Turkish Subtitling of the F Word on the Digital Streaming Platform: Is There Censorship?

Unlike traditional TV, digital streaming platforms attract attention in that they allow the viewer to choose the content they want and they stream content freely. However, the official control mechanism, which has become valid for these platforms in Turkey lately, has started to raise doubts about this definition of freedom. This study investigated whether the censorship is also applied to Turkish subtitles of foreign productions on BluTV, about which there are many censorship claims. Accordingly, the translation strategies applied in the Turkish subtitles of The Wolf of Wall Street, one of the first three films with the most swearing in it, were contextually examined. The results showed that omission was employed as the predominant strategy, and secondly, toning down was used, and swearing was literally translated only 11 times throughout the movie. What is striking on a category basis is that the translator did not omit any cursing, insult, and literal meaning of the F word, which may be due to the nature of the film in which sound and image coexist. In addition, 68 uses of the F word were never even subtitled, despite being heard in the film. Findings indicate that the movie's subtitles were subject to censorship; either because of the translator's self-censorship or the platform's decision. It is thought that this study contributes to the literature in terms of presenting a method that categorizes and examines the F word and investigating the translations of the F word in Turkish. Future studies can examine the subtitles of other productions on the platform, or conduct comparative research on the issue with contents streamed on other digital platforms.

Dijital Yayın Platformunda Sinkaflı Küfrün Türkçe Alt Yazısı: Sansür Var mı?

Geleneksel televizyonun aksine, dijital yayın platformları izleyiciye istediği içeriği seçme fırsatı sunması ve içerikleri özgürce yayınlaması gibi özellikleriyle dikkat çekmektedir. Ancak Türkiye'de son zamanlarda bu platformlar için geçerli hale gelen resmi denetim mekanizması, bu özgürlük tanımına ilişkin şüphe uyandırmaya başlamıştır. Bu çalışmada, hakkında çok sayıda sansür iddiası bulunan BluTV'de, yabancı yapımların Türkçe alt yazılarına da sansürün uygulanıp uygulanmadığı araştırılmıştır. Bu doğrultuda, içinde en çok küfür barındıran ilk üç filmden biri olan The Wolf of Wall Street'in Türkçe alt yazılarında uygulanan çeviri stratejileri bağlamsal olarak incelenmiştir. Sonuçlar, dahil etmeme stratejisinin baskın bir şekilde kullanıldığını, ikinci olarak üslubu yumuşatma stratejilerinin kullanıldığını ve sinkaflı küfrün film boyunca yalnızca 11 kez birebir çevrildiğini göstermiştir. Kategori bazında çarpıcı olan bulgu, çevirmenin sinkaflı küfre; sövme, hakaret etme ve gerçek anlamında kullanma kategorilerinde dahil etmeme stratejisi uygulamamasıdır, ki bu da filmin ses ve görüntünün birarada bulunduğu doğasından kaynaklanıyor olabilir. Ayrıca, sinkaflı küfür, filmde duyuluyor olmasına rağmen 68 kez alt yazısı bile oluşturulmamıştır. Bulgular, filmin alt yazılarının ya çevirmenin otosansürü ya da platformun kararı sebebiyle sansüre maruz kaldığını göstermektedir. Bu çalışmanın, sinkaflı küfrün kategorize edilerek incelendiği bir yöntem sunması ve bu küfrün Türkçe çevirilerini incelemesi bakımından literatüre katkı sağladığı düşünülmektedir. İleride yapılacak çalışmalarda, platformdaki diğer yapımların alt yazıları incelenebilir veya bu konuda diğer dijital platformlarda yayınlanan yapımlarla karşılaştırmalı araştırmalar yapabilir.

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