An introduction to Subtitling
An introduction to Subtitling
•
Applies to any
text which is transferred through two
codes: the visual and the audio.
•
Deals with cinema, television, video
and multidimensional products. It has its own characteristics:
it requires special learning from the professional … due to the constraints and the particular techniques being
used (Agost, 1999: 24-25)
Types of Screen
Translation
• Inter-lingual
translation
dubbing
voice-over
simultaneous
interpreting subtitling
• Intra-lingual (monolingual)
subtitling
subtitling
subtitling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing audiodescription
•
Live subtitling (e.g. news
broadcasts)
•
Surtitling (for opera and the
theatre)
What are they?
•
DUBBING:
replacement of the original track of a film for another
on which the translated dialogue is recorded
•
VOICE-OVER:
the translator’s voice is heard on
the top of the original. The volume is reduced to a low level that can be still heard in the background.
•
SIMULTANEOUS
INTERPRETING: the interpretation occurs
when the SL speaker speaks as quick as the interpreter can formulate the
message in the TL
SUBTITLING
Translation mode which consists in displaying – usually at the bottom of the screen – a text which intends to account for what has been said (or shown in written form) in
the audiovisual product (Díaz-Cintas, 2003:32)
COUNTRIES PREFERENCES
•
DUBBING: Spain, Italy, Germany,
France, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic,
Turkey, UK (rare)
•
VOICE-OVER:
Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, some CIS
•
SUBTITLING:
Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Scandinavia, Romania, Slovenia, Bulgaria, UK
DETERMINING FACTORS
•
Economic:
subtitling and voice-over cheaper than dubbing
•
Political: dubbing as a form of
censorship
•
Ideological:
form of self-defence or as expression of nationalim
(see Catalonia, Quebec, Wales)
•
Technical: technologies available
•
The force of
the habit: preference for the mode everyone is
more familiar with
PROS AND CONS (I)
DUBBING
•Expensive
•Original dialogue is lost
•Dubbing actors’ voices can become repetitive
•Constrained by lip-sync
•Does not distract attention from image
•Viewer can
follow the sense even if distracted from
watching
•Allows overlapping of dialogues
•Suits for poor readers
PROS AND CONS (II)
SUBTITLING •Pollutes the image
•Requires more
reduction of original information •Dispersion
of attention (2 codes can disorient) •Constrained
by time and space
•Cheap
•Respects integrity of original dialogue
•Suits the hearing impairs and helps immigrants
•Promotes learning of foreign languages
•Quality of original actors’
voice ensured
Stages
of subtitle production
•
being offered/accepting the assignment
by a production/distribution
company
•
getting the tape/DVD/etc and the dialogue list (if available and possibly, a post-production list).
Time code is essential.
•
watching the entire programme
•
preparatory work, e.g. checking the accuracy of the dialogue list, linguistic research, background
research
•
spotting and then translation or translation
and then spotting
•
adaptation
•
revision
•
sending the work to your client
TCR (Time Code Reader)
Frame = sequence
of images on the screen 1
second = 24 frames (in cinema) = 25 frames (in TV)
SPOTTING
Noting in the
dialogue list when the
subtitles should start
and stop (usually
done by a technician)
TRANSLATION
(I)
•
No more than 2 lines on screen
•
Each line an
avarage of 35 characters including blanks and
punctuation marks (max 40 in cinema, max 37 in VHS/DVD, max 35 in television)
•
6 seconds
rule: an avarage viewer can read a two-line subtitle
of 70 characters in 6 seconds
•
Each subtitle
must be a coherent, logical and syntactical unit.
•
Each subtitle must appear at the
same time that characters start speaking
and be removed when they stop speaking
TRANSLATION (II)
•
Total reduction (elimination) of original information
•
Partial
reduction (condensation) through:
1.
reformulation, adaptation
2.
simplification of syntax
2a. Deletion of false starts,
interjections, (some) repetitions, (some)
interpersonal markers
Example:
No: Er, it was unexpected. They don’t speak that way.
Yes: It was
unexpected.
They
don’t speak that
way.
Bibliography (I)
Bernal Merino,
Miguel (2002) La traducción
audiovisual, Alicante: Universidad de Alicante.
Buckland, W. (1998) Film Studies, London: Hodder &
Stoughton.
Carroll, Mary (2004) “Subtitling: changing standards for
new media”. Lisa XIII, 3.3
Creeber, G. (ed.) (2001) The Television Genre Book, London: The
British Film Institute.
Díaz-Cintas, Jorge (2001a) “Striving for
quality in subtitling: the role of a good dialogue list”. In Gambier, Yeves &
Henrik Gottlieb(eds) (Multi)Media Translation: Concepts, Practices and
Research. Amsterdam & Phildalephia: John Benjamins, 199-211.
— (2001b)
La traducción audiovisual: el subtitulado. Salamanca: Almar.
Bibliography (II)
— (2001c)
“The value of the semiotic dimension in the subtitling
of humour”. In Desblache, Lucile (ed) Aspects of Specialised
Translation. Paris: La maison du dictionaire, 181-191.
of humour”. In Desblache, Lucile (ed) Aspects of Specialised
Translation. Paris: La maison du dictionaire, 181-191.
— (2003) Teoría y práctica de la subtitulación:
inglés/español.
Barcelona: Ariel.
Barcelona: Ariel.
Díaz-Cintas,
Jorge & Aline Remael (2006) Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling. Manchester
and Kinderhook, NY: St Jerome.
Egoyan, Atom & Ian Balfour (eds) (2004) Subtitles: on the Foreigness of Film.
Cambridge, Massachussetts: MIT Press.
Frensham, R. G. (1996) Screenwriting, London: Hodder.
Fuentes Luque, Adrián (2003) “An
empirical approach to the reception of AV
translated humour”. The Translator 9(2): 293-306.
Gottlieb, Henrik (2001) [2000] Screen Translation. Six Studies in
Subtitling, Dubbing and Voice-Over. Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen.
Bibliography
(III)
Hatim, Basil &
Ian, Mason (1997) “Politeness
in screen translating”. In The Translator as Communicator. London &
New York: Longman Group.
Ivarsson, Jan (1995) “The history of subtitles”. Translatio, Nouvelles de la FIT-FIT Newsletter XIV(3-4): 294-302.
Karamitroglou, Fotios (1998) “A proposed set of subtitling
standards in Europe”. Translation Journal 2(2).
Linde, Zoé de (1995)
“‘Read my lips’: subtitling principles, practices and problems”. Perspectives:
Studies in Translatology 3(1): 9-20.
Mailhac, J.P. (2000) ‘Subtitling and dubbing, for better
or worse? The English video versions of Gazon Maudit’. In M. Salama-Carr (ed.) On Translating French
Literature and Film, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 129-54.
O’Connell, E.M.T. (2003) Minority
Language Dubbing for
Children, Oxford:
Peter Lang.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home