Translating cultural elements in subtitling: an analysis of the idioms in the series "The Crown"

The role of translation is to make communication and understanding possible among cultures, especially during the fourth industrial revolution, which is characterized by an increasing and accelerating contact across languages and cultures that makes human interaction even more complex when people belong to different linguacultural communities. Subtitling is one of the globalisation’s preferred translation approaches. The focus of the present dissertation is to analyse the way in which idioms have been translated from English to Italian subtitles in the Netflix series “The Crown”, taking the cultural aspect into consideration. The research methodology consists in selecting all the idioms present in the first season of “The Crown” and studying them. The analysis is based on a primary classification of idioms according to their structure and meaning, so if they are literal, semi-literal or pure, and then there is an analysis of how idioms have been translated and why the subtitler decided to translate in that way, considering the translation strategies and if there is adaptation to the target culture. Firstly, there is a definition of audiovisual translation, together with its history and main translation practices. Secondly, there is a focus on subtitling, thirdly, there is an explanation of cultural reference and its translation strategies and finally, an analysis of idioms is provided.