Translating TV Series Titles: A Case Study of Iranian Film Monthly Magazine

: TV series titles have always played an influential role in their marketing as the primary factor that draws potential viewers' attention. Translation of titles is a challenging task that is fulfilled by employing specific translation methods. This study aims to analyze the translation of 50 American TV series titles into Persian by the Film Monthly Magazine. The practical analysis in the thesis is based on Molina and Albir's (2002) model of translation techniques. After reviewing the selected titles from popular American TV series, it was revealed that the most common technique used by Film is the literal translation, adopted in the case of 18 titles and 36% of data. Borrowing with ten titles and 20% of the data holds the second rank. Modulation took the third rank with six titles and 12% of the data. Transposition was used for five titles and 10% of the total data. Next, discursive creation, generalization, established equivalent, and reduction were used equally for two titles comprising 4% of the total data. The least common translation process used by the translators to render the titles was amplification, with only one title translated in this way, which made up 2% of the cases. According to the samples, a combined technique of literal translation and borrowing was used in this research, where two titles were translated. These obtained results will be advantageous to translators, film and TV series distributors, film magazine authors, and closed-captioners.


Introduction
In the 21st century, the television industry is undergoing multifaceted evolutions in its medium.These multifaceted evolutions include changes in narrative, genre, style, and the type of interaction with the audience.Therefore, television programs become one of the main ways of communication between society and cultures.It goes without saying that TV series, like films, are introduced to the audience through the title.A TV series title is a concise statement that provides insight into the theme or plot of the series; consequently, they are the indivisible part of the TV series.Despite the critical role that titles play in communicating with the audience, translators usually put the highest effort into translating the main body of the work.The issue of translating titles has received considerable attention in the last two decades, given that it can transfer the audience some useful information about the film or TV series, such as the genre and content of the work.By way of illustration, looking at American TV series titles, which are commonly reflected as part of the culture of a nation, one can figure out that they can be categorized under the sub-genres such as crime drama, thriller, black comedy, and political drama.Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in the translation of audio-visual titles (Yin, 2009;Lotfollahi & Monizaddeh, 2012;Šidiškytė & Tamulaitienė, 2013;Shokri, 2014;and Surdyk & Urban, 2016).The process of rendering and rewriting a text from the source language (SL) to the target language (TL) is a translation task that translators do.Translators must be careful not to misinterpret the meaning of the target audience.To convey the text meaning with the best quality and the most accurate meaning, the translator must possess sufficient knowledge of both the SL and TL and respective cultures.However, few scholars have addressed the importance of translating audio-visual titles; especially the quality of translating titles from English into Persian is under-researched in Iran.Motamedi (2011) provided reasons for not paying attention to translating film and TV series titles in Iran and distributing them with their English names in this country.He claimed that there could be several reasons for this issue, including the absence of Persian titles of Hollywood films on DVD covers, the untranslatability of some films, and the slowness of the publications and magazines in translating film titles.Recent developments in the field of translation studies, and especially in the translation of titles, have led several Iranian scholars to address this issue.(Saeedi, 2008;Lotfollahi & Moinzadeh, 2012;Shokri, 2014;Bayat, 2016;Sadafiyan, 2020).Although extensive research has been carried out on film title translation, the translation of TV series titles has not received much attention.The study aims to review 50 translated titles of American TV series titles, which are extracted from Film Monthly Magazine.Utilizing Molina and Albir's model (2002), there are 50 titles analyzed to examine the techniques of the translators to find the most common way of translating the titles from English to Persian.

Literature Review
Numerous research studies have been conducted in the subfield of title translation.Most of these studies have mainly focused on film titles and their translation.In this section, the information is divided into two parts: 1) the studies that refer to knowledge of title; and 2) the previous studies that have been examined in the film titles translation.Each study has been mentioned in a chronological manner.Newmark (1988) categorized titles into two groups: descriptive titles and allusive titles.Descriptive titles, as the name implies, describe the topic of the text, and allusive titles have a figurative relation to the topic.Jovanovich (1990, as cited in Saeedi, 2008) assumed that the most important word, phrase, or in some cases, the sentence could be chosen as the title of a book, poem, or film.He divided the titles of literary works (novels, poetry, plays, and films) into two categories; the first category includes titles that allow the reader (or viewer) to form their own opinion even before reading or seeing the work; These titles are words, phrases, end even sentences that have potential and rich meaning in them; some words or phrases create particular semantic connections in the reader's mind based on education, history, tradition, and culture; The function of these titles is to prepare the mind of the reader or viewer psychologically to pursue the work; the second category includes those titles that do not create any connection in the reader's mind, this is where the translator should consider some elements in the translation of the title; For instance, the translator should consider the cultural context and the relationship between the title and the content of the work for translation.Sawyer (1993) stated that titles can serve a variety of functions.A title can clarify the format or genre, introduce the theme or symbol which performs a significant role in understanding the addressed audience, and refer to a particular place or character.Bobadilla -Pérez (2007) defined titles as the most indefinite, changeable, and subjective parts of the whole text.A title is the basic part of a text that guides the reader toward the whole text that he or she is facing; accordingly, a book is judged by the title or its cover.Viezzi (2011) defined titles as names and proper names of cultural products such as books, films, and operas that provide information about these cultural products and give them identity.Besides calling a title the first and most crucial framing element of cultural products.
The authors found that the literal translation was the most commonly used translation procedure for comedy titles into Lithuanian and thriller titles into Lithuanian and Russian, and it was the procedure with the highest frequency of use.In an academic article, Sun, Gao, and Tan (2020) discussed the principles and techniques of translating English film titles.They followed the same approach in their research paper as Shi and Bai.They have discussed more about the features and required principles to translate the film title.They considered an audience-oriented approach to be essential for doing translation tasks.The translation techniques of their article consist of free translation, literal translation, and transliteration, but they also proposed a new solution called the combination of free and literal translation.They believed that the literal translation of some film titles misleads the audience in understanding the plot, and sometimes the film title does not have artistic or aesthetic value using the free translation technique.Therefore, it is necessary to combine free and literal translation.By this combined technique, the audience would get the title's literal meaning and its deep meaning.
The researchers who did studies in this field were Lotfollahi and Monizadeh (2012), who reviewed the titles of 60 Hollywood movies from English to Persian.Shokri (2014) reviewed the titles of 64 Persian films translated into English.Both pieces of research used Vinay and Darbelnet's (1995) translation model and concluded that literal translation is the most common method used by translators to translate titles.In the newer research, Bayat (2016) wrote a thesis about translating film titles in IRIB (the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) and the private sector.Using the combination of Vinay and Darbelnet's (1995), and Diaz Cintas and Ramael's (2007) strategies, she has sought to find a meaningful relationship between the strategies of the IRIB and the private sector in the translation of the title.She also used the chi-square test to find the effect of genre choice on the type of translation.After analyzing and reviewing 1000 films, she concluded that most IRIB foreign films were followed by free translation, while the private sector was primarily followed by literal translation and transliteration.She believed that the private sector would obey the IRIB's procedures for translating the film title.The research question of this study can be stated as follows:

Methodology
The present study is qualitative research using a descriptive and analytical approach.For the purposes of this study, Molina and Albir's model ( 2002) is adopted as the theoretical framework.A case of 50 American TV series title which have been translated into Persian was selected from one of the most credible film magazine in Iran.

Corpus of the study
As a case study, the study uses issues of the Film Monthly Magazine published ten years ago to extract Persian translations of American TV series titles.This Iranian oldest and most credible magazine (from issue 424 and after that) has been paying much attention to American series and television in the last ten years.Mehrabi et al. (1982) were the founder of the magazine.Due to ideological differences between Mehrabi's son (Pooya Mehrabi) and the editors, after the death of Mehrabi, Golmakani and Yari (2021) published another monthly magazine called Film Emrooz.Nowadays, two monthly magazines with the title of Film are published; one is Film itself and the other is Film Emrooz.This study examined issues 424th to 581st of the Film.
The corpus contains 50 American TV series titles with Persian translations used in the Film from all genres.These 50 titles are selected from the famous shows of the Golden Age of Television (the 1990s-2000s), the Post-network era (2000s-2010s), and the Streaming wars (2019-present) periods.These 50 TV series in the mentioned study are top-rated among Iranian cinema and television critics and filmmakers.

Data Collection
The following steps determined the delivery and the sequence of the study: Foremost, this research started by reviewing issues 424th to 581st of the Film to find the Persian translation of the titles of American TV series from the 1990s to 2020.The complete archive of the Film is available in the journal section of the Information Center and Central Library of the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.In the next step, the corresponding original title of each American TV series was found and extracted from the Film with the help of some websites such as IMDB.com and TVtime.com.In the third step, an MS Word document with the original title and Persian translation of the selected American TV series was created.In the fourth step, several American TV series titles were removed due to the lack of accessible links to download, watch, and the lack of basic information about the story, content, or online review.

Data Analysis
After collecting the data, the original names of the TV series titles and their Persian translations were classified as separate tables.The table consists of three columns; the first column contains the English title of the series, the second column contains the Persian translation, and the third column contains the magazine issue used to extract the Persian translation of the title.Each table includes the phonology of the title in the second column.For some titles, back translation is also mentioned.The translations were then analyzed and checked with Molina and Albir's (2002) translation techniques.The obtained results were entered into Maxqda software and extracted as a graph.The graph showed the most and least frequent translation techniques in analyzing the Persian translation of American TV series titles.

Theoretical Framework
The selected theoretical framework for this study is Molina and Albir's (2002) translation techniques, which have not used before by researchers in translating titles and headings.They defined translation techniques as procedures to analyze and classify how translation equivalence maintains.Their translation techniques have five essential characteristics: • They affect the translation result; • They are used by comparison with the original; • They affect the micro-unit of text; • They are discursive and contextual; • They are primarily functional.
Molina and Albir's (2002) classification of translation techniques are followed by some criteria.They tried to isolate technique from other notions such as translation strategy, method, and error.They also maintained the notion that translation techniques are functional.Their explanations did not evaluate whether a technique was appropriate or not.It always depends on its situation in text and context and the translation method that has been chosen: The following eighteen translation techniques are included in this research project: • Adaptation: Replacement of an ST cultural element with one from the target culture; When the translator encounters cultural elements in the source text that do not exist in the target language, he or she uses adaptation to translate them.However, the translators need to do this translation very cleverly and creatively so that their translation would maintain the meaning of the text.

Results
The Persian translation of each title was compared and examined with its original English title to find out which approach of Molina and Albir's (2002) model is the most used by the Film Monthly Magazine.Amplification is a technique for introducing details that are not formulated in the source language.
The main role of amplification is to add information, and based on the relation of this term with similar translation instruments, like addition, paraphrase, explication, description, and notes, it can be implied that amplification has some functions.The functions are 1. to make implicit information explicit both lexically and grammatically, including to avoid ambiguity; 2. to clarify an elliptic expression, including to bridge grammatical gaps; 3. to define cultural words or expressions.
All of them have one single objective: to give information to the readers of the target language text as much as what is comprehended by the readers of the source language text.Among these 50 titles, only one was translated with the amplification approach, which accounts for two percent of the total data.Borrowing is a procedure for transferring words that the translator does not intend to translate and only transfers those words from the source language to the target language, which can have various reasons; for example, a word mentioned in the source language does not exist in the target language.
The other reason is that the translator uses this method to render the culture of the source language to the target language text.Another reason is that a word in the source language is even more familiar to the target language reader, so the translator prefers not to translate that word and put it directly into the target language.The results of this study indicate that ten of the 50 selected titles have been translated from English to Persian using borrowing, which accounts for approximately 20% of the total data.Discursive creation is a technique for establishing a temporary equivalence that is totally unpredictable out of context.Discursive creation is used when the translator does not find the SL title attractive to the TT audience; Therefore, the translator creates a new word suitable for the story and theme of the series or movie for the target language.This technique is commonly used to translate books, films, novels, and TV series titles.Among the 50 titles studied in this study, only two were translated into Persian regarding discursive creation.Established Equivalence is a technique for using a term or expression recognized (by dictionaries or language in use) as an equivalent in the TL.For instance, Fringe is a branch of science that departs from established scientific theories.It includes pseudoscience topics such as mind control, psychokinesis, teleportation, and dark matter.So the Film has chosen ‫حاشیه‬ as the Persian equivalent of the original title.
In this case, two titles of American TV series were translated from English to Persian using the established equivalence technique, which can be seen in the table above.These two titles make up about 4% of the total data.Sometimes translators use a combination of literal translation and borrowing techniques to translate book, movie, and TV series titles.They transfer one linguistic element literally and the other intact into the target language.This combination technique is not originally in Molina and Albir's (2002) translation model.However, according to the cases, the two titles of the American TV series have been translated by the Film in a mixed way.In modulation, the translator intends to change the point of view of the text or the words while conveying the same meaning to the reader of the target language.Moreover, there is a direct relationship between genre and title translation.In the case of the Person of Interest title translation, the Film was unaware of the genre of the series, and it translated the title into the favorite person ‫عالقه‬ ‫مورد‬ ‫.شخص‬ Favorite Person title is suited to a romance story rather than an action or crime story.The results of this study indicate that six of the 50 selected titles have been translated from English to Persian using modulation, which accounts for approximately 12% of the total data.As shown in Figure 4.1, literal translation was the favourite strategy of the Film magazine with 36%.The complete order of the most to the least translation techniques used in the Persian translation of American series titles is as follows: literal translation (36%) > borrowing (20%) > modulation (12%) > transposition (10%) > discursive creation (4%) > reduction, literal translation and borrowing, established equivalent, and generalization (4%) > amplification (2%).

Discussion
The current research has investigated the challenges of Persian translating American TV series titles.This research pays special attention to the Film magazine; because this magazine has played an essential role in the field of movie and series title translation over several decades in Iran.Among the eighteen translation techniques proposed by Molina and Albir (2002), ten techniques were found in the Persian-translated titles in the Film Monthly Magazine.The obtained results that literal translation has the most frequency in the translation of American TV series titles by the magazine.The obtained results corresponded to Lotfollah and Monizadeh (2012), Shokri (2014), and Bayat (2016) studies.According to Shi (2014), some titles of films and TV series refer to the names of places and settings.Shokri (2014), in his research, believed that the borrowing technique is an appropriate way to translate the proper movie names, such as the names of places.The obtained data of this thesis also shows that the Film has used borrowing techniques to translate the proper names, such as places or the names of the TV series characters.For instance, the translators in the mentioned magazine transliterated the titles of Ozark (Netflix) and Twin Peaks (ABC) into the target language ‫اوزارک‬ ‫و‬ ‫پیکس‬ ‫تویین‬ . According to the case of Sidkyte and Tamulaitiene (2013), as well as other Iranian researchers, literal translation or word-for-word translation is the most widespread method of translation to translate titles for movies and TV shows.For instance, ‫مستاصل‬ ‫کدبانوهای‬ is translated literally as Desperate Housewives (ABC), each word is translated; ‫کدبانوها‬ is translated as housewives and ‫مستاصل‬ is the equivalence of Desperate.Sometimes translators use a combined strategy of literal translation and borrowing to translate the titles.For instance, both translators groups translated The Boardwalk Empire (HBO) as ‫بردواک‬ ‫امپراطوری‬ in the target language.
The Film sometimes uses transposition and discursive creation in this research.In the transposition technique, the grammatical category is changed in the translation process.For instance, the translators in the Film have translated Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (CW) as ‫خون‬ ‫قاتل‬ ‫بافی:‬ ‫آشام‬ ‫ها‬ in the target language; They changed the singular word (vampire) into plural one (vampires = ‫خون‬ ‫آشام‬ ‫ها‬ ) in the process of translating the title.Discursive creation is a widely used translation technique in translating book, movie, and TV series titles.Another opinion is that discursive creation refers to equivalents that would only work in that specific situation (Cortes, 2016).In other words, discursive creation is only used in specific and cultural situations.Maybe the ST can not be translated literally in one culture, so the translator used discursive creation to interest the audience in the film or novel.For example, the Film has used the equivalent of ‫گور‬ ‫در‬ ‫خفته‬ in the translation of the title Six Feet Under (HBO).None of the words in these phrases is in the original title, but due to its reference to the plot and profession of the characters, this Persian title was chosen for it.
Moreover, translators have used reductions in translating movie and TV series titles.In reduction techniques, the translator would remove some linguistic elements of the word in the translation process.For instance, the Film has translated Big Bang Theory as ‫بزرگ‬ ‫انفجار‬ in the target language; the editorial team has removed theory ( ‫)نظریه‬ in the process of translation.According to Ailan (2016), films or TV series titles often use rhetorical methods, such as metaphor, hyperbole, oxymoron, alliteration, rhyme, repetition, personification, contrast, and so forth.In this study, the Homeland title has followed the literary device iham or amphiboly.Based on the plot of the series, Homeland is referred to the United States Department of Homeland Security, where the main character has received the mission and the story's events take place.However, by literal definition, Homeland is a person or a people's native land.In both Persian translations of the Homeland title, the modulation happened because the point of view of the source language context is changed into the target language.

Conclusion
In a nutshell, this research indicates that literal translation is the most common way to translate TV series titles.Due to the great importance of film and TV series titles, this study shows different ways of translating the titles of popular American TV series.The results showed that according to the data of this article, 36% of the titles had been translated into Persian using the literal translation technique, despite English and Persian having rather distinctive systems of sounds and meanings.Most experts believe that this translation technique is mainly used for languages that are related and close to each other.Title translation is one of the most challenging topics in the field of translation.The title of a movie or series has always played a vital role in its reception, as the first factor that draws the attention of potential audiences is the title.So far, documents have not been found to identify the starting point of the title translation of dramatic works in Iran.There has been no finding about some titles, such as Sound of Music (1965), which were interpreted as ‫اشک‬ ‫لبخنده‬ ‫و‬ ‫ها‬ (Tears and Smiles) before the revolution of Iran.Fortunately, artistic and cultural magazines, including the Film monthly magazine, effectively translated foreign film titles and TV series into Persian.With its considerable age, the Film is considered one of the most critical Iranian cinematographic magazines and has provided meaningful translations in the field of titles over the years; however, there are some weaknesses in the translation of popular American TV series titles by the Film; weaknesses in the Persian translation of American TV series titles such as the Wire ‫سیم‬ and Arrested Development ‫بازداشت‬

‫شده‬
in issue 442 of the magazine as mentioned earlier, which led to the proposal to write this research.This research has tried to provide the readers with a comprehensive picture of the title translations of AVT products (especially series) by mentioning the Persian-translated titles in the Film magazine.In Fact, each researcher can add different insights to the topic of title translation since it is such a broad subject.

Implications of the Study
The findings of the current study can be employed by translators, film and TV series distributors, writers of cinema magazines and closed-captioners.This research examined the Persian translation of American TV series titles used by Film magazine with Molina and Albir's (2002) translation techniques.Hence, the findings are not limited to just one-sided results.These findings may be practical for cinema magazines such as the Film and Film Emrooz to use the Persian equivalents found in this research for popular American TV series in future issues.

Suggestions for Further Research
A title of an artwork plays a vital role in establishing communication with the recipients; despite the importance of titles, the field of title translation was in shadow for many years, and the translation scholars focused mainly on the translation of texts.Concerning the present study's findings, some recommendations can be offered for future research.It is recommended to conduct similar research studies, measuring the functionality

Q1.
Based on Molina and Albir's (2002) translation techniques, what techniques are used more frequently by the Film in the Persian translation of American TV series titles?
Example: The ABC Murders = ‫قتل‬ ‫الفبایی‬ ‫های‬ = Alphabetical Murders • Amplification: Introduction of details not formulated in the ST: information, explanations, or paraphrasing.Example: Fredy, the Ant = ‫سیاه‬ ‫مورچه‬ ‫فردی،‬ • Borrowing: Taking a word or expression directly from another language.There can be no change in it.Mostly, TV series which are proper names of people or places are treated in this category.Examples: John Doe = ‫جان‬ ‫;دو‬ Wayward Pines = ‫پاینز‬ ‫ویوارد‬ • Calque: Literal translation of a foreign word or phrase; it can be lexical or structural.Examples: Die Hard = ‫سخت‬ ‫جان‬ ; Brave Heart = ‫دل‬ ‫شجاع‬ • Compensation: The introduction of an ST element of information or stylistic effect in a different place in the TT because the ST cannot reflect it there.Example = changing the place of adverbs in the TT for more effect • Description: Replacement of a term or expression with a description of its form or/and function.Example: CSI = ‫جرم‬ ‫صحنه‬ ‫تحقیقات‬ = Crime Scene Investigation • Discursive Creation: Establishment of a temporary equivalence that is totally unpredictable out of context.In other words, discursive creation is only used in specific and cultural situations.Maybe in one culture, the ST can not be translated literally, so the translator used discursive creation to attract the audience in the film or TV series Examples: Early Edition = = ‫آینده‬ ‫برابر‬ ‫در‬ Against the Future; Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman = ‫پزشک‬ ‫=دهکده‬ The Village Doctor • Established Equivalence: Using a term or expression recognized (by dictionaries or language in use) as an equivalent in the TL.Examples: Fringe = ‫حاشیه‬ ; Beauty and the Beast = ‫دلبر‬ ‫و‬ ‫دیو‬ • Generalization: Using a more general or neutral term.Example: Scrubs = ‫دکترها‬ = Doctors • Linguistic Amplification: Adding linguistic elements; This is often used in consecutive interpreting and dubbing.Example: No Escape = ‫نیست‬ ‫فراری‬ ‫راه‬ ‫هیچ‬ = There is no escape • Linguistic Compression: Synthesizing linguistic elements in the TT.This is often used in simultaneous interpreting and subtitling.Example: Yes, so what?(English) ⇒ ¿Y? (Spanish) • Literal Translation: Word-for-word translation of terms or expressions.Examples: Malcolm in the Middle = ‫میانه‬ ‫در‬ ‫;مالکوم‬ Little Fires Eveywhere = ‫آتش‬ ‫جا‬ ‫همه‬ ‫در‬ ‫کوچک‬ ‫های‬ Note: Sometimes translators use a combination of literal translation and borrowing techniques in the translation of book, movie and TV series titles.They transfer one linguistic element literally and the other intact into the target language.Example: Mr. Robot = ‫روبات‬ ‫آقای‬ • Modulation: Changing the point of view, focus, or cognitive category in relation to the ST; it can be lexical or structural, using a phrase that is different in the source and target languages to convey the same concept to the TT readers.Example: Orange is the New Black = ‫است‬ ‫جدید‬ ‫مد‬ ‫نارنجی‬ = Orange is the New Fashion • Particularization: Using a more precise or concrete term.Example: Kickers = ‫فوتبالیست‬ ‫ها‬ = Footballers • Reduction: Reducing an ST information item in the TT.Example: The Big Bang Theory = ‫بزرگ‬ ‫انفجار‬ = Big Bang • Substitution: Changing linguistic elements for paralinguistic elements (intonation, gestures) or vice versa.Example: waving your hand to say goodbye or putting your hand on your heart as Thank you • Transposition: Changing a grammatical category.Example: Truth Be Told = ‫حقیقت‬ ‫افشای‬ = Revealing the Truth • Variation: Changing elements of the language (intonation, gestures) that affect aspects of linguistic variation: changing the tone, style, social dialect, geographical dialect, etc. Example: Better Watch Out = ‫حواستو‬ ‫بهتره‬ ‫کنی‬ ‫جمع‬

Table 1 .
Examples of Amplification in the Translation of American TV Series Titles

Table 2 .
Examples of Borrowing in the Translation of American TV Series Titles

Table 3 .
Examples of Disrusive Creation in the Translation of American TV Series Titles

Table 4 .
Examples of Established Equivalence in the Translation of American TV Series Titles

Table 5 .
Examples of Generalization in the Translation of American TV Series Titles

Table 7 .
Examples of Literal Translaton and Borrowing in the Translation of American TV Series Titles

Table 8 .
Examples of Modulation in the Translation of American TV Series Titles

Table 9 .
Examples of Transposition in the Translation of American TV Series Titles