The Comparative Study of the Strategies of Language Usage in Naming Bollywood Movies
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Abstract
Objectives:Indian movies that are currently entering Thailand are predominantly distributed through online streaming platforms. On these applications, movie posters prominently display the titles of the movies. The role of movie posters is critical in film promotion, as the titles significantly capture the attention of potential viewers. Indian movies, in particular, often feature two titles: the original title in Hindi and a newly created title in Thai. These newly crafted Thai titles employ intriguing strategies in translation and language use. This research aimed to analyse the strategies employed in naming Bollywood movies, examine the methods used to translate Bollywood movies titles into Thai, and explore the linguistic approaches applied in crafting Thai titles for Bollywood movies. Furthermore, the study compared the semantic relationships between the Thai titles created for these movies and their translated equivalents from the original Hindi titles.
Methods: The data involved in this research are derived from the Bollywood movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video applications available from January 1st 2021, to January 1st 2022. The researcher used a purposive sampling system to collect a total of 374 titles, 191 titles from the Netflix application and 183 titles from the Amazon Prime Video application.
Results: The Bollywood movies are mostly named after the leading actors/actresses, the contents of stories, the objects and the places in the stories respectively. Regarding the strategies of Bollywood movies translation into Thai language in both applications, it was found that the most frequent strategies used in Amazon Prime Video are transliteration, giving the new titles and translation. In the Netflix application, the most frequent strategies used are giving the new titles, transliteration, and translation. The results regarding the usage of Thai language in this work showed that the usage of the transliteration has mostly been found, followed by the usage of rhymes. From the comparison study of the meaning related to titles, it was found that in Amazon Prime Video, the most frequently used strategy was the same meanings of titles by using a transliteration method. This was instead of translating into Thai, the different meanings of titles, the related meanings of titles, the same meanings of titles by using the translation, and the similar meanings of titles, respectively. In the Netflix application, the most frequently used strategies were the different meanings of titles, the related meanings of titles, and the same meanings of titles by using a transliteration method. This was preferred to translating into Thai, the same meanings of titles by translation and the similar meanings of titles, respectively.
Application of this study: The knowledge acquired from this research can be used as a guideline in translating Hindi into Thai, as well as the translation industry or other mass media involved with translation and intercultural communication.
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References
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Sawangsri, P., & Sawangsri, S. (2024a). Chart 1 Shows the Bollywood Movies Are Named by Consideration About the Leading Actor/Actress.
Sawangsri, P., & Sawangsri, S. (2024b). Chart 2 Shows the Bollywood Movies Are Named by the Contents of Story.
Sawangsri, P., & Sawangsri, S. (2024c). Chart 3 Shows the Bollywood Movies Are Named by the Matters and Places of Story.
Sawangsri, P., & Sawangsri, S. (2024d). Chart 4 Shows the Strategies of Bollywood Movies Translation Into Thai Language.
Sawangsri, P., & Sawangsri, S. (2024e). Chart 5 Shows the Usage of Thai Language in Naming Bollywood Movies.
Sawangsri, P., & Sawangsri, S. (2024f). Chart 6 Shows the Comparison Study of the Meaning Related to Titles.
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