equivalence of english - vietnamese translation for subtitles of sume documentary films = nghiên cứu tương đương dịch thuật anh – việt trên phụ đề của một số phim tài liệu

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I- INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Scope and method of the study 2
4. Organization of the study 3
PART II-DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1. Film and subtitle translation 4
1.1 Definition of translation 4
1.2 Translation of dramas/films 4
1.3 Subtitle translation 7
1.4 Subtitle Quality 10
2. Terminology and translation of terminology 11
2.1 Definition and features 11
2.2 Terminology in translation 12
3. Baker’s approach to equivalence 13
3.1 Equivalence and equivalence at word level 13
3.2 Problems of non-equivalence and strategy 15
CHAPTER II: TRANSLATION AND SUBTITLING OF THE SELECTED SERIES 19
1. Synopsis of the series “Swam loggers” 19
2. Linguistic features in the relationship with subtitles translation 20
3. Problems of non-equivalence 22
4. Strategy to deal with non-equivalence 24
4.1 Different equivalence to a source word as a method of subtitles shortening 24
v

4.2 Equivalence of logging machines and equipments 29
4.3 Equivalence of logging activities and environment 32

5. Concluding remarks 34
PART III: CONCLUSION 36
1. Addressed issues and some applications 36
2. Suggestions for further study 37
REFERENCES 38
APPENDIX I
Qnet instruction to subtitle translate I
Sample of “Swam loggers” scripts V
Sample of “Swam logger” subtitles XXXVIII
1

PART I- INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale
Translation is recently considered a language skill – the fifth macro skill. It requires
certain level of language acquisition and no one ever classifies translation into such levels as
elementary, intermediate or advanced. Translation studies have also been a controversial topic
since this subject was raised in methodology. Each translation method is suitable for each
purpose. Newmark (1991) defines five purposes of translation in his book “About translation”
as:
1. Help nations, groups, individuals understand and make peace among one another.
2. Help bring the knowledge to learners.
3. Help cultures to be understood and mediated.
4. Help translate the world‟s great works of art.
5. Help in teaching/learning a language.
He also mentions the overlap between the purposes which is a regular phenomenon.
These purposes also lead to the different strategies which are skills and tactics more than a
theory withdrawn from some activities.
Besides, as the world becomes closer, the exchange flow becomes more fluent, the
cultural purpose of translation also becomes more significant. One of the most efficient means

of culture exchange is via motion pictures and television programs. Bringing inter-lingual
motion pictures and television programs to viewers in different nations and cultures draws the
world closer, and this can be done in many ways. It can be mentioned here voice-over, which
is the voice of one narrator reading the translated scripts all over the film; another way is
dubbing, which is the replacement of original voices by the target language voices; last but not
least it is subtitling, in which the text appears on the screen along with dialogue of the film.
This last mode of translation is the focus of the research to be presented in this paper.
2

In Vietnam, although it is a new concept, recently and widely introduced via internet,
subtitles are largely approached by youngsters and becoming more and more popular. The
subtitling industry in Vietnam seems to be underdeveloped, with not many specialized
companies. It is hoped that this research will make a small but critical contribution to the
development of new theoretical foundation of subtitling in Vietnam.
2. Aims of the study
The study aims at equivalence in translation, especially equivalence for terminology in the
series of documentary film: “Swam loggers” broadcasted on Discovery Channel in association
with Vietnamese Cable Television.
The study also focuses on how the translators transfer terminology from source text to
target text while maintaining the cultural aspects and accurate function of the phrases using
Discovery Channel series program as a case.
More specifically, this study will seek to answer the research question: "How equivalence
in translation between English and Vietnamese is achieved through the Vietnamese subtitling
of the documentary series “Swamp loggers” shown on Discovery Channel in association with
Vietnamese Cable Television?"
3. Scope and method of the study
The study focuses mainly on equivalence for terminology achieved in the subtitles of the
documentary series “Swam loggers”.
The evaluation of equivalence will be based on the approach suggested by Baker (1992)
using a list of the two texts: the source text and the translated version.

The data were collected from throughout the scripts of the series and the subtitles
broadcasted on Discovery Channel in association with Vietnamese Cable Television.
The data analysis is based on the equivalence illuminated from the sorted out scripts and
the subtitles.
The study is confined to the analysis of equivalence at word level.
3

4. Organization of the study
The study consists of three parts:
Part I is the Introduction which describes the reasons for the choice of the topic, the aims,
the scope, method and organization of the study.
Part II is the Development, which consists of two chapters. Chapter I provides the
literature review of translation, terminology and equivalence; Chapter II gives the synopsis as
well as subtitling of the selected series; the problems of non-equivalence and subtitlers‟
strategies to deal with those problems.
Part III is the Conclusion and suggestion for further study.
4

PART II-DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Film and subtitle translation
1.1 Definition of translation
Although translation is a variedly defined concept that has caused vigorous debate along
its development history, there still exists agreement among the scholars whose opinions are
discussed here.
Catford (1965) considers translation is the replacement of textual material in one language
(source language) by equivalent textual material in other language (target language).
Along the line, Hartman & Stock (1972:713) define translation as the replacement of a
representation of a text in one language by a representation of another equivalent in a second

language.
From a more detailed point of view, Nida & Taber (1974) argue that translation consists of
reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language
message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.
All of the listed authors agree that equivalence is the key to translation. Finding the closet
equivalence while maintaining “style” and “meaning” as authentic as possible determines the
authenticity of the translation in grammar, culture, comprehension, and message content. To
have a deeper investigation into equivalence, film subtitles translation will be discussed in this
research paper.
1.2 Translation of dramas/films
Newmark (1988, as cited in Ton, 2001) argues that when a film is transferred from the
source language to the target language culture, it is usually no longer a translation, but an
adaptation. It is convenient for the translators of other forms of text, especially fiction, to be
able to explain puns or ambiguities or cultural references, to transcribe the words for the sake
5

of local nuances. Translators of drama have discomfort in having dramatic text, with emphasis
on verbs, rather than that of more descriptive and explanatory. Therefore a translation of a
drama must be concise – it must not be an over-translation.
From the connection point of view, Mbom (1988, Joseph, 2005) asserts that: “The play
when performed no longer belongs to the author alone. It is the collective product of four
creators: the author, the producer, the actors and the audience.” The fourth creator is the one
who holds the key for whether the work of all three others becomes a success or a failure.
However, the connection to the audience does not go directly from the producers but through
mediators, who is the translator/interpreter. Therefore it can be said that films translation
reflects a linkage of three essential participants:
1. Message originators (characters in films)
2. Message mediators (translators or interpreters)
3. Message receivers (persons for whom the message is intended indirectly through film
vision

Ton (2001) gives the process of film/drama translation:

Figure 1: Model by Ton (2001)
Slightly different from dramas, in which all voices normally belong to the characters, in
documentary films one other type of voice - the host voice is added. Host voice tells the story,
6

formally explains what is going on in the film. Similar to written speech to be read out loud,
words by host voice reduce the rhythm of action and give a standard of formality to the
language full of slangs, idioms and street vocabulary. Beside, documentaries, especially reality
shows, have a tendency to stress on action and situation more than characters and their
performance. Dramas send the messages largely via characters while documentaries have both
characters/the narrators as message originators. Therefore, the model suggested by Ton (2001)
can be adapted as follows:

7

Ton (2001) also asserts three prospects of a good drama translation including meaning,
register and style. Meaning of the original text, rather than the words should be translated the
full attention to implication, tone, innuendo, hidden reference. On the other hands, register
requires translator to “distinguish between formal or fixed expressions and personal
expressions, in which writer or speaker sets the tone” (Ton, 2001). As for style, she asserts that
the style of the original where characters are the heart of any conversation should be kept
intact. These criteria are identified to form a strong background supporting idioms translation
in dramas, which, therefore, is not necessary for the subtitles translation, especially
terminology translation to follow exactly. How the difference is expressed and what criteria
subtitles translation follows will be discussed in the next part.
1.3 Subtitle translation
These days, films and TV programs in multiple languages are easier to access thanks to
many kinds of translation such as voice-over, dubbing, and subtitling. Among these methods,

subtitling recently tends to be more favorable due to many advantages it offers. Subtitles,
according to Baker, M. (Ed.) (1998) are “transcriptions of film or TV dialogue, presented
simultaneously on the screen.” She also highlights the “authenticity” gained in subtitles, which
includes the real voice quality and intonation of the actors. Later, Poel, M., & Ydewalle, G.
(2011:261) agree that subtitles with the original soundtrack “give the two more advantages of
subtitles as the channel of information: the pictorial information, and the translation of the text
in the subtitles.” Therefore, Jan Ivarsson (1992) (as cited in James, 2001:151) stresses on the
“vulnerable position” which subtitler is in because the original text is available for the
message receivers to double check if it is not a faulty translation.
The following table demonstrates a section of English film scripts translated and made into
Vietnamese subtitles:
8


Video Time
Voicer
Scripts
Subtitle time code
Subtitles
01:00:00:26
Host VO
Few weapons on the 21
st
century
battlefield are as effective as the
modern sniper.
1: 10:00:01.15 10:00:04.09

Rất ít vũ khí
trên trận địa ở thế kỷ 21

2: 10:00:04.13 10:00:07.03

hiệu quả như
lính bắn tỉa hiện đại





01:00:06:12
Parker
VO/OC

On any battlefield a professional
sniper's got the capability to
change the tide of that battle.
3: 10:00:07.07 10:00:08.09
Trên mọi trận địa,
4: 10:00:08.13 10:00:12.13
lính bắn tỉa chuyên nghiệp
có thể thay đổi thế trận





01:00:11:24
Host VO
Now fielded by every branch of the
U.S. Armed Forces from the Army

to the Marines, Coast Guard and
Navy, these elite warriors continue
to prove their value in modern
conflicts.
5: 10:00:12.17 10:00:15.21
Có mặt trong mọi ngành của
Lực lượng Vũ trang Hoa Kỳ,
6: 10:00:16.00 10:00:19.03
từ Quân đội, Thuỷ quân,
Bảo vệ Bờ biển, Hải quân,
7: 10:00:19.07 10:00:23.16
họ vẫn chứng tỏ giá trị
của mình ở trận địa hiện đại





01:00:22:28
Merowski
VO/OC
No shot is the same shot, so you
have to be prepared for every shot.
8: 10:00:23.20 10:00:28.17
Không có 2 phát đạn giống nhau,
phải chuẩn bị cho mọi cú bắn
Figure 2: Example of Subtitles Ree (2010)
9
As can be seen from the above, in the first column, which is video time, time code is
shown in a chain of number. For example, the 1

st
row, 01:00:00:26 with Host Voice, indicates
that the Host Voice starts at the 26
th
second of the video and includes one sentence in the 3
rd

column. Video time is broken into frames; 1 minute = 25 frames according to Discovery
Channel‟s subtitles regulation. Subtitles making procedure can be clearly described as John
Michinton (cited in Morgan, 2001).
“It‟s our job to do justice to the authors of the work. We are not the authors, but we are
their intermediaries. Dialogue in film and videotape is measured and the measurements are
noted in the original language dialogue list. This is internationally called “spotting”. Thus the
texts are broken into sections, initially depending on the speed at which dialogue is delivered.
If a few words are spoken rapidly, followed immediately by a few words spoken by another
character and so on, the subtitles are, perforce, of short duration – sometimes only one second.
If the speech is long, the spotting follow the speech rhythms, using pauses and aspirations as
stop and start points, but almost never spotting one title longer than six seconds. Cuts (shot
changes) are carefully respected, because they punctuate the action and they can be used to
punctuate the flow of subtitles; the general rule is never to carry a subtitle over a cut unless
there is no alternative… the subtitles translating the dialogue are then written to the spotting,
which indicate how much time is available for each translation.”
A more detailed view of subtitling in Vietnam can be seen in Appendix I – Subtitling
instruction by Qnet Entertainment. Following that instruction, the first sentence in Figure 2,
for example, is translated and made into two subtitles, as can be seen in the 4
th
column. The
number in the 3
rd
column shows subtitle time code, which helps explain the starting/ending

time as well as the duration of a subtitle along video time code. Take the 1
st
subtitle time code,
for example 10:00:01.15 – 10:00:04.09, to the right, it can be understood that the subtitle starts
at the first second of the video, on 15
th
frame and ends or 4
th
second, 9
th
frame. If a sentence is
divided into more than one subtitle, the clauses will be connected by a comma „,‟ if the
utterance is finished as in:
10
3: 10:00:07.07 10:00:08.09
Trên mọi trận địa,
4: 10:00:08.13 10:00:12.13
lính bắn tỉa chuyên nghiệp
có thể thay đổi thế trận

or by a ellipsis „ ‟ if the utterance is unfinished as in:
1: 10:00:01.15 10:00:04.09

Rất ít vũ khí
trên trận địa ở thế kỷ 21
2: 10:00:04.13 10:00:07.03

hiệu quả như
lính bắn tỉa hiện đại

For more details, Appendix II & III, which are the example of scripts and subtitles
versions, can provide a more detailed view on how scripts are made into subtitles.
1.4 Subtitle Quality
According to James (2001), subtitles quality is to meet clients‟ expectation. “Clients” here
are among many people working and enjoying in the entertainment industry. The producer
wants subtitles “which are not only accurate and authentic but which are in keeps with the
rhythm of the dialogue. The author/scripts writer expects his or her intention to be reflected
accurately and authentically” in the translated subtitles (James 2001:152). However, the most
important is viewers‟ expectation. Subtitles to viewers must be easy to follow and reliable to
trust. Accuracy, clearness, credibility and consistency with the action on the screen are what to
expect in subtitles. Moreover, a subtitled film must satisfy expectation in compromising
among clients. From this point of view, subtitling conventions are born in regard to time code,
duration of subtitle, shot cuts and formatting. In general, subtitles translation requires
11
“reduction of original dialogue, simplification of language, character portrayal, cultural
adaptation…” (James 200:152)
Moreover, subtitles are evaluated by the quality of translation and quality of typo
accuracy. The translated subtitles should be short and clear so that viewers who do not have
much time to read and understand the subtitles to follow along with the movie. The viewers
can be anyone in front of the TV and the key factor in translation is that all of them can
understand. Besides, typo accuracy, which includes spelling accuracy, is aimed at the
professional quality. Broadcasted and widely viewed films with spelling mistakes on subtitles
seem to be unacceptable.
2. Terminology and translation of terminology
2.1 Definition and features
Cambridge Advanced Learners‟ Dictionary defines “term” as a word or expression used in
relation to a particular subject, often to describe something official or technical; and
“terminology” as special words and expressions used in relation to a particular subject or
activity.
Besse, Nkwenti-Azeh & Sager (1997) (cited in Kageura, 2002) defines term as “a lexical

unit consisting of one or more than one word which represents a concept inside a domain”;
and terminology as “the vocabulary of subject field”.
He later argues that the use of “lexical unit”, “vocabulary” needs to be considered further.
Kageura (2002) also cites from Sager (1998) and give definition to term “as linguistic signs,
terms are a functional class of lexical items”, whereas words can be used in many other
linguistic levels and language systems.
For further distinguishing, he uses Chomsky‟s distinction of language competence and
performance. For example, if words or lexical units in general talk about word information at
the level of language competence, discarding real-world factors and focusing on the possible
forms of theoretically infinite complex words, analogous to Chomsky‟s syntactic theory. It
12
would be nonsense to speak of the formation of terms in an analogous way, because, by their
very essence, terms have a concrete social existence as functional class of lexical items which
manifest itself in the actual communication activity or performance in a domain.
Sager (1998) (cited in Kageura, 2002)) argues that “as linguistic signs, terms are functional
class of lexical units”. The basic function of terms is to express more sharply delineated
meanings identified as necessary within a particular domain by the complexity and number of
concepts that have to be clearly distinguished. In other words, the way the meaning of lexical
units are consolidated by clarification and narrower determination in order to satisfy the
degree of specification required by the domain makes that lexical unit become terms.
Therefore, the distinction between words and terms are not fixed. Each term constantly
interacts and intersects with general words because they consist of the same linguistic forms.
2.2 Terminology in translation
Newmark (1988) considers new terminology as the central difficulty in technical
translation. The main problems may be that technical neologisms in the source language are
relatively context-free and appear only once. If they are context-bound, translators understand
them more easily by eliminating the less likely versions, but if there is a constant term,
without further details, it is hard to find the right equivalence.
According to Newmark (1988), engineering is a basic technology and one basic branch of
engineering is mechanical. Although suggesting beginner translators to start technical practice

here, he advises them to open the range of technology translation as wide as possible. The
golden key here is to bear in mind that understanding the description, the function and the
effect of a concept such as entropy is more important than in learning laws, particularly
axioms, theorems, theories, and system. In other words, translators must understand roughly
what is happening in real life, and not just convince themselves that the translated sentence
linguistically makes sense.
Newmark (1988) suggests steps technical terms as:
13
“When you approach a technical text, you read it first to understand it (underline difficult
words) and then assess its nature (proportion of persuasion to information), its degree of
formality, its intention (attitude to its topic), the possible cultural and professional differences
between your relationship and the original one. Next, you should give your translation the
framework of recognized house-style, either the format of a technical report adopted by your
client, or, if you are translating an article or a paper, the house-style of relevant periodical or
journal”.
From another point of view, Baker (1998) places translation and terminology in two
different linguistic and cognitive tables with differently focused areas of language study.
Translation is an applied linguistic study, concerned with the manipulation of texts, and
terminology is a discipline involving both theoretical and applied linguistics while texts are
only used as one of the range of source material in one of its many applications. Baker (1998)
argues that finding the terms which has the same concept in two languages does not require
translators‟ minimal theory of terminology. This is because translation focuses mainly on the
linguistic representation of a cognitive unit, and the translators move from the linguistic item
to the concept in order to find a corresponding realization in other language.
The solution for subtitles translation tends to agree with Baker‟s approach to terminology
equivalence which does not require the transference of every unit in source language but the
core meaning to the target language.
3. Baker’s approach to equivalence
3.1 Equivalence and equivalence at word level
In the most general meaning, equivalence is the relationship between a source text (ST)

and a target text (TT) that allows the TT to be considered as a translation of the ST. On the
other hand, some theorists define translation in terms of equivalence relations (Catford, 1965;
Nida and Taber 1969; Toury 1980a; Pym 1992a, 1995; Koller 1995) while others reject the
theoretical notion of equivalence, claiming it either irrelevant (Snell-Hornby 1988) or
damaging (Gentzler 1993) to translation studies. (Baker, 1992, p. 100-1002)
14
Other theorists steer a middle course: Baker uses notion of equivalence “for the sake of
convenience – because most translators are used to it rather than because it has any theoretical
status” (1992:5-6). She also points out the three following types of equivalence:
a) Grammatical equivalence refers to the diversity of grammatical categories across
languages. She notes that grammatical rules may vary across languages and this may pose
some problems in terms of finding a direct correspondence in the target language. In fact, she
claims that different grammatical structures in the source language and target language may
cause remarkable changes in the way the information or message is carried across. These
changes may induce the translator either to add or to omit information in the target text
because of the lack of particular grammatical devices in the target language itself. Amongst
these grammatical devices which might cause problems in translation, Baker focuses on
number, tense, and aspects, voice, person and gender.
b) Textual equivalence refers to the equivalence between a source language text and a target
language text in terms of information and cohesion. Texture is a very important feature in
translation since it provides useful guidelines for the comprehension and analysis of the source
text which can help the translator in his or her attempt to produce a cohesive and coherent text
for the target context audience in a specific context. It is up to the translator to decide whether
or not to maintain the cohesive ties as well as the coherence of the source language text. His or
her decision will be guided by three main factors, that is, the target audience, the purpose of
the translation and the text type.
c) Pragmatic equivalence refers to implicatures and strategies of avoidance during the
translation process. Implicature is not about what is explicitly said but what is implied.
Therefore the translator needs to work out implied meanings in translation in order to get the
source text message across. The role of translator is to recreate the author‟s intention in

another culture in a way that enables the target context reader to understand it clearly.
Baker also acknowledges that equivalence at word level is the first element to be taken
into consideration by translators, who look at words as a single unit to find a direct
15
equivalence when analyzing the source text. Although translators/interpreters often pay more
attention to transfer messages being communicated rather than to smaller units such as word
and structure, words are still important as they carry the core meaning of the information.
The situation cannot be truer to apply to subtitles translation, where words are deeply
taken into consideration. Under time pressure and word limitation, finding a suitable
equivalence at word level is a never ending challenge. Especially when terminology is
encounter, an equivalence which can be used throughout a series of 10 to 30 episodes requires
more and more effort by subtitlers.
3.2 Problems of non-equivalence and strategy
Baker (1992) also points out 11 common problems of non-equivalence at word level,
which are listed as following:
- Culture-specific concepts cause problems when the word in source language does not
make sense in the target language, for example, religion concept, social custom, name
of food, etc. In “Swam Loggers”, many names of trees are encountered, some of which
can be found in the dictionary or translated before but some are totally new to
Vietnamese culture.
- The source-language concepts are not lexicalized in the target language when the
concept in the source language word is understood in the target language but there is
no word to express it.
- The source-language word is semantically complex and a single word need a whole
sentence to explain the meaning.
- The source and target languages make different distinctions in meaning therefore
the target language differently distinguish a concept in comparison with the source
language.
16
- The target language lacks a super-ordinate is encountered when the target language

may have specific words (hyponym) but no general word (superordinate) to head the
semantic field.
- The target language lacks a specific term (hyponym), which is contrary to the last
case when the word distinction between languages is different.
- Differences in physical or interpersonal perspective
- Differences in expressive meaning
- Differences in form
- Differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms
- The use of loan words in the source text
She also figures out strategy by professional translators as:
a. Translation by a more general word
The strategy is the most common solution to various types of non-equivalence, especially
to express propositional meaning. The strategy is effective in most languages because
hierarchical structure of semantic field is common in all language.
To illustrate this strategy Baker gives many examples which use a general word
(superordinate) to overcome a relative lack of specificity in the target language compared to
the source language.
Example:
Source text (A brief History of Time – Hawking, 1988):
A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture
on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in
turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy.
17
Target text (translated back from Spanish):
A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a lecture on
astronomy. In it he described how the earth revolved around the sun and how the latter
in its turn revolved around the center of a vast collection of stars known as our galaxy.
(Baker 1992:27-28)
b. Translation by a more neutral/less expressive word
There are various types of situation where this strategy can be used to deal with non-

equivalence at word level, however, the meaning of word may be lost in translation.
c. Translation by cultural substitution
Using this strategy, translator replaces a culture-specific item or expression with a target
language item which does not have the same propositional meaning but is likely to have a
similar impact on the target reader. This strategy is complicated, risky and not always
welcomed.
d. Translation by a paraphrase
The paraphrase strategy has certain advantages and disadvantages. Its most outstanding
feature is that in the translated version the propositional meaning is more precisely specified.
However, paraphrase does not produce a lexical item therefore it cannot “convey expressive,
evoked, or any kind of associate meaning” (Baker, 1992:40) because the meaning sticks with
stable lexical meaning which has appeared in certain contexts.
There are two paraphrase strategies, using a related word and using unrelated word.
 Translation by paraphrase using related word is used in the source language appears a
concept which is expressed by the source item lexicalized in the target language but in
a different form. The strategy of paraphrase using a related word should be applied.
18
Besides, using a different form in the target language would make the sentence sound
more natural and smoother.
 Contrary to the above situation, the concept in the source language totally
unlexicalized in the target language, the paraphrase strategy is still useful in some
cases. Instead of related words, unrelated words are used to modify a superordinate or
simply on unpacking the meaning of the source item.
e. Translation by omission
“Drastic” as it sounds, this strategy is actually useful and effective. It involves giving up
translating a word or expression in some contexts. Omission strategy is used when a particular
insignificant item or expression is not necessarily translated because it would cause readers‟
distraction.
In short, all above translation theories will make a steady background for the study‟s
development for further investigation in the next parts.

19
CHAPTER II:
TRANSLATION AND SUBTITLING OF THE SELECTED SERIES

1. Synopsis of the series “Swam loggers”
“Swamp loggers” is a reality television show made by Discovery Channel. The show tells
a story about the working and social life of loggers in North Carolina swamps with hardship,
dangers and joy and special experiences. Logging itself is a tough job; logging in swamps,
especially swamps with no bottom in North Carolina requires even more effort from the
loggers. The main characters are Goodson‟s All Terrain Logging Company, with the fourth
generation logger and also the owner of the company, Bobby Goodson, his son, Justin
Goodson – the foreman and the united logging team: the loader Dave Muller and the veteran
logger – Simitrio. Although each of the team members has his or her own job, the murky,
dangerous swamps force them to be multi-talented so that when needed, the logger can load
wood and repair machines.
Logging procedure starts with the logger Simitrio‟s cutting into the swamps so that the
team can come later to move wood, or in swamp terms, to shovel wood to the deck. Simitrio is
one of the key persons with his extensive experience and considerable ability. It is not overly
exaggerated to say that the whole team depends on him for some time. When coming first to
cut, he opens the road into the swamps, uses the logged trees as shovel road, drives cutting
machine on that road so that the machine will not stuck or sink down to the swamps.
Following him, the other machines coming into the swamps will have a road to go on. The
deck is where the loaders load wood on the trucks. Trucks haul wood to the mill and go to and
fro between the mill and the tract. When the logger finishes his cutting, he will move to
another tract, which is basically another swamp to continue cutting so that when the crew
move in, they don‟t have to wait for the wood to be logged. In swam logging, time is money
as Bobby usually says.
20
Swamp logging hides the dangers behind the trees, under wet ground or even in the air.
Physical danger is not the only worry here. Bobby needs to keep his crew working, keep

making profit and keep the equipment as well as his crew safe.
Finishing one tract, Bobby‟s crew will move to the others. Moving is one of Bobby‟s
nightmare because it costs him a lot of money and effort. Besides, new tracts often come with
new dangers, both on the road and in the swamp itself. However, Bobby sometimes is
desperate to move when most of the sites are flooded but the mill wide opens. That is the time
when every other company stop their action and that is also the time for Bobby crew proves
their “all terrain logging” strong point.
2. Linguistic features in the relationship with subtitles translation
It is necessary to understand the linguistic properties of the series. The job‟s specialty
requires certain equipments, certain activity, and the longer dialogue/speech may cause
confusion outside the logging context. The swamps are full of traps for the loggers and for the
translators, and even more for the subtitlers. These are among the fastest speaking voice of
Discovery Channel films. The greater the speakers‟ speech and the larger the proportion of
character voice per host voice give more challenges to the translator/subtitlers. Moreover,
most of the crew is originally from Spain, when necessary, English subtitles are made beside
the Spanish-English speaking as follows:
Male Wearing Black Hat VO/OC
GRAPHICS ON SCREEN
<SUBTITLES>
He better be bringing breakfast? Is he
bringing breakfast or something? Sausage
and biscuits?
Bringin‟ Breakfast? Bringin‟ Breakfast Or
Something? Sausage And Biscuits?
Harrison (2010)
The subtitled version of the series “Swam loggers” shown on VTC is not only clear but
understandable to almost every type of viewers. The challenges here for the translators and
21
subtitlers is how to simplify down to a certain level of language which is acceptable among
viewers of different types. Swam logging language is not only incredibly complicated in the

way of word using but also in the word playing. In the limited scope of this thesis, although
word playing is a sufficiently interesting topic, it cannot be deeply analyzed here. However,
word using and context figuration are among the two most important factors in understanding
and translating as well as subtitling of these extraordinary series.
For subtitle in general, time code can be considered the top priority, however, time
code is much dependent on the speaking speed of the dialogue. According to Pearman &
Albritton (2010:178), the average American speaking speed is 75-100 words per minutes but
Bobby Goodson of “Swam loggers” has much faster one. For example, in the episode “Swam
fever” from 31:54 to 32:22, which is 26 seconds, he utters 103 words. With a simple
calculation, it is easy to realize that his speaking speed is almost 3 times faster than the
average.
As mentioned before, subtitles translation draws much attention to clear ideas and
short sentences. It is harder to make subtitles with a faster speaking dialogue. Subtitles
translator conveys the meaning other than translate it. For such dialogue as by Spanish
American loggers, conveying the meaning to common viewers is not an easy task. Words
must be changed into which are familiar and easy to understand as well as clear to read. The
longest subtitles can only appear in 7 seconds on the screen, the shortest one is four frames,
which is 4/25 seconds. Therefore the most challenging task translators encounter is time
pressure and meaning conveyed.
In the selected documentaries, it is possible to divide the language into two forms,
which is narrating and speaking/talking. Narrating voices often tell the story which is going
on, while characters‟ voices, on the other hands, are used to express the characters themselves.
Therefore, many of the term in one program are officially explained in the narration after their
appearance in characters‟ dialogue.

22
Episode
code
NUMBER OF APPEARANCE TIMES
NUMBER OF WORDS

Host
Voice
Character
Voice
% of
Host
Voice
% of
Character
Voice
Host
Voice
Character
Voice
% of
Host
Voice
% of
Character
Voice
890547
78
612
11.3
88.7
1685
6013
21.9
78.1
890548

88
365
19.4
80.6
1679
4858
25.7
74.3
890549
66
383
14.7
85.3
1427
6487
18.0
82.0
890550
70
442
13.7
86.3
1285
6583
16.3
83.7
890551
74
397
15.7

84.3
1594
6148
20.6
79.4
890554
107
478
18.3
81.7
1907
6780
22.0
78.0
Average
80.5
446.2
15.5
84.5
1596.2
6144.8
20.7
79.3
Figure 3: Ratio between Host Voice and Character Voice
As can be seen from the table above, the length of time for Host Voice averagely takes
only 15.5% although the number of words is 20.7%. The table shows how much reality the
series is and it also represents the difficulties for subtitlers because they have to turn unofficial
speaking language into official written one.
3. Problems of non-equivalence
- Different distinction in meaning

Subtitles viewers are sensitive to short expression on the screen. Moreover, because they
have different education, social even age backgrounds, it is critical for the choice of
vocabulary to cause no misunderstanding among them. Some certain terms have their fixed
meaning which is true in any cases, such as: “ventilation” – “thông khí”; “cooling fan” – “quạt
làm mát”; “axle” – “trục xe”; “gear box” – “hộp số”; “rim” – “vành xe”. However there is a
wide range of terms which culturally distinguish between source text and target text language.
Unfortunately, it is unavoidable for the translator sometimes to directly refer to a more
available meaning of a term. For example, the equivalence of “forester” – “kiểm lâm” should
not cause any problem because both words refer to “the person who is in charge or takes care
23
of a forest”; but the problem arises in how people in each culture perceive their terms. “Kiểm
lâm” in Vietnamese culture, literally meaning forestry police, are people of a security branches
while “forester” in “Swamp loggers” is actually the manager/the owner of a forest. Another
example is “quota” and “hạn ngạch”. While the term “hạn ngạch” is easily referred to
“commercial quota” at first thought in Vietnamese culture, “quota” in “Swamp loggers”
means a limitation the mills set to the wood quantity they take in.
- Semantic complexion: words with semantic complexion may cause
translators/subtitlers the biggest professional agony of all. For example:
Shovel logging is a logging method which uses a log loader to swing logs to the forest
road. Rather than driving out to the log and dragging it back to the landing, the loader moves
slowly across the harvest area, grabbing logs/trees within reach, and swinging them around to
drop them closer to the road. Logs further from the road can be shoveled to the landing in a
few passes back and forth.
Shovel road is a kind of support in the swampy terrain and must be done as a first priority.
Shovel road is actually a log road, made by continuously laying cut tree on the surface of the
swamp to make a grid. The trees keep the tract dirt above the mud instead of running through
the mud so that machines can run on without worrying of being stuck.
Drag racing is a competition in which two specially prepared cars compete at a time to be
the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured
distance, most commonly a ¼-mile [402.3-metre (1,320 ft)] straight track.

- Target language lacks a specific term: “log”, “wood” and “timber” are not
separately translated in the series although they have different aspect of meaning.
- Word form difference such as “swampy” - “swamp”, “restriction” - “restrictive”,
“haul” and “load” are used both in noun and verb.
- Cultural specific term such as wood names: