Language Literacy: Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Language Teaching
Vol 9, No 2: December 2025 (In Progress)

IMPACT OF TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES ON CHARACTERIZATION AND SUBTITLE QUALITY IN THE GOOD DOCTOR (2017)

Amanda, Putri (Unknown)
Dewi, Ida Kusuma (Unknown)
Sawardi, F. X. (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
06 Dec 2025

Abstract

This qualitative study examines a key challenge in Audiovisual Translation (AVT): balancing technical constraints with the stylistic fidelity required to represent characters with distinctive communicative traits, focusing on Dr. Shaun Murphy, a character with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in The Good Doctor (2017). The study analyzes English source dialogues and their Indonesian subtitles across seasons 1–4, employing a descriptive qualitative method with a stylistic approach. The analysis identifies the types and functions of repetition, the translation techniques used, and subtitle quality based on accuracy, acceptability, and readability. Expert focus group discussions were conducted to validate the findings. Results show that deletion, reduction, and discursive creation frequently remove repetitions, reducing emotional nuance and weakening ASD-related speech features, thus diminishing character distinctiveness. Conversely, preserving repetitions maintains character integrity and enhances subtitle quality. Theoretically, this study contributes to AVT by highlighting the importance of stylistic fidelity in translating neurodivergent discourse and recognizing repetition as a marker of character identity. Practically, the findings underscore the need for preservation-oriented techniques to prevent character erasure and to support authentic representation of ASD characters.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

languageliteracy

Publisher

Subject

Humanities Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Social Sciences

Description

Language Literacy: Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Language Teaching is a double blind peer reviewed international journal biannually published by the Faculty of Literature, Islamic University of North Sumatra, Medan, Indonesia. Publication is issued in June and December. Authors are ...