Enhancing Accessibility for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Viewers in the Arab World through Subtitling: Insights from Netflix’s Original Saudi Movies

Authors

  • Amani AlBoul

    Department of English Language and Translation, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Applied Science Private University, Amman 11937, Jordan
  • Ahmad S Haider

    Department of English Language and Translation, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Applied Science Private University, Amman 11937, Jordan
  • Hadeel Saed

    Department of English Language and Translation, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Applied Science Private University, Amman 11937, Jordan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i3.8735
Received: 1 February 2025 | Revised: 13 March 2025 | Accepted: 17 March 2025 | Published Online: 18 March 2025

Abstract

Subtitling for D/deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences (SDH) renders the aural codes of media in a written form. These captions contain more than linguistic transcriptions as paralinguistic and extralinguistic information is also provided. This study aims to shed light on the issue of subtitling as a mode of accessibility by following a qualitative comparative approach of analysis. The study examined how this information was dealt with in different languages, analyzing the frequency and styles of description. The English and Arabic SDH of two Netflix Saudi films represented the dataset, and namely, the different caption versions of From the Ashes and Naga were compared. The results indicated that both versions contained unique information and provided different levels of detail. The analysis also uncovered substantial discrepancies in the portrayal of paralinguistic and extralinguistic components, which are crucial for facilitating accessibility and inclusivity for the D/deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. The inconsistencies underscore translation and formatting difficulties, affecting the subtitles’ conciseness and efficiency. The analysis showed that Arabic SDH frequently excluded key particulars, hence constraining the accessibility of the subtitles. Moreover, variations in layout and style accentuated the discrepancies. English SDH adheres to explicit norms for the construction and formatting of subtitles, whereas Arabic SDH lacks such uniformity, resulting in deficiencies in information display. The study recommends that guidelines be further developed to improve accessibility, especially for Arabic subtitles, which is an underdeveloped field.

Keywords:

Audiovisual Translation (AVT); Arabic; English; Series; Deaf and Hard of Hearing; SDH; Saudi Movie; Netflix

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How to Cite

AlBoul, A., Haider, A. S., & Saed, H. (2025). Enhancing Accessibility for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Viewers in the Arab World through Subtitling: Insights from Netflix’s Original Saudi Movies. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(3), 906–926. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i3.8735

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 3 (March 2025)

Article Type

Article

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Copyright © 2025 Amani AlBoul, Ahmad S Haider, Hadeel Saed

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.