MULTIMEDIA TRANSLATION ENGLISH - PORTUGUESE Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto Mestrado em Tradução e Serviços Linguísticos MULTIMEDIA TRANSLATION ENGLISH - PORTUGUESE SPRING SEMESTER 2010 Wed. 17:30-19:30 – Room 205 Teacher: Elena Zagar Galvão elenazagar@gmail.com egalvao@letras.up.pt Webpage: web.letras.up.pt/egalvao FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

SUBTITLES – SUBTITLING Legendas – Legendagem (PT) ?????? (FR) ?????? (ES) ?????? (DE) ?????? (IT) ?????? (PL) other languages? FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

Two weeks ago, I asked you to: watch a programme (movie, talk show, serial, documentary, etc.) with subtitles in Portuguese and draw up a list of at least 5 different features that define/characterize the subtitles you have seen on screen. Remember to note down the name of the programme as well as when and where (TV channel) you watched it. FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão Why subtitling? ???? Cheaper than dubbing Cultural habit / tradition SDH – subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

Roman Jakobson, “On Linguistic Aspects of Translation”, 1959 INTERLINGUAL INTERSEMIOTIC (between communication systems: written text into film, painting, music and vice versa) INTRALINGUAL FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

3 main ways of translating AV programmes: Dubbing (lip-sync) Subtitling Voice-over

Discuss Do you see subtitling as a case of translation or adaptation? In your opinion, does it matter whether subtitling is perceived one way or another? Make a list of situations where subtitles are consumed in your country. (from Audiovisual Translation:Subtitling, p.8)

Definition (from Audiovisual Translation:Subtitling, p.8) Translation practice consisting of presenting a written text (usu. on the lower part of the screen) which recounts: - the original dialogues of the speakers; - the dicursive elements that appear in the image (letters, graffiti, placards, etc.) - the info contained in the soundtrack (songs, voices off). FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

All subtitled programmes are made of three main components: the spoken word; the image; the subtitles Their interaction + viewer’s ability to read the images and the the written text at a certain speed determine the basic characteristics of the audiovisual medium. FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão Subtitles: - synchrony with image+dialogue; - semantically adequate account of SL dialogue; remain on screen long enough for viewers to read them. NB: synchrony, time and space (p. 9) FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão Subtitling A way of translating what is being said in an audiovisual text. Two characteristic features: Change of code (intersemiotic: oral to written) Oral message of the source AV text is present in the translated product. The oral and written message are received simultaneously, allowing for comparison between source text and target text. FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

Television  Six-second rule In six seconds an average viewer can comfortably read the text written on two full subtitle lines, when each line contains a maximum of some 37 characters, i.e. a total of 74 characters. This calculation implies a rather low reading speed of some 145 words per minute (about 2.5 words per second). (seconds and frames are the measurement units used in TV) FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

Cinema  feet and frames A motion picture is measured using the Imperial units feet and frames. 1 foot = 16 frames 1 second = 24 frames (cinema) 1 second = 25 frames (TV) 1 second = 1 foot and 8 frames (1.5 feet) To guarantee a comfortable reading speed, it is commonly accepted that a film foot (1 frames) should contain 10 characters (including letters, spaces and punctuation marks). In other words, a frame can contain 0.625 spaces or characters. FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

Subtitling: Translation or Adaptation? Adaptation: a lesser activity? Jakobson (1959) K.Reiss (1977; 1981) Delabatista (1989) Asensio (2001) Gambier (1994;2003) Neves (2005) FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

Subtitling: Translation Terminology 1980s early 1990s constrained translation Then audiovisual translation (AVT) Film translation, cinema translation Screen translation Multimedia translation FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão AVT SDH AD Concept of accessibility (Diaz Cintas 2005) Computer games and interactive software programmes (convergence of AVT and localization) FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

Classification of subtitles according to 5 criteria: Linguistic Time available for preparation Technical Methods of projection Distribution format FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão Linguistic criteria FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão Linguistic criteria FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão Technical parameters Open subtitles (viewer has no choice as to the presence of subtitles on screen) Closed subtitles (translation can be added to the programme at the viewer’s will) FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

Distribution format (p.23) Cinema Television DVD Video, VHS Internet FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

Surtitles (supertitles, supratitles) Live performances: opera, concerts, musicals theatre conferences FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

Priorities in subtitling:* Synthesis (condensation/concision; elemination/suppression) Readability (accuracy, fluency, credibility) Orality (written subtitles should sound like spoken language) *from: Bartrina, Francesca and Eva Espsasa, Audiovisual Translation FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

Stages in subtitling process: Viewing Spotting (timing/cueing) Translating Editing *from: Bartrina, Francesca and Eva Espsasa, Audiovisual Translation FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão For next week: Visit this website and read the Code of Good Subtitling Practice at http://www.esist.org/Code.pdf FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão

FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão You should also read : A Proposed Set of Subtitling Standards in Europe by Fotios Karamitroglou at: http://accurapid.com/journal/04stndrd.htm FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão