English Subtitling of Suroboyoan Pisuhan: A Case Study of ‘Sekawan Limo’ Movie

This study explores the translation strategies of Suroboyoan pisuhan, particularly the swear word Jancok and its variations, in the English subtitles of Sekawan Limo. The focus of this study is to illustrate the categories and functions of the pisuhan in the movie and how these expressions are rendered in English subtitles. Despite the frequent use of pisuhan in Indonesian popular culture, there has been limited research on the subtitling of local languages, such as Suroboyoan pisuhan into English. To address this gap, this study uses Andersen and Trudgill's categorization to map the pragmatic function of the swear word present in the movie. Davoodi's four strategies in translating offensive and taboo language are used to reveal how the English subtitles handle these expressions and their impact on the local linguistic identity. The data consists of 56 subtitles of the swear word Jancok and its variations. This study employs a descriptive qualitative method to analyse the English subtitling of Suroboyoan pisuhan in the movie. The findings illustrates that the pisuhan in primarily serves to emphasize emotions such as anger, fear, and surprise, classified under the categories of abusive (46%) and expletive (37%). The translation strategies used in the subtitles are predominantly omission (45%), followed by literal or substitution with other taboo words (33%). This indicates that the English subtitles of Sekawan Limo aims to deliver the intended meaning of the Suroboyoan pisuhan, but rely on the movie’s original audio to highlight the cultural aspect of this Suroboyoan Javanese dialect.