1This article aims at identifying the most frequent subtitling problems one encounter when dealing with a children’s movie and its contemporary computer-animated adaptation. We will focus our attention on the 1994 and 2019 versions of The Lion King, both distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The two movies tell the story of Simba, a young lion prince who faces the tragedy of losing his father and carries the alleged guilt of his death upon his shoulders. As the movie unfolds, the audience witnesses Simba’s transformation from inquisitive, naïve cub, to trustworthy grown-up lion, who dares to challenge his ferocious uncle, the real murderer in the story. In the end, Simba regains his throne and rules over Pride Rock. This article compares the original English script and its corresponding Romanian subtitling, in order to emphasize translation issues, not only when the translation product is acceptable, but also when it could have been improved.
- 1 Jorge Diaz Cintas and Aline Remael, Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling, New York, Routledge, 2014, (...)
- 2 Ibid., p. 10
2In order to put subtitling under scrutiny, one must understand its complex features and the essential role it plays in the diffusion of a movie. According to Jorge Diaz Cintas and Aline Remael “subtitles entail a change of mode from oral to written and resort frequently to the omission of lexical items from the original”1. Thereby, in order to maintain the naturalness of the language and the fluidity of the scene, the subtitled versions must be as close to the original English script as possible and mediate the connection between the written and the visual messages. Hence, it is of utmost importance to deliver the message correctly as “subtitles must appear in synchrony with the image and dialogue…and remain displayed on screen long enough for the viewers to be able to read them”2.
- 3 Francisca Bartrina, “Teaching Subtitling in a Virtual Environment”, in Jorge Díaz Cintas and Gunill (...)
3The 1994 film The Lion King – an extremely successful animated movie, according to IMBD’s rate (8,5 out of 10) – has also been accessed by the Romanian viewers in subtitled form. As uncomplicated as it might look at first, this process of combining, rewriting, condensing, omitting or paraphrasing the written subtitled message of a cartoon is often labor-intensive work. According to Francesca Bartrina, “subtitling is a way of translating what is being said in an audiovisual text, with two characteristic features […]. First, there is a change of medium, from the oral to the written form. Second, the oral message of the source audiovisual text is also present in the translated product”3. Not only are the written portions of text to be taken into consideration, but also the sound, that is constantly present during the translation process. The following analysis will therefore highlight the difficulties that occur while subtitling through a series of examples.
4Once the movie begins, after the long-awaited presentation of Simba, Mufasa’s son, the king realizes that his brother Scar did not appear at the ceremony and decides to stand at his brother’s cave. Once there, Scar addresses him the following words: “Why! If it isn't my big brother descending from on high to mingle with the commoners”, rendered in Romanian as “Vai! Este fratele meu mai mare, a coborât de pe piedestal, ca să se amestece cu cei de rând”. It is important to mention that the very objective of subtitling is not necessarily a complete or detailed rendering of the message, since this process combines the oral and visual aspects of the movie, without aiming to provide an exhaustive translation. Thus, Scar’s words sound natural in Romanian due to the closeness to the original script and because there are not any major additions to the lines themselves. However, from a grammatical point of view, the Romanian rendition is deficient in placing the relative pronoun that and might cause confusion among the younger audiences especially. It is much more appropriate to use a relative pronoun for the public to assimilate the message easier and more clearly. In order to increase the overall reception of the line, the Romanian subtitling would have sounded better if rendered as: “Iată-l pe fratele meu mai mare care a coborât de pe tron pentru a sta de vorbă cu mulțimea” (“Look! It is my older brother, who has descended from on high to converse with the common folk”).
5As their talk goes on, Mufasa shows his disappointment towards his brother’s absence from the ceremony and asks for an explanation, but instead of this, he receives a sum of sarcastic answers among which the most resounding of all is the following: “Well, as far as brains go, I got the lion's share. But when it comes to brute strength [...] I'm afraid I'm at the shallow end of the gene pool”. In Romanian, Scar’s words were translated as follows “Eu am moștenit mintea. Însă când e vorba de forță, mă tem că sunt prea slab” This particular line is one of the most resounding examples of condensation on the one hand and of omission on the other. To begin with, the general message has been accurately kept while subtitling. However, the first part of Scar’s answer has been so condensed that the actual irony of his words was lost; also, by condensing the words so much, omission becomes almost impossible to avoid, and therefore half of the initial words of the character have vanished from the context. From my point of view, this line would have been better rendered as: “Well, as far as wisdom is concerned, I’ve indeed got it. But, when it comes to brute force, I’m afraid I didn’t get much.” (“Înțelepciunea am moștenit-o cu siguranță. La capitolul forță mă tem că nu stau prea bine”). Hence, by paraphrasing the original script and adding the word much in order to accentuate the distance between him and the very meaning of strength, the subtitling reaches the viewer without harming his perception of the line.
- 4 Yves Gambier, « Les traducteurs face aux écrans : une élite d’experts », in Frederic Chaume and Ros (...)
6As the movie goes on, Mufasa finds himself in his cave with his wife, Sarabi and his son Simba, trying to rest, but since his son’s curiosity is impossible to quell, they end up awake and Mufasa decides to show Simba his future kingdom from Pride Rock. After the presentation ends, Simba visits his malicious uncle Scar, who has already secretly planned to kill him by stirring him with nonsensical stories about the elephant’s graveyard, a forbidden place for young cubs like him, in order to draw him into the hyenas’ realm. Innocent and very naïve, Simba decides to explore that unknown territory and takes his friend Nala with him as well, accompanied by Zazu, a dodo that plays the role of Mufasa’s butler. Finally, all three head out on an adventure the destination of which is only known by Simba at the beginning and later revealed to Nala who is fascinated about it. Of course, Zazu is not aware of the plan and that is why the two lion cubs decide to get rid of him; unfortunately, their trip is not as expected and they wind up to the hyenas’ territory. There, a verbal confrontation occurs between Simba, Zazu and the three adversaries, one of the lines of which is the following: “But Zazu, you told me they're nothing but slobbering mangy stupid poachers”. In Romanian, the subtitling of this sentence is as follows “Dar mi-ai spus că sunt doar jigodii idioate”. In terms of subtitling, the line lacks its original humor, since a couple of adjectives such as slobbering and mangy that create the humorous effect in the original have been omitted. Thus, without those essential humoristic parts, the subtitling does not produce the same effect as the original English script. In my opinion, this line could have been translated as: “Dar Zazu, mi-ai spus că nu sunt decât niște jidogii băloase, idioate și răioase” (“But Zazu, you told me they are nothing but slobbering mangy stupid poachers”). When dealing with humor, it is highly relevant to preserve it in delivering the message, especially in the case of animated movies, whose target audience is mostly children seeking to entertain themselves. Consequently, as Gambier states, “audience perceptions of subtitling depend on sociological and audiovisual variables such as age, reading habits, knowledge of the Source Language (SL) and Target Language (TL)…”4 it is highly important to maintain the humor behind the lines, especially in this situation when the movie is straightforwardly meant for children.
7After the trap has accomplished its purpose, with the help of his hyena friends Scar kills Mufasa and blames Simba for it, although Scar himself the one really responsible for the tragedy. Desperate with grief, the king’s son is told by Scar to leave and never come back and so he obeys. Simba starts running faster and faster with the hyenas on his tail, trying to save his life when, finally, he loses them. Later, the cub finally faints in exhaustion after being chased by the enemies. Afterward, two new characters, Timon and Pumbaa, appear next to the cub, expelling the buzzards who were circling around him. A short talk between the two pals lights upon the subject of keeping the lion cub or not; thus, after considering a while, Timon says: “Hey, I got it! What if he's on our side? You know, having a lion around might not be such a bad idea”. The Romanian subtitled variant for this line is as follows “Am o idee. Poate o să fie de partea noastră. Ar fi o idee bună să avem un leu în preajmă”. With the exception of Timon’s saying, which should have been kept as a rhetorical question since he was talking to himself, the other elements of the speech were paraphrased into a more simplified version of the original message. This change in subtitling keeps the initial text’s general meaning but adapted to the Romanian public, in order to preserve the naturalness of the speech. Overall, the Romanian translation is similar to the original English message and thereby, its purpose of being understood by the audience has been successfully achieved.
8Since Simba and his two new friends are now part of the same ideology of life, titled Hakuna Matata – which means a “worriless life” – the focal point of the action turns on Pride Rock, Simba’s birthplace where Scar’s royal regime of ruling side by side with the hyenas has destroyed everything, leaving the animals in starvation. At some point, the hyenas come to Scar and ask him for food and he suggests eating Zazu. At hearing the terrible news, Zazu politely refuses in an attempt to save his life but Scar’s responds in the following way: “Oh, Zazu, don't be ridiculous. All you need is a little garnish”. In Romanian this line was translated as follows “Zazu, nu fi ridicol. Nu-ți lipsește decât puțin usturoi”. As far as the subtitling requirements are concerned, there is no conspicuous mistake, but in terms of translation, at the end of the phrase we are dealing with a translational error, called mistranslation. It refers to an inappropriate correspondent in the target language. The Romanian word usturoi means “garlic” and not the decorative embellishment that the English word “garnish” implies. Apart from this, the line complies with the norms of subtitling, keeping the initial meaning unchanged.
9After a while, the action’s focus point is now on Simba and his friends, who are laying on the grass, looking at the stars and trying to find a definition and a meaning for them. First, Timon says they are fireflies that were stuck on the sky, and then Pumbaa says they are nothing but bubbles of gas burning billions of miles away. In the end, Simba comes with his own idea on the stars, the one that his father had told him a long time ago, according to which there dwell the ancient kings who are watching over them. At the mere mention of this, Timon bursts into laughter and says “You mean a bunch of royal dead guys are watching us?” The Romanian version for this particular line is the following “Vrei să spui că niște regi morți ne veghează?”. This rendition is similar to the ones already mentioned above due to the visible omission of the expression a bunch of which was removed from the Romanian subtitling and replaced with the indefinite article some, causing the loss of the potential humor of the phrase. To me, this line could have been subtitled in this manner: “Are you saying that a couple of dead royals are watching over us right now?” (“Adică vreo câțiva regi morți ne veghează chiar acum?”). Although this may look like too long a line for a subtitle, the timing allowed for the line to be subtitled allows us to stretch the string of words, in order to fulfill the task of bringing the audience closer to the original meaning.
10When their talk is over and Simba gets up silently, Timon and Pumbaa wonder if they said something unpleasant, but without getting any answer from their friend, they decide to take a nap. At dawn, the two hilarious friends struggle to find some food and that is the moment Pumbaa departs from Timon, in pursuit of a juicy bug; after a while, the wild boar suddenly notices a pair of hungry eyes rising from the bushes. Then, in the blink of an eye, a lioness who saw and tried to catch him was blindsided by Simba who intervened to rescue his friend. The lioness turns out to be Nala who, after a while, joyfully deduces that the lion who has tackled her is Simba, the true king and says it aloud. When Timon hears the unprecedented news, he adds: “King? Lady, have you got your lions crossed”. The Romanian translation of this phrase is as follows “Rege? Cred că faci o confuzie”. On the one hand, the noun lady has been completely omitted from the phrase, creating a plain, flavorless, humorless line. As far as I am concerned, this line should have been rendered this way: “King? Huh! Lady, I think you’re confused”. (“Rege? Ha! Cred că te înșeli, domniță”). It is important to state that here this word is of utmost importance, since Nala is a female and Simba’s future wife, which automatically transforms her into a queen.
11As their dialogue unfolds, Nala tells Simba to return home as the rightful king and save them from starvation. However, Simba blames himself for the death of his father and declines to go back to his birthplace, since facing the past is such a cruel task for him to accomplish. After a while, Simba walks alone in the jungle and tries to find arguments to counterbalance his denial of the past, when suddenly a baboon – Rafiki – comes out from the trees, and claims that he knows Simba’s true self. Later, they get involved in a dialogue concerning Mufasa’s death, when the baboon tells Simba the following: “He's alive! And I'll show him to you”. The Romanian version for Rafiki’s line is presented as “El trăiește și o să-ți arăt cum”. In this phrase, a mistranslation has occurred. In addition to this, from the Romanian subtitling we understand that Mufasa is alive somewhere and has a certain lifestyle, away from them. However, the original script is far from this Romanian acceptance, because Rafiki clearly states that he will show Mufasa to his son, without specifically referring to him as a living being. In my opinion, this line would have better reached its Romanian audience if translated as follows: “He is alive and I will take you to him”. (“El trăiește și te voi duce la el”) By emphasizing the direct object him in Romanian as it was in English, the initial meaning of the line is upheld, without any other subtitling alteration implied.
12When Simba decides to return to his kingdom, he notices all the damage his uncle has done while ruling with the hyenas, admitting Nala was right. Then, he tells Nala to rally the lionesses while he goes after his uncle Scar. After finding him, Simba reveals the secret of his presumed fault with regard to his father’s death and fights Scar, until he manages to make his uncle confess the truth of being the real murderer. There, in front of the lionesses Scar is trying to make an excuse by saying: “Truth? But truth is in the eye of the behold...!”. In Romanian, this line was rendered as follows “Adevărul? Adevărul se citește pe fața…”. Scar’s line alludes to an aphorism – “truth is in the eye of the beholder” – which has an exact equivalent in Romanian that could be used in the translation. From my point of view, this line would have sounded better if delivered this way: “The truth? But the truth is right before the eyes of the be…” (“Adevărul? Dar adevărul este în ochii privi…”).
13As far as this version of the story is concerned, after a thorough inspection of the subtitled lines of this lovely masterpiece for children, I was able to notice a number of omissions, slightly fewer condensations, several mistranslations, and a couple of paraphrased lines. To sum up, the predominant feature was omission, mostly with the goal of delivering the general message to the audience.
- 5 Francisca Bartrina, “Teaching Subtitling in a Virtual Environment,” op. cit., p. 230-231.
14This second version of young king Simba’s story preserves the narrative of the original and addresses it to a larger target audience. If in the case of the first version of the story children were the main target audience, the 2019 variant broadens the spectrum. Hence, it becomes easily accessible to a wider population that includes adults. When diving into the meticulous process of subtitling, a translator must consider that “in subtitling, the oral and written messages are received simultaneously, allowing for comparison between Source Text (ST) and Target Text (TT)”5. Thereby, the written version and the spoken line must be regarded as symbiotic, rather than two distinct features belonging to the same field.
15As far as the beginning of the movie is concerned, many of the key aspects and lines remain unchanged; however, there are some lines that call for analysis. First, after the introductory part in which Simba is presented to the world through a royal ceremony, we find the young prince with his father and the dodo Zazu, wandering around the kingdom. There, Mufasa is showing his son the greatness of their land explaining the paramount responsibility he must demonstrate. After a while, as Zazu is presenting his daily report, Mufasa draws Simba into a game of pouncing, by saying: “Check the wind, the shadows... and wait for the perfect moment to pounce”. In Romanian, this line was subtitled as follows “Vezi vântul, umbrele...și așteaptă momentul potrivit să ataci”. To begin with, the opening word of the line was mistranslated, as check in Romanian means to verify – to state the accuracy of a thing or fact – and not to see. Nonetheless, the subtitling is faithfully delivered and the message gets across.
16As the movie unfolds, the focal point turns towards Simba who is eager to explore the forbidden shadows from the northern borders of the kingdom. Drawn into this dangerous situation by his cunning uncle Scar, he decides to take Nala with him and adventure there. However, when he goes after his friend, he finds her in her mother’s paws, having a bath. At hearing Simba’s call for Nala, his friend’s mother utters: “Simba, she's having her bath”. The Romanian translation for this particular line was the following “Simba, își face baia”. Although the subtitling may seem suitable from a superficial point of view, as the analysis goes deeper it can be observed that the words have been condensed and therefore have lost their naturalness. Thus, in my opinion, this sentence would have preserved its fluidity if said in this manner: “Simba, she’s bathing now”. (“Simba, face băiță acum”) To me, changing the register into a more baby-oriented direction through the personal Romanian suggestion, the subtitling reaches its public as it should, because both Simba and Nala are cubs and treated as such.
17As their discussion goes on, Simba’s mother intervenes and takes her son for a bath as well; but he is restless and refuses the bath, trying to persuade his mother to agree with their trip to the imaginary water hole. Since she is not very sure with regard to this idea, he brings forward a series of arguments among which we notice the following: “There's no hyenas. You just chased them all off”. In Romanian, this line was put as such “Nu sunt hiene. Le-am alungat pe toate”. At the beginning of the phrase, the subtitling is appropriate but towards the end, a mistranslation occurs. As the movie reveals, the lionesses are responsible for chasing away the intruders and neither the lions, nor the cubs are invited to participate. Hence, it is obvious that a cub has no power to fight against their older and more experienced enemies as according to the translation. To me, this line would have sounded better if presented as follows: “There are no hyenas, since you’ve just banned them all”. (“Nu mai sunt hiene din moment ce tu le-ai alungat pe toate”).This way, the audience understands the message as it is, by stating the obvious effort of the lionesses.
18After their dangerous adventure to the hyena’s realm ends well thanks to Mufasa, the two cubs are finally brought together to their families. Nevertheless, on the other side of the kingdom, the hyenas receive an unexpected guest in the shape of Scar, Mufasa’s brother. When he approaches them, he utters: “You fools have stripped your land of every living thing”. In Romanian, this line was subtitled this way “Ați golit pământul vostru de fiecare lucru viu”. For starters, the omission at the beginning of the line is noticeable, since the Romanian version does not contain the introductory insult of Scar’s speech. Thus, if I were to subtitle this phrase, I would phrase it as follows: “You fools have emptied your land of everything.” (“Proștilor, ați golit ținutul de orice creatură”). Keeping the insult in its place, the audience perceives Scar’s sarcastic form of address to the hyenas, blaming them for bleeding dry the land.
19Scar’s dialogue with the hyenas continues until they surround him. In this inferior position, Scar finds convincing arguments in order to escape from the situation and proposes the following to them: “Why eat one meal... when you can be feasting the rest of your lives?” The Romanian version of this phrase is the following “De ce să mănânci o masă...când poți să te înfrupți tot restul vieții tale?”. This subtitling contains a mistranslation, because if we watch the scene, Scar addresses not only the hyena in front of him, but to all of them. However, from the translation of this line it is almost impossible to correlate the image with the utterance, since it lacks cohesion. As far as I am concerned, this line could be updated as follows: “Why eat one meal… when you could have plenty of them forever?” (“De ce doar o masă când poți mânca pe săturate pentru totdeauna?”) If portrayed as such, the image and the writing are coherent, allowing the audience to comprehend the original message.
20One of the scenes that cannot be found in the initial 1994 version of The Lion King is the one in which Scar asks Sarabi to be his queen. In his pursuit of convincing her about the worriless life they will have as a royal couple, he also touches the subject of the other lionesses who strongly reject him. During their dialogue, Scar says the following: “The other lions look to you. As long as you resist, they will reject me. Take your place by my side, and we will feast together” In Romanian, this phrase sounds slightly different as it was delivered as follows “Ceilalți lei se uită la tine. Cât timp reziști, mă vor respinge. Ia-ți locul lângă mine și ne vom ospăta împreună”. To begin with, the first sentence of Scar’s speech was mistranslated due to the confusion around the significance of the verb look to in this situation. Certainly, as the scene is set, Sarabi is regarded with pride by the other lionesses, who admire her strength and opposition to Scar’s becoming king; however, when he utters the words, his intention is to emphasize how much her acts mean for the others. Moreover, as his speech goes on, it can be observed that the verb resist does not have its actual meaning; on the contrary, it represents her stand against Scar, which could have been rendered through the verb oppose. Furthermore, the third part of the line lacks naturalness due to the word-for-word translation procedure applied. Thereby, to me this entire speech could have been better if constructed this way: “The other lionesses listen to you. As long as you oppose me, they will do it as well. So, come with me and we shall feast together for ever”. (“Celelalte leoaice ascultă de tine. Din moment ce tu te opui, ele vor face la fel. Așa că vino lângă mine și hai să ne ospătăm împreună pe vecie”.)
21As the movie unfolds, we find Simba and his two new friends Timon and Pumbaa laying on the ground after a well-deserved feast of insects. After a while, they start wondering about the stars and their significance. One by one, the three friends give their opinion on the topic, making fun of Simba’s explanation. As their laughter increases, Pumbaa says “Hang on, Your Majesty! Don't let go!”. In Romanian, this phrase is translated as follows “Ține-te, Majestate! Nu da drumul!”. Besides the mistranslation towards the end of the line, which consists in omitting to point out the pronoun –ți in Romanian, the overall translation is in accordance with the original script. In other words, this line would have been more understandable for the audience if presented as follows: “Hang on, my liege! Don’t let go!” (“Ține-te, Majestate! Nu-ți da drumul!”);
22Towards the end of the movie, the focus is now on Simba and Nala who are staring at the remains of Pride Rock, their once prosperous kingdom. At a certain point, the two funny friends Timon and Pumba appear to stay by Simba’s side. Confused, Simba asks them with regard to their Hakuna Matata motto and the “meaningless line of indifference” they so often invoke – regarding the already famous philosophy circle of life, which Timon and Pumbaa adopt– but they tell him the following: “Maybe it curves a little bit”. In Romanian, this line was subtitled as follows “Poate se alungește puțin”. As far as this phrase is concerned, Timon’s words clearly refer to a change in their indifferent lifestyles of superficiality and weakness. However, this subtitling of the original line may intrigue the audience with regard to the significance of a line. In addition, it is important to avoid such mistranslations, in order to facilitate the transition of the message, from the screen to the audience. To me, the line should have been rendered as such: “Maybe it loops a bit” (“Poate se curbează nițel”).
23Their dialogue continues up to a point when Timon stares at Simba’s birthplace and utters the following words: “Talk about your fixer-upper. I like what you've done with it, although a bit heavy on the carcass”. This line was put into Romanian in this manner “Vorbind de cel care te rezolvă. Îmi place cum ai aranjat locul, chiar dacă e prea mult cu scheletele”. To begin with, the introductory part of the line was mistranslated as it is not connected to the overall meaning of the script. Thus, instead of “talk about some TLC”, I would have changed it into “it needs some improvements”. Furthermore, the ending part of the utterance seems slightly ambiguous due to the literal translation of the words. In my opinion, instead of “although I do like it” (“deși îmi place”) it would have been better to have: “you have exaggerated with the carcasses” (“ai exagerat cu scheletele”).
24Analysis of subtitling in the 2019 version of The Lion King has revealed a series of mistranslations, a number of omissions and a case of literal translation. Overall, in comparison with the initially released variant of the story, this contemporary work contained fewer translation deficiencies.
25This article aimed to highlight the problems a translator may be confronted with when subtitling a children’s movie and its computer-animated remake. In the cases analyzed here, a series of mistrantlations or unsuitable translations were identified, although the overall subtitling of the original script was pleasantly elaborated. Few of the situations discussed above distorted the general acceptance of the lines so as to prevent the audience from fully understanding the message.
26On the one hand, many subtitling options do not interfere in the audience’s overall comprehension of the movie. For example, in the 1994 rendition, the line “But Zazu, you told me they're nothing but slobbering mangy stupid poachers”, whose Romanian alternative is the following “Dar mi-ai spus că sunt doar jigodii idioate”. The naturalness of the speech is preserved. Although the Romanian translation lacks two adjectives, this does not distort the overall meaning of the phrase.
27On the other hand, as the 2019 adaptation unfolds, some of the subtitled variants managed to distort the original meaning of the line. Thus the audience may feel some degree of distance with regard to the script. For example, the line “Maybe it curves a little bit” whose Romanian equivalent was “Maybe it stretches a little bit”; this is an ideal example of mistranslation, causing ambiguity at all levels, since a line does not stretch, but loop or curve.
28As far as the two renditions of the story – from 1994 and 2019 – are concerned, there were not a considerable amount of translational errors detected. Moreover, as both of them rely on the same story and almost the same lines, it was interesting to seek out discrepancies in translation between the two versions, in order to decide which rendition has the least amount of mistranslations in Romanian. However, if we are to touch upon the understandability of the message in these two productions, I could only agree that both of them have the same ability to catch the eye of the audience very fast and maintain interest at a high level throughout the film.
- 6 Peter Newmark, A Textbook of Translation, Hoboken, Prentice Hall International, 1988, p. 5.
29To conclude, the global understanding of the stories through subtitling has been almost entirely achieved, since the amount of translation deficiencies in both movies were too few to hinder the audience’s understanding. Consequently, as Newmark aptly states “the translation cannot simply reproduce, or be, the original. And since this is so, the first business of the translator is to translate....”6 neither of the two renditions took exception, as the process of subtitling was rewarding for the audience, mediating the connection between the audience and the stories in question.