Padova Presentation

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Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do
Porto INFORMÁTICA DE TRADUÇÃO FALL SEMESTER
2010 Lesson 3 November 2010 Teacher Elena
Zagar Galvão elenazagar_at_gmail.com
egalvao_at_letras.up.pt Webpage
web.letras.up.pt/egalvao
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SUBTITLES SUBTITLING

• Legendas Legendagem (PT)
• ?????? (FR)
• ?????? (ES)
• ?????? (DE)
• ?????? (FI)
• ?????? (IT)
• ?????? (PL)
• ?????? (CS)

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Who needs subtitles?

• http//br.youtube.com/watch?vcv9Zmy9rSd4
• http//ticklebooth.com/2006/09/iraqi-insurgents-do
  nt-need-subtitles/

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Why subtitling?

• ????
• ????
• ????

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Roman Jakobson, On Linguistic Aspects of
Translation, 1959

• TRANSLATION

INTERLINGUAL
INTERSEMIOTIC (between communication systems
written text into film, painting, music and vice
versa)
INTRALINGUAL
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Definition (from Audiovisual TranslationSubtitlin
g, p.8)

• Translation practice consisting of presenting a
  written text (usu. on the lower part of the
  screen) which recounts
• - the original dialogues of the speakers
• - the dicursive elements that appear in the
  image (letters, graffiti, placards, etc.)
• - the info contained in the soundtrack (songs,
  voices off).

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All subtitled programmes are made of three main
components

• the spoken word
• the image
• the subtitles
• Their interaction viewers ability to read the
  images and the the written text at a certain
  speed determine the basic characteristics of the
  audiovisual medium.

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Subtitles

• - synchrony with imagedialogue
• - semantically adequate account of SL dialogue
• remain on screen long enough for viewers to read
  them.
• NB synchrony, time and space (p. 9)

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Subtitling

• A way of translating what is being said in an
  audiovisual text.
• Two characteristic features
• Change of code (intersemiotic oral to written)
• Oral message of the source AV text is present in
  the translated product. The oral and written
  message are received simultaneously, allowing for
  comparison between source text and target text.

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Television ? Six-second rule

• In six seconds an average viewer can comfortably
  read the text written on two full subtitle lines,
  when each line contains a maximum of some 37
  characters, i.e. a total of 74 characters. This
  calculation implies a rather low reading speed of
  some 145 words per minute (about 2.5 words per
  second).
• (seconds and frames are the measurement units
  used in TV)

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Cinema ? feet and frames

• A motion picture is measured using the Imperial
  units feet and frames.
• 1 foot 16 frames
• 1 second 24 frames (cinema)
• 1 second 25 frames (TV)
• 1 second 1 foot and 8 frames (1.5 feet)
• To guarantee a comfortable reading speed, it is
  commonly accepted that a film foot (1 frames)
  should contain 10 characters (including letters,
  spaces and punctuation marks). In other words, a
  frame can contain 0.625 spaces or characters.

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SubtitlingTranslation or Adaptation?

• Adaptation a lesser activity?
• Jakobson (1959)
• K.Reiss (1977 1981)
• Delabatista (1989)
• Asensio (2001)
• Gambier (19942003)
• Neves (2005)

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Subtitling Translation

• Terminology
• 1980s early 1990s constrained translation
• Then audiovisual translation (AVT)
• Film translation, cinema translation
• Screen translation
• Multimedia translation

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• AVT
• SDH
• AD
• Concept of accessibility (Diaz Cintas 2005)
• Computer games and interactive software
  programmes (convergence of AVT and localization)

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Classification of subtitles according to 5
criteria

• Linguistic
• Time available for preparation
• Technical
• Methods of projection
• Distribution format

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Linguistic criteria
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Linguistic criteria
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Technical parameters

• Open subtitles
• (viewer has no choice as to the presence of
  subtitles on screen)
• Closed subtitles
• (translation can be added to the programme at the
  viewers will)

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Distribution format (p.23)

• Cinema
• Television
• DVD
• Video, VHS
• Internet

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Surtitles (supertitles, supratitles)

• Live performances
• opera, concerts, musicals
• theatre
• conferences

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Priorities in subtitling

• Synthesis (condensation/concision
  elemination/suppression)
• Readability (accuracy, fluency, credibility)
• Orality (written subtitles should sound like
  spoken language)
• from Bartrina, Francesca and Eva Espsasa,
  Audiovisual Translation

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Stages in subtitling process

• Viewing
• Spotting (timing/cueing)
• Translating
• Editing
• from Bartrina, Francesca and Eva Espsasa,
  Audiovisual Translation

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For tomorrow

• Watch a programme (movie, talk show, serial,
  documentary, etc.) with subtitles in Portuguese
  and draw up a list of at least 5 different
  features that define/characterize the subtitles
  you have seen on screen.
• Remember to note down the name of the programme
  as well as when and where (TV channel) you
  watched it.

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For next week

• Visit this website and read the
• Code of Good Subtitling Practice
• at http//www.esist.org/Code.pdf

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You can also read

• Translator, Adapter, Screenwriter
• Translating for the audiovisual
• by Robert Paquin
• at http//accurapid.com/journal/05dubb.htm

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As well as

• A Proposed Set of Subtitling Standards in Europe
• by Fotios Karamitroglou
• at http//accurapid.com/journal/04stndrd.htm