Subtitling Strategies in the Case of English-Indonesian Fansub of Youtube Podcast Video Entitled Catching Up: The Boyz | Kpdb Ep. #80

Abstract

In producing subtitles, there are several strategies that can be used by the subtitlers to overcome certain problems encountered in rendering the source language. This study focused on the subtitling strategies used by the fansubber and the readability of the Indonesian subtitles in the selected podcast video. This study used qualitative data that were taken from the utterances of the speakers and the Indonesian subtitles of a YouTube podcast video entitled Catching Up: The Boyz | KPDB Ep. #80, and quantitative data by using a scale questionnaire. Documentation and note-taking technique were used in collecting the data. Subtitling strategies proposed by Gottlieb (1992) and the readability rating instrument by Nababan (2012) were applied. The results show that from 277 data, eight subtitling strategies were applied, they are deletion (74 data), paraphrase (62 data), condensation (51 data), expansion (35 data), transfer 24 (data), imitation and resignation respectively in 15 data, and transcription strategy in one data. The results of the readability assessment show a high overall average score of 2,985 from the maximum score of 3. This study also found several factors that influenced the readability of the subtitles, such as word choices, subtitles duration, inflexible wordings as the result of direct translations, less precise word deletion, line breaks due to character limitations, and cultural differences. Keywords: Subtitling strategies, Readability, Subtitles, Podcast video