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Subtitling in the Multimodal Context of Translated Film

Subtitling in the Multimodal Context of Translated Film. Chris Taylor University of Trieste Kristiansand 21 October 2005. SUBTITLES. The basic premise of this talk is that subtitles, as a semiotic resource, ADD to the meaning-making potential of a multimodal text such as a TV ad. or a film.

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Subtitling in the Multimodal Context of Translated Film

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  1. Subtitling in the Multimodal Context of Translated Film Chris Taylor University of Trieste Kristiansand 21 October 2005

  2. SUBTITLES • The basic premise of this talk is that subtitles, as a semiotic resource, ADD to the meaning-making potential of a multimodal text such as a TV ad. or a film. • If they are done well (a huge provviso) they ADD to the pleasure, interest, emotion or other cognitive process experienced by the viewer. • They ADD to and do not detract from the hermeneutic process as 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’

  4. 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.

  5. 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”

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

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

  9. 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…

  10. 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

  11. 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.

  12. … 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.

  13. … 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.

  14. 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

  15. 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.

  16. 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.

  17. 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”

  18. 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

  19. 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.

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

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

  22. 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.

  23. 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.

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

  25. but now let’s move to… MULTIMODAL TEXTS “Multimodality refers to the diverse ways in which a number of distinct semiotic resource systems are both co-deployed and co-contextualised in the making of a text-specific meaning”. Paul Thibault

  26. Column 3: The visual image

  27. Application of multimodal transcription to film translation BY - simplifying the descriptions - doubling up some columns - eliminating other columns - adding a translation column the MT proved useful in deciding translation strategies for subtitling film.

  28. Insert video Citroen

  29. Comment 1 Full meaning comes from various sources, both overt and covert - gloomy atmosphere; sparse facilities; evocation of areas such as East End of London; air of mystery (what’s it about?)

  30. Comment 2 It’s a boxer, doing typical boxer things. Voice – cockney accent! – it is the East End of London.

  31. Comment 3 - translation MAX subtitles – eg. education purposes DUBBING – risk of making him eg Neapolitan MIN subtitles – give him same ‘tough’, taut talk.

  32. Comment 4 • These are not intrusive titles and can blend in perfectly with the holistic original product.

  33. Comment 5 • “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)

  34. 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.

  35. Subtitles – distinguishing features

  36. Gottliebian thoughts The fact that subtitles are additive leads us to compute them into our multimodal scheme, and the fact that they are synchronous makes their function as an integrated element clear. And of course Gottlieb tells us that they are polymedial.

  37. 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.

  38. 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…

  39. 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)

  40. 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.

  41. 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.

  42. 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.

  43. 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.

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

  45. The Gottlieb Strategies TRANSFER EXPANSION CONDENSATION DECIMATION DELETION PARAPHRASE IMITATION TRANSCRIPTION DISLOCATION RESIGNATION

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