Downplaying Sicilianisms in the English Subtitles of II commissario Montalbano

This study considers the downplaying of Sicilian dialects and the hedging of Sicilian culture as apparent in the British and American English subtitles of all 37 episodes of the Italian detective-fiction TV series Il commissario Montalbano. The mistranslations and partial translations of Sicilianisms present in the original version are discussed both from a quantitative and a qualitative perspective. The analysis proves that the obstacles posed by dialect translation and the translation of cultural references represent a major challenge for subtitlers. In addition, the data gathered demonstrate that the mistranslations and partial translations detected appear to negatively affect the general quality of the target language product(s), to the point that, in several cases, the understanding of the TV series’ content on the part of the English-speaking audience is compromised.