Qābeli nadāre (It is not worthy of you). Anything except offer of money is expected in English subtitles

This article reports on a study of English subtitles of Persian Ostensible Offer of Money (POOM). The first stage of this study involved identifying instances of POOM in Iranian films on the basis of their locutions (forms) and culture-specific contextual features and underlying concepts. At this stage we highlighted the potential problems that may be encountered when relaying the meaning of POOMs in English, and described the translation strategies used by the subtitlers. In order to corroborate our findings, we also conducted a survey of the perceptions of non-Iranian viewers. On the basis of our analysis, we conclude that, owing to subtitling restrictions such as space and time, subtitlers can rely on information provided in the preceding and following scenes of instances of POOM as well as dialogues, audiences’ familiarity with Persian culture, and similarities with other cultures in order to avoid mistranslations or misunderstandings.