To swear or not to swear: a quantitative study of swearword translation in Dave Chappelle’s stand-up comedy

Abstract

Generating data from 1,130 swearword instances from Dave Chappelle’s eight original English Netflix specials and their official Chinese subtitles, this study adopts a quantitative approach to examine shifts in perceived offensiveness after swearwords were translated, the employment of translation strategies, and the relationship between swearword functions, themes, and translators’ choice of strategies. The findings reveal a statistically significant reduction in offensiveness in the Chinese translations, primarily achieved through substitution and omission. Stylistic intensifiers, epithet/nominal support items, and themes such as scatological, sexual activities, and mother/family were statistically frequently mitigated, possibly due to platform regulations, redundancy of certain intensifiers, and the need to ensure referential clarity. In contrast, stand-alone swearwords and sex-organ and animal-related terms were largely accurately translated to preserve core emotional force, characterisation, and comedic impact. These patterns suggest a context-sensitive negotiation between institutional and technical constraints, referential precision, and the preservation of humour in stand-up comedy translation.