Netflix English subtitling of idioms in Egyptian movies: challenges and strategies

The paper situates audiovisual translation (AVT) as a rapidly expanding branch of translation that enables cross-linguistic and cross-cultural access to multimedia content. With the global reach of streaming platforms like Netflix, interlingual subtitling has become central to making Arabic films accessible to English-speaking audiences. However, culturally bound, phraseological units—particularly idioms—pose significant linguistic, cultural, and pragmatic challenges. The study focuses on Egyptian films rich in idiomatic usage to explore how English subtitles render these expressions. It asks: (1) What challenges do subtitlers face when rendering Egyptian idioms into English in The Great Chinese Beans and The Humans and the Mongoose? (2) Which strategies are employed in their English subtitling? The authors emphasize the importance of cultural competence in both source and target languages and the suitability of translation strategies under subtitling constraints.

The review outlines AVT's scope and growth, defining subtitling (interlingual vs. intralingual; open vs. closed captions) and its constraints (spatial, temporal, and synchrony), which shape strategy choices. It surveys strategy taxonomies relevant to idioms, notably Baker (1992), who proposes: idioms of similar meaning/form; similar meaning/different form; paraphrasing; omission; and broader lexical strategies (superordinates, neutrality, cultural substitution, loanword plus explanation, paraphrasing, omission, illustration). The review underscores idioms as culturally embedded phraseological units whose meanings are not compositional, creating translation challenges tied to cultural specificity, connotation, and pragmatics. Empirical works show frequent reliance on paraphrase; risks of literal translation leading to foreignization or nonsense; and difficulties arising from limited cultural familiarity and strategy knowledge. Prior AVT studies (e.g., dubbing/subtitling across languages) highlight paraphrasing, occasional literal renderings, omission, and cultural substitution as prominent tools. The authors position their study to fill a gap on Arabic-to-English subtitling of Egyptian idioms on Netflix.

Design: Qualitative analysis grounded in Baker’s taxonomy of translation strategies. Corpus: A parallel dataset from two Egyptian films available on Netflix—The Great Chinese Beans (فول الصين العظيم, 2004, comedy) and The Humans and the Mongoose (الإنس والنمس, 2021, comedy/horror). Both films are popular, starring Mohamed Henedi, with strong box office performance. Data collection: (1) Manual transcription of idiomatic expressions from the Egyptian vernacular in both films (source text). (2) Extraction of corresponding English subtitles from Netflix (target text). (3) Alignment of source and target segments. Validation: Alignment and data checking performed by three MA candidates in Audiovisual Translation with educational and practical expertise. Analysis: Manual categorization of each instance according to Baker’s strategy taxonomy. Particular attention was paid to culturally loaded/religious idioms, literal vs. functional renderings, and instances of omission, transliteration, and mistranslation. Examples illustrating strategy use and issues were compiled into tables (Tables 3–10).

- Dataset: 31 idiomatic expressions identified across the two films and analyzed. - Predominant strategy: Cultural substitution was most frequently used to render Egyptian idioms into natural English (e.g., replacing religious/culturally specific phrases with functionally equivalent English idioms like “kick the bucket,” or colloquial equivalents like “hello” for the greeting “السلام عليكم”). - Paraphrasing: Paraphrasing using unrelated words was common to convey sense while abandoning idiomatic form (e.g., “Keep this in mind” for “put it as a piercing in your ear”), and paraphrasing using related words occurred when partial lexical overlap aided comprehension (e.g., “Show some respect” for “Respect yourself”). - Literal translation: Occasionally acceptable where idioms align across languages (e.g., “Love will blind him”; “What a jinx”), but also produced incomprehensible or misleading renderings when cultural meanings diverged (e.g., “my flesh is very bitter”). - Omission: Used for highly culture-bound religious interjections or to avoid redundancy, but risks meaning loss when applied without compensation (e.g., omitting “with God’s blessing,” “pray on the prophet,” or courtesy expressions like خيرك سابق). - Similar meaning/different form: Used idiomatic TL equivalents (e.g., “Mind your own business” for “Stick to yourself”; “The coast is clear” for “The weather is safe”). - Transliteration: Rare; “Inshallah” retained, which may risk comprehension for non-Muslim audiences. - Mistranslations identified: (1) “حسبي الله ونعم الوكيل” rendered as “Goodness gracious,” shifting from a prayer of appeal/forbearance to mere surprise; (2) “من النجمة” misrendered as “at the earliest” instead of “at the crack of dawn/bright and early”; (3) “جميلك فوق راسي” narrowed to “kindness” despite non-kindness context, better as “I will forever be grateful.” - Thematic challenges: Religious invocations, cultural symbolism (e.g., owl as bad omen), and metaphorical animal terms required careful cultural mediation; symbolisms often diverge cross-culturally, making literal renderings risky.

The findings show that subtitling idioms requires prioritizing communicative sense and cultural pragmatics over formal equivalence. Cultural substitution and paraphrase effectively reduce foreignness and preserve intended meaning under spatial-temporal constraints, aligning with Baker and Nida’s guidance on functional equivalence. Literal translation only succeeds where idiomatic overlap exists; otherwise it risks misinterpretation or nonsense. Errors and omissions frequently stem from insufficient cultural competence, misunderstanding idiomatic meaning, or limited strategy application, echoing prior studies. The study demonstrates that religious and culturally embedded expressions are particularly challenging; translators must balance domesticating strategies (cultural substitution, paraphrase) with selective foreignizing choices (literal retention, transliteration) to maintain character identity and cultural flavor, while ensuring viewer comprehension. Consistent, context-sensitive strategy selection addresses the research questions by clarifying typical challenges and effective solutions in Arabic-to-English Netflix subtitling of Egyptian idioms.

Idioms in AVT demand strategies that convey intended sense within subtitling constraints. The study shows cultural substitution as the dominant and effective approach for Egyptian idioms on Netflix, supplemented by paraphrase (related and unrelated), selective literal translation where cross-linguistic equivalence exists, and occasional transliteration. Omission should be minimized or compensated. The work highlights the need for subtitlers’ strong cultural and pragmatic competence and consistent strategy use. Future research should: (1) examine subtitling of other formulaic sequences (lexical bundles, collocations); (2) explore other Arabic dialects and language pairs; (3) analyze additional genres (tragedy, action, thriller); (4) expand datasets beyond 31 cases; (5) integrate multimodal analysis of how sound/image interact with idiom translation and audience perception; and (6) assess strategy efficacy under different translation theories.

- Limited sample size: 31 idiomatic instances from only two films. - Narrow scope: Focused on idioms in Egyptian vernacular; other formulaic sequences and dialects not covered. - Primarily linguistic/cultural analysis: Did not systematically analyze multimodal factors (sound/image) or reception effects. - Generalizability: Findings may not generalize across genres, dialects, or platforms without further data.