neutralisation as well as direct translation. However, the Dutch translations, which have been produced by one translator, are more consistent than their German counterparts, which have been produced by different translators. This finding suggests that the consistency in translators is likely to increase the consistency in the target texts.