Phraseology in «Die Kaiserin»: Diatopic Adaptation of Spanish in Audiovisual Translation from German

Abstract

This study examines the translation of phraseological units (PUs) in the Netflix serie Die Kaise­rin (Eyssen, 2022) and their subtitled versions in Peninsular Spanish (ES) and Latin American Spanish (LAT). Drawing on the concept of interlinguistic equivalence in phraseology (Mellado Blanco, 2023) and considering Marco (2013), the research develops a taxonomy of PU translation techniques within the field of audiovisual translation (AVT). Employing both quantitative and qualitative approaches, the analysis reveals a predominance of transfer strategies involving equiv­alence through the same PU or substitution with a formally distinct one. The findings indicate significant differences between the two versions: the ES subtitles tend to favor more idiomatic and expressive renderings, whereas the LAT version exhibits a higher degree of literalness and neutrality. Overall, the study demonstrates that translating PUs in subtitling requires a careful balance between semantic fidelity, naturalness, and textual economy, positioning this practice as a site for observing translators’ creativity under the constraints of the audiovisual medium.