Lesson Seven

1. Lesson Seven Subtitling in the MultimodalContext of Translated Film

2. SUBTITLES • The basic premise isthatsubtitles, as a semioticresource, ADD to the meaning-makingpotential of a multimodal text suchas a TV ad. or a film. • Ifthey are donewell (a hugeprovviso) they ADD to the pleasure, interest, emotion or other cognitive processexperienced by the viewer. • They ADD to and do notdetract from the hermeneuticprocessas a whole.

3. TRANSLATED FILM Film has been translated since its earliest beginnings in the silent era. And in the beginning… there were subtitles intertitles Eg ‘The Clash of Wlolves’

5. multimodal text within a multimodal text Modern subtitles also perform this function in a more subtle way. For example Kubrick’s ‘Barry Lyndon’, a film in any case much given to the visual verbal channel – information, comments, letters, dicuments, etc.

6. Barry Lyndon The seduction scene between Barry and Lady Lyndon is based exclusively on a long series of knowing glances. Schubert and the ‘Faites vos jeux’ of the gaming tables provide the background. There is only one utterance, on the part of Lady lyndon: “Samuel, I’m going outside for a breath of fresh air”

7. Barry Lyndon subtitled A subtly placed, clear to read subtitle here Samuel, esco a prendere un po’ d’aria accompanying the lady as she moves out to the veranda and also Barry’s self-congratulatory expression, adds to the complicity and avoids the intrusion of an alien voice where the enunciation is brimming with covert intent.

8. but with talkies… …came the advent of dubbing especially in those countries with strict laws governing the intrusion of foreign languages (and cultures). … and the larger European countries have continued along this path, achieving excellent results.

9. but led Sergio Viaggio to say “Film dubbing is the least studied of all the branches of translation” • …. and subtitling?

10. The subtitling vs. dubbing debate • Views differ considerably, but a recently published work in Italy lays the battle ground in no uncertain terms. • ‘Tradurre per il doppiaggio’ Paolinelli and Di Fortunato. • After a detailed consideration of the financial aspects, the authors list the drawbacks of subtitling…

11. Drawbacks 1. Reduction of text (eg. ‘Natural Born Killers’ 9,758 words to 12,737); 2. Invasion of screen; 3. Reading takes up half length of film! 4. Continuous jumping from centre to bottom of screen; 5. No pedagogic value in context of cinema; AND

12. The main drawback? 6. Subtitles, given the preponderance of audiovisual material of foreign origin, give more ‘nobility’ to the source text than the target text, and are therefore an instrument of creeping linguistic and cultural colonialism.

13. … there’s worse to come • “I sottotitoli, quindi, si riducono a un semplice ausilio alla comprensione della trama, ma non possono, per ragioni strutturali, svolgere nessuna funzione di trasposizione linguistica.” • Subtitles are a mere guide to understanding but for structural reasons unable to fulfil any language transposition function.

14. … and more • “Laddove poi – ci riferiamo in particolare ai film comici – il dialogo si fonda su giochi o ripetizioni di parole, il sottotitolo è costretto a distruggere la coerenza del discorso, e con esso l’espressione comica”. • Where there are plays on words or repetition subtitles necessarily ruin the coherence of the discourse and any comic element gets lost.

15. other typical shortcomings all seeming redundancy is eliminated; translation is limited to an understanding of the plot; the ideational function of language is favoured at the expense of the interpersonal and the textual

16. how? Typical interpersonal markers of a verbal nature (discourse markers, phatic devices, hedges, etc.) are omitted. The textual function is mostly present in the other semiotic modalities – a mere list of subtitles lacks many cohesive and structural components.

17. but in favour of subtitling… Hofstadter “In America we tend not to dub movies, to my personal relief, so that we can experience the original voices and the alien phonemes of a foreign film. … Subtitles are not a replacement of anything, but an addition to a film – they form an overlay, so that one has a kind of simultaneous bicultural interpretation of what is going on.” • Multimodality in the service of intercultural communication.

18. Ivarsson “People want to hear the languages of the rest of the world, but they want to be sure they have understood them in their own tongue too…. • … SUBTITLES SEEM TO BE THE ANSWER”

19. But where do subtitles fit in the wider translation picture? “The qualities of a good translator are not few” Martin Luther “We are bound in two ways: to our mother tongue and to the mother tongue of the text we are translating” Martin Heidegger

20. Delisle and Woodsworth “Translators (are) importers of foreign cultural values and key players at some of the greatest moments in history… ….. (they) have played a determining role in the development of their societies.

21. Voltaire “Woe to the makers of literal translations, who by rendering every word weaken the meaning!”

22. …but none of these people were thinking about subtitles……and we are dealing with a recognisable variation on the general theme

23. Dolet (1540) • The translator must fully understand the sense and meaning of the original, although he is at liberty to clarify obscurities; • The translator should have a perfect knowledge of both SL and TL; • The translator should avoid ‘word for word’ renderings; • The translator should use forms of speech in common use; • The translator should choose and order words appropriately to produce the correct tone.

24. Ivarsson and Carroll’s ‘good practice’ • 1. Subtitlers must always work with a copy of the production, a copy of the dialogue list and a glossary… • 2. It is the subtitler’s job to spot the production and translate and write the subtitles in the language required. • 3. Translation quality must be high with due consideration of all idiomatic and cultural nuances. • 4……….. 25 + 7.

25. so what are subtitles? “an independent stratum midway between speech and writing” Kovacic or a subcategory of either? (Answers please)

26. Comment • “In definitiva, i sottotitoli dovranno risultare parte del film e la loro integrazione con l’originale sarà tale che essi diventeranno, pardossalmente, invisibili.” • Nironi • (Subtitles must be part of the film and their integration with the original must be such that they become, paradoxically, invisible)

27. in terms of … good practice • Good Practice 26 • The subtitler should be aware that the translated title forms part of a multimodal whole and seek the best way to integrate it with the other semiotic modalities present.

28. Gottlieb in Trieste HG laid great emphasis on the aesthetic appearance of the titles (clarity, non intrusiveness, perfct synchronisation, acccessability) as well as their meaning-making role.

29. so now in answer to Mario Paolinelli Comparing the dubbed and subtitled versions of the Marx Brothers’ ‘Animal Crackers’, and considering the following scene, the authors criticise the subtitled version…

30. Example from ‘Animal Crackers’ Ex- pres: President Wagstaff, now that you have stepped into my shoes… Wagstaff: Oh, is that what I stepped in? I wondered… If these are your shoes, the least you could do was have them cleaned. (Groucho looks down with a look of disgust)

31. Subtitles Ex- pres: Ora che lei è nei miei panni… Wagstaff: Mi chiedevo di chi erano! Poteva farli lavare. (literal translation) Ex- pres: Now that you are in my clothes… Wagstaff: I wondered whose they were. You could have had them washed.

32. Dubbing Ex- pres: Professor Wagstaff, ora che si è messo nei miei piedi… Wagstaff: Ah, lì mi sono messo. Ecco da dove esala. Se questi sono i suoi, li mandi in lavanderia! (literal translation) Ex- pres: Now that you have put yourself in my feet… Wagstaff: Oh, there I put myself. That’s where the smell comes from. If these are yours,send them to the laundry.

33. Well… • The dubbed version uses an expression that does not exist in Italian (or English). • The subtitled version uses the equivalent colloquial expression in Italian and is nice and succinct. • The visual element (Groucho looking down at his feet and wrinkling his nose) is not misleading. • THE WHOLE POINT IS THAT IN A MULTIMODAL TEXT THE MEANING COMES FROM ALL SIDES AND THESE SUBTITLES FIT IN WELL WITH THE REST OF THE SEMIOTIC BATTERY.

34. Natural Born Killers The main objection to the subtitling of NBK was that the translation of the constant background of radio and television noise was sacrificed because of the ‘inevitable’ condensation requirement. But the meaning conveyed by this component was the evil influence of irresponsible (American) media and this proved clear from the general context of the film, particularly as heard in the original language. This is the beauty of the multimodal text.

35. Shortcomings revisited regarding the ‘inevitable’ condensation all seeming redundancy is eliminated; translation is limited to an understanding of the plot.

36. More objections Paolinelli agrees that subtitlers need to possess “ottime qualità di analisi linguistica” as well as “grande familiarità con i meccanismi narrativi cinematografici”, but suggests that few practitioners possess these qualities. So let’s take a look at some subtitling from a multimodal point of view.

37. Insert video Ae Fond Kiss

38. Ae Fond Kiss This multimodal text is pregnant with explicit and covert meaning: • The tradition of the school in the private singing lessons cf. rough Glasgow background. • The enthusiasm of the teacher towards the girl who can’t sing; • The Scots accents of the (middle class) Pakistanis.

39. Ae Fond Kiss 2 This text cries out for subtitles: 1 to hear the different accents (Irish, Scots Scots, Pakistani Scots) - dubbing neutralises this aspect; 2. The words of the song are in any case unintelligible and would be farcical dubbed into another language; 3. The overlapping chat in the garden (which gives the scene such texture) does not require explicitation – dubbing would have to be selective and would remove this important component completely.

40. Ae Fond Kiss subtitles • 00:06:54:02 00:06:55:20 • Ci sei? Bene. • 00:07:02:22 00:07:09:01 • Un tenero bacio, • e poi ci separeremo

41. Subtitles 2 00:07:39:16 00:07:41:18 • cosi' ti puoi fare • un'idea di come sara'. • 00:07:41:18 00:07:44:12 • Okay, allora facciamo una prova! • Aspetta un attimo. • 00:07:44:18 00:07:46:21 • - Guarda un po'... Vado? • - Si', certo, vai.

42. Ae Fond Kiss - commentary Within the multimodal text the subtitles leave untouched the other semiotic modalities • the perspective in the various shots; • the colours in the garden; • the gaze vectors of the characters; • the embarrassed body language of the girl; • the clumsy movement of the father, AND PARTICULARLY - the suprasegmental elements –the accents of the characters and the spontaneous nature of the exchanges.

43. From script to screen • Comparisons between the original script of a film and a transcription of the actual dialogues practically always show discrepancies in favour of a more spoken language approach.

44. Philadelphia script CHANDRA (O.S.)You want to apply thefoundationas evenly as you can, Andy. Youdon't want to look like you'vethrown it on with a spoon.  • ANDREW (O.S.) • Uh huh. CHANDRA • Okay. You try.

45. Insert video Philadelphia

46. Philadelphia transcription • Chandra: • Okay, now, you gonna wanna apply the foundation as evenly as you can Andy, okay?‘Cos you don’t want to look like you’ve thrown it on with a spoon, okay? So, okay, you try it.

47. Philadelphia - dubbing Il fondotinta va applicato il più uniformemente possibile. Perché non sembri che te lo sei spalmato con un cucchiaio.

48. CENTOVETRINE • transcription

49. Intervista a Francesco Di Giovanni: la stesura dei dialoghi • La ricreazione di spontaneità nei dialoghi è uno dei vostri obiettivi? • Quello sarebbe l‟obiettivo fondamentale, è lo sforzo principale.

50. Perché in CentoVetrine non è previsto l’inserimento di tratti regionali piemontesi • Ormai è diventato un tratto editoriale: CentoVetrineè una soap opera che racconta le grandi passioni, cerca di raccontarle in un linguaggio più o meno digeribile però non ha un tratto né regionalistico, né social. Pur essendo a Torino, se tu ci fai caso, non viene mai nominata la Juventus, il Toro, la famiglia Agnelli: è una Torino immaginaria.