a corpus-based approach to the language of audio description

some countries and especially in Spain where it is called „audio subtitling‟
(Braun and Orero 2010).
In children programmes, audio describers should bear in mind that the
visual impairment is often associated to delayed language development and
other handicaps. For this reason, the audio description should help children
develop their understanding potential and their linguistic skills. For example,
ITC (2000) recommends that AD should not overlap music but if vital
messages are to be conveyed, then should be inserted after the first verse or
overlap the refrain. This is very important for the audio description to be
considered as a real tool for children literacy (Snyder 2006) 19 .
Comedy is another challenge for audio description, since it is not only
conveyed by words but also by images. Audiodescribing a comic scene
exactly in the moment when it is happening means sometimes preventing the
audience from enjoying the original. Often the way the audio description is
written may result to be funny and comic itself. In this sense, an accurate
choice of words to use is of the utmost importance.
Love and sex scenes should be handled very carefully because the use
of a too explicit description could offend or embarrass the audience. Indeed,
sounds and other effects can help the visually impaired people understand the
scene. In this case, as for dance scenes in particular, the audio description
19 For this reason, Snyder (2006) suggest that the audio description should use vivid, colourful,
evocative and imaginative words, so as to provide final users with effective tools for a full
understanding and enjoyment of the performance audio described. We will discuss linguistic issues
in the following chapters.
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