The present study investigates the application of norms in the subtitling of some Iranian and American films. The questions it seeks to answer are: what norms are applied in the subtitling of Iranian and American films? And what are the similarities and differences between the norms applied in the subtitling of these films?
The paper will start with a short theoretical discussion of the main topics: audiovisual translation especially subtitling, and norms. The material for the case study consists of 5 Iranian films subtitled in English and 5 American films subtitled in Persian. Considering translation as a norm-governed activity, the researcher's main concern has been to study the norms applied in the translation of some challenging concepts including culture-specific items, verbal visual signs and language varieties. By nature, this research is descriptive and aimed at comparing the Iranian and American subtitled films with a focus on normative patterns governing their translation process. Since norms are a frequently used (research) concept in the field of translation studies, the present paper aims to extract some patterns that recur in the work of translators in the course of translating challenging concepts. These patterns are: 1. the informal form is replaced by formal one; 2. the social dialect is rendered as it is uttered; 3. the local dialect is identified in brackets; 4. the CS item is replaced with a proper target CS item; 5. the CS item is manipulated to be understandable; 6. the CS item is preserved intact; 7.the CS item is omitted;8. Verbal-visual signs are not subtitled. 9. Songs are subtitled; 10. Songs are not subtitled.