A Corpus-based Study on the Effectiveness of Subtitling from English into Sinhalese: With Special Reference to the Film ‘PurahandaKaluwara’ directed by PrasannaVithanage

ABSTRACT:-Subtitles which provide a clear understanding for the foreign audience play a major role in thefield of translation. The effectiveness of subtitles is controversial. The purpose of this study is to discuss theeffectiveness of subtitles referring to the well-known movie “PurahandaKaluwara” directed byPrasannaVithanage and its English subtitles. In this regard, the aforementioned movie and its English subtitleswere comparatively analyzed by using the content analysis method. In conclusion of this study, it wasinvestigated that the subtitles included in the movie „PurahandaKaluwara‟ are effective for the foreign users tohave a clear understanding about the movie. The translator has faced difficulties to create subtitles for thismovie because of linguistic, cultural, and technical barriers. The subtitle translator has used different strategiessuch as paraphrasing, cultural substitutes, adaptation, and equivalence. The translator has taken a great attemptto provide effective subtitles for this movie. However, in certain aspects the translator has not been abletoovercome certain issues because of the cultural limitations and technical limitations. This research proposedthat these facts should be considered to make appropriate editing to the subtitles of the movie„PurahandaKaluwara‟ in the future.

Keywords:Effectiveness, Movie, Subtitle,Translation Methods