Lesson Six

Subtitling

Jakobson

Intralingual Interlingual

Intersemiotic

Diagonal translation

SL SPEECH Interpreting TL SL WRITING Translation TL

Subtitles

Jan Ivarrson ‘Subtitling for the Media’ 1992

Henrik Gottlieb ‘Subtitling, a new university discipline’ 1991, etc.

Irene Kovacic (Llubiana)

Yves Gambier (Turku)

Jorge Diaz (Roehampton)

Pilar Orero (Barcelona)

Intertitles

Two years later Frankenstein had discovered the mystery of life.

Tiger – the bully of the jungle …. cruel ….bloodthirsty.

+ letters, signs, etc.

Intertitles 2

UNCLE TOM’S CABIN 1927Across two states – George Harris, ever on the trail of Lemul Proctor, the buyer of Little Harry.

Moonlight bathing the old Kentucky home in radiance – romance in the winged and perfumed breezes of the night.

“Dunno whar dey is, Missy ‘Liza”

Subtitles over the years

1. photographed on cards and then together with film;

2. photo of whole film;

3. ‘clichés’ printed on film;

4. laser – vaporises emulsion at correct point;

5. computer with time code.

Technical aspects 1

Script (but often transcription)

translation

adaptation

composition

(translate all ‘written’ elements)

Technical aspects 2

Ideally there should be notes on the film itself,

the characters, the original story, the cultural

references, etc. – but there never is!!!

(Minchinton)

Technical aspects 3

SPOTTING – where to insert the subtitles.

in cue

out cue

spotting list.

Technical aspects 4

BACKGROUND

white titles on dark background

bottom of screen where there is least light and least action

except in snow scenes, etc. (black box)

Technical aspects 5

DIMENSIONS

width 2/3 of screen – centred

height 15% of screen

characters 32-40 per line (28-38 on TV)

(max. 68 or two lines of 20 ‘m’.)

Technical aspects 6

LINES

1 or 2 lines

2 lines avoids ‘flash effect’; generally better to have two one-liners together than two separate titles.

Technical aspects 7

TIME

Film characters speak quicker than the

‘average reader’ – but what is the “average

reader???”

As it is necessary to also take in the visuals,

etc., one line should remain on screen for at least

FOUR seconds, and two lines for 6-8 seconds.

Otherwise there is a danger of ‘re-reading’.

Technical aspects 8

GAP BETWEEN TITLES

3-8 frames or ¼ second.

Viewers need a fraction of a second to

identify speaker (fixation pause).

Must not overlap scene change or shot

change. Otherwise viewer reads title again

(overlapping effect).

Technical aspects 9

SEGMENTATION

Units must be syntactically and semantically

complete.

Never separate articles & nouns; prepositions

& nouns, conjunctions & clauses, pronouns &

verbs, compund verbs, adjectives & nouns,

etc.

Technical aspects 9a(from CARO DIARIO)“Non sapeva niente: come poteva immaginarsiche il giorno dopo per lui sarebbe cambiata lavita?”

He didn’t know his life wouldchange the next day

He didn’t knowhis life would change the next day

Technical aspects 10

DIALOGUE

- Character One- Character Two

- Hello, how are you?- None the better for seeing you!- (second part appears before it is spoken)

Technical aspects 11

PUNCTUATIONEvery language has a different prosody (rhythm of text,

emphasis, irony, etc.)Fullstop to end title.Dots for hesitation, interruption …Exclamation and Question marks.Underlining.Italics – voice off, flashback, etc.Capitals for signs, posters, etc.Brackets (in arabic) or for deaf (train passing)# songs eg. #tralala

Readability

The quality that makes possible the recognition of the information content of material when it is represented by alphanumeric characters in meaningful groupings, such as words, sentences or continuous text.

Fixation

During reading our eyes do not move smoothly across the page … they make a series of jumps …

… between the jumps the eyes remain relatively still, for about a quarter of a second, in what is referred to as a fixation.

Public view

(from ‘Too Close to Home’ : L.Barclay)

A. …And he loved movies. But not the ones everyone else liked. He liked the ones with the words at the bottom.

B. Subtitles.A. That’s right. Movies in different languages.

He liked to watch those. He had an appreciation for things that other people didn’t care much about.

Video Echo

Video Echo sub

Gottlieb on Subtitling

Prepared communication

using written language

acting as an additive

and synchronous semiotic channel

as part of a transient

And polysemiotic text

Subtitles/spontaneous conversation

Prepared not prepared

Written spoken

Additive original

Synchronous extempore

Transient ongoing

Polysemiotic multimodal

Written

As such, subtitling differs from all other types of screen translation.

Loss: ‘reducing’ a language to writing.

Gain: introduction of extraneous features that are not part of spoken discourse. Cf. ‘Pro rata’.

Additive

Verbal material is added to the original maintaining the source language discourse.

Intralingual/Interlingual

Immediate

All discourse is presented in a flowing manner, beyond the control of the viewer.

This is changing with the introduction of video, DVD, repetition in 24-hour TV news programmes, interactive TV (“press your red SKY button”), etc.

Synchronous

The original film and the translated dialogue are presented simultaneously, not even like simultaneous interpreting, where there are dangers.

Polymedial

Multimodal

At least two parallel channels are used to convey the total message of the original.

The Gottlieb StrategiesTRANSFEREXPANSION CONDENSATIONDECIMATIONDELETIONPARAPHRASEIMITATION TRANSCRIPTION DISLOCATIONRESIGNATION

Transfer

Complete translation

Not word-for-word.

Hi, honey.

Ciao, dolcezza.

Expansion

Give extra information, for example in the case of culture bound terms.

eg. ‘In the Name of the Father’: I.R.A.

Condensation

Say the same thing in a shorter way,

If only I could…

Magari…

Decimation

Remove completely a part of the discourse.

Si ma guardi cos’ha combinato, guardi che casino, porca puttana…

But look at this bloody mess

(from ‘La Bionda’ di S. Rubini)

Deletion

Remove entire text.

Would you like a cigarette?

---------------------------------

Cf. sign language for the deaf

Ultimo confronto stasera di questa coppa dei campioni della politica in cinque giornate che si è disputata nelle ultime settimane su RAI uno e partita di ritorno tra Silvio Berlusconi e Romano Prodi.

Stasera, su RAI uno, ultimo dibattito politico della campagna elettorale tra Silvio Berlusconi e Romano Prodi.

Paraphrase

Say the same thing in a different way.

For example ‘Kramer versus Kramer’

Ebbets Field….

monopattini…

Imitation

Repeat verbatim.

For example, names, quotes, etc.

Janes Bond, Fifth Avenue, “c’est la vie”.

Transcription

Copy any speech defects, etc.

‘A fish called Wanda’

They don’t sh..sh..sh..

Non c..c..c..

Dislocation

Shift from say song to prose.

Resignation

Defeated by culture bound reference.

For example ‘Friends’

… a big foam finger.

… una birra gigantesca.

Strategies

Expansion: expanded expression, adequate rendering;Paraphrase: altered expression, adequate rendering;Transfer: full expression, adequate rendering;Imitation: identical expression, equivalent rendering;Transcription: anomolous expression, adequate rendering;Dislocation: different expression, adjusted content;Condensation: condensed expression, concise rendering;Decimation: abridged expression, reduced content;Deletion: omitted expression, no verbal content;Resignation: differing expression, distorted content;

Transfer ‘Caro Diario’

D’estate a Roma i cinema sono tutti chiusi.

Summer in Rome, the cinemas are all closed.

Expansion ‘Caro Diario’

caseina di capra, groviera. gorgonzola…

goat’s cheese, Swiss cheese, gorgonzola…

Condensation ‘Caro Diario’

Ora è tutto cambiato, ora è tutto veramente cambiato.

Everything has really changed.

Decimation ‘Caro Diario’

Agenti di borsa, deputati, assessori, giormalisti,…

Brokers, congressmen, journalists,…

Deletion ‘Caro Diario’

Te lo dico io perché. Perché odio gente … come te!

I hate people like you!

Paraphrase ‘Caro Diario’

Ormai ha paura di rimettermi in gioco.

I’m afraid to re-think my life.

Imitation ‘Caro Diario’

Quam juvat – quant’è bello!

Quam juvat – how beautiful!

Transcription ‘Caro Diario’

Ca-pi-sci quel-lo che ti dico?

Un-der-stand what I’m say-ing?

Resignation ‘Caro Diario’

Garibaldi qui ci ha fatto la resistenza.

Garibaldi fought here.

Moretti monologue: Italian

D’estate a Roma, i cinema sono tutti chiusi.

Oppure ci sono …

film dell’orrore come “Henry”.

Oppure qualche film italiano.

Ormai ho paura di rimettermi in gioco..

Sono un vigliacco.

Ma cosa è successo in tutti questi anni? Ditemelo voi.

Ti si stanno imbiancando le tempie.

Incominciano a pesare le sconfitte..

Moretti monologue: English

Summer in Rome, the cinemas are closed. (T)

All you can see is … (P)

horror films like “Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer” (E)

Or some Italian films. (T)

I’m afraid to re-think my life. (P)

I’m a coward. (T)

What happened. Tell me? (D)

Your temples are turning white. (T)

The weight of defeat. (C)

ENGLISH No. subtitles %

transfer 661 66.3%

condensation 165 16.5%

decimation 45 4.5%

paraphrase 35 3.5%

deletion 35 3.5%

imitation 33 3.3%

transcription 11 1.1%

expansion 9 0.9%

resignation 3 0.3%

dislocation 1 0.1%

TOTAL 997 100%

SPANISH No. subtitles

%

transfer 950 80.7

condensation 96 8.2

imitation 40 3.4

decimation 27 2.3

paraphrase 23 2

transcription 15 2.3

deletion 13 1.1

expansion 5 0.4

A Stranger among us (1992)

Transfer 79%

Condensation 7%

Imitation 5%

La vita è bella – scena dell’interpretazione

expan

para

transfer

imitation

conden

decim

deletion

Video Posto sub max

Video Posto sub min

Subtitling for what?

Subtitling of different film typesdocumentary, soap opera, film

Subtitling from filmese to filmese to natural

Subtitling fordidactic purposesentertainment purposes

Subtitles for teaching

lexico-grammar items registersgenresconversation analysis translation

Other languages

Intralingual subtitlingEnglish-English Italian-ItalianGaelic-Gaelic?

Interlingual subtitlingEnglish-Italian and vice versaEnglish-Galician Portuguese and vice

versa

Database

Create database of subtitled genres:car adverts (drinks adverts)domestic soap scenesnature documentaries ‘rows’etc.

Relational database

Relate subtitled text to other semiotic modalitiesgesturemusiccamera angle/positionetc.