When translating films and TV programmes, subtitlers mediate not only between different languages, but also between different cultures. One translation problem in particular highlights this aspect of the subtitlers’ task, and this is when some element from the source culture (SC) is brought into the source text (ST). I call these problems extralinguistic cultural references (ECRs). The subtitler then has to gauge how well known the particular ECR is in the target culture (TC) or has to appraise its transculturality. If an ECR is equally well-known in the SC and the TC, it could be said to be transcultural. If it is equally unknown in both cultures, it could be said to be infracultural. However, the problematic cases are those where an ECR is significantly better known in the SC than in the TC, that is, monocultural ECRs. Based on the appraisal of the transculturality of an ECR, the subtitler then proceeds to select which translation strategy would be most felicitous for helping the viewers access the ECR.
This paper presents the above problem area by using material from a project called Scandinavian Subtitles, which is a comparative study of the subtitling norms in Scandinavia. The project is based on a corpus of 100 Anglophone films and TV programmes and their Swedish, Danish and (to a certain extent) Norwegian subtitles. The model in the project makes use of cultural literacy. The model assumes that there are three ways in which a viewer/reader can access ECRs: (1) encyclopaedically and/or intertextually, that is, through cultural literacy, (2) deictically, that is, through the polysemiotic context or the co-text or (3) ‘translatorically’, that is, through the use of interventional strategies employed by the subtitler. The project uses a taxonomy with seven base-line categories for rendering ECRs: official equivalent, retention, literal translation, specification, generalisation, substitution and omission. The first three are minimum change strategies, so they do not help the viewer to access the ECR, whereas the last four are interventional, and thus offer guidance to the viewers. The latter group would ideally be used on monocultural ECRs that are not accessible deictically.
One of the more important findings of the project is that minimum change strategies are used with an increasing frequency, leaving culturally illiterate viewers to fend for themselves, so to speak. The reasons for this could be that subtitlers make inaccurate transculturality assumptions or that outside pressures (such as deadlines and salaries) force them to make hasty decisions or forego the transculturality appraisal altogether.

Jan PEDERSEN received his education at the Universities of Stockholm, Copenhagen and Uppsala. He received a PhD from Stockholm University in 2007 with a dissertation entitled “Scandinavian Subtitles”, which is a comparative study of TV subtitling norms in the Scandinavian countries. Jan Pedersen’s research interests include translation studies, translation theory, screen translation studies, pragmatics and comparative linguistics. He is vice president of the European Association for Studies in Screen Translation (ESIST), member of the European Society for Translation Studies (EST) and the Nordic Network for Translation Studies. He has also worked as a television subtitler for many years, subtitling shows such as Late Show with David Letterman, The Simpsons and Nikolaj og Julie. Jan Pedersen is currently teaching various courses in linguistics and translation theory at the Department of English at Stockholm University, where he is also Director of Studies.