Abstract In this paper we present the results of the first empirical reception study on the comparative strength of swearwords in two audiovisual translation (AVT) modes. We test the assumption/hypothesis that swearwords are perceived as stronger in writing (i.e. subtitles) than in spoken language (i.e. dubbing), which has led to the long-held translation practice of toning down or deleting swearwords more in subtitles than in dubbing. By means of an online survey, participants were asked to a) rate the psychological distance between the connotative meanings of swearwords embedded in ten film clips on a four-point strength scale, and b) comment on their ratings in open-ended text boxes. The results of various types of quantitative analysis show that our participants do not rate swearwords in subtitles higher than in dubbed clips. The qualitative analysis identified contextual factors (genre/director of film, participating characters and their relationship, setting and linguistic context) as well as viewer characteristics (gender, swearing habits and reactions to swearing) as main determinants of swearword strength. The convention of toning down or deleting swearwords more in subtitles than in dubbed audiovisual products thus seems to be based on an invalid assumption and ought to be abandoned altogether.

中文翻译：

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字幕电影和配音电影中的Swearword实力：一项接待研究

摘要本文介绍了关于两种视听翻译（AVT）模式中脏话的比较强度的第一个实证研究结果。我们测试了这样的假设/假设，即脏话在写作（即字幕）方面比在口语（即配音）方面更强，这导致长期以来一直存在翻译习惯，即在字幕中比在配音中减少或删除脏话。通过在线调查，要求参与者a）在四点强度量表上评估嵌入在十个影片剪辑中的脏话的内涵之间的心理距离，以及b）在开放式文本框中评论其等级。各种定量分析的结果表明，我们的参与者对字幕中的脏话的评价不高于配音片段。定性分析确定了环境因素（电影的类型/导演，参与角色及其关系，背景和语言环境）以及观看者特征（性别，咒骂习惯和对咒骂的反应）是咒骂强度的主要决定因素。因此，在字幕中淡化或删除脏话的约定比在配音产品中少得多，这似乎是基于无效的假设，应该完全放弃。