Proceedings - Translation Concepts

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I would like to raise five issues: MuTra 2006 – Audiovisual Translation Scenarios: Conference Proceedings Yves Gambier • The current development of audiovisual translation (AVT) research; Where are we aiming at? • The need to revise a certain number of concepts in Translation Studies (TS), thanks to AVT • The challenge of accessibility and reception • The sociocultural relevance of applied research; AVT should not be seen as a constellation of problems but as a valuable asset addressing the need for multilingual and multicultural communication in the international arena • The contribution of multimodality in the study of AVT, especially in subtitling 2 Piecemeal research Over the last decade, a few systematic studies have examined the production and reception or the cultural and linguistic impact of AVT. AVT has benefited from the rapid development of research interest and of institutional commitment, especially intralingual subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing, but the discipline remains essentially European, and too often limited to case studies on the linguistic side only, where no sides are taken in the long-running debate on the respective merits of subtitling or dubbing. However, the field has gained gradual recognition, but it has not yet definitely established its place, either within TS or in relation to other disciplines such as semiotics, media studies, and discourse/pragmatic studies. That may be why AVT is not yet seen as one solution to internationalization, situating it within the context of power-related, cultural and linguistic issues in today’s societies. More often than not, our studies are limited to professional routines, the production process and quality of the output, while too seldom do they emphasize the decision-making (Why, for instance, are advertisements very often dubbed, even in a so-called subtitling country? Who defines the translation policy in TV broadcasting companies and, in particular, who allocates money for translating? etc). Our field remains too much on the level of isolated descriptions, incurring the risk of fragmentation, and claiming neutrality through a kind of informative mode of discourse: Catalans tell us about Catalan TV, Danes about Danish TV, Germans about subtitling for the deaf and the hard of hearing-impaired in Germany, Portuguese about the same mode for the same group of people, and so on, as if mediascape were not global, formats were not more and more international, outsourcing and relocation did not exist, there were no multinational networks unrestrained by national legislation. Can AVT be considered a positive solution in a world which is increasingly dependent on multimodal and multimedia products and services? In the current media scenario, there is an ongoing transfer of power – from the media owners to the distributors and professionals who manipulate (literally speaking) the multiple codes. Translators are part of this new group but do not yet realize what this implies or recognize its full effects. Our field remains fragmented, with a vision limited to certain aspects and shortterm goals (Gambier 2005). My point here is to emphasize the fragmentation of our research, basically for one reason: our relative specialization. We tend to be specialist technicians even among ourselves: subtitlers are not dubbers, interpreters do not practise voice-over, and so on, and so forth. Furthermore, no one seems to approach the people who decide translation policies. 92
MuTra 2006 – Audiovisual Translation Scenarios: Conference Proceedings Yves Gambier 3 TS and AVT Certain concepts in TS should arguably be revised, extended and rethought when they are applied to AVT. I will not give here an exhaustive list but mention only a few concepts. • The notion of text: screen texts are short-lived and do not fit readily into the traditional dichotomy between source text and target text. They are also distinctive in that they are multimodal. But is this not true of any text? Tourist brochures, press articles, art books, children’s books, instruction leaflets, exhibition catalogs, illustrated books and advertisements all combine writing and illustrations (photos, drawings), with considerable scope for variety in the way printing, punctuation and the arrangement of space on the page are used. Is it appropriate, then, to continue speaking of verbal units? Does text mean the same thing in literary translation, conference interpreting and AVT? The traditional concept of linear and verbal text cannot account for the full range of multi-semiotic textual phenomena. And I do not mention here hypertext, defined as a concept and a new means for structuring and accessing documents in distance communication, with interconnection by means of electronic links. There might be more convergence between screen texts and multimedia texts than between screen texts and traditional texts. Anyway, the constitutive criteria of textuality could be developed and adapted to screen texts, criteria such as coherence, situationality, informativity, and intertextuality. • AVT researchers also have to think critically about the concept of sense, since this is produced neither in a linear sequence nor with a single system of signs. There is interaction not only between the various figures involved in creating the AV product, but also between them and the viewers - even between different AV productions (references, allusions). The hierarchy of original and subsequent distribution or broadcasting becomes questionable, given that intellectual property rights on a film often offer various versions (one for TV, one for use as an airline feature film, or yet another version in which offensive language has been censored in compliance with the demands of political correctness). Digital technology also allows different users (parents, educators, religious associations, ideological groups, etc.) to have access to their own personalized final cut. And what about the concept of loss so often mentioned when referring to AVT? It cannot be restricted to verbal elements. Is there not a certain loss in the meaning of pictures when one reads subtitles? Can we not talk about language hypertrophy, paying less attention to camera moves, viewing angles, editing, soundtrack, tone of voices, facial expressions, gestures, gazes, body movements, all of which are also meaningful? • The issue of text and sense entail questions regarding translation units in AVT. These units can be based on the predictability of language use and occurrences, themselves related to scene types, as defined and described in cognitive semantics and when you learn how to write scripts. • The very concept of translation highlights a lack of consensus, overlapping as it does those of adaptation, manipulation, censorship, transfer and remake. • It is important to reconsider the links between translation norms, which originate and are passed on against a social background, and technical constraints (Fawcett 1996, 2003). In this respect, it is already possible to speak of “abusive” subtitles, for example, those accompanying Japanese animated cartoons on the Internet, produced by amateurs who ignore accepted subtitling conventions and introduce typographic variations, adding glosses or commentaries or changing the position of lines (Norns 1999, Sinha 2004). We already know that films are less and less often seen in cinemas 93
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Part I: Multiling
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Proceedings - Translation Concepts

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