The language of cinema. Some considerations on pragmatics

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The language of cinema. Some considerations on
pragmatics

• Pragmatics is the study of meaning in context
  dependent on the intentions of participants in a
  conversational exchange.
• Context , intentions and shared knowledge are
  the keywords. Also cultural implications play an
  important role.
• A. I have a 14 year old son
• B. Well thats right
• A. I also have a dog
• B. Oh, Im sorry
• Can you understand the meaning of this exchange?
• It would be hard to catch it, unless you knew
  that A. is trying to rent an apartment from B.
  and B. doesnt accept pets.

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• If we dont have a context or some knowledge
  about a situation, the meaning can be invisible
  as in the previous example.
• - Are you playing tennis?
• - I had my blood results.
• This seemingly incoherent text can be easily
  understood if we know that the person has to go
  to a doctors at the same time of the tennis
  match.

3

• Here are some real examples of promotional signs
• 1) We do not tear your clothing with machinery
  we do it carefully by hand.
• 2) Heated attendant parking
• 3) Baby Toddler Sale
• They may sound ambiguous
• Does not mean that people working at that laundry
  tear your clothing by hand.
• Does not mean that we heat an attendant and then
  we can park him/her somewhere.
• Does not mean that we sell young children.
• What do they mean?

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Context

• We have different contexts
• The linguistic context also called co-text is the
  set of other words used in the same sentence
• We know that the word pupil is a homonym. How
  do we know which meaning is intended? Usually by
  means of the linguistic context
• If it is used in a sentence with words like
  teacher, classmates etc. we understand that
  pupil here means ?
• If it is used in a sentence with words like
  eye, dilatation or iris we know that here
  it means ?

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Context

• Another type, is the physical context.
• If you see a sign like this near a school SLOW
  DOWN. PUPILS CROSSING THE STREET.
• It does not mean that you have to slow down
  because you could run over eye-pupils and reduce
  them to a pulp.

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• J. L. Austin in his How to do things with words
  identifies three distinct levels of action beyond
  the act of utterance itself.
• He distinguishes the act of saying something,
  what one does in saying it, and what one does by
  saying it, and calls these the 'locutionary', the
  'illocutionary' and the 'perlocutionary' act,
  respectively.

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• Suppose, for example, that a bartender utters the
  words, 'The bar will be closed in five minutes
• He is performing the locutionary act of saying
  that the bar will be closed in five minutes (from
  the time of utterance).
• The level here is what words mean and the act
  of saying something
• In saying this, the bartender is performing the
  illocutionary act of informing the customers of
  the bar's imminent closing.
• The level here is to perform a function
  informing people about something.
• Perlocutionary acts are performed with the
  intention of producing a further effect. The
  bartender intends to be performing the
  perlocutionary acts of causing the customers to
  believe that the bar is about to close and making
  them finish their drink or order their last one.
• The level here is to making people do something.
• He is performing all these speech acts, at all
  three levels, just by uttering certain words.

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To sum up

• Locutionary act saying something (the locution).
  
• Illocutionary act the performance of an act in
  saying somethingThe illocutionary force is the
  speaker's intent. e.g. informing, ordering,
  warning, asking.
•  Perlocutionary acts Speech acts that have an
  effect on the feelings, thoughts or actions of
  the listener. In other words, they seek to change
  minds!
• Unlike locutionary acts, perlocutionary acts are
  external to the performance.
• e.g., inspiring, persuading or deterring.
• YOU SAY, YOU DO, YOU OBTAIN

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Pragmatics and speech acts in culture

• Speech acts are sometimes difficult to perform in
  a second language because learners may not know
  the idiomatic expressions or cultural norms in
  the second language or they may transfer their
  first language rules and conventions into the
  second language, assuming that such rules are
  universal.
• The natural tendency for language learners is to
  fall back on what they know to be appropriate in
  their first language.
• For example, the following remark as uttered by a
  native English speaker could easily be
  misinterpreted by a hearer who does not know
  English very well
• Sarah "I cant agree with you more. "
• Marie "Hmmm." (Thinking "She cant agree with
  me?! I thought she liked my idea!")

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• This is why many times in order to respect the
  pragmatic force of utterances for instance in
  movies the translation of these utterances must
  be changed because they would not have the same
  effect on audiences other than the source
  cultures.

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• From Oceans Eleven by Steven Soderbergh, 2001.
• Rusty-Brad Pitt and Danny-George Clooney meet
  and start joking on the way in which they are
  dressed. Danny is wearing a tuxedo, while Rusty
  is wearing a dress with a very showy shirt.
• In the original version we have
• Rusty I hoped you were the groom.
• Danny Ted Nugent called. He wants his shirt
  back.
• Can you understand this exchange? Whos Ted
  Nugent?
• He is a famous US rock singer who uses to wear
  very eccentric clothes. OK, but who knows that?
• Thats why the Italian dubbed exchange is
• Rusty Speravo che tu fossi lo sposo.
• Danny Ha chiamato Elton John. Devi restituirgli
  la camicia.

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Another example from the same film

• The gang is organizing a difficult theft in a Las
  Vegas casino.
• Rusty Youd need at least a dozen guys doing a
  combination of jobs.
• Daniel What do you think?
• Rusty Off the top of my head, I say looking at a
  Bowski, a Jim Brown, two Jethros and a Leon
  Spinx, not to mention the biggest Ella Fitzgerald
  ever
• ??????????????????
•  

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• Ignoring, as we do, many of the mentioned people,
  what would the effect be if we had a literal
  translation?
• The meaning is that they need some kinds of
  superheroes, geniuses in their fields.
• For example, Spinx is a famous boxer who won the
  world championship against Mohamed Alì.

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• Rusty ci vorranno almeno una dozzina di
  truffatori esperti in vari rami.
• Danny Di che tipo secondo te?
• Rusty Vediamo, a occhio e croce direi che
  servono un Bill Gates, un Carl Lewis, un Uomo
  Ragno e un Cassius Clay, per non parlare della
  migliore Ella Fitzgerald della storia

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Cinematic translation

• Translation, or adaptation of a screenplay into
  another language is a very complex process.
• Adaptation has to take into account not only two
  languages and two cultures, but also aspects such
  as gestures and facial expressions along with
  music and screenplay captions.

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• Dialogues and conversations are of course central
  components and succeeding in perfectly
  translating idioms, habits and customs,
  wordplays, humour, colloquial language etc., is a
  major challenge.
• Cinema translation deals with two operations
• dubbing and subtitling.
• Since the early 1930s, most countries have
  tended to favour either one mode or the other.

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• Dubbing is a form of post-synchronized revoicing
  that involves recording voices that do not belong
  to the on-screen actors, speaking in a language
  different from that of the source text and
  ideally in synch with the film image.

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• Subtitling presents the translated and source
  languages simultaneously, but it transforms
  speech into writing without altering the source
  sound track.
• Subtitling may be either intralingual or
  interlingual.
• In the former, the written text that appears over
  the image is that of the source language. This
  kind of subtitling, for viewers who are deaf and
  hard-of-hearing, is often called "captioning,"
  and it is in prevalent use in television
  broadcasting.
• Interlingual subtitling translates the source
  language into the target language (or languages)
  in the form of one or more lines of synchronized
  written text.
• These verbal messages may include not only
  speech, such as dialogue, commentary, and song
  lyrics, but also displays, such as written signs
  and newspaper headlines. Subtitles usually appear
  at the bottom of the screen, though their
  placement may vary among language groups.

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• The most common explanation for the divide
  between dubbing and subtitling countries derives
  from cost dubbing, the more expensive
  translation mode, is adopted by the larger,
  wealthier countries, subtitling by the smaller
  countries whose audiences comprise more
  restricted markets.
• While there is some truth to this division, cost
  alone does not dictate national choice small
  Central European countries such as Bulgaria, the
  Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia prefer
  dubbing, despite its high cost.

20

• In Western Europe, dubbing emerged in the early
  1930s as the standard method of language transfer
  in France, Italy, Germany, and Spain.
• In France, the supremacy of dubbing derives from
  the nation's cultural mission to preserve and
  protect the French language in the face of
  foreign (especially American) influence.

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• For the other countries culture and political
  ideology were determining causes. Italy, Germany,
  and Spain, all of which faced cultural boycotts
  in the mid-1930s and were ruled by fascist
  governments, only allowed dubbed versions of
  foreign films.
• The dictators of these countries understood how
  hearing one's own language served to confirm its
  importance and reinforce a sense of national
  identity and autonomy.

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• In Italy especiallywhere most people, including
  the filmmakers themselves, spoke dialect, dubbing
  forged the synthetic unity of a shared national
  language.
• As early as 1929, Benito Mussolini's government
  decreed that all films projected on Italian
  screens must have an Italian-language sound track
  regardless of where it was produced.
• Both Francisco Franco's Spain and Adolf Hitler's
  Germany established strict rules regarding
  imports, almost all of which were dubbed.
• Source of slides 17-22
• www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Criticism-Ideol
  ogy/Dubbing-and-Subtitling-SUBTITLING-VERSUS-DUBBI
  NG.html

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Differences between dubbing and subtitling

• Subtitles allow to listen to the source language,
  but they could be a negative element in that the
  viewer usually reads the s. at the expense of
  images, plot and actions.
• In addition using subtitles implies a cut of the
  screenplay, because subtitles usually summarize
  what is being told, they have a reduced space.
  This sometimes damages the original screenplay
  and can result in a partial loss of meaning.

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• Scholars in these fields state that the two
  techniques are opposite.
• Subtitling respects and is faithful to the source
  language it is source-text oriented and the
  resulting translation is called foreignization.
• On the other hand, dubbing is considered
  target-text oriented and the resulting
  translation is called domestication.

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Translating titles

• Titles translation is one of the most difficult
  aspects.
• This aspect may also refer to literary
  translation, in particular of a novels title.
• Some translations may be considered effective,
  many (many many) others are inexplicable and
  meaningless and horrid.

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An example

• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a movie
  released in 2004 starring Jim Carrey and Kate
  Winslet.
• The screenplay won an Academy Award.

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• This is a psychological and visionary movie and
  its title comes from a line by Alexander Pope
• How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
• The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
• Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
• Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd.

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• These words are quoted in the movie, also in the
  Italian version whose translation is
• Com'è felice il destino dell'incolpevole vestale!
• Dimentica del mondo, dal mondo dimenticata.
• Infinita letizia della mente candida!
• Accettata ogni preghiera e rinunciato a ogni
• desiderio.

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This is the poster
30

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• Saying that the Italian title is different is to
  say nothing.
• The Italian title is scandalous and shocking!!!
• The Italian choice hugely alters the commitment
  and elegance of the movie letting people imagine
  that the film is the typical, stupid and
  light-hearted American comedy.
• When it was released I had no intention to watch
  it because of the title.
• Do you see how bad translations can be decisive
  and make people detest a movie by its title?
• In this case the pragmatic force is a complete
  failure.

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Is translating titles effective?

• Examples of Italian titles translations
• Your opinions?
• The silence of the lambs (referring to a precise
  scene in the movie) becomes
• il silenzio degli innocenti
• While you were sleeping (the protagonist is in
  love with a person in a coma) becomes
• Un amore tutto suo
• The break up
• Ti odio, ti lascio, ti

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• Runaway bride
• Se scappi ti sposo
• A walk in the clouds
• Il profumo del mosto selvatico
• Rebel without a cause
• Gioventù bruciata
• Heads will roll
• Il mistero di Sleepy Hollow

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• City slickers (Am. Colloq. Tipi da città,
  imbroglioni)
• Scappo dalla città la vita, lamore, le vacche
• Dial M for Murder
• Il delitto perfetto
• Lost in translation
• Lamore tradotto
• The wedding planner
• Prima o poi mi sposo
• Deuce gigolo
• Puttano in saldo (!!!!!!!)

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• A horror movie of the 1970s whose original title
  was Horror Hospital has been translated into
  Italian with
• Diario proibito di un collegio femminile
• which in my view may easily be mistaken

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Movie Titles That Got Lost In Translation

• This is a selection of titles which have been
  translated in many languages and then
  retranslated into English to see how they differ
• In China
• The Full Monty Six Naked Pigs
• The Blair Witch Project Night In The Cramped
  Forest
• Boogie Nights His Great Device Makes Him Famous
  (Genius. Just genius)
• Leon This Hit Man Is Not as Cold as He Thought
• Fargo Mysterious Murder in Snowy Cream
• Austin Powers Trump Card Big Liar
• Deep Impact Earth And Comet Collide
• Knocked Up One Night, Big Belly
• Nixon The Big Liar
• Risky Business Just Send Him To University
  Unqualified
• Free Willy A Very Powerful Whale Runs To Heaven

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• In Germany
• Die Hard Die Slowly
• Die Hard With A Vengeance Die Slowly, Now More
  Than Ever
• Girls, Interrupted Cuckoo
• In France
• Fried Green Tomatoes The Secret Is In The Sauce
• Dirty Harry Inspector Harry
• Home Alone Mom, I Missed The Plane (also in
  Italian)
• In Spain
• The dark knight the night of the knight