Audiovisual Translation

Definition, History and Characteristics

Definition of Audiovisual Translation

Audiovisual translation (AVT) is the term used to

refer to the transfer from one language to
another of the verbal components contained in
audiovisual works and products. Feature films,
television programs, theatrical plays, musicals,
opera, web pages, and video games are just
some examples of the vast array of audiovisual
products available and that require translation.
As the word suggests, audiovisuals are made to
be both heard (audio) and seen (visual)
simultaneously but they are primarily meant to
be seen (Sanderson, 2005: 4).
AVT is the most commonly used term in
academic circles to describe this discipline,
although it is not the only term in use. Other
terms, such as film translation (Belczyk, 2007),
screen translation (O’Connell, 2018), multi
media translation (Gambier & Gottlieb, 2001),
or language transfer (Díaz Cintas & Anderman,
2008), have also been employed.
Translating films and other audiovisual
materials presents a different set of
challenges. When working on AVT, you are
not solely translating dialogue; you are part
of a complex process that involves creating
a meaningful and cohesive target version by
considering the text and the accompanying
visuals and audio. Your task is to seamlessly
blend the written words with the visual and
auditory elements, ensuring they collectively
convey the intended message.
In his seminal paper on the linguistic
aspects of translation, Jakobson (1959)
distinguished three kinds of translation:
1- Intralingual translation, or rewording, is
“an interpretation of verbal signs by means
of other signs of the same language” (p.
139).
2- Interlingual translation, or translation
proper, is understood by Jakobson as “an
interpretation of verbal signs by means of
some other language” – a classic case of
what we typically understand as
translation.
3- Intersemiotic translation, also referred
to as transmutation, is defined by
Jakobson as “an interpretation of verbal
signs by means of signs of nonverbal sign
systems”, which he further explains as a
transposition from one system of signs
into another, for instance “verbal art into
music, dance, cinema or painting” (p. 143).
This tripartite division has been eagerly
adopted by many AVT scholars. For
instance, subtitling for the deaf and hard of
hearing (SDH), done predominantly within
the same language, is often given as an
example of intralingual translation. Major
AVT types, such as dubbing, voice- over,
and sub titling, are typically interlingual,
whereas audio description (AD) for persons
with visual impairments is usually classified
as intersemiotic translation
1- Interlingual subtitling involves
translating original spoken dialogue into
written target text displayed at the bottom
of the screen. Due to time and space
constraints, the translated version is often
a condensed form of the original dialogue
2- Dubbing is an AVT type commonly
used in the media and entertainment
industry, where actors’ original voices are
replaced with translations in another
language. These translations match the
duration and lip movements of the
original, and each character has their own
voice
3. Voice-over (VO) entails spoken
translation layered over the original audio,
allowing viewers to hear both, albeit with
the original audio at a lower volume.
4. Audio description (AD) involves
narration describing on- screen actions
inserted during pauses in dialogue,
intended primarily for viewers who are
blind or partially sighted
5. Subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing
(SDH), also known as closed captioning (CC),
is a type of AVT and an access service
designed for viewers who are deaf or hard of
hearing. It includes transcription or
translation of spoken dialogue, sound and
speaker identifiers.
6. Live subtitling is a real- time transcription or
translation of spoken dialogue for live events
or programmes. Text is typically displayed
slightly delayed, either in blocks or phrase by
phrase as recognised by the software.
Depending on whether you consider AVT
to be a professional endeavour or an
academic field, you would likely attribute
different origins to its beginnings. It is
widely believed that AVT as a professional
practice can be traced back to
incorporating language into films, a
development that occurred earlier than
you might think.
The first commercial film screening film
took place on 18 December 1895 at the
Grand Café in Paris. The Lumière brothers
presented a collection of short films
documenting daily life, such as workers
leaving a factory or a train arriving at a
railway station.
During its early days, silent cinema was perceived
as a medium that communicated through “a
universal, non- verbal language” (Dwyer, 2013,
p. 300). Some early film theorists even argued
that film could serve as a “universal Esperanto”, a
language understood by viewers worldwide.
However, the universality of film language turned
out to be a fallacy, and language soon became a
significant instrument of construing narratives in
films, initially through intertitles and later with
the advent of sound in talkies.
Intertitles: the predecessors of the subtitles. They
were texts, printed on paper and placed between
the sequences of the film. Their first appearance
was in 1903 as descriptive titles in Edwin S. Porter's
Uncle Tom's Cabin. “in the pre- sound era, films
were silent, but not speechless”. Although silent
films lacked dialogue as we know it today, the
continuity of the film’s narrative was maintained
through intertitles, also known as title cards.
Intertitles not only contained dialogue (referred to
as “spoken titles”) but also provided plot
explanations and featured text relevant to the
storyline, such as letters, telegrams, newspaper
texts, and book titles.
History of AVT
Warner Bros. made cinematic history on 6 October
1927 with the release of The Jazz Singer, the first
feature- length film to integrate synchronised
sound for dialogue sequences. Despite the brevity
of these sound segments, the audience’s
experience of hearing the voices of the film’s stars
proved to be a groundbreaking revelation. In the
sub sequent year, Warner Bros. continued
exploring sound capabilities in f ilm with The
Lights of New York, achieving another milestone
with the first recording of the entire dialogue for a
feature- length film.
Immediately after the invention of sound film,
studios grappled with the challenge of reaching
foreign audiences. To address this issue, one
solution was to re- shoot the film in different
languages on the same set, resulting in what
became known as multiple language versions
(MLVs), also referred to as “multilingual versions”
(O’Sullivan & Cornu, 2018). The world’s first MLV
is considered to be Atlantic made for British
International Pictures in 1929 at London’s Elstree
Studios (Nornes, 2007; Wahl, 2016). The film’s
success spurred other studios to follow suit and
create different language versions of their films.
1. The use of images: this type of
translation differs from other types of
translation since it's always shown
alongside the images being broadcast,
so the text needs to tie in with the
image.
2. Short deadlines: for the most part,
translation projects have tight delivery
lead times, but it goes even further in
the case of audiovisual translation. For
example, if episodes of a series are
being shown with little time in between,
there's even less time for translation,
and margin for error.
3.The use of specialization of different
fields: another defining feature a
translator needs to have is that in
addition to having mastery of the source
and target languages, they also need to
specialize in a number of sectors. After
all, audiovisual works can cover a
number of different subjects: medicine,
legal, IT, etc.
4. Speech: with this characteristic we refer to the
ability to symbolize a previously translated
natural and spontaneous dialogue. It might
sound easy, but it is not. What is logical to one
person in a certain context might seem totally
out of place for another person. For that reason,
a translator should be able to transfer written
language to the screen without adding strange
expressions or demanding an unreasonable,
unnatural effort on part of the character who is
speaking (Orero, 2004: 13).
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