Form Shifting Vs. Readability in Translating Figurative Languages in The Lion King Movie Subtitle

Abstract

Translating subtitles is challenging, especially for figurative sentences, because the translator has to maintain the meaning, adapt the sentence to fit the target language's cultural equivalence, and retain the limited space of characters without causing any confusion to the target audience. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the figurative language, metaphor, simile, and hyperbole found in the movie subtitle The Lion King (2019) to see the subtitling strategy used and the readability of the subtitle. This research uses a qualitative method. The researcher found 66 data. The most frequently used strategy is paraphrasing (60,6%); the translator rearranges the figurative sentence and renders the meaning directly in the target language to fit the equivalent. Meanwhile, the readability average score collected from 3 respondents is 2.92, which means it is very readable. The subtitle keeps the message and expression intact but maintains the pace and limited space for the reader to follow.