Conference for the 60th Anniversary of MTA 1955-2015

Translation's horizons: back to the future

You better werk. Camp representations of

Rupauls Drag Race in Spanish
Subtitles
Ivn Villanueva Jordn
Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas

FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH CAMP IN TRANSLATION

Ethnographic work with Peruvian drag queens (Lima, 2013) on gender discourses,
performance and performativity.
Research Informant/gatekeeper changed her professional name several times in a
6-month period.
Tyra Fox (professional/artistic name)
Tyra Refox (first change of name)
Tyra Extravaganza Refox (second change of name: longer)
(Extravagnaza. Noun used by American drag queens.)
(Longer names according to American drag conventions.)

Tyra and other fellow drag queens gathered periodically to watch RuPauls Drag
Race (on-line streaming, fansubbed episodes)
Influence of subtitled episodes in the use of language: Peruvian drag queens
adopted and adapted the language they could hear and read to their colloquial
interactions and the ways they (re)presented themselves.

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WHO IS RUPAUL?

WHAT IS RUPAULS DRAG RACE?

Reality television show (U.S.A.)
Drag queen competition
Seven seasons (2009 2015...)
Academic impact

Essays published in different journals (Gender,

Media, Cultural Studies)
First book of essays, The Makeup of RuPauls
Drag Race (Daems, 2014)
Usual discussions: Postmodern identities, camp
and kitsch
aesthetics,
gender/transgender
studies, cultural representations, new normal,
etcetera.

Availability
U. S. A.
Peru & LatAm.
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LOGO
NETFLIX -> professional subtitles
On-line -> non-prof. subtitles
3

RPDRA | Season 6 | Episode 1 | An example of camp talk

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GAYSPEAK

(Starting in the 1940s, the way sexual minorities use language has been of interest to different
disciplines [linguistics, anthropology, psychology, sociology, literary theory, etc.])
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GAYSPEAK & CAMP TALK

Gay. Sexual identity

Camp. Aesthetics related to gay identity

+General

+Specific

Related to the way gay subjects speak

considering the following variables:

Related to strategic speech used by gay

subjects in particular situations based on a
shared cultural background.

Lexicon
Semantics
Intonation
Syntax
(and other language categories related to
descriptive linguistics)

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Pragmatics
Semiotics
Politics
Poetics
Discourse
Categories used for sociolinguistic studies
and critical discourse analysis
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GENDER, CAMP AND TRANSLATION

A quick review of advances on this matter

Translation Studies and Gender Studies (1980 2000s)

Influences: Feminism (second wave) and neofeminisms, visibilization efforts
Issues: Overgeneralization or biased understanding of gender as woman
Translation and queer
Queering Translation (Conference in Vienna, 2015), Spurlin (2014)
Children literature and manipulation (Villanueva, 2011), Mazzei (2007)

Work from the social sciences about the translation of queer (semantics and language
transfer)

Translation and identities

Harvey
(2000a; 2000b; 2000c; 2002; 2003; 2014)
Camp, Camp talk, identity and community makeup through
translation, American gay literature (1970) translated into French

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Ranzato

(2014) Gayspeak, camp talk, dubbing, English-Italian

TRALIMA

Research group, Basque Country

The representation of woman/women in audiovisual translated products

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ANALYZING CAMP REPRESENTATIONS IN RPDR

Methodology used to analyze the Spanish subtitles of RPDR

Descriptive study based on a contrastive / comparative corpus
Textual universe
(Luna, 2002)

2 episodes from season 6 (propositive sampling)

Complete dialogue lists in English and Spanish (professional
subtitles and non-professional subtitles)

General corpus

All camp segments form the English dialogue list

Classification according to different categories of camp talk

Specific corpus

Representative sampling of camp segments in English and

Spanish versions (TT1: professional, and TT2, non-professional)

Identification of translation shifts between ST and TT1, and ST and TT2

Contrast of translational variations between TT1 and TT2

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GENERAL CORPUS CLASSIFICATION CHART

(Harvey 2000a adapted by Villanueva)
ESTRATEGIA

DESCRIPCIN
Mezcla de campos o dialectos en un enunciado.
Paradoja
Coocurrencia de referencias explcitas e implcitas s obre temas que se
Explicitacin e implicitacin
Uso contradictorio de valores y
discutan.
Uso de referencias culturales elitistas para hablar de experiencias
significados
Alta c ultura vs c ultura popular
cotidianas.
Sustantivos propios c on marcas de Uso de sustantivo propios con marcas de gnero opuestas a las del
gnero
sujeto nombrado.
Concordancia de categoras gramaticales v inculadas c on los s ustativos
Marcadores de gnero
Inversin, irona o sarcasmo
de referencia: sustantivos y adjetivos, determinantes y s ustantivos,
gramaticales
Relacin inversa (inesperada) de
pronombres y s ustantivos.
Usos idiolectales de la lengua que se oponen a patrones como frases
signos
Rutinas retricas inesperadas
hechas
Sistema de valores establecido
Enunciados que se oponen a un sistema de v alores compartido
Usos de cortesa
Falsa empata o solidaridad ambivalente
Humor lingstico
Actitud ldica relacionada con la
forma y el significado de la lengua
Sobrenombres o calificativos que s e basan en caractersticas del s ujeto
Conciencia lingstica
Denominacin motivada
u objeto nombrado; tienen una carga teatral e irnica elevada.
elevada
Juegos de palabras
Juegos de palabras basados en su forma o significados.
Referencias sexuales v eladas por usos de la lengua o enunciados sin
Fuerza pragmtica
Dobles sentidos
implicancias s exuales usuales.
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EVIDENCIA LINGUSTICA
Incongruencia en el registro

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GENERAL CORPUS CLASSIFICATION CHART

(Harvey 2000a adapted by Villanueva)
ESTRATEGIA
Parodia
Citacin de enunciados con fines
transgresores
Maneras aristocrticas

EVIDENCIA
LINGUSTICA

Uso del francs

Insinuacin
Hiprbole

Feminidad por

Exclamacin
Vocativos

DESCRIPCIN

Uso del francs con el fin de lograr el efecto de refinamiento.

Se plantea que uno de los interlocutores es femenino o demasiado
femenino mediante el uso de un sustantivo no relacionado
Se plantea que un sujeto tiene acciones o realiza actos femeninos
mediante referentes hiperblicos
Teatracalidad de las expresiones, alzar la voz
Formas de referirse al interlocutor como si se tratara de un
camarada del cotilleo

Saber comunitario
Uso de palabras y referencias
culturales que demuestran
pertenencia a la comunidad.
Unidad semitica

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Lxica
Extralingstica

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Se utilizan palabras del sociolecto camp en un enunciado.

Se hace referencia a un elementos culturales de la identidad gay.

Classification and contrast

#

Source Text

Target text 1 (professional)

Target text 2 (non-professional)

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Gia is a fishy girl. She is C.C.C.

Crazy, coo coo, cunt.

Gia tiene pinta de pescado. Es CCC. C uchi Caliente

Cucu.

Gia es una chica caliente. Ella es

C.C.C. Crazy, Cuckoo, Cunt.

17

She was really living for herself,

girl.

Estaba sobreviviendo!

Ella realmente vive para s misma,

chica.

19

Come on season six.

Lets get six-y.

Sexta temporada, pongmonos sexty!

Vamos temporada 6, seamos

feroces.

S, zorra, trabaja.
Tienen correo de RuPaul.

S, perra, W ORK!
SHEMAIL!

20 Yes, bitch, work.

78 You got shemail.

We keep interrupt this kiki to

bring you a special bulletin. [] Las interrumpimos para darles un boletn especial. []
So, dont adjust your sets
As que no ajusten sus televisores porque este
79
because this extravaganza is been espectculo es transmitido en S.A.D. Sombra de Alta
broadcast in H.D.S. Thats High Definicin.
Definition Shade. []

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Interrumpimos este KIKI, para

darles un boletn especial. [] As
que no ajuste sus sets, porque
extravaganza est siendo
transmitida en H.D.S. eso es HIGH
DEFINITION SHADE.

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Classification and contrast

#

Source Text

Target text 1 (professional) T2(non-professional)

120

Condragulations,
Laganja.

Felicitaciones, Laganja.

Shifts
Condragulaciones, Laganja
Parte superior de la pantalla
entre corchetes [America tiene
Carisma, Singularidad, Osada
y Talento]

Welcome to the main

stage of Americas got
Bienvenidos al escenario de: Amrica tiene carisma,
250 Charisma, Uniqueness,
originalidad, coraje y talento.
Bienvenidos al escenario
Nerve and Talent.
principal de Americas Got
[C.U.N.T.]
Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve
& Talent.
Mis piernas estn bronceadas
My legs are bronzed and
y curtidas por los dioses,
Mis piernas estn bronceadas para los dioses,
271 tanned for the gods.
hacindole honor a la veracidad de Kim K.
sirviendo Kim K Realness.
Serving Kim K. realness.

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GENERAL FINDINGS
RPDR professional subtitles and non-professional subtitles differ in various ways.
[Netflix] Professional subtitles usually miss the point of camp statements.
Semiotic and pragmatic elements are lost in translation
(maybe because they were never found).
These subtitles also try to recreate humor cues through the generalization
of some cultural/community-specific referents. However, most of the time,
these new signs are not related or relevant for the scenes or even for RPDR
general content.
[Funsubs] Non-professional subtitles of RPDR vary in quality
Not all dialogues are translated (possibly related to linguistic competences)
As different subtitles of the same episodes coexist: subtitling protocols
cannot be identified
There is some tendency to borrow words (gay/drag lexicon)
Literal translations are regular in the case of semiotic/pragmatic or other l
linguistic constraints

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FINAL COMMENTS
On the function of subtitles
Subtitles are more accessible for non-professionals (fans, specialists, activists)
Subtitles can be define not only from a technical perspective (constraints)
They can be regarded as an expression of agency:
Representations of what they understand and want other to understand
as well.
Subtitles have started to play a role in the social construction of identities:
Self-representation, symbolic play
Affective communities (practice communities, as in this study)
Political activism
Social activism
(Prez-Gonzales, 2014; Ho, 2009; Daz-Cintas, 2015)
On the translation of camp
Drag queen used to be translated as travesti or transformista (Spanish)
Camp is present in the media more than ever (2000 till now)
A diachronic study of the translation of camp into Spanish may be needed to
see how language has changed.
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13

Thank you.
Special thanks to Lourdes Quiroz.

Ivn Villanueva Jordn

Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
ivan.villanueva@upc.edu.pe