Translating Legal Drama: A Comparison of the Italian Dubbed and Subtitled Versions of the American TV Series "The Good Fight"

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the translation strategies adopted to translate legal language in the Italian dubbing and subtitling of the American TV series The Good Fight. Firstly, a general overview of audiovisual translation (AVT) is presented with a focus on its history, its role in translation studies and the different typologies of AVT modes. Secondly, special attention is devoted to the techniques of subtitling and dubbing. After providing a definition of these techniques, their main features and constraints are described, with special reference to the translation issues and strategies concerning cultural references. The topic of legal translation is also explored, devoting particular attention to the definition of law, the different existing legal systems and the comparison between common law and civil law. The features of legal translation and legal language, as well as the main translation problems a translator may have to face, are also analyzed. The last part of this dissertation centres around the analysis of the main translation techniques used in the Italian dubbed and subtitled versions of The Good Fight, and highlights the main differences in the two approaches.