The translation of legal references in the Italian dubbing of a US TV series. A corpus-based analysis

Abstract

Legal drama series contribute to the popularisation of legal discourse and legal concepts: however, as they are entertainment products, they also simplify complex constructs for the sake of plot comprehension. When such products are translated for foreign audiences, a further layer of complexity is added onto them. Legal references in audiovisual products are notoriously challenging to translate, especially when the legal traditions of the source and target cultures are different. This paper investigates the translation strategies employed in the Italian dubbing of The Good Wife, a very popular legal drama from the US, to convey the legal references in the dialogues to Italian viewers. The data used in the analysis come from the DubTalk corpus, compiled at Università degli Studi Internazionali di Roma-UNINT. A theoretical framework was developed to classify the legal references in the original English dialogues and the related translation strategies in the Italian dubbed version; moreover, interviews were conducted with four professionals involved in the Italian dubbing of the series, with the aim of achieving a better comprehension of the process. The analysis shows that the most frequent translation strategies in our corpus are the use of functional equivalents, periphrases and calques; thus, while the key principle driving the Italian dubbed version may be said to be domestication, frequent legal terms and fixed formulae were translated via calques and standardised translations which viewers have come to expect in translated legal dramas. This balanced mixture of domesticating and foreignising strategies facilitates comprehension whilst at the same time reminding the audience of the foreign origin of the series, to ensure maximum enjoyment.