A (im)possibilidade de traduzir a formalidade coreana em Parasita

Abstract

This study analyzes the translational difficulties involved in rendering the korean honorific speech system in the subtitles of the film Parasite (2019), through the examination of key scenes in korean, english, and portuguese. The study demonstrates how nuances of linguistic formality impact the audience’s understanding of social hierarchies and power relations among characters, and how such subtleties are frequently diminished or lost in the english and portuguese subtitles. Through comparative analysis and theoretical grounding, the research proposes alternative translations that more accurately convey the original pragmatic and sociolinguistic effects. It concludes that, despite the inherent challenges, it is possible to achieve greater fidelity to the source text’s social nuances through careful attention to speech levels and cultural context