audiovisual translation

Audiovisual translation essentially refers to the translation of film and television products and it is texts of this type that the talk will focus on, while still recognising that phenomena such as interactive websites and mobile phone technology are rapidly expanding the field. The question of translation (or transposition, or transfer, or …) will be considered in the wide Jakobsonian sense of intralingual, interlingual and intersemiotic translation. The creation of audiovisual versions of film products for the deaf or for educational purposes come under the first category, while the standard practice of providing foreign language versions of said products is an interlingual exercise. The relatively new discipline of audiodescription, as a means of giving the blind access to audiovisual material, is more transparently intersemiotic. The paper will first concentrate on three facets that are fundamental to any understanding of what audiovisual translation entails. The question of multimodality, what a multimodal text consists of and how such texts can be analysed, and subsequently translated, will be followed by considerations relating to the existence or non-existence of the so-called ‘language of film’ or ‘filmese’. The results of experiments conducted at the University of Trieste and elsewhere will be used in the attempt to reach conclusions regarding this ever more controversial question. Thirdly the range of audiovisual translation techniques and strategies will be illustrated in order to move beyond the now sterile debate of ‘dubbing versus subtitling’ and thus to discuss some of the latest developments in the area. Audiovisual translation, after being described by Sergio Viaggio (1992: 27) as ‘the least studied of all branches of translation’ has taken its place as a vibrant sub-section of translation studies. There is now a substantial literature on the subject and interest is growing around the world. The scientific background underlying the talk ranges from systemic-functional linguistics to multimodal transcription, from phasal analysis to various aspects of ‘traditional’ translation theory. By the use of examples it is hoped to illustrate some of the main issues surrounding the discipline of audiovisual translation as it stands today in Italy and in the rest of the world.