Università degli Studi di Padova Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Letterari Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Lingue Moderne per la Comunicazione e la Cooperazione Internazionale Classe LM-38 Tesi di Laurea Approaching Audiovisual Translation: Issues and Trends in Subtitling the TED Talks Relatrice Laureanda Prof.ssa Maria Teresa Musacchio Genny Brunello n° matr.1162755 / LMLCC Anno Accademico 2018 / 2019 2 Abstract The purpose of the present dissertation it to analyse the discipline of audiovisual translation, focusing on the different categories of this field and highlighting their advantages, as well as their downsides. Dubbing, subtitling, voice-over, surtitling and respeaking are presented, while special attention is given to the topic of accessibility when introducing audio description and subtitles for the hearing impaired. Particular mention is made of subtitling, the principal topic of the present dissertation, which has the objective to answer to two main questions: what are the features of subtitles? How does a subtitler deal with translation issues? For this reason, subtitling is analysed both theoretically and practically: after presenting subtitling from the point of view of its semiotic, linguistic and technical characteristics, the main issues are analysed which subtitlers are likely to encounter while translating, as well as the principal trends are pointed out which are often followed by this category of audiovisual translators. Then, these issues and trends are further highlighted and given a possible answer with a practical demonstration involving the subtitling of some TED Talks. 3 4 Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter One - Audiovisual Translation ..................................................................... 11 1.1 Different modalities of audiovisual translation .................................................. 11 1.1.1 Dubbing ..................................................................................................... 12 1.1.2 Subtitling .................................................................................................... 14 1.1.3 Voice-over ................................................................................................. 16 1.1.4 Surtitling .................................................................................................... 18 1.1.5 Respeaking ................................................................................................. 19 1.2 Overcoming obstacles: audio description and subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing .................................................................................................... 21 1.2.1 Accessibility and usability ......................................................................... 21 1.2.2 Audio description ....................................................................................... 23 1.2.3 Subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing ................................................. 24 Chapter Two - Subtitling: Features, Strategies and Issues ...................................... 27 2.1 Subtitling and semiotics ...................................................................................... 28 2.1.1 Semiotic cohesion ...................................................................................... 29 2.1.2 The relationship between words and images: anchoring and redundancy. 31 2.1.3 The relationship between speech and gesture: multimodality ................... 32 2.2 Subtitling and linguistics .................................................................................... 33 2.2.1 Text reduction: condensation and reformulation ....................................... 34 2.2.2 Text reduction: omissions .......................................................................... 39 2.2.3 Reinforcing cohesion and coherence: segmentation .................................. 41 2.3 Technical features of subtitling .......................................................................... 42 2.3.1 Spatial constraints ...................................................................................... 43 2.3.2 Temporal constraints.................................................................................. 45 2.3.3 Typographical conventions ........................................................................ 47 2.4 Subtitling Issues .................................................................................................. 51 2.4.1 Linguistic variation .................................................................................... 51 2.4.2 Culture-bound terms .................................................................................. 52 2.4.3 Marked speech ........................................................................................... 54 2.4.4 Translating humour .................................................................................... 55 Chapter Three - Subtitling the TED Talks ................................................................ 59 3.1 What is TED? ..................................................................................................... 60 3.2 Amara, the subtitling platform ............................................................................ 60 3.3 Issues and trends in subtitling the TED Talks .................................................... 62 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 75 References...................................................................................................................... 77 Audiovisual References ................................................................................................ 82 Appendices .................................................................................................................... 83 Riassunto ..................................................................................................................... 145 5 6 Introduction Over the years, the discipline of translation studies has developed considerably while arousing considerable interest among linguistic scholars. These researchers have studied the importance of language, its relationship with other human dimensions and the degree of interconnection between the different social, cultural and linguistic systems that are taken into consideration in the translation process. Many studies and many research projects concerning translation have made their appearance in the linguistic field, above all in recent years. These scholars soon noticed the fact that language is strictly linked to the cultural system of every population, which experiences constant development. Consequently, language constantly develops as well, and so does the discipline of translation. Thus, what was once considered as an innovative and advanced study in this field might now be regarded as outdated and erroneous. In the light of these numerous changes in linguistic studies, a new kind of discipline has been identified and has emerged from the waters of the more general discipline of translation studies. This area of study is now known as audiovisual translation (AVT), which has begun to be considered and analysed per se, due to its particular nature. Audiovisual translation cannot be compared to the more common textual translation, since its principal focus is represented by multimodal material. In the translation of multimodal products, not only is the written dimension involved, but this type of activity is also influenced by the visual and the acoustic contents that are linked to the textual element to be translated. Audiovisual translators, therefore, have to render any written, visual and acoustic information of the source product into the target product as well. The purpose of the present dissertation, therefore, is to present the discipline of audiovisual translation to the reader. In particular, this thesis focuses on the AVT mode of subtitling, whose principal characteristics are analyzed together with the main trends and issues which are likely to be encountered in this translation modality. The approach to subtitling that I have chosen to adopt in this thesis will be both theoretical and practical, thanks to the concrete translation I have made of some talks held at different TED events. Yet, this dissertation has not the presumption of being exhaustive. On the 7 contrary, it pursues the aim to arouse the reader’s curiosity about this topic and to make him/her realize how vast and sometimes blurred the field of screen translation can be, in order to understand that this situation can also lead to some advantages from the point of view of the audiovisual translator. First, audiovisual translation is discussed in Chapter One. In this section, the main subcategories of this audiovisual translation are presented and classified, therefore dubbing, subtitling, voice-over, surtitling and respeaking are analysed in this part of the dissertation, with particular mention of each category’s advantages as well as possible drawbacks. Additionally, one has to consider the fact that there may also be visually- or hearing-impaired people among the viewers of a multimodal product, therefore audiovisual translators are expected to make it usable from the point of view of this kind of audience, too. Consequently, the concepts of accessibility and usability are