Abstract | Subtitling is the process of translating spoken dialogue into written text on a screen. Subtitling has restrictions of time and space, which is why there is an astounding number of subtitling guidelines. Different types of subtitles use different guidelines. Some of the types are subtitles whose purpose is to translate and bring content to a broader audience (called simply 'subtitles'), closed captions (CC), and SDH or Subtitles for the deaf or hard-of-hearing. The differences between the three types are in their role and in the way they are displayed. The role of subtitling is to translate spoken dialogue from the source language into written text on a screen in the target language. Subtitles are displayed at the bottom of the screen in white letters with shadowing. The role of closed captions is to transcribe the dialogue into a written text and describe non-visual noises, sound effects, music, and everything else in a scene. They are displayed at the bottom of the screen in white letters on a black band, and they can be turned on and off at will. SDH are a combination of both; their role is to translate and describe non-visual noises, sound effects, music, and everything else in a scene. They are displayed at the bottom of the screen in white letters with shadowing. The topic of this paper is subtitling idioms and wordplay in the American TV series Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It is a police comedy show set in the 99th precinct of the New York City Police Department in Brooklyn, following Detective Jake Peralta and his co-workers attempting to fight crime between their everyday banter. This television series has numerous examples of idioms, all types of wordplay and phraseological units. Unfortunately, a lot of them work only in English, making it a challenge to translate. In addition, each character in this series has a different type of personality, which the translation also needs to portray – Captain Holt is emotionless and always speaks in perfect grammar, Amy is uptight, Jake and Gina are childish, Rosa is scary, and Charles and Terry are mellow. Out of fifteen idioms and wordplay instances, only four had a Croatian translation available on open-subtitles.org, done by amateur subtitlers. However, before the analysis, subtitles, idioms, wordplay and phraseological units are defined and divided into categories. |