Singlish Idiomatic Expressions in Crazy Rich Asian (2018) Movie and Its

Singlish Idiomatic Expressions in Crazy Rich Asian (2018) Movie and Its Indonesian Subtitles

Authors: Puji Audina Lestari, Retno Wulandari Setyaningsih (English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia)
Speakers: Puji Audina Lestari, Retno Wulandari Setyaningsih
Topic: Anthropological Linguistics
The (SCOPUS / ISI) SOAS GLOCAL CALA 2020 General Session

Abstract

This study purposed to classify Singlish idiomatic expressions found in Crazy Rich Asian (2018) movie subtitles and to map and elaborate the subtitle strategies in translating them into Indonesian. The writers classified Singlish idiomatic expressions found based on Duff classification (1989) and applied microstrategies theory proposed by Cintas and Remael (2007) to map the subtitle strategies. This study identified 55 idiomatic expressions that belong to six classifications of Singlish idiomatic expressions in the movie; slang, colloquial, phrasal verb, metaphor, simile, and saying. While the subtitle strategies found are transposition, calque, compensation, explicitation, substitution, and omission. The most frequently used idiomatic expressions found in the data is slang, and the most frequently used subtitle strategy applied is transposition. Singlish slang often appeared in this movie due to the fact that the setting of the story is a certain close-knit social group, super rich Singaporean socialite group whose lingua franca is English but the mother tongue is Mandarin. Therefore, the group tend to use specific terms to communicate among its members. Meanwhile transposition strategy is preferred since it accommodates and provides more comprehensible cultural context for Indonesian viewers so that they can understand the intended meaning of the idiomatic expressions used in the movie.

Keywords: Idiomatic Expressions; Singlish, Subtitles; Subtitle Strategies