SWEARING AS AN ELEMENT OF NATIONAL CHARACTER: TRANSLATING UKRAINIAN PROFANITY IN KOREAN SUBTITLES

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the problem of adapting Ukrainian obscene language in film translation into Korean, specifically through the process of subtitling. Since profanity is an essential element of national identity, its representation in cinematic translation faces challenges related to cultural and linguistic differences between Ukrainian and Korean cultures. Obscene language not only performs an emotional function but also reflects social, moral, and cultural norms specific to a language community, requiring special attention in translation.The aim of this research is to explore the methods and strategies of translating Ukrainian profanity in Korean film translation and to determine effective lexical, syntactic, and pragmatic strategies for conveying vulgarisms. The study also provides a detailed analysis of various types of Ukrainian obscene language and their translation equivalents in Korean subtitles. In particular, it focuses on the zoosemantic, religious-mythological, ethical-moral, socio-economic, and other types of profanity that may have different social functions and emotional nuances depending on the cultural context.The research material consists of Ukrainian feature films «The Legend of the Carpathians» (2017) and «Dovbush» (2023), their Korean subtitles, as well as thematic dictionaries of the Korean language related to vulgarisms and youth slang. The findings of the study show that effective transmission of Ukrainian profanity in Korean subtitles requires not only lexical accuracy but also cultural adaptation, considering pragmatic aspects and audience perception. In this case the effective strategies include selecting culturally appropriate Korean swear words, replacing Ukrainian vulgarisms with emotionally similar phrases, using descriptive equivalents for culturally specific concepts, as well as omissions or paraphrasing to avoid confusion or offense.