Assessment of translation of pragmatic meaning and referents in season-three of political satire show albernameg

Abstract

This research paper assesses the translation of season-three episodes of the political satire show, Albernameg, in terms of the rendition of pragmatic meaning and referents. It also assesses the understanding of 124 extracts by the native Egyptian and English audiences. Following a mixed approach, parallel semi-structured, in-depth, individual interviews were conducted, and surveys were distributed. The interviews aimed at making generalizations and hypotheses, which were validated and tested by the surveys. The research finds that 95% of the pragmatic meaning and referents were either partially mistranslated or untranslatable. It also concludes that the native English audience, who relied on subtitles only, was not able to fully comprehend those two linguistic elements. This study lays the foundation for future research on similar Arab political satire shows that were inspired by Albernameg, since it brings new insights about the Egyptian dialect. Furthermore, its findings can be used by students, professional and practitioner translators as well as subtitlers.