Audiovisual Translation: Taking Stock [Unabridged] 1443874329, 9781443874328

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Audiovisual Translation

Audiovisual Translation Taking Stock Edited by

Jorge Díaz Cintas and Josélia Neves

Audiovisual Translation: Taking Stock Edited by Jorge Díaz Cintas and Josélia Neves This book first published 2015 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2015 by Jorge Díaz Cintas, Josélia Neves and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-7432-9 ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-7432-8

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements .................................................................................. viii Chapter One ................................................................................................. 1 Taking Stock of Audiovisual Translation Jorge Díaz Cintas and Josélia Neves Chapter Two ................................................................................................ 8 Negotiation, Censorship or Translation Constraints? A Case Study of Duel in the Sun Carmen Camus-Camus Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 28 Conversational Routines across Languages: The Case of Greetings and Leave-takings in Original and Dubbed Films Veronica Bonsignori and Silvia Bruti Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 46 Dealing with Dialect: The Subtitling of Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis into English Claire Ellender Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 69 Subtitling Nonverbal Cultural References: Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy Taniya Gupta Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 87 Show Me the Funny: A Multimodal Analysis of (Non)verbal Humour in Dubbed Sitcoms Giovanna Di Pietro Chapter Seven ............................................................................................... 123 When Humour Gets Fishy: The Translation of Humour in Animated Films María Pilar González Vera

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Chapter Eight ........................................................................................... 140 “It ain’t ogre til it’s ogre”: The Dubbing of Shrek into Italian Vincenza Minutella Chapter Nine............................................................................................ 159 Dubbing Teenage Speech into Italian: Creative Translation in Skins Irene Ranzato Chapter Ten ............................................................................................. 176 Translating Speech in Media Texts Nathalie Mälzer- Semlinger Chapter Eleven ........................................................................................ 190 Audience Perception of Characters in Pedro Almodóvar’s Film La flor de mi secreto Carlos de Pablos Ortega Chapter Twelve ....................................................................................... 209 Chorus Lines—Translating Musical Television Series in the Age of Participatory Culture: The Case of Glee Alice Casarini Chapter Thirteen ...................................................................................... 230 Beyond the Book: The Use of Subtitled Audiovisual Material to Promote Content and Language Integrated Learning in Higher Education Annamaria Caimi and Cristina Mariotti Chapter Fourteen ..................................................................................... 244 How Useful Are Television Subtitles in Helping Deaf Children to Interpret Cartoon Programmes? Cristina Cambra, Núria Silvestre and Aurora Leal Chapter Fifteen ........................................................................................ 261 Opera (Sur)titles for the Deaf and the Hard-of-Hearing Sarah Eardley-Weaver Chapter Sixteen ....................................................................................... 277 Museum Accessibility through Translation: A Corpus Study of Pictorial Audio Description Catalina Jiménez Hurtado and Silvia Soler Gallego

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Contributors ............................................................................................. 299 Index ........................................................................................................ 306

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to express our most heartfelt thanks to the contributors for their patience and generosity in sharing their work with us. Special thanks should be extended to the following colleagues for their time, expertise and help with the blind peer reviewing of the chapters contain in the book but also of other papers that have not made it to the final publication: Rocío Baños Piñero, Charlotte Bosseaux, Mary Carroll, Frederic Chaume, Agnieszka Chmiel, Henrik Gottlieb, Ji-Hae Kang, JanLouis Kruger, José Luis Martí Ferriol, Laura McLoughlin-Incalcaterra, Jan Pedersen, Ana María Pereira Rodríguez, Noa Talaván Zanón, Adriana Tortoriello, Maria José Veiga, Patrick Zabalbeascoa and Soledad Zárate. Particular mention must be made of our colleagues from the TransMedia research group – Mary Carroll, Anna Matamala, Pilar Orero, Aline Remael and Diana Sánchez – for their friendship and constant encouragement in research matters. And last but not least, a very special thank you goes to our partners, family and friends for their unrelenting emotional support. Jorge Díaz Cintas University College London, UK Josélia Neves Hamad bin Khalifa University, Qatar

CHAPTER ONE TAKING STOCK OF AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION JORGE DÍAZ CINTAS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON, UK

AND JOSÉLIA NEVES HAMAD BIN KHALIFA UNIVERSITY, QATAR

As it stands today, AVT is seen by many scholars as one of the most thriving branches of Translation Studies; a vitality that is often attributed to its close connection to technology and constant developments. In his latest, revised edition of Introducing Translation Studies, Munday (2012: 268) takes the opportunity to add a new chapter entitled “New Directions from the New Media” which he opens by stating: Although they do not represent a new theoretical model, the emergence and proliferation of new technologies have transformed translation practice and are now exerting an impact on research and, as a consequence, on the theorization of translation.

This said, Munday (ibid.) follows with three sub-sections, the first of which is symptomatically dedicated to AVT, and underlines the “very dramatic developments in translation studies” that audiovisual translation in general, and subtitling in particular, have brought about. Further reading into the chapter takes one through a few of the principal lines of enquiry that have motivated researchers in the field, whilst highlighting some of the main challenges that AVT continues to pose: the difficulty in properly defining its name and nature; the normative, almost prescriptive guise of most of the guidelines available; the strong position of descriptive studies as one of the main theoretical paradigms followed by most scholars in the field; the need to bridge the gap between linguistic, multimedial, multimodal and multidisciplinary approaches in an attempt to account for

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the diversity of issues embedded in AVT; and the breaking down of professional and academic fortresses, among others. Despite its interest, the given account of AVT seems rather reductionist if we are to truly take stock of where AVT positions itself at present. If, from the theory perspective, AVT still draws heavily from seminal works within the “mother” field of Translation Studies, one might query whether this specific area of research will remain within this field for much longer or whether it is becoming something else on an academic level, in the effort to keep up with the multiple avenues that are now being pursued. It is clear that AVT has come a very long way since it started gaining academic acknowledgement in the mid-1990s. It is also known that this thriving domain of translation studies has called for knowledge from a number of disciplines that span from neuroscience to engineering and from psychology to sociology or to aesthetics, to name but a few. With all the new directions that AVT is taking, principally in the name of accessibility but also thanks to the hasty evolution witnessed in technology and the rapidly changing social ecology, it seems legitimate to enquire whether AVT has outgrown the limits of Translation and Translation Studies to become if not a new discipline in itself, most certainly an interdiscipline. What is then lacking for AVT Studies to grow into an autonomous field of knowledge or a discipline in its own right? Is there a need for such a distinction or will AVT always be a sub-discipline of Translation Studies? Both questions might read as rhetorical but they deserve some thought if we are to better understand what are the main salient points that characterise the nature of AVT and the backbone that should run through its study, if AVT is to be successful well into the second decade of the 21st century. Paradigms are shifting and the borders between topics and approaches are blurry. Even if publications are numerous and diverse, one might still not be able to talk of a robust theoretical body that could form the solid foundations of an independent field of knowledge. Nonetheless, it can be argued that AVT can no longer be seen as a mere subsidiary of Translation Studies for it has slowly moved from the periphery towards the centre of the field, awakening on the way the interest of numerous researchers keen to investigate a myriad of (potential) topics within the parameters of AVT. In the same way as translation has moved beyond linguistics and is now seen as an integral part of cultural studies and communication—gaining space as central to the communication effort rather than being addressed as an afterthought or an addition—, so too has AVT become the engine for eclectic thinking within the field of TS. It may well be that AVT is still a long way away from becoming a separate

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discipline, but the reality is that it has certainly provided renewed impetus in certain academic quarters and has therefore contribute to the reinforcement of the very nature of Translation Studies as a space for convergence and diversity. Certain signs and developments seem to point in the direction of an incipient maturity of AVT studies and, for some, this clearly signals the fact that our field has truly come of age and that the time has come to take stock of where we think we are and where we want to go. Should we continue to be one among the many sub-fields within Translation Studies or should we strive to propel AVT to the forefront of Translation Studies? Should AVT become the main catalyst for change in translation and boldly enter uncharted territory? Are AVT scholars well placed to open up new research avenues and break new ground? Are they the pioneers of the future? Are they destined to act as the connecting bridge between TS and other fields of knowledge? The reply to these questions will only come with time, of course, but it seems that the right moment has now come to take stock of what has been done and achieved so far, to consider quality versus quantity and to start debating where we would like to take both TS and AVT. The papers published in this volume speak of a rich and complex academic subject in the making and reflect the many crossroads and junctions it presently faces. Organising this volume has not been an easy task for there are no clear cut sections and some theoretical threads run throughout the whole volume. Instead of taking a straight line, we would like to invite readers to embark on a journey that will take them from cultural and linguistic approaches and from traditional domains of translation studies to lesser known areas of research that are attracting substantial interest from various stakeholders and gradually becoming part of the remit of AVT. This volume opens with the account of a descriptive study conducted by Carmen Camus-Camus—“Negotiation, Censorship or Translation Constraints? A Case Study of Duel in the Sun”—, in which she addresses the topic of censorship in Spain. By analysing the 2007 DVD release of Vidor’s Duel in the Sun (1949), the author dissects a number of constraints that would have led to cuts in the 1953 Spanish dubbed version and discusses how cuts and imposed changes had the effect of contributing towards perpetuating western stereotypes of the female figure. Still within the domain of dubbing, Veronica Bonsignori and Silvia Bruti take on a socio-pragmatic approach when they analyse “Conversational Routines across Languages: The Case of Greetings and Leave-takings in Original and Dubbed Films”. This study is done through a micro-level

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analysis of cultural specific speech acts in a corpus of Italian dubbed films with a view to determine, as in the previous paper, how certain cultural values may be represented, perpetuated and even reinforced through dubbing. Another paper that adopts a markedly linguistic approach is that by Claire Ellender, in which the difficulties of subtitling dialects is brought to the fore. In “Dealing with Dialect: The Subtitling of Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis into English”, Ellender questions not only how the ch’ti dialect, spoken in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, might be conveyed through subtitles but also queries how the linguistic specificity and the humour that is provoked by the use of this French regional variant might be conveyed through English subtitles. The chapter focuses on scenes from the film in which pronunciation, vocabulary, expressions and grammar result in confusion in the original French version and, subsequently, amusement. A further contribution towards understanding how language and culture come together in AVT is to be found in Taniya Gupta’s “Translating Nonverbal Cultural References in Subtitling: Satyajit’s Ray’s Apu Trilogy”. In yet another descriptive study, communication is seen in its nonverbal component and the author analyses how subtitling can or cannot account for aspects such as proxemics, kinesis, paralanguage and cultural signs when working between lingua-cultures that are significantly different, as it happens when an Indian film is translated for English and Spanish viewers. Still in the sphere of non-verbal communication in film, a detailed multimodal approach is taken by Giovanna Di Pietro to understand how humour is conveyed through dubbing. In her article entitled “Show Me the Funny: A Multimodal Analysis of (Non)verbal Humour in Dubbed Sitcoms”, Di Pietro goes through the way in which verbal and nonverbal signs concur towards situational comedy and provides proof on how the visual image has an overriding presence that can constrain and determine the linguistic choices available to the translator when dubbing the verbal component. The study of the translation of humour in audiovisual texts is also addressed in the contribution “When Humour Gets Fishy: The Translation of Humour in Animated Films”, by María Pilar González Vera. She embarks on the analysis of culture bound references in films that appear to be aimed at younger audiences in order to show that this type of films are indeed targeting a plurality of viewers with different abilities through the presence of skilled linguistic and cultural subtleties, both in the soundtrack and the images. She then proceeds to analyse the various challenges faced by the translator of the Spanish dubbed versions of two animated films and to discuss the solutions reached. Still in the realm of films for wide

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audiences and addressing the challenging task of dealing with humour, Vincenza Minutella makes use of various scenes from Shrek films to discuss the strategies adopted by translators and dialogue writers in their dubbed versions into Italian. In “’It ain’t an ogre til it’s an ogre’: The Dubbing of Shrek into Italian”, the author offers a detailed accounts for part of an ongoing research project to highlight how effective wordplay has contributed to what is thought to be creative and high quality translation solutions. Focussing also on creativity in dubbing, Irene Ranzato’s paper “Dubbing Teenage Speech into Italian: Creative Translation in Skins”, looks into the partly stereotyped speech communities depicted in some audiovisual productions and their portrayal through translation. To this aim, the paper discusses the case study of the comedic teenage drama Skins, a UK production which has been running since 2007, portraying the lives of a group of young people from Bristol. Her results show that their lively, dense, rich vocabulary becomes even more imaginative in the hands of the creative adapters responsible for the Italian dubbed version, who have resorted to various strategies to give an exotic feel in Italian to this teenage jargon. Along similar lines, Nathalie Mälzer-Semlinger, in her paper entitled “Translating Speech in Media Texts”, endeavours to discuss a comparative study in which the novel of the French author François Bégaudeau Entre les murs, adapted for the cinema by Laurent Cantet, and their respective translations into German are evaluated to see how three different forms of translation—i.e. novel, subtitling and dubbing—have impacted on the shape of dialogue and the use of colloquialisms. The article by Carlos de Pablos Ortega, “Audience Perception of Characters in Pedro Almodóvar’s Film La flor de mi secreto” takes us into a rather unexplored domain of AVT studies, that of reception studies. After having surveyed two hundred informants, the study arrives at conclusions on the way understanding is as much bound to the verbal component as it is to all the paralinguistic information that comes with sound. It further concludes that the decoding of such information is deeply rooted in the intricacies of cultural identity. While still addressing cultural issues, Alice Casarini takes a slant towards technology and translation process in her chapter “Chorus Lines. Translating Musical Television Series in the Age of Participatory Culture: The Case of Glee”. The new socio-cultural context in which young audiences consume audiovisual programmes online appears to be influencing AVT practices with the ensuing result of blurred limits between traditionally distinct stakeholders and practices. Thus, the author highlights the facts that professional and amateur translators seem to come hand in hand on occasions and also that

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subtitling and dubbing no longer compete against each other but are rather seen as complementary when it comes to cater for the needs of a rapidly growing 2.0 viewership. By taking a step away from the core interests of traditional AVT studies, in the paper “Beyond the Book: The Use of Subtitled Audiovisual Material to Promote Content and Language Integrated Learning in Higher Education”, Annamaria Caimi and Cristina Mariotti explore AVT as a tool for language learning. This is a case where multimedia learning materials and multimodal activities are called upon to provide students with diverse and challenging learning styles that promote new learning opportunities. The article argues that multimodal materials are valuable learning aids and AVT—intralingual subtitling for instance—may enhance comprehension and production of output both in spoken and written forms. A further analysis of the affordances of subtitles for educational purposes is presented by Cristina Cambra, Núria Silvestre and Aurora Leal in their joint paper “How Useful Are Television Subtitles in Helping Deaf Children Interpret Cartoon Programmes?”. In this case, emphasis is not placed on the learning of a foreign language but rather on the understanding of the filmic whole and of the story line in particular, through the reading of subtitles. By focusing on a specific group of viewers—pre-lingually deaf children—these researchers propose the use of simplified subtitles that would allow such viewers to enjoy the semiotic whole without imposing too much cognitive effort on their still weak reading skills. A similar wish to understand common accessibility practices and to assess how these allow for comfort and enjoyment in the reception of audiovisual programmes, Sarah Eardley-Weaver offers a detailed examination of “Opera (Sur)titles for the Deaf and the Hard-of-hearing”. In her paper, she is a strong advocate for surtitles that should allow viewers to enjoy the opera experience to the fullest and, in her opinion, this can only be achieved if they are to include not only the lyrics but also information about sound effects, musical features, repeats, language variation and other linguistic and paralinguistic details. The author thus proposes to follow a similar approach to that taken when subtitling for television as this will significantly contribute to a greater response by the deaf and the hard-of-hearing to the multiple semiotic stimuli of multimedia texts. The final chapter in this volume pushes the boundaries of traditional AVT to a new context, that of museums. In “Museum Accessibility through Translation: A Corpus Study of Pictorial Audio Description”, Catalina Jiménez Hurtado and Silvia Soler Gallego provide a comprehensive

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analysis of two distinct audioguide text types—pictorial audio description for the visually impaired and audio guides for visitors with normal vision. The authors take the specific case of audio description with a view to propose a theoretical framework for the analysis of the museum and the museum exhibition as a truly interactive and multimodal communicative event. Whilst addressing some of the better known areas of AVT—subtitling, dubbing, SDH and audio description—and exploring new avenues such as AVT in museums, the contributors to this volume have again proven that audiovisual translation continues to move between translation types and to reach new audiences in new communicative contexts and settings, making Jakobson’s (1959/2004) triad of interlingual, intralingual and intersemiotic translation all the more true and productive.

References Jakobson, Roman. 1959/2004. “On Linguistic aspects of translation”, in Laurence Venuti (ed.) The Translation Studies Reader. 2nd edition. London: Routeledge, 138-43. Munday, Jeremy. 2012. Introducing Translation Studies. Theories and Applications. 3rd edition. London: Routeledge.

CHAPTER TWO NEGOTIATION, CENSORSHIP OR TRANSLATION CONSTRAINTS? A CASE STUDY OF DUEL IN THE SUN CARMEN CAMUS-CAMUS UNIVERSITY OF CANTABRIA, SANTANDER, SPAIN

Abstract Compulsory film censorship affected all films projected in Spanish cinemas during Franco’s dictatorship (1939-1975) and continued a few years afterwards. This paper presents a case study of the censorship and self-censorship processes affecting the release in Spain of Vidor’s Duel in the Sun (1946). In the USA, the producer endured a protracted negotiation both with the Production Code Administration and the Catholic Legion of Decency, a process which resulted in the implementation of numerous cuts and trims aimed at obtaining a B rating. This study examines the scenes suppressed by the Spanish distribution company Procines before presenting the movie to the Spanish Censorship Board, analyses areas of potential self-censorship, correlates Procines cuts in the Spanish dubbed version with the censorship criteria applied at that time, and also discusses the suppressions introduced after the Spanish Censorship Board’s verdict. Although, according to the 1953 Spanish censorship file (11849/53), only four scenes were pruned by the censors, a descriptive study of the translation process revealed that seventeen scenes had already been removed before submission for official censorship. Spanish distribution companies frequently negotiated the implementation of scene suppressions and dialogue modifications with the board of censors not only to obtain authorisation for exhibition for all ages but also to speed the launching of the film. The latest DVD of Duel in the Sun, released in Spain by Sogemedia in 2007, includes the four scenes banned by the censors but still excludes those suppressed by Procines before submitting the film to the Censorship Board.

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1. Introduction Duel in the Sun, a multimillion-dollar melodramatic Western produced by Selznick and directed by King Vidor (1946), was based on the homonymous novel written by Niven Busch (1944). Before its release in the USA, the producer had to suppress several scenes as the film underwent a long and complicated negotiation process both with the Production Code Administration (PCA) in order to obtain their seal of approval and with the Legion of Decency, who finally granted the film a B rating, objectionable in parts (Black 1999). Duel in the Sun portrays a quasi-biblical Abel and Cain allegory, about a good son (Joseph Cotten) and a bad one (Gregory Peck) involved in a passionate love triangle with the highly sexually-charged, half-breed Pearl Chavez. The film subverted the classical Western notion that only villains transgressed the limits of noble values and ideas, and portrayed steamy scenes which, with the exception of The Outlaw (Howard Hughes, 1943), had been kept beyond the genre’s frontiers. Translations in a censorial context like Franco’s dictatorship in Spain (1939-1975) had to pass through a double filter: the intrinsic sieve involved in transferring the contents of a text belonging to a specific cultural frame of reference into a new text inserted in a different cultural milieu, and the ideological constraints imposed by censorship. With no exception, translations of US Westerns, one of the most popular genres during Franco’s dictatorship, had to pass through the “purifying” censorship filter. This case study forms part of a larger investigation which aims at establishing the incidence and effects of Franco’s censorship in the translation of the Western genre in both narrative and film. The study illustrates the ideological constraints of Franco’s censorship on the importation and release of Duel in the Sun during the term of Arias Salgado (1951-1962), when the popularity of the Western genre was at its peak.

2. Theoretical framework The wake of the cultural turn in Translation Studies shifted the focus of attention in research from the written page to the surrounding cultural factors involved in the translation process. The new analytical model incorporated cultural phenomena such as the ideological constraints affecting the transfer of a source text (ST) into a target text (TT). The epistemological basis underlying this new approach to translation is the

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Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) paradigm, first proposed in 1972 by Holmes (1988) as one of the branches (theoretical, descriptive and applied) of Translation Studies and later developed by Toury (1995). The evolution of DTS is closely related to the application of the Polysystem Theory (Even-Zohar 1979) to literary translation. From this viewpoint, literature is seen as a dynamic system consisting of various interconnecting and overlapping subsystems, including translated literature. At the same time, the literary system is also related to, and influenced by, other systems such as language, economics, politics, etc. Lefevere (1992: 15) regards the literary system as subjected to two control factors, one from within the system—its poetics— and the other from outside the system—patronage— understood as “the powers (persons, institutions) that can further or hinder the reading, writing or rewriting of literature”. Patronage is more concerned with ideology than with poetics, which it largely leaves to the professionals (critics, reviewers, translators, etc.). In totalitarian contexts, patronage is “undifferentiated” in that its three components (ideology, economics and status) are all controlled by one and the same patron (ibid.: 17). In DTS the translation process is considered a norm-governed activity with norms defined as socio-cultural constraints that occupy the space between absolute rules and pure idiosyncrasies (Toury 1995: 54). Toury (ibid.: 56-57) contemplates preliminary norms, which relate to translation policy and determine the selection of text types or individual works to be translated and the choice of source languages or texts. Operational norms include both matricial norms – those governing the completeness of the TT and the location and distribution of segments—and textual-linguistic norms—those governing the selection of specific linguistic components used as translation replacements in the TT. Of special methodological importance is the concept of initial norm, which designates the basic choice made by translators with regard to the general tendency of their work, selecting between respecting the characteristics of the ST and source culture norms, “adequacy”, or prioritising the target culture norms to achieve optimal communication with the target audience, “acceptability” (ibid.: 57). Figure 1 reflects the interrelationship of a welter of factors affecting the transfer process of a translation into a new cultural territory commanded by a rigid control mechanism as is official censorship. The outer circle represents the intersection of the work under examination with the many factors involved in the sociocultural context and its relationship with the systems of power (patronage, ideology poetics, etc.). Although extratextual sources include semi-theoretical and critical formulations on

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translation and statements made by translators, editors and publishers (ibid.: 65), in the context of totalitarian regimes those of greatest interest for the model of analysis followed are those that inform us of the ideological constraints in force at the time under the dictatorship, in particular, all the official legislation (decrees and ministerial orders) that conforms this stringent bureaucratic straitjacket. The intermediate ring encompasses the paratextual material connected with a specific work under study, which is divided into peritexts and epitexts (Genette 1997). The former consist of material surrounding the primary narrative such as covers, prologues, and illustrations in the case of books; or posters, trailers, scripts and the like for films. In contrast, the latter consist of material about the primary work, such as reviews in the source and target cultures, but especially in regimes with a censorial control system, epitexts include all the documentation – requests, letters, partial and final resolutions, etc.—archived in the censorship files. The inner circle is reserved for the parallel bi-texts subjected to macrotextual examination and significant textual segments (scenes and dialogues) selected for close microtextual linguistic analysis. Figure 1: Factors affecting the translation process in a context of censorship

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3. Construction of the film catalogue TRACEciO In Spain, all censorship records opened during the Franco regime are housed at the Administration’s General Archive (AGA) in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, which constitutes the richest source of information on Franco’s censorship. Tapping into this rich lode of censorship records makes it possible to perform comprehensive and reliable studies on translation and censorship in the Spanish context. To determine the incidence of censorship in westerns, we compiled a catalogue of film censorship files (TRACEciO—Spanish acronym for TRAnslations CEnsored in cinema of the Far West) from different sources but mainly the AGA. A guided search was performed in the AGA database for every western known to have been based on a novel or short story and subsequently imported, dubbed and commercialised in Spain in the study period (1939-1975). Unfortunately, the archiving procedure for the film censorship records has not been careful and systematic so that many censorship files have been lost, and consequently, it is not possible to provide as clear and explicit a mapping for western films as we have done for narrative (Camus-Camus 2009). TRACEciO consists of 202 censorship files pertaining to 168 different films since new files were opened at different stages of the censorship procedure: importation, dubbing and exhibition. All the information from the censorship records was stored in an ad hoc designed database. From the TRACEciO data, Duel in the Sun was selected for analysis because it is a representative film that illustrates the censorial trend for the period of the dire years of stringent censorship under the hardliner Arias Salgado, who was Minister of Information and Tourism from 1951 to 1962.

4. Method of analysis For the study of Duel in the Sun we carried out a two-stage analysis: a preliminary study, followed by a macrotextual analysis. In the preliminary study, the extratextual factors surrounding the film serve to establish through different sources the preliminary norms and norms of reception that guided the translation and dubbing process. In particular, epitexts such as reviews in both the source and target cultures serve to determine the status of the works and their position in the system while the study of the censorship files allows us to ascertain the pressure from official censorship and to reconstruct the passage of the work through this process. In Spain, the official censorship norms were not passed until 1963 (BOE 08/03/1963). In the interim years, in particular during the first period of

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the dictatorship, there was great concern about what was permitted and what was susceptible to being banned in films as there were no explicit censorship norms. In 1946, in an attempt to cast some light on the obscure censorship criteria applied to film censorship, Ortiz Muñoz, at the time a prominent member of the Spanish Censorship Board and a film script assessor of national and foreign films, presented the blueprint of the censorship code that had guided the film censorship pronouncements by the Board: Criterio y normas morales de censura cinematográfica [Criterion and moral norms of film censorship]. These censorship norms broadly emulated the Hays Code, adapting it to the ideology of the Francoist regime. In his code, Ortiz Muñoz presented a decalogue of the main criteria and norms that guided the censors in their decisions: crime, sex, obscenity, dances, costume, vulgarity, religion, national institutions, repellent subjects, and titles and publicity. In 1953, when Duel in the Sun was released in Spain, censors seemed to have broadly applied the unofficial norms proposed by Ortiz Muñoz. The macrotextual analysis, which takes account of the suppression and modification of scenes or shots, serves to identify the policies adopted by the distribution companies in their negotiation with the Censorship Board (Camus-Camus 2008). Since the distributors were also aware of the “unofficial” code, the criteria of Ortiz Muñoz will be applied when interpreting the macrotextual suppressions. The results obtained in the two-stage analysis allow the identification of the strategies underlying the translation and censorship processes—in particular, whether self-censorship has been employed as a strategy.

5. Preliminary analysis In Spain Duelo al sol was released in 1953 and authorised for adults only (over 16). Although the ecclesiastical censorship rated the film in the most severe moral category (4 and red), reserved for “highly dangerous” films, Cine Asesor, the regime’s official film magazine, published in its Hoja archivable de información [Archivable Information Sheet] nº 542-53 the movie’s technical features and highlighted its star-studded cast and its status as a super production, but completely overlooked the controversial aspects such as the love triangle, the passionate scenes, Pearl’s exuberant sexuality and those related to seduction, rape and murder. In spite of the harsh moral classification from the ecclesiastical sector, Duel in the Sun was generally well received by the Spanish press. According to the information recorded in the AGA censorship file no. 11,849/53, the film did not go through a protracted censorship process. In

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their application to the Censorship Board, the distribution company Procines stated that they had verified that the film complied with the Catholic censorship norms and supported their claim by presenting a copy and Spanish translation of the certificate of the American Legion of Decency’s resolution, published in the March issue of The Tidings (no. 21, 1947), as a credential of the film’s moral content: His Excellency, the Most Reverend Archbishop, directs the priests of the Archdiocese to inform their people that the revised version of the motion picture “Duel in the Sun” has been reviewed and classified by the Legion of Decency as Class B (objectionable in part). In effecting this revision the producer has responded with cooperation and understanding to the public criticism of the trial run of the picture in Los Angeles and has shown an awareness of responsibility for the moral and social significance of motion pictures. By order of his Excellency, the Most Reverend Archbishop. Signed by Edward Wade, Secretary.

The original version of the film was submitted for compulsory censorship on 14 January 1953. Surprisingly, despite the production company’s fears, the reports were highly favourable, especially in view of the complicated negotiation process with the PCA and the Legion of Decency. The Spanish Censorship Board unanimously authorised importation and dubbing of the film provided that the following modifications (Figure 2) were introduced in four scenes:

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Figure 2: Extract from censorship file no. 11,849/53

Reel 7: Suppress the kiss between Pearl and Lewt Reel 9: Suppress the repeated kissing between Pearl and Lewt when they are lying by the lakeside Reel 11: Suppress the kiss between Jesse and the girl Reel 15: Suppress the end so that when Pearl appears she finds him already dead

All these suppressions involved scenes with kisses, which, at the time the film was released in Spain, were systematically banned, since the Catholic sector considered them “anti-aesthetic” (Martínez Breton 1987: 95).

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The first of these banned kisses occurs after Lewt steals into Pearl’s dormitory and forces her to surrender to his lust. At first, she fiercely opposes Lewt’s sexual advances but, as her passion is aroused, she wildly surrenders to his desire. The second takes place by the sump while Lewt is holding Pearl in his arms and repeatedly kissing her as he assures her that he is going to announce their engagement at the party the following weekend. The third involves Jesse and his fiancée Helen Langford in a brief scene that takes place in the rear of a train and shows a chaste kiss that merely lasts one second. In the suppressed frame Jesse tenderly kisses Helen while amorously embracing her. The last kiss to be censored marks the climax at the end of the film and materializes after Pearl and Lewt have savagely shot each other. Aware of his imminent death, Lewt declares his love for her and, despite her wounds, Pearl struggles up the rocks to his side, where they passionately seal their fate with a kiss before dying in each other’s arms. Despite the controversy the film had generated in the source culture, the Censorship Board, with the exception of the aforementioned cuts, issued a favourable report: American film that is technically excellent. Morally it is strong and harsh; but on introducing the above-mentioned adaptations, it can be imported and then authorised for adults, because it even has some moral lessons, as the father sees the disastrous effects his education has had on Lewt, who was the spoilt son. The scenes between Pearl and Lewt are not so seductive as to incite the spectator to evil; it could be said they are strong and no more, unless they play on the imagination of someone who always sees something else, in which case they should not be shown. But for mature people I think that there will be no objection to the projection of this film, since what could be considered morbid disappears with the introduction of the said adaptations. (my translation)

Once censorship ended in the late 1970s, the four banned scenes, as they had already been dubbed, were eventually incorporated into the Spanish version which, we believe, is the same as that used on the latest DVDs issued in Spain.

6. Macrotextual analysis The aim of this analysis is to examine the divergence in scenes between the original and the Spanish dubbed versions. To this end, the Home Entertainment DVD, which was released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer in 2004 for region 1 (USA and Canada) and which contains the full film

Negotiation, Censorship or Translation Constraints?

17

(plus subtitles in English, French and Spanish), has been compared with the DVD with the Spanish dubbed version and English and Spanish subtitles released by Manga Films in 2001 for region 2 (Europe) and with the DVD released by Sogemedia in 2007. Although both DVDs, Manga Films and Sogemedia, contain the same version, the declared runtime is rather confusing. According to Cine Asesor, the film as released in 1953 lasted 122 minutes. The runtime stated on the DVD commercialised by Western Legends (2004) is 144 minutes and the copies distributed by Manga Films (2001) and Sogemedia (2007) indicate 115 and 135 minutes, respectively. The analysis of the TRACEciO catalogue reveals that at the time distribution companies “voluntarily” introduced cuts in their films aimed, on the one hand, at lowering the age limit to increase their audience and, on the other, at avoiding delays in the commercial exploitation of their products (Gutiérrez Lanza 2000: 172). The contrastive analysis of the original and dubbed versions of Duel in the Sun yielded a total of seventeen fragments that we assume the distribution company Procines deemed dangerous and decided not to include in the Spanish version censored in 1953. Rather surprisingly, these suppressed scenes have not been incorporated into the Spanish DVDs examined. These cuts shorten the duration of the film by a total of 11 minutes and forty-six seconds. Table 1 shows the scenes suppressed through self-censorship by Procines, which are discussed in section 7. The interpretation of the underlying motives for censoring this content is based on the criteria proposed by Ortiz Muñoz (1946: 5, my translation), which, as the author points out, “have inspired, in general, the action and resolutions of the National Committee for Film Censorship”. Table 1: Scenes suppressed through self-censorship by the distribution company Procines Nº

Scenes

Time

1

Overture

2

Dying Wish

0:09:360:11:31 0:21:510:22:22

3

I talk to no strangers

0:24:200:25:07

Characters/ inserts (Narrator)

Censorship criteria

Pearl & Mr Chavez

Audience’s sympathy shall never lean to the side of crime Consistent characterisation

Pearl & Jesse

Social / political

Chapter Two

18 4

A Good Girl

0:31:140:32:08

5 6

Pearl is furious Pearl is woken

7

Call to arms

8

Going away

0:54:190:54:24 0:54:280:54:45 0:58:500:58:59 1:15:061.16.32

9

Dancing lessons Pastoral scene

10 11 12

Check your gun Wanted

13

Regrets

14 15

Blowing up the railway Never forget

16

Hotel

17

Final shootout

1:29:131:29:51 1:34:421:35:17 1:40:351:40:38 1:42:251:42:33 1:43:461:43:57 1:45:521:46:05 2:01:492:02:25 2:04:202:04:26 2:14:002:14:28 2:16:062:16:49 2:17:252:18:16 2:18:402:19:20

Pearl, Mrs McCanles & Vashti Pearl & Lewt

Consistent characterisation/ religión

Pearl & Vashti

Pearl’s nudity

Senator & cowhands Pearl, Jesse & Lewt

Prominent people shall be represented appropriately Harassment / farewell scene/ prominent people shall be represented fairly Consistent characterisation/ dances Religion

Pearl & Lewt

Sexual innuendo

Pearl & Sam Pierce Insert

Purity of language

Insert

Purity of language

Mr & Mrs McCanles Lewt

Prominent people shall be represented appropriately Crimes against the law / purity of language Consistent characterisation Purity of language

Pearl & Jesse Insert Pearl & Lewt

Crimes and violence / consistent characterisation

7. Scenes suppressed due to self-censorship The seventeen scenes described and commented on below are deemed to be the result of “self-censorship” by the distribution company as none of them was actually registered in any of the censorship reports and, hence, it can only be assumed that they were excluded willingly by Procines in order not to antagonise the censors in themes and aspects believed to be

Negotiation, Censorship or Translation Constraints?

19

unacceptable. At that time it was a common policy of distribution companies to introduce voluntary cuts in those scenes they considered might transgress the moral code propounded by the Spanish censors; with this self-censorship they pre-empted further extensive cuts being made and were thus able to accelerate the censorship procedure and the release of the films in cinemas. The seventeen scenes presented in the above table have not been included in the two DVDs released in Spain in 2001 and 2007 and examined in this study: Manga Films and Sogemedia.

7.1 Overture The first suppression was introduced even before the beginning of the film, and involves the silencing of part of the prologue intoned by Orson Welles in a doom-laden voice. Ironically, Selznick had been compelled by the Legion of Decency to introduce this prologue in order to spare the final shoot-out scene (Black 1999: 94): Ladies and gentlemen... The overture to “Duel in the Sun”. “Duel in the Sun,” two years in the making...is a saga of Texas in the 1880’s...when primitive passions rode the raw frontier...of an expanding nation. Here, the forces of evil were in constant conflict...with the deeper morality of the hearty pioneers... and here, as in this story we tell... a grim fate lay waiting for the transgressor... upon the laws of God and man. The characters in “Duel In The Sun”... are builded out of the legends of a colorful era... when a million acres were one man’s estate... and another man’s life was held as lightly as a woman’s virtue. The character of the sinkiller... is based upon those bogus unordained evangelists... who preyed upon the hungry need for spiritual guidance...and who are recognized as charlatans... by the intelligent and God-fearing.

This fragment may have been suppressed as the assertion that an extensive territory could be in the hands of just one man might be interpreted as an ironic allusion to the Spanish dictatorship. In addition, the character of the histrionic Sinkiller could be considered an offence to the dignity and respect expected in matters pertaining to the Church and its ministers.

7.2 Dying wish Pearl’s father, Mr Chavez, is in jail awaiting the death penalty for the murder of his adulterous wife and her lover. Before the execution, Chavez comforts Pearl with words of reassurance and courage and urges her to

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Chapter Two

look upon Laura Belle as a constant example to follow. At the same time, Pearl feels outraged and rebels against her father’s imminent execution. The noble feelings of both father and daughter clash with the ideological convention of presenting characters associated with either positive or negative values, i.e. linear characterisation. As will be seen throughout this analysis, all Selznick’s efforts to endow the protagonists with a more psychologically plausible characterisation collided with the criteria applied by the distribution company, who were no doubt acquainted with Ortiz’s third general norm that only prototypes or life models should be shown on the screen and their opposites should only be presented in order to achieve the dramatic effect of contrast.

7.3 I talk to no strangers Young Pearl arrives in Paradise Flats, and when Jesse abruptly approaches her, she misinterprets his intentions and dismisses him brusquely out of self-protection: “I know all about men like you”. This suppression aims at maintaining a consistent characterisation of Pearl, since the image of a defiant and brave woman does not fit with the paradigmatic image of a pusillanimous and submissive woman propounded by the Spanish regime.

7.4 A good girl Mrs McCanles is playing the piano when Vasti, her maid, brings in her “medicine” and asks casually if Mrs McCanles thinks she could get married although she does not have anyone in particular in mind. Mrs McCanles replies she may marry whenever she wishes. Then, conversing amicably with Pearl, she recommends her to behave like a lady but admits that no one could blame her if she were attracted by her son Lewton in spite of his undisciplined nature. To this, Pearl replies that she is a good girl. In the first part of this scene, the bond of marriage is treated too lightly and Laura Belle, who has been depicted as the epitome of virtue, is presented as a fragile woman who shows indulgence for the vices and passions of others, particularly her indomitable son Lewt, while she herself displays a weakness for her morning liqueur that she euphemistically refers to as her “medicine”. On the other hand, Pearl is portrayed as eager to learn and to emulate the idealised image that she has formed of Laura Belle. In this scene there is not a consistent characterisation of either Laura Belle or Pearl, for the former is not presented with the values befitting her

Negotiation, Censorship or Translation Constraints?

21

social standing and Pearl, who has been established from the beginning of the film as her antagonist, is depicted in a favourable light.

7.5 Pearl is furious This scene takes place in the kitchen where Pearl furiously reacts to Lewt’s remarks, in the presence of Mrs McCanles, about her bathing naked at the sump. In a fit of anger, Pearl rubs a piece of toast covered with red jam in Lewt’s face, who, far from feeling sorry, revels in delight at her actions. The reference to Pearl’s nakedness and her defiant attitude against a man clearly contravened the image for women advocated by the regime, but particularly Lewt’s glee as he sucks his thumb rejoicing in Pearl’s defiant attitude. The cuts in this scene only last five seconds and correspond to the last frames where Lewt delights in Pearl’s furious reaction.

7.6 Pearl is woken Vashti enters Pearl room, waker her up and summons her to the presence of Laura Belle and Mr Jubal Crabbe, the Sinkiller. Pearl is sound asleep, scantly covered by the bedclothes, and her bare shoulders reveal her nakedness. The frames suggesting her nudity have been removed as the scant attire shielding Pearl’s body would have transgressed the regime’s morality. Vasti’s assurance that she had entered Pearl’s dormitory at the request of Mrs McCanles is also deleted as, in Ortiz Muñoz’s norms, bedrooms were considered to have strong sexual connotations and they should appear as little as possible.

7.7 Call to arms Senator McCanles is strongly opposed to having the railway cross his lands. In this scene, one of his men reports the imminent approach of the rail men and the Senator orders his men to halt the advance of the railroad with the force of arms. The clamour of bells is used as the calling to arms, in contradistinction to its more traditional usage to summon people for prayers. The confrontation between the Senator’s ranchers and the proponents of progress aided by the cavalry ends with a temporary victory for the former. The Senator, disobeying an order of the State of Texas legally supporting the railway, incites his men to rebellion. This rebellious act was probably too defiant in a country like Spain, where the regime was using all its power to repress the slightest hint of opposition; this would

22

Chapter Two

have prompted the distributors to suppress the frames where the senator incites every single man on his ranch to insurrection as they were well aware that censors would not have permitted any scenes portraying acts of violence against authority.

7.8 Going away After having an argument with his father about the railway, Jesse has to leave the Spanish Bit. On calling at Pearl’s room he realises that she and Lewt have had an intimate relation. Downcast and ashamed, Pearl runs after Jesse to beg forgiveness as she knows that by surrendering to Lewt’s lust all hopes for her and Jesse have been shattered. Pearl and Jesse’s farewell is bitter and painful as they are both aware of the deep affection they feel for each other, and they realise that the emotional breach will be far more distressing than the physical separation. This sequence was deleted because it transgresses the moral code on various grounds: by presenting the illicit and intimate relationship between Pearl and Lewt and by making evident the improper love bond between Pearl and Jesse, all of this in the context of a grievous rupture in the family unity after the Senator and Jesse quarrel.

7.9 Dancing lessons In this brief sequence, a courteous and smartly dressed Lewt is giving dancing lessons to an elegant and gracefully attired Pearl. The scene captures the strong bond between them as their rhythmic dance steps resemble their hearts beating in unison. In this scene, the characterisation of Pearl and Lewt is inconsistent with their roles as antagonists in the film. In addition, dances that might arouse emotive feelings in the audience were not seen under a favourable light, particularly if there was body contact.

7.10 Pastoral scene In a lovely pastoral scene, Sam Pierce recites to Pearl some verses from a poem by George Whyte-Melville: “For everything created, in the bounds of earth and sky, hath such longing to be mated, it must couple, or must die”. This scene could have been suppressed because the philosophy behind this verse openly clashed with the Catholic defence of celibacy and chastity. According to Ortiz Muñoz’s norms on religion matters, no film should show precepts contrary to the Catholic dogma.

Negotiation, Censorship or Translation Constraints?

23

7.11 Check your gun This scene takes place in the saloon, where the camera focuses on a sign stating: “Check your gun with the bartender”. These few frames have been deleted since, during the first years of the dictatorship, and in an attempt to promote and protect the Spanish language and customs, inserts that appeared on screen in foreign languages were considered linguistically pernicious (Camus-Camus 2010: 100).

7.12 Wanted The next cut, which lasts eight seconds, shows a cowboy nailing a Wanted poster to a tree offering a reward for Lewt McCanles, now an outlaw and on the run from justice after murdering Sam Pierce in the saloon: “$2000 reward for the capture of the murderer Lewt McCanles”. In this suppression, as in 7.11, the criterion of linguistic purity was also applied as an excuse for eliminating these few frames.

7.13 Regrets After Sam Pierce’s murder, in this moving scene, Laura Belle is shown in the privacy of her bedroom regretting the bad upbringing the Senator gave Lewt while admitting that she is in part to blame for allowing her husband to spoil their son, and her son to believe that his father made the rules. The wife’s criticism of her husband together with the fact that she acknowledges defeat as a “mother” do not fit with the characterisation of the honourable couple they play. In addition, the husband does not seem to show the tough temperament expected for a male in the Spain of the early 1950s.

7.14 Blowing up the railway In this scene, on seeing a notice announcing the passing of a train carrying explosives—“Danger, Spanish Bit work train will carry explosives, August 18th”—, Lewt swears to avenge the damage caused by the railway men to his father by invading his land: “Yes, here is a chance to do something for Pa”. By eliminating this shot and Lewt’s declaration of intent to commit a violent act out of revenge, Procines complied with the censorship criterion of not showing scenes that incited to crime. The suppression of this scene is also due, as mentioned before (7.11 and 7.12),

24

Chapter Two

to the defence of the Spanish language and the avoidance of showing on screen any words written in a foreign language.

7.15 Never forget Upon Laura Belle’s demise, Pearl is overwhelmed with anguish and sorrow and shuts herself in the barn, raving about Mrs McCanles’ death. In this state of delirium, Jesse approaches Pearl to console her over the loss of Laura Belle and in the course of their conversation, he admits to having placed too much importance on her bond with Lewt. Pearl admits her fatal attraction for Lewt although deep inside she hates him and would like to see him dead. Jesse understands her feelings for his brother and shows no surprise at Pearl’s criminal intentions. However, this attitude is at odds with the morals of the time in Spain and is inconsistent with the portrayal of Jesse as a noble character and the honourable brother, who, therefore, should not accept Pearl’s desire to kill Lewt. This suppression conflicts with Ortiz’s general norm concerning the characterization of protagonists and antagonists.

7.16 Hotel In this brief shot, lasting eight seconds, there is a notice advertising the hostelry where Jesse is lodging: “Grand Hotel, Best beds this side of El Paso, Mrs Goldie Tatum, Prop. No dogs or gamblers allowed”. As mentioned before, this brief scene was suppressed to preserve the purity of the Spanish language.

7.17 Final shoot-out This protracted sequence, in which Pearl’s passion for revenge and her fatal attraction to Lewt are highlighted, shows her holding a rifle with the clear intention of murdering Lewt. The sequence has been manipulated at several points. In the first cut, Pearl’s untamed nature is stressed by presenting her drinking from the same pool as her horse. This image serves as a metaphor for both her wild nature and her thirst for vengeance. The second deletion occurs after Lewt fires his colt and shoots Pearl in the chest, who, far from crying over her wound, retaliates and fires back. When Lewt shouts, “I’m done for”, Pearl accuses him of lying and declares her determination to continue her assault on him: “I’m coming up after you”. In the third of these deletions, Pearl’s anger increases as she drags herself up the mountain carrying the lethal weapon while Lewt lies

Negotiation, Censorship or Translation Constraints?

25

dying on a mountain ledge. In the fourth suppression, there is a turning point: Lewt declares his love for Pearl and, with this revelation, her hate and anger dissolve into tenderness and a desperate urge to be near her true love. The first three suppressions clearly reveal Pearl’s intention to commit a crime, and the courageous image they convey of Pearl does not fit with the role propounded by Franco’s regime of women as subservient to men (Camus-Camus 2010). The analysis of the suppressed material indicates that the most outstanding and long-lasting censorship cuts were performed by the distribution company before actually submitting the film to the Spanish Censorship Board. These cuts have endured over time in the Spanish society as the commercialised, dubbed DVD versions of the film do not include them. There seem to be economic reasons behind this decision as probably re-dubbing the movie would not yield a sufficient return on investment. The study has shown that Procines suppressions were aimed at softening those scenes in which the protagonists’ behaviour deviated from the noble and courageous characterisation for men on the side of the law and those which were not consistent with the female stereotypes found in traditional westerns, both in the source and target culture (ibid.).

8. Conclusions In the source culture, Duel in the Sun was a controversial western, heavily censored and subjected to a prolonged process of negotiation both with the PCA and the Legion of Decency. In Spain, the film underwent further manipulation, with various cuts which reduced its runtime. Of these, the Censorship Board was responsible for the suppression of four scenes, all related to sexual morality and the macrotextual analysis reveals that the distribution company’s self-censorship led to the suppression of 17 scenes. The most recurrent censorship criterion was sexual morality, followed by crime, the need to maintain a consistent characterisation, and the zeal to preserve the purity of the Spanish language. The initial norm that can be detected is self-censorship, aimed at making the necessary adjustments to the film so that it would adhere to the censorship criteria of the time and secure a certificate for its commercial distribution. The self-censored changes introduced in Duelo al sol by the Spanish distribution company pruned the plot of its sharp criticism of social mores and partly concealed the debris of the crumbling ideological system portrayed in the film. Through the double filter of translation and censorship, this woman-centred melodramatic western underlines Pearl’s sexual impulse and passion, and her characterisation is moulded into the

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Chapter Two

stereotyped role of the “bad girl” subservient to the dominant male, which is to be found regularly in the classic Western genre. The cuts introduced by the Censorship Board were restored to the film once the Franco regime had ended. However, those implemented by the distribution company have never been reinstated, foregrounding that the arm of Franco’s censorship still exerts a long-lasting, strong grip upon film distribution.

Acknowledgements This study was supported by research grant FFI2012-39012-C04-04 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

References Black, Gregory. D. 1994. Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics and the Movies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Camus-Camus, Carmen. 2008. “Translation, censorship and negotiation in western films”, in Carol O’Sullivan (ed.) Proceedings of the 7th Annual Portsmouth Translation Conference. Portsmouth: University of Portsmouth, 77-93. — 2009. Traducciones censuradas de novelas y películas del Oeste en la España de Franco. PhD thesis. Vitoria: University of the Basque Country. — 2010. “Western heroines: female stereotypes in the translations and pseudotranslations of American westerns”, in Manuel Marcos Aldón and Angeles García Calderón (eds) Traducción y tradición. Textos humanísticos y literarios. Córdoba: Universidad de Córdoba, 99-109. Even-Zohar, Itamar. 1979. “Polysystem Theory”, Poetics Today 1: 287310. Genette, Gérard. 1997. Paratexts. Thresholds of Interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gutiérrez Lanza, Camino. 2000. Traducción y censura de textos cinematográficos en la España de Franco: doblaje y subtitulado inglés-español (1951-1975). León: University of León. Holmes, James S. 1988. “The name and nature of Translation Studies”, in James Holmes (ed.) Translated! Papers on Literary Translation and Translation Studies. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 67-80. Lefevere, André. 1992. Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame. London: Routledge. Martínez Bretón, Juan Antonio. 1987. Influencia de la iglesia católica en la cinematografía española (1951-1962). Madrid: Harofarma.

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Ortiz Muñoz, Francisco. 1946. Criterio y normas morales de censura cinematográfica. Madrid: Editorial Magisterio Español. Toury, Gideon. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Tymozko, Maria. 2002. “Connecting the two infinite orders. Research methods in Translation Studies”, in Theo Hermans (ed.) Crosscultural Transgressions: Research Models in Translation Studies II: Historical and Ideological Issues. Manchester: St. Jerome, 9-25.

CHAPTER THREE CONVERSATIONAL ROUTINES ACROSS LANGUAGES: THE CASE OF GREETINGS AND LEAVETAKINGS IN ORIGINAL AND DUBBED FILMS VERONICA BONSIGNORI UNIVERSITY OF PISA, ITALY

AND SILVIA BRUTI UNIVERSITY OF PISA, ITALY

Abstract In previous studies (Bonsignori et al. 2011, 2012) we have focussed on greetings, leave-takings and good wishes as “complex” expressions that convey a vast array of socio-pragmatic meanings in AVT (viz. English film language versus Italian dubbing). The importance of such expressions in dubbing has emerged to a significant extent, especially as they correspond to cultural-specific practices and habits. The following topics need further investigation and will be the object of the present study. First, in our classification of linguistic categories that appear in openings and closings, the category of expressions of phatic communion deserves a finer-grained analysis, as it includes disparate items—i.e. how are you?, speech acts such as thanking and apologising, but also directives that tend to appear at the margins of conversations. More specifically, different types of speech acts should be classified on a cline from “most” to “least” or “non phatic”. Preservation, in translation, of the same level of phatic “quality” is necessary for a faithful and consistent portrayal of relationships between characters and of their evolution within a film. Second, our choice of comparing the dubbing of greetings and leavetakings from English into Italian with examples of the same or similar conversational routines in original Italian film language has shed some light on possible interference phenomena and trends that seem to be recurrent in translation. Thus, we aim to pursue this question further also by extending the corpus of Italian productions. Finally, suggestions from neighbouring disciplines like anthropology

Conversational Routines across Languages

29

(Fox 2004) should also complete the picture, as there seem to be strong cultural preferences for choosing ways to greet or to take leave which are somehow reflected in film language. It is thus particularly relevant in film translation where cultural scenarios have to be transposed without altering—at least ideally— representation of identity and cultural values.

1. Introduction1 The object of this paper is to further explore the use of some conversational routines—i.e. greetings, leave-takings and good wishes—in film language and in dubbing. The topic proves to be quite interesting for several reasons. These expressions have often been identified as sociopragmatically relevant, although they often verge on the phatic and thus do not make a contribution to the message, although they are still part of it (Coupland and Coupland 1992). This, on the one hand, makes them eligible for suppression in film narratives, where everything is carefully chosen according to time and economic constraints. On the other hand, these often superfluous and predictable exchanges lend credibility to conversation, as phatisms, redundancies and dysfluencies are key to orality. When routines like these are transposed into another language, additional challenges might arise: dubbing, as is well known, replaces original dialogues with new ones in the target language but the latter should simultaneously cohere with the visuals and sound, and be convincing – if not realistic – in the new lingua-culture. When pragmatic behaviour is at stake, even languages that are neither genetically nor geographically distant—e.g. English and Italian—show different tendencies and preferences, as studies in linguistics and sociology have highlighted (Yamada 1997, Falcone 2006, Fox 2004, George 1995, 2008). In our previous work (Bonsignori et al. 2011, 2012) we have dealt with the description of the repertoire of expressions in a corpus of English films dubbed into Italian, trying to establish the main trends in the process of transfer, especially in cases of asymmetries between the two languages and in the use of marked varieties—e.g. slang, socially connoted registers, etc. For contrasting purposes, we have always checked our results for dubbed language against data from a corpus of Italian films, which we have enlarged in the course of time to include the same number of films as the English/dub corpus (section 2). In the present contribution we take a further step in the research in two main directions. First of all, we mean to investigate further the differences between dubbed and original Italian, thus establishing how much the mediation process is responsible for skewed results. Secondly, we intend to define the nature of a set of expressions that surprisingly tend to appear

Chapter Three

30

quite regularly in opening and closing sequences, in introductions and in good wishes. In fact, a certain number of these expressions are considered rather frozen – in a way similar to idioms – and fixed. Less formulaic expressions, which include a vast array of speech acts with different illocutionary force and degree of phaticity, are in many cases as frequent as the more formulaic ones. It is our purpose to better define this rather hybrid group.

2. The corpus The data under investigation can be subdivided into two subcomponents that share some basic features in order to be compared. The first component consists of ten British and US films released between 1998 and 2008 and set in the present. The genres range from romantic comedies to dramatic films, where conversation is granted much space and language varies diatopically—characters speak different varieties of English as well as accents—thus providing the opportunity to explore a wide range of conversational routines. The second component consists of ten Italian films released approximately in the same period and sharing the same basic features as to genre, time setting and linguistic variation. More specifically, characters speak with different Italian accents and there are also cases of characters speaking Italian with a foreign accent, like in Oggi Sposi, with Indian characters, and in Lezioni di cioccolato, with Egyptian characters. With respect to the pilot corpus of Italian films used in our previous works, it is worth noticing that it has been substantially expanded in order to build up a comparable set of data. Finally, the English component also comprises the Italian dubbed version of the films chosen for this study. Tables 1 and 2 show the list of films in chronological order: Table 1: English and Italian dub films SD BJD LA H IHS MP DWP TH ML SC

Film title Sliding Doors Bridget Jones’s Diary Love Actually Hooligans In Her Shoes Match Point The Devil Wears Prada The Holiday Music and Lyrics Sex and the City – The Movie

Year 1998 2001 2003 2005 2005 2005

Director P. Howitt S. Maguire R. Curtis L. Alexander C. Hanson W. Allen

Country UK/USA UK UK/USA UK/USA USA/Germany USA/UK/Lux.

Runtime 99’ 97’ 135’ 109’ 130’ 124’

2006

D. Frankel

USA

109’

2006 2007

N. Meyers M. Lawrence

USA USA

138’ 96’

2008

M.P. King

USA

145’

Conversational Routines across Languages

31

Table 2: Italian films UB MC LC MA TVD QC OS GF NV PCB

Film title L’ultimo bacio Ma che colpa abbiamo noi Lezioni di cioccolato Manuale d’amore 2 (Capitoli successivi) Tutta la vita davanti Questione di cuore Oggi Sposi Genitori & Figli – Agitare bene prima dell’uso La nostra vita La prima cosa bella

Year 2001

Director G. Muccino

Country Italy

Runtime 115’

2003

C. Verdone

Italy

114’

2007

C. Cupellini

Italy

99’

2007

G. Veronesi

Italy

120’

2008 2009 2009

P. Virzì F. Archibugi L. Lucini

Italy Italy Italy

117’ 109’ 118’

2010

G. Veronesi

Italy

110’

2010 2010

D. Luchetti P. Virzì

Italy Italy

98’ 122’

3. Functions and categories As we have dealt with the topic quite extensively in two previous articles (Bonsignori et al. 2011, 2012), in these pages we will only refer to some major ideas and a few changes that we have introduced in the classification criteria. With a view to better account for both the position and the function of these routine expressions, we have kept macrofunctions and linguistic categories apart. The former represent the position of conversational routines in an exchange: (a) openings and closings, which quite evidently tend to correlate with initial and final turns; b) wishes, which may appear anywhere; and (c) introductions, which more typically occur at the beginning of an exchange. Each of these functions can be fulfilled by different linguistic means. For instance, it is possible to find an opening sequence with a greeting like hello, but it is also possible to find a vocative—i.e. the name of the person being greeted, or simply a gesture of the hand waving—to perform the same function (Table 3): Table 3: Macro-functions and linguistic categories Macro-functions [O] Openings

Linguistic categories (g) greetings

[I] Introductions

(i) introductory formulae

[C] Closings

(Ɛ1) leave-takings with formulaic expressions (Ɛ2) leave-takings with less formulaic expressions

Examples hi, hello, good morning nice to meet you, how do you do in phone calls > it’s me good forms, bye bye, see you, see you later/soon/next time (vagueness) must go, I’m off, see you at my wedding/tomorrow (precision)

Chapter Three

32 [W] Wishes

(w) good wishes (v) vocatives (m) mimicry (p) phatic communion (x) specific functions

good luck, have fun, in toasts > cheers darling, Mr. President kissing, handshaking, waving interactional function > inquiries about health, comments on the weather, thanks, promises, compliments, invitations, apologies transactional function > orders, requests, questions, threats, offences, statements

In our previous work, for ease of classification, we conflated the two latter linguistic categories of Table 3 as p/x, but in actual fact they are two rather distinct sets of expressions. Those that are now labelled with p—i.e. phatic talk—are mainly phatic in nature and aim to smooth the possible edges in a conversation. The purpose in choosing expressions of this type is essentially to interact, without any other more specific aims. It is certainly true that when one apologises, one should, at least in theory, mean to do so; or when one enquires about somebody’s health, one should mean to ascertain the interlocutor’s condition, but these acts are not intended to bring about a significant change in the state of affairs. On the contrary, the expressions now grouped under x have very specific functions and aim to affect a change in the state of affairs. In fact, they include the whole class of directives, ranging from the more polite requests and questions to orders and threats, as well as statements and offences. Let us consider a few examples from the films in the English and dub component:2 1. [SC] Smith: I’m home! Man, that was a long day! > 1 O-p Samantha: You’re three hours late. > #O-x (Reproach) 2. [SC] Samantha: (answering the phone) Samantha Jones. > 1(T) O-i Carrie: Well, I made a little decision I hope you’ll be happy about. > (T) O-x (Statement) 3. [TH] Arthur: Iris! You’re a knock-out! > 1 O-v-p (Compliment) Iris: Thank you! And may I say, so are you. > O-p

The first two examples are both from the same film. In (1) Smith comes home, so his statement is quite obvious and evident from his appearance, hence it is classified as p—i.e. mainly phatic talk. Samantha’s reaction, on the other hand, is more meaningful although a reproach is somehow to be expected because of the situation. The second exchange (2) takes place on the phone, as signalled by the label (T); the first utterance counts as an introduction, because Samantha lets the interlocutor know

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33

who she is. Carrie, without further delay, immediately plunges into the matter and announces a decision that somehow will affect Samantha as well. So it is a statement that announces a real action having taken place. Example (3) is an encounter between Arthur and Iris, in which the first turn by Arthur is a very typical form of opening the conversation—i.e. complimenting the interlocutor on her looks. She replies in the same line, thanking for the compliment and reciprocating it. Overall, these utterances serve the purpose of making the interaction friendly and sociable, and, however deeply felt the compliments might be, they are neither particularly informative nor very dynamic for the development of the plot. The quite significant presence of p and x in the corpus—see section 4 for the analysis—can be linked to three main causes. First of all, film writers might decide to portray an interaction in the middle of its happening, thus economising on the first greeting expressions and passing straightaway to something more relevant to the plot. This is exactly the case of example 4, where Carrie does not say “hello” to Louise, whom she is meeting for the first time, but asks her more interesting details for their job relation just to break the ice: 4. [SC] Carrie to Louise: So, you’re from St. Louis? > 1 I-p

A second factor favouring the use of either p or x is the level of familiarity between the characters involved in an interaction, which may allow them to skip the rituals at the beginning or at the end of the exchange. In example 5 below Miranda welcomes her friend Samantha. The two are so close that a kiss, an instance of mimicry (m), is enough to start the interaction and to elude a proper verbal formula. Miranda then proceeds to make fun of the little dog Samantha is carrying in her purse. 5. [SC] Miranda to Samantha: (kiss) You have a rat in your purse. > 1 #Om-x

A third aspect which influences the choice of p and x is finally represented by the personality of some of the characters, especially by some recurrent features of their talk such as idiolectal features. Example 6 features Miranda Hobbs as she arrives at a resort in Mexico. Instead of addressing a waiter with a conventional greeting formula, she avoids phatic talk altogether, as she nearly always does, and asks him a real question, whether they have a wifi web connection, essential for her job. In example 7, Miranda Priestly, the ruthless and cynical executive of Runaway, a fashion magazine, lets her interlocutor know that she is no longer needed with the peremptory formula “that’s all”, used throughout

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the film with a certain frequency and with different interlocutors, which counts as an order to quit the room: 6. [SC] Miranda: You have Wi-Fi? > #O-x 7. [DWP] Miranda: You’ll come and help Emily. That’s all. > 1 #C-x

4. Analysis In the present section, the conversational routines that are object of this study will be analysed mainly quantitatively comparing the frequency of occurrences. Special attention is paid to greetings and leave-takings proper, in original filmic speech—i.e. English versus Italian—and then in an attempt to find a trend as regards the use of the various translating options in Italian dubbing compared to the expressions actually employed in Italian films. Figure 1. English films

3% 15% Openings Closings

51%

Introductions Wishes

31%

Figure 2. Italian films Openings

2% 12%

Closings

45%

Introductions

41% Wishes

Conversational Routines across Languages

35

4.1. Macro-functions in original film language Comparing English and Italian original film language, the analysis of the four macro-categories of the functions performed by conversational routines has lead to interesting results. Figures 1 and 2 show that if on the one hand the frequency per type is similar as regards wishes and introductions, on the other the difference is quite striking as to openings and closings. More specifically, in the Italian component the relation between the number of occurrences of the two types is quite balanced, with 613 opening versus 549 closing sequences, while in the English component openings are definitely more frequent than closings—840 opening versus 514 closing sequences. The smaller number of closings in the English films might be partly due to the difficulty that the English have with parting-talk. As Fox (2004: 57) remarks, leave-takings are quite embarrassing and awkward as “noone has a clear idea of what to do or say, resulting in the same aborted handshakes, clumsy cheek-bumping and half-finished sentences as the greeting process. [...] Partings, as if to compensate [the quickness of introductions], are often tediously prolonged”.

4.2. Linguistic categories Because of the striking difference in the number of occurrences of the macro-functions in English filmic speech, it is worth investigating what are the linguistic categories within the two macro-functions of openings and closings, still focusing on the English films. As mentioned in section 3, opening sequences can be introduced either by standard and more fixed expressions like greetings (g), or by other expressions such as vocatives (v) and utterances performing merely interactional (p) or transactional functions (x). Similarly, closing sequences generally consist of more or less fixed leave-taking expressions—i.e. respectively Ɛ1 and Ɛ2—or of utterances belonging to the previously mentioned p and x. As a consequence, the fixity of expressions seems to play a relevant role in conversational routines in film language. In Figure 3 the main combinations of standard linguistic categories versus the use of other expressions in opening and closing sequences are outlined:

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36

Figure 3. Linguistic categories in O and C in the English films 600

g > greetings

520

500

Ɛ1 > leave-takings proper

400

O-p 275

300

C-p

211

200 104

75

100

O-x

90

C-x 0

As can be seen in the graphic representation in Figure 3, the opening sequences with fixed and standard expressions appear to be more frequently used than those with utterances belonging to p or x—520 g versus the total sum of 350 p/x—while the reverse happens with reference to closing sequences, where non-fixed expressions seem to be preferred to close off communication—104 Ɛ1 versus the total sum of 301 p/x. At this point, attention will be paid to the use of greetings and leavetakings proper in English and Italian film language and to their translation in the Italian dubbed version. Table 4 shows the various types of greetings used: Table 4: Types of greetings Types of g in English films Hi Hello Hey Good morning Welcome Aye Good evening

Frequency

Types of g in Italian dubbing

Frequency

Types of g in Italian films

Frequency

184 152 94

Ciao Salve Pronto

229 63 52

Ciao Buongiorno Pronto

111 60 29

16

Buongiorno

33

Buonasera

17

14 9

Ehi Buonasera

25 14

Salve Ahò

14 9

6

Benvenuto

10

Sì

6

Conversational Routines across Languages Bonjour Morning Yes Oi Good afternoon Bõa noite Hiya Yeah Afternoon Buenos días Evening Other Total

6 6 6 5

37

8 6 5 3

Ué Oh Ehi Giorno

6 5 3 3

2

Hola

3

3 3 3 2

Sì Bonjour Bentornato Ehilà Buenos días Allo Bentrovato Bõa noite Eccolo

1 1 1 1

Uehilà Ehilà Eh Ohi

2 2 1 1

2

Hola

1

Namaste

1

2 6

Yoo-hoo Ø

1 63

1 1

520

Total

457

Hallo Benvenuti Ben svegliato Total

4

1 275

The first striking result is that the number of greetings that appear in the Italian dubbed version of the English films is slightly lower than the number of expressions used in the source text (ST), with 63 cases where greetings were not translated in any way. As regards translating options, the English informal greeting “hey” is the third most frequent choice for openings in the English films, whereas its equivalent in Italian, ehi, is ranked only in the fifth position in the Italian dub—94 occurrences in the original versus 25 respectively. When comparing quantitatively the occurrences of greetings in the two sets of films, the number of greeting forms in the Italian films (275) is definitely lower than those present in the English films (520). As to the types used in the Italian dubbed films and in the ones shot originally in Italian, it can be noticed that ciao appears to be the most recurring greeting form in both sets of films. The quite neutral expression salve, which is the second most frequent translating option in the Italian dub with 63 occurrences, only appears 14 times in the Italian films. Therefore, it can be argued that the frequent use of such an expression in dubbing may be motivated by the fact that salve works as a passepartout, avoiding problems when it comes to various degrees of formality, thus being a convenient solution in translation (Bonsignori et al. 2012) and mostly characterising Italian dubbese rather than original Italian film language. The situation changes when looking at leave-takings proper, of which Table 5 shows the various types used in each language—i.e. English

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versus Italian—and variety—i.e. original Italian film language versus Italian dub: Table 5: Types of leave-takings Types of Ɛ1 in English films Bye Good night See you Goodbye Bye bye Night Cheers Take care I’ll see you Night night Ciao Farewell Good afternoon Laters See ya Ta-ta Other Total

Frequ ency

Types of Ɛ1 in Italian dubbing

Frequ ency

35 13 13 9 6 6 5 4 2 2 1

Ciao Buonanotte Ci vediamo Arrivederci Notte A dopo A presto Ci sentiamo Notte notte Stammi bene Addio Alla prossima volta

45 17 14 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 1

Types of Ɛ1 in Italian films Ciao Arrivederci Buonanotte Buongiorno Addio Ci vediamo Arrivederla A presto Con permesso Salve A dopo

1

Au revoir

2

1

A più tardi

1

Buonasera

2

1 1 1 3 104

A tra poco Buonasera Ciao ciao Other Total

1 1 1 5 107

Hasta la vista Ciao ciao Sera Total

2 1 1 277

1

Freque ncy 154 48 30 9 8 6 3 3 3 3 2

First of all, from a translation perspective, the overall number of leavetakings proper in the dubbed target texts (107) is slightly higher than in the English STs (104), which means not only that all occurrences in English seem to have been translated into Italian, but also that some additions have taken place. Secondly, the most frequent translating option is ciao, which happens to be in the first position also in original Italian films. However, it should be also noticed that in this case, the second most recurring leavetaking expression is the formal arrivederci, which is not used in dubbing so often. Another trend that seems to characterise Italian filmic speech is the occurrence of certain leave-taking expressions, like buongiorno and salve, which are normally used in opening sequences and are totally absent in the Italian dub as leave-takings. Finally, a striking result is that the number of leave-takings in Italian films (277) is nearly three times more than those appearing in the English films (104). As mentioned before, this

Conversational Routines across Languages

39

trend is probably due to the awkwardness and embarrassment that the British, and the English in particular, have in taking leave (Fox 2004).

4.3. Mimicry Another aspect that we wanted to compare is the pervasiveness of forms of mimicry in the two languages. In theory, as Latin people are more prone to gesticulate than Anglosaxons, we expected to find more conversational routines entrusted to gestures only or to gestures accompanying verbal formulae in original Italian films. On the contrary, results are rather balanced in the English (and dub) and in the Italian films, not only in the total number of instances—180 in English versus 187 in Italian—but also in their distribution across functions, as shown in Figures 4 and 5: Figure 4. Mimicry in the English films

2%

O-m

35%

36%

C-m I-m W-m

27% Figure 5. Mimicry in the Italian films

2% O-m 34%

34%

C-m I-m W-m

30%

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40

The num mber of instaances of mim micry in the ddubbed versio ons is, of course, exacctly the same as in the Eng glish originall films since the t visual dimension rremains consttant. Howeverr, given that a turn in con nversation can consist either of a sim mple gesture without any vverbal additio on or of a gesture acccompanied by b words, there t may be cases of partial correspondeence between the English ST and the Itallian dub, as in n example 8 below, w where in the target text th he gesture off waving to close off communicattion is accom mpanied by some s words ttoo, which arre totally absent in thee ST: 8. [SC] C Charlotte to Lilyy: (waving) > C-m (w waving) Ci vediiamo dopo. > C-m-Ɛ1 C

The instances of mim micry alone an nd those whicch are accomp panied by verbal expreessions of variious types hav ve also been aanalysed in thee two sets of original films. The most interessting aspect concerns geestures in closings, as in the Englissh films the in nstances of m mimicry alonee are only slightly less frequent thann mimicry with verbal expreessions, whereas in the Italian filmss mimicry apppears significantly more often togetheer with a verbal formuula, as seen inn Figures 6 and d 7: Fiigure 7. Mimicryy and words in th he Italian films

61

70 60 50

44

38

40 30

Words + m

21 14

20 10

3

4 1

0 O-m

C--m

I-m

W-m

m

Converssational Routinees across Languuages

41

he English films Figgure 6. Mimicry and words in th

61

70 60 50

43

40

30

30

21

Words + m

19

20 10

2

4

m

0

0 O-m

C--m

I-m

W-m

Finally, we also wannted to ascertaain whether tthe use of mimicry in introductionns is more tyypically represented in thee English and d dubbed films or inn the Italian films and whether w it is somehow ussed more frequently iin some filmss and not in others. Figurres 8 and 9 show the occurrences in each film. In the English h set of films,, the highest number n of instances off mimicry (m m) occurs in episodic e film ms or films with w many characters— —Love Actually ly, Match Poin nt—while theyy are generallly slightly more frequeent in the Itaalian films an nd appear in Tutta la vita a davanti, which is a ddensely popullated film, an nd in La prim a cosa bella, which is partly set inn the 1970s, a time when conventions c ssuch as curtseeying and hand kissingg were still inn vogue, especcially upwardds from sociall inferiors to superiors.

42

Chapter Three

Figure 8. Mimicry in Introductions in the English films

Bridget Jones's Diary

2

The Devil wears Prada

8

Hooligans

9

In Her Shoes

3

The Holiday

4

Love Actually

16

Match Point

12

Music & Lirics

7

Sex & The City

2

Sliding Doors

0 0

5

10

15

20

Figure 9. Mimicry in Introductions in the Italian films

9

Genitori e Figli La nostra vita

3

La Prima cosa bella

18

Lezioni di cioccolato

0 4

L'Ultimo bacio Ma che colpa abbiamo noi

5

Manuale d'Amore 2

5

Oggi Sposi

2

Questione di cuore

0

Tutta la Vita davanti

18 0

5

10

15

20

Conversational Routines across Languages

43

5. Conclusions We have attempted to better define two of the linguistic categories that feature in conversational routines—i.e. expressions of phatic communion with an interactional function (p) and expressions with a transactional function (x)—and to account for the reasons of their relatively high frequency in films. Significantly, these reasons strongly depend on diegetic choices within the film, such as narrating what is relevant, portraying the characters’ identity through idiosyncratic talk and breaching the rules of certain rituals to make the conversation sound more natural and realistic. Some differences have also emerged in the use of expressions belonging to p and x versus more prototypical linguistic forms across macrocategories in English filmic speech. For instance, in opening sequences traditional greeting formulae seem to be preferred, whereas in closings non fixed expressions rank first in comparison with leave-takings proper (Ɛ1); although to have a clearer picture, leave-takings with less formulaic expressions (Ɛ2) should also be included in this count. We have also compared trends in the original English films, in their Italian dubbed versions and in Italian films. An interesting trend in translation is that a good percentage of greetings—63 instances out of 520—are not translated at all in the Italian dub. Furthermore, the forms used in the Italian dub and in the original Italian films are quite different: apart from ciao, which ranks first in both set of films, in the Italian dub salve is the second most frequent item—but only fifth in the Italian films—whereas buongiorno is the second in the Italian films, a choice that points to a higher degree of formality. Hey, which has an equivalent in Italian, is the third most frequent choice in the English films but is ranked only in fifth position in the dubbed versions and even lower in the original Italian films. The choices in dubbing appear to favour solutions that are more neutral in terms of formality and fit many conversational situations. Given the exposure of the audience to these exchanges, it can be argued that this usage has the potential of becoming a trend that is later exported into spontaneous conversation. As for leave-takings, avoidance of this routine in the English films depends on cultural mores. A slightly higher number of leave-taking formulaic expressions can be observed in dubbing and a significantly higher number in the Italian films: nearly three times those in the English films. As has been noted for openings, closings in Italian are also encoded in a more formal way and after ciao, the first in rank, forms like arrivederci, buonanotte, buongiorno, and addio are also frequent.

44

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Given the wide gap between the number of occurrences of greetings and leave-takings in original English and original Italian films—520 versus 275 for greetings and 104 versus 277 for leave-takings proper—it will be worth investigating the frequency and the type of expressions used to open a conversational exchange and take leave in spontaneous English and Italian. In addition, the analysis of spontaneous Italian would be useful to ascertain the difference in use of certain expressions, such as salve, in Italian dubbing and original Italian films, as well as to explain the higher frequency of some formal expressions, like arrivederci, in the original films. Finally, one further step in the study of this topic would be to investigate more thoroughly the expressions that have been classified as p and x, respectively performing an interactional and transactional function, since their frequent use in the English films has clearly emerged. These expressions would need to be distinguished further on the basis of their illocutionary force and their frequency of occurrence in English films should be compared to their use in Italian films.

Notes 1. The research was carried out jointly by the two authors. Veronica Bonsignori has written paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 4.1, 4.2; Silvia Bruti has written paragraphs 1, 4.3, 5. 2. Here follows a very brief list of the conventions used to classify our data in the examples presented in this paper. When any label is preceded by number 1, as in example (1) in “1 O-p”, it refers to the very first turn of the conversational exchange. The symbol “#”, as also in example (1) in “#O-x”, signals a very unusual type of opening, and as a matter of fact it often occurs with utterances performing transactional functions, that is of x type. Finally, capital letters within brackets are used to distinguish among the various modes/media of communication if not vis-à-vis: (T) telephone, intercom and radio; (L) letter or note; (C) internet chat; (SMS) text message; (E) e-mail; and (V) Skype call.

References Bonsignori, Veronica, Silvia Bruti and Silvia Masi. 2011. “Formulae across languages: English greetings, leave-takings and good wishes in Italian dubbing”, in Jean-Marc Lavaur, Anna Matamala and Adriana ùerban (eds) Audiovisual Translation in Close-up: Practical and Theoretical Approaches. Bern: Peter Lang, 23-44. Bonsignori, Veronica, Silvia Bruti and Silvia Masi. 2012. “Exploring greetings and leave-takings in original and dubbed language”, in Aline

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Remael, Pilar Orero and Mary Carroll (eds) Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility at the Crossroads. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 357-79. Coupland, Justine and Nikolas Coupland. 1992. “‘How are you?’: negotiating phatic communion”. Language in Society 21: 207-30. Falcone, Linda. 2006. Italians Dance and I’m a Wallflower. Prato: The Florentine Press. Fox, Kate. 2004. Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour. London: Hodder & Stoughton. George, Susan. 1995. Getting Things Done in Naples. Bologna: Clueb. — 2008. “Testi scritti e ruoli di scrittore e lettore”. Module Comunicazione interculturale e traduzione specialistica, Online Master degree in Specialised Translation into Italian, Consorzio ICoN, www.mastertraduzionespecialistica.it. Yamada, Haru. 1997. Different Games Different Rules. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

CHAPTER FOUR DEALING WITH DIALECT: THE SUBTITLING OF BIENVENUE CHEZ LES CH’TIS INTO ENGLISH CLAIRE ELLENDER UNIVERSITE DE LILLE III, FRANCE

Abstract The French film, Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis (2008), is set in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France and provides a humorous portrayal of the cultural peculiarities and dialect of this region’s people, les Ch’tis. After defining dialect and acknowledging the difficulty of translating this within one linguistic medium, that is, from one written text to another (Landers 2001: 117), the present article recognises the additional challenges which this task presents in the audiovisual context of subtitling. Following its brief presentation of the ch’ti dialect, this article focuses on scenes from the film in which pronunciation, vocabulary, expressions and grammar result in confusion in the original French version and, subsequently, amusement. In order to examine how this language has been re-rendered in English by subtitler Michael Katims, the article applies some established translation theories. Thus, it sets out to explore the extent to which the translation of the film preserves the linguistic specificity and the humour of the French source text in its corresponding English subtitles.

1. Introduction Given the notorious difficulty of translating dialect (Berman 1985: 294, Hatim and Mason 1990: 40-45), Landers (2001: 117) is adamant that this should be avoided when he recommends: “The best advice about trying to translate dialect: don’t”. Against this background, the present article considers the French film, Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis (Dany Boon, 2008), and explores whether Landers’s advice is valid. After introducing the film, the article defines dialect. It acknowledges the difficulty of translating

Dealing with Dialect

47

dialect within one linguistic medium, that is, from one written text to another, before recognising the additional challenges to which this task gives rise in the audiovisual context of subtitling. Following its brief presentation of ch’ti, a dialect closely related to the Picardy region’s picard language, this article focuses on five scenes from the film in which pronunciation, vocabulary, expressions and grammar result in confusion and subsequently, amusement. In order to examine how ch’ti has been rerendered in English, the article applies some established translation theories, notably the concepts of dynamic equivalence (Nida 1964) and foreignisation (Venuti 1995). In doing so, it sets out to explore the extent to which the translation of the film preserves the linguistic specificity and the humour of the French source text (ST) in its English subtitles.

2. The film Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis is set in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France and provides a humorous portrayal of the cultural peculiarities and dialect of this region’s people, les Ch’tis. The film tells the story of Philippe Abrams, manager of the post office in Salon-de-Provence in the South of France. Abrams’s wife, Julie, suffers from depression and, in an attempt to make her happy, he applies for a transfer to the Mediterranean coast where she dreams of living. When he learns that this position will be given to a disabled person, Abrams pretends to be physically handicapped. However, the management realise that he is being deceitful and punish him by sending him to the town of Bergues, in Northern France, for two years. Despite his initial dismay and homesickness, Abrams develops an affection for Bergues, its people and his colleagues, especially postman Antoine Bailleul. After much hesitation, Abrams is joined by his wife and son in Bergues. When he is eventually offered, and accepts, a transfer to the South of France three years later, Philippe Abrams is sad and somewhat reluctant to leave. Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis is saturated with exaggerated stereotypes of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. These are communicated both visually through weather, cuisine and architecture and orally, in discussions of food and cultural traditions as well as in the way language is actually used. The latter clearly present some interesting challenges for the translator and, as the film’s humour largely resides in the linguistic differences which exist between standard French and the region’s ch’ti dialect, the present article concentrates on five scenes in which ch’ti pronunciation, vocabulary, expressions and grammar result in varying degrees of confusion, frustration and therefore amusement.

48

Chapter Four

3. Dialect and its translation Dialect can be defined concisely as “a regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar or vocabulary, especially a way of speaking that differs from the standard variety of language” (http://grammar.about.com). Given its deviation from standard language, dialect is notoriously difficult to translate within one linguistic medium, that is, from one written text to another (Berman 1985: 294, Hatim and Mason 1990: 40-45). Indeed, in his discussion of translating dialect contained in literary texts, Landers (2001: 117) asserts: “dialect is always tied, geographically and culturally, to a milieu that doesn’t exist in the target language setting. Substitution of an “equivalent” dialect is foredoomed to failure. The best advice about trying to translate dialect: don’t”. Due to the specificity of subtitling, where oral discourse transforms into written text, translating dialect evidently provides additional challenges in this context (Díaz Cintas and Remael 2007: 191-92). Not only must a non-standard oral variety of the source language (SL), which remains present in the subtitled film’s soundtrack, be recaptured in writing in the target language (TL), so too must spatial and temporal constraints be respected (Luyken et al. 1991: 156). These constraints stem from the need to both synchronise the film’s text, soundtrack and image and to account for the reading capabilities of target viewers (De Linde and Kay 1999: 47).

4. Ch’ti and its translation Picard is a language closely related to French. Due to this proximity, it is sometimes believed to be a distortion of French, rather than a language in its own right. Picard in fact originated from low Latin and is a member of the Gallo-Romance family of languages. It has several dialects including ch’ti, which is spoken in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais. As Ruler (2010: 12) explains: Ch’ti-mi [is] is a dialect said to have originated during WW1 when troops from outside northern France started to call those from Nord-Pas-de-Calais ‘the Ch’ti’. The name referred to their accent, and their pronunciation of ‘c’est tu’ (it’s you’) and ‘c’est moi’ (it’s me) as ‘ch’est ti’ and ‘ch’est mi’.

Pooley (1996: 13) clarifies that, in theory, “a Ch’ti [is] a person from northern France and ch’timi, a markedly regional form of speech, although, generally speaking, both forms are used interchangeably”. This article will refer to the region’s people as the Ch’tis and to their speech as

Dealing with Dialect

49

ch’ti. However, as will be witnessed in some of the scenes examined, the characters refer to this dialect as both ch’ti and ch’timi. The ch’ti dialect is characterised by distinctive pronunciation, vocabulary, expressions and grammar and its translation therefore creates a range of exciting challenges. At this juncture, it is apt to explore how the film’s English subtitler, Michael Katims, handles some of the key translation challenges to which ch’ti can give rise. For the purpose of the present article, the DVD subtitles of the film will be analysed. In Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis, comparisons are often made between the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and other regions of France, between ch’ti, which is considered a low dialect, and standard French (Hornsby 2012: 182). Given that the film perpetually draws attention to the otherness of ch’ti, this language is frequently self-reflexive and, as the following sections illustrate, some scenes are dominated by the self-conscious treatment of one particular linguistic feature.

4.1. Scene one When Philippe Abrams arrives in Bergues in his car, it is dark and it has started to rain heavily. Visibility is poor and he collides with future colleague, postman Antoine Bailleul, who is returning home on his bicycle. As soon as Antoine speaks, distinctive ch’ti pronunciation can be detected; the French sound s [s] is replaced by sh [Ƒ]. The subtitler preserves this pronunciation by transposing it directly onto the TL, thereby recreating the latter in his subtitles and suggesting the presence of ch’ti in the TL.1 Example 1 Speaker P.A. A.B. P.A.

A.B.

ST [and literal back translation] Monsieur Bailleul ? [Mr. Bailleul?] Oui, ch’est moi. [Yes, it’s me.] Bougez pas, bougez pas. ‘Faut appeler les secours. [Don’t move, don’t move. Must call the emergency services.] Oh, cha va, cha va. [Oh, I’m OK, I’m OK.]

TT Mr Bailleul? Yesh, it’sh me. Don’t move. Better call for help.

I’m jusht fine.

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50 P.A. A.B.

Oh là là ! J’aurais pu vous tuer ! [Oh my goodness! I could have killed you!] Non, ch’est pas grave. Cha va. [No, it’s not serious. I’m OK.]

I might have killed you! It’sh alright.

While this alternative pronunciation does not prevent understanding, Abrams soon becomes aware of, and draws attention to it; he is afraid that it is caused by Antoine’s jaw having been hurt in the accident: Example 2 Speaker P.A.

P.A.

A.B.

ST Votre mâchoire, vous êtes blessé, là ? [Your jaw, are you injured there?] Vous voulez pas qu’on aille montrer votre mâchoire à un médecin ? [Don’t you want us to go and show your jaw to a doctor?] Non, ch’est rien ! [No, it’s nothing!]

TT Your jaw is hurt?

Wouldn’t you like to see a doctor?

No, I shed I’m fine.

In the concluding lines of the scene, Antoine offers an explanation of his pronunciation, thus rendering it highly self-conscious. Ch’ti pronunciation continues to be transposed onto the English subtitles; ch’ti and ch’timi are even written as “sh’ti” and “sheteumi” to reinforce this phonetic difference for the anglophone audience. This technique further emphasises the ch’ti dialect’s otherness and thus serves to foreignise the target text (Venuti 1995: 20). According to Venuti, the translator’s decision to highlight and valorise the foreign identity of the ST in the TL has an indisputably political function. This foreignising method of translation can be described as “an ethnodeviant pressure on [targetlanguage cultural] values to register the linguistic and cultural difference of the foreign text, sending the reader abroad” (ibid.). Venuti (ibid.) advocates such a translation approach, which helps to “restrain the ethnocentric violence of translation”. Abrams’s final realisation produces a mildly amusing effect on the SL audience, as illustrated in Example 3:

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Example 3 Speaker P.A.

A.B.

P.A. A.B. P.A.

ST Je vous assure, vous vous exprimez de façon très très particulière. [I assure you, you express yourself in a very very peculiar way.] Parch’que j’parle ch’ti, ch’est cha ? [Because I speak ch’ti, is that it?] Pardon ? [Sorry?] Bah, j’parle ch’timi. [Er, I speak ch’timi.] Oh putain, c’est ça le fameux ch’timi ? [Oh fuck, is that the famous ch’timi?]

TT Listen, you’re really talking funny.

Cosh I talk sh’ti?

Talk what? I talk sh’ti, that’sh ole. You mean that’s sheteumi?

While this character’s facial expression and use of the expletive putain [fuck] convey his surprise, his comment reveals that the ch’ti dialect is nationally renowned for being a non-standard, incomprehensible variety of French. The humorous nature of Abrams’s reaction is fully preserved for the TL audience. First, his expression can be seen. Second, with the exception of his expletive, which is deleted in the TL as it may appear too offensive in the written subtitle, his comment is translated closely. In this instance, dynamic equivalence, or equivalence of effect, is clearly achieved. In Nida’s (1964: 159) words: “the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptor and the message”. This is, of course, essential if the TL audience is to find an amusing ST entertaining in the TL.

4.2. Scene two When this alternative pronunciation leads to misunderstanding and confusion, the translation challenges posed are multiplied. In the subsequent scene, Antoine shows Abrams to his new rented flat, which happens to be unfurnished. Surprised, Abrams asks for an explanation. In this instance, Antoine’s pronunciation hinders communication; it transforms the possessive pronoun les siens [sjũ; his] into the noun les

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chiens [Ƒjũ; dogs]. The subtitles recreate this confusion of sounds by using two alternative SL words which are also phonetically similar in English, so “offish” [office] is misheard as “fish”: Example 4 Speaker P.A. A.B.

P.A.

A.B.

P.A. A.B. P.A. A.B. P.A.

ST C’est pas meublé ? [It’s not furnished ?] L’anchien directeur est parti avec, hein. [The ex-manager left with it, huh.] Pourquoi il est parti avec les meubles ? [Why did he leave with the furniture?] Parch’que ch’est peut-être les chiens ? [Because it is perhaps the dogs?] Quels chiens ? [Which dogs?] Les meubles. [The furniture.] Je comprends pas. [I don’t understand.] Les meubles, ch’est les chiens. [The furniture, it’s the dogs.] Les meubles pour les chiens. Qu’est-ce que les chiens foutent avec les meubles ? [Furniture for the dogs. What the hell are the dogs doing with the furniture?]

TT Isn’t it furnished? The ex-manager took it.

Why?

For hish new offish.

What fish? His fish. I don’t get it. For hish new offish. New fish? Why would fish need furniture?

As the conversation continues (Example 5), confusion is further increased. Antoine’s pronunciation of the pronoun ça [sa; that] is understood as the noun chats [Ƒa; cats]. J’ai jamais dit cha, meaning “I never said that” is therefore heard as “I never said cats”. The subtitler recaptures this confusion by creating an alternative play on sounds in the TL: “I never said dish” as opposed to the correct “I never said this”. The word “dish” is then confused with the previous use of “fish”:

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Example 5 Speaker A.B.

P.A.

A.B. P.A.

ST Non, les chiens. Il les a pas donnés à des chiens. Il est parti avec. [No, the dogs. He didn’t give them to dogs. He left with them.] Mais pourquoi vous dites qu’il les a donnés ? [But why are you saying that he gave them?] J’ai jamais dit cha. [I never said that.] Pourquoi des chats? Vous avez dit chiens. [Why cats? You said dogs.]

TT Offish! He didn’t give it to the fish. He took it with him.

Why give it away?

I never shed dish. Why dish? You said fish.

Abrams eventually understands the confusion and comments: Les chiens, les chats. Putain, tout le monde parle comme vous ici ? [The dogs. The cats. Fuck, does everyone speak like you here?] which is concisely subtitled as “You all talk like that here?”. This prompts another selfconscious mention of ch’ti by Antoine: Ouais, ch’est le ch’timi. Tout le monde parle ch’timi [Yeah, that’s ch’timi. Everyone speaks ch’timi] which is subtitled as “Yesh, the Shti all shpeak Shti”. In this scene, humour is created by the mounting confusion and misunderstanding caused by ch’ti pronunciation, which is successfully preserved in the TL subtitles.

4.3. Scene three In other scenes, it is not so much pronunciation as specific ch’ti expressions which cause misunderstanding and frustration. In Example 6, set in the post office in Bergues, Abrams asks Antoine to take a letter to the manager of the sorting centre. Antoine replies with the ch’ti expression j’vous dis quoi [I’ll tell you what]. As Abrams is not familiar with the colloquial meaning of this expression [I’ll let you know what’s happening], he interprets it literally, as a question [What should I say to you?], and the entire scene is centred on this misunderstanding. Katims translates J’vous dis quoi as “I’ll shay wot” [I’ll say what]. In doing so, he distorts standard English spelling, exploiting the sh [Ƒ] sound and graphically rendering the word “what” as “wot”. It could be argued that

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this serves as a compensation strategy for other places where he is unable to transmit the classic features of ch’ti (see also 4.4.2). Example 6 Speaker P.A.

P.A.

A.B.

P.A.

A.B.

P.A.

ST Antoine, vous portez ça au centre de tri et vous dites au responsable qu’on en a besoin d’urgence. [Antoine, take this to the sorting office and tell the person in charge that we need it urgently.] Une fois là-bas, appelezmoi pour me dire qu’il l’a en mains propres. [Once you are there, call me to tell me that he has it in his hands.] Entendu, j’vous appelle et j’vous dis quoi. [Understood. I’ll call and I’ll tell you what.] Eh bien, qu’il a bien le dossier en mains. [Well, that he has the file in his hands.] Oui, ch’est cha. J’vous apelle là-bas et j’vous dis quoi. [Yes, that’s it. I’ll call you there and I’ll say what.] Quoi ? Mais je viens de vous dire quoi. [What? But I’ve just told you what.]

TT Antoine, for the sorting centre manager. It’s urgent.

Call me and tell me he has it.

I’ll call and shay wot.

That he has it.

Right. I’ll call and shay wot.

I just told you what.

As the mutual frustration mounts, causing amusement in the SL, Antoine insists: Oui, je suis pas boubourse. Je vous appelle [Yes, I’m not stupid. I’ll call you], which is rendered in English as “Yesh. I’m no boubourse. / I’ll call you”. By retaining the exact ch’ti term, boubourse [stupid, simple], Katims preserves, and indeed reinforces, in the TT the

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alienating effect of the presence of ch’ti.2 Eventually, Abrams’s secretary, Annabelle, intervenes to clear up the confusion: Monsieur le directeur, en fait, “Je vous dis quoi”, ch’est une expression ch’ti, cha veut dire “J’vous dis ce qu’il en est, quoi” [Boss, actually “I’ll tell you what” is a ch’ti expression, it means “I’ll let you know what’s happening”], which is subtitled as “Boss, ‘I’ll shay wot’, is sh’timi for / ‘I’ll let you know what’s up’”. In this particular instance, it is clear that Katims is working into American English. Indeed, most films are subtitled into American English so that only one set of subtitles can be used for the whole English-speaking world.

4.4. Scene four Once again, this scene is centred on Philippe Abrams’s confusion and misunderstanding due to his lack of familiarity with the ch’ti dialect. In this instance, a local Ch’ti resident and customer, Monsieur Vasseur, comes into the post office. He speaks to Abrams to ask if he can have an advance on his pension to fund the purchase of garden tools as his previous tools were damaged by heavy rain. Behind the counter’s glass window and unable to understand a word of what is said, Abrams attributes this to a faulty intercom system. When he comes to the front of the counter to speak to Vasseur face to face, he in fact feels that he understands even less than before. Eventually Abrams asks his assistant Annabelle, who is familiar with the local dialect, to deal with this customer. This scene juxtaposes Abrams’s use of standard French and Vasseur’s local dialect. Vasseur’s language is therefore incomprehensible not only to Philippe Abrams, but also to the film’s viewers who speak standard French. The sense of unintelligibility is even more apparent in this scene than it is in others due to the high concentration if ch’ti features which Vasseur’s language displays. If this scene is slightly longer, it is nevertheless interesting to examine it in its entirety. It is arguably the scene which contains the greatest amount of ch’ti language and it illustrates the broad range of translation challenges confronted, and solutions offered, by Katims. Despite the fact that Vasseur’s words are largely incomprehensible to the SL audience, semantic translations of these are provided in Example 7, for the benefit of the present reader.

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Example 7 Speaker 1) P.A. 2) Employee

3) P.A. 4) Employee 5) P.A.

6) M.V.

7) M.V. 8) M.V.

9) M.V. 10) P.A.

11) M.V.

12) P.A.

ST Qu’est-ce que c’est ? [What is it?] Il y a un client qui vient vous voir. [There is a customer who is coming to see you.] Pourquoi ? [Why?] Bah, il vient vous voir. [Er, he’s coming to see you.] Bonjour Monsieur. Qu’est-ce que je peux faire pour vous ? [Hello Sir. What can I do for you?] J’suis content d’voir c’lui qui va s’occuper… [I’m happy to see the one who is going to deal with…] de min compte à banque. [with my bank account.] Faut pas me raconter des carabistoules. [Don’t give me any nonsense.] Faut pas m’en baver, hein. [No nonsense, huh.] Je n’ai pas compris, là. Il faut quoi ? [I didn’t understand that. What do you need?] Il faut pas baver des carabistoules à mi. [Don’t give any nonsense to me.] Marche pas ce truc. [Doesn’t work, this thing.]

TT What? Cushtomer for you.

What for? To shee you. Hello, what can I do for you?

Mighty glad to shpy the one in charge.

Who’s in charge of my bank account. I don’t take confabulation.

Don’t beshmeer me. I didn’t get that. What do you want? I don’t cotton to confabulation.

Doesn’t work.

Dealing with Dialect 13) M.V. 14) P.A. 15) P.A. 16) P.A. 17) P.A. 18) M.V.

19) M.V.

20) P.A.

21) P.A. 22) M.V.

23) M.V.

24) M.V.

Quo qu’c’est qu’teu baves ? [What are you saying?] Deux secondes. [Two seconds.] Deux secondes, Monsieur. [Two seconds, Sir.] Voilà. [There.] Qu’est-ce que vous voulez ? [What do you want?] J’avo acaté gramint d’matériel pour min gardin. [I had bought a lot of material for my garden.] Ch’est qu’y avo fort draché. Eune berdoule. [It’s that it had rained a lot. A mud.] Je crois que c’était mieux avant. [I think that it was better before.] Oui. [Yes.] J’éto fin bénache, mais min livret O, i a eu des russ. [I was fine, but my bank book, it has had some problems.] J’suis pas là pour braire, mais si vous pouviez me faire une avance. [I’m not here to bray, but if you could give me an advance.] Jusqu’à l’prochaine quinzaine deume retraite. [Until the next fortnightly instalment of

57

What you beshmeering? Two seconds. Two seconds, Sir. There. What do you want? I wash a need a quipment for me gard.

Cosh it mighty mucked. A whop.

It was better before.

NO SUBTITLE I wash dandy but the bankbook wash a wee shortish.

I don’t bray but I needsh a shmall advansh.

Till the next schtalment of my penshion.

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25) P.A. 26) M.V. 27) P.A. 28) P.A.

29) A.D. 30) P.A.

31) P.A.

my pension.] Prochaine. Retraite. Oui. [Next. Pension. Yes.] Ch’est oui ou non ? [Is that yes or no ?] Bougez pas. [Don’t move.] Vous vous appelez comment déjà, vous ? [What are you called again, you?] Annabelle Deconink. [Annabelle Deconink.] Annabelle, vous voulez bien vous occuper de ce monsieur, s’il vous plaît. Parce que, voilà. [Annabelle, do you want to deal with this gentleman, please. Because, there.] Très bien. [Very good.]

Next. Pension. Yesh or no? Don’t go away. What’s your name again?

Annabelle Deconink. Annabelle, could you see to this gentleman? Because I…

Fine.

At times, individual lines in this scene pose one particular translation challenge which may relate to pronunciation, vocabulary or grammar, as discussed in the following sections.

4.4.1. Pronunciation Ch’ti pronunciation is an important feature of Vasseur’s use of language. When translating line 26, Katims again transfers the sound sh [Ƒ] from the SL to the TL, a technique that seems to be unavoidable, as repetition of the sound is such an important feature of the SL soundtrack. Here, Ch’est oui ou non? therefore becomes “Yesh or no?”. In addition, he sometimes includes this sound in his subtitles, even when it is not present in the SL, as in the case of lines 2, 4 and 23. This technique enables the essence of ch’ti to be preserved throughout the dialogue. In some instances, ch’ti pronunciation involves contraction and modification of standard French sounds, as in line 6. Here, Je suis [I am] becomes J’suis and celui [the one] is heard as c’lui. However, no similarly

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unusual contractions are made in the corresponding TL subtitles; J’suis is translated as a standard “I’m” and c’lui as “the one”: Example 8 ST Standard French English TT

J’suis content d’voir c’lui qui va s’occuper… Je suis content de voir celui qui va s’occuper… I’m pleased to see the one who is going to deal with… Mighty glad to shpy the one in charge.

Although this line may sound strange to SL viewers who are unfamiliar with the ch’ti dialect, it can certainly be understood. In order to preserve this strangeness, while still ensuring comprehensibility, Katims uses the informal American English adverbial “mighty” together with the verb “to spy”, with transposed pronunciation into a fricative “shpy”, instead of the standard English “to see”. When SL sounds are contracted, as in line 24 (Example 9), Katims, at times, uses a comparable technique in the TL. Vasseur’s deume (=de ma) retraite is rendered as “of my pension”. Given that it would be impossible to contract “of my” in English, Katim compensates for this by taking the TL noun “instalment”, removing the first syllable “in”, creating the noun “stalment” and transposing onto this the sh [Ƒ] sound: “schtalment”. Ch’ti pronunciation is further reinforced in the TL as the noun retraite [pension] becomes “penshion”. By implementing this strategy, Katims captures the presence of ch’ti in his TL. This exemplifies an approach commended by Díaz Cintas and Remael (2007: 191), who, when discussing the difficulty of translating dialect, write: “Talented subtitlers […] manage to ‘suggest’ this kind of language variation”. Example 9 ST Standard French English TT

Jusqu’à l’prochaine quinzaine deume retraite. Jusqu’à la prochaine quinzaine de ma retraite. Until the next fortnightly instalment of my pension. Till the next schtalment of my penshion.

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4.4.2. Vocabulary Monsieur Vasseur’s frequent use of ch’ti vocabulary largely accounts for his not being understood. In lines 8 and 9, Katims deals with this by employing TL words which begin with the same letter as the SL word and have approximately the same meaning, but which either belong to formal and literary registers or are used out of their usual context and thus sound odd. In line 8 we therefore witness the use of the polysyllabic, highregister term “confabulation”: Example 10 ST Standard French English TT

Faut pas me raconter des carabistoules. Il ne faut pas me raconter des bêtises. Don’t give me any nonsense. I don’t take confabulation.

In line 9, the verb baver [dire; to tell, to say] is given similar treatment. Here, pronunciation is again transposed onto the TL, and “besmear” becomes “beshmear”, but the tag hein [huh] is deleted. Use of this verb appears particularly strange in the subtitle. Not only is its meaning (to smear or cover with a greasy or sticky substance) unusual in this context, but it also belongs to a literary register and is probably never used in spoken English. It is therefore unlikely that many members of the TL audience would understand, or even guess, its meaning. Example 11 ST Standard French English TT

Faut pas m’en baver, hein. Pas de bêtises, c’est entendu ? No nonsense, OK? Don’t beshmeer me.

Further, in line 23, use of the ch’ti colloquial verb braire to mean pleurer [to cry, to whinge] is noteworthy. In standard French, braire means “to bray”; that is, to make a loud, harsh cry or sound, like that made by a donkey. Although this term is used by a native ch’ti speaker, it may appear somewhat controversial. As ch’ti is considered a low dialect, it could be inferred that speakers seem to “bray”, like animals, rather than complain. This verb is translated literally by Katims which ensures that it preserves its original connotation in the TL. Further, the translation of this line includes a feature of ch’ti which is not, on this occasion, present in the

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original: “needsh” [needs]; “schmall” [small]. Once again, as previously discussed in section 4.3, it could be argued that this serves as a compensation strategy. Example 12 ST Standard French English TT

J’suis pas là pour braire, mais si vous pouviez me faire une avance. Je ne suis pas là pour râler, mais si vous pouviez me faire une avance. I’m not here to whinge, but if you could give me an advance. I don’t bray, but I needsh a shmall advansh.

4.4.3. Grammar The presence of ch’ti grammar in this scene also requires particular attention. On occasions, Katims chooses not to recapture this in the TL. In line 7, for instance, the ch’ti first person possessive pronoun min, a variant of the standard mon, is translated with the standard TL equivalent “my”, though, arguably, the translation could have resorted to the colloquial and frequent use of the possessive adjective “me”: “me bank account”. Indeed, “me” is used in exactly this way in the translation of line 18. Further, in line 11, Vasseur’s emphatic use of the dialectal demonstrative à mi [à moi; to me] is not translated. Instead, Katims complements his repeated use of substantive “confabulation” (line 8) with the alliterated verb “cotton to”, informal American English for “approve of”. In this instance, as in other previously discussed examples (6 and 10), features of ch’ti are not necessarily recaptured in the corresponding TL words, but are compensated for elsewhere in the subtitles. When we hear the following ch’ti construction (line 13), which deviates quite considerably from the standard French, Katims chooses to simplify the usual TL question form by removing the verb “are”, and “what are you” becomes “what you”. He then accompanies this with a repeated use of the verb “besmear”, which again appears as “beshmear” and, as discussed above, seems bizarre due to its meaning and register which are unusual in the present context. Example 13 ST Standard French

Quo qu’ c’est qu’ teu baves ? Qu’est-ce que tu dis ?

62 English TT

Chapter Four What are you saying? What you beshmeering?

4.4.4. Pronunciation, vocabulary, expressions and grammar If the above-discussed lines have contained one predominant feature of the ch’ti language, other lines in this scene display a concentrated blend of ch’ti pronunciation, vocabulary, expressions and grammar. These lines are therefore particularly difficult to understand; they inevitably cause confusion on the part of Abrams and, indeed, the film’s francophone audience, which is the trigger for their humorous effect. In line 18, the audience hears: Example 14 ST Standard French English TT

J’avo acaté gramint d’matériel pour min gardin. J’avais acheté beaucoup de matériel pour mon jardin. I had bought a lot of material for my garden. I wash a need quipment for me gard.

By transforming pronunciation and making “was” become “wash”, adding unnecessary articles (“a need”), using personal pronouns inaccurately as possessive adjectives (“me”) and contracting some nouns (“quipment”, “gard”), Katims produces a translation which appears strange to the TL audience and is only partly comprehensible. His subtitle of this line is as confusing and amusing for the anglophone viewer as the original line is for the francophone audience. Once again, dynamic equivalence is certainly achieved. Line 19 presents a comparable range of translation difficulties which Katims handles in a number of ways: Example 15 ST Standard French English TT

Ch’est qu’y avo fort draché. Eune berdoule. C’est qu’il avait beaucoup plu. Une boue. It is that it had rained a lot. A mud. Cosh it mighty mucked. A whop.

To convey the idea of heavy rain and mud, Katims transforms the noun une boue [a mud]—which sounds strange as it is never used as a countable noun in French or English—into the verb “to muck”, which does not exist

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in the TL. He then supplements this with the American English noun “a whop”, meaning “a hard hit”. Arguably, this line is incomprehensible to an anglophone audience and Katims’s TT thus once again succeeds at reproducing for the TL audience both the misunderstanding and confusion experienced by SL viewers. Katims responds to the translation challenges presented by line 22 by using a very different technique: Example 16 ST Standard French English TT

J’éto fin bénache, mais mon livret O, il a eu des russ. J’étais bien tranquille, mais mon livret O, il a eu des difficultés. I was fine, but my bank book, has had some problems. I wash dandy but the bank book wash a wee shortish.

In the same sentence, Katims uses the American English “dandy”, meaning “fine” or “good”, to translate the ch’ti expression fin bénache [fine], and the Scottish “a wee shortish”, i.e. “a little lacking / short (of money)” to render il a eu des russ [it has had some problems]. The result is a cacophonous mixture of national variants which appears unusual to, and produces a jarring effect on, the anglophone audience. In sum, in order to respond to the broad range of translation challenges posed by the concentrated presence of the ch’ti dialect in this scene, Katims implements a correspondingly wide range of creative translation solutions. One of these solutions involves transposition of pronunciation (lines 2, 4, 23, 24), that is, “misspelling” standard English words in order to incorporate the SL sound sh [Ƒ], which is such a striking feature of ch’ti pronunciation, onto the TL. It is clearly necessary to dose uses of this sound in order to avoid their being too confusing or off-putting for the TL audience. Creative solutions employed by Katims also include contraction of TL nouns (18, 24), juxtaposition of linguistic registers (6, 8, 9) and national variants (22), unusual and creative uses of vocabulary (23, 19) and invention of ungrammatical question forms (13). Together, these strategies produce subtitles which appear bizarre and dissonant and are sometimes difficult for the TL audience to understand.

4.5 Scene five Despite some initial difficulties to settle in Bergues, Abrams develops an affection for his colleagues. He takes them to a local restaurant where

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they introduce him to regional specialities and teach him to speak some ch’ti. This involves guidance on vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar. In this scene, colleagues encourage Abrams to use the ch’ti which they have taught him to make an order. Here, we witness the ultimate ironic reversal: the waiter is not a local and does not understand him: Example 17 Speaker 1) P.A. 2) A.B. 3) P.A. 4) Waiter 5) P.A. 6) P.A.

7) A.B. 8) P.A. 9) P.A. 10) P.A.

11) Waiter

ST Garchon ! [Waiter!] Ah non, ça vient de là. [No, it comes from here.] Garchon ! [Waiter!] Bonsoir. [Good evening.] Bonsoir biloute, hein ! [Good evening mate, huh!] Mi avec ch’équipe de la poste, on voudrait… [Me with the team from the Post Office, we would like…] On voudron [We want] On voudron [We want] r-commander [to order again] la même chose, s’il vous plaît, hein ! [the same thing, please, huh!] Excusez-moi, je ne suis pas Ch’timi. Je suis de la région parisienne et je n’ai rien compris. [I’m sorry, I’m not Ch’timi. I’m from the Paris region and I didn’t understand anything.]

TT Waiter! From the gut. NO SUBTITLE Good evening. Evening biloute. Mo and the posh offish shtaff want…

Wont. We wont… to order the shame again pleash.

Sorry, I’m not Shtimi. I’m from Paris. I didn’t get that.

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Translation of the French used in this scene is handled in a number of ways in the English subtitles. Pronunciation of s [s] as sh [Ƒ] is again an important feature of the language used here. At times, transposition of this sound is not possible (lines 1 and 3), but it is compensated for elsewhere. Indeed, in line 6, the sh [Ƒ] sound features only once in the SL but three times in the subtitle, which emphasises and alliterates it. At other times, this sound is used in the TL to compensate for non-translation of an SL term within the same line; in line 10, the SL tag hein [huh] is not translated, but sh is used twice in the subtitle, despite the fact that it does not feature at all in the SL. When the familiar form of address biloute [pal] is used in line 5, the very same lexical item is retained in the TL which helps to foreignise the subtitle. As regards the grammar, and indeed the morphology, of ch’ti (lines 6-8), this is preserved subtly in the TL through slight modifications to standard TL verb forms and pronouns. Hence, on voudron [on voudrait] is rendered as “wont” [(we) want] and mi [moi] becomes “mo” [me]. This latter pronoun is particularly unusual. Although, in certain constructions, the accusative “me” sometimes replaces the nominative “I” in colloquial English (“Me and my friends played a game” as opposed to “my friends and I played a game”), “mo” is not used in British or American English. Katims may then have created this particular pronoun by adapting either the French possessive adjective mon, or the personal pronoun moi.

5. Conclusion At the outset, this article quoted Landers (2001: 117), who was adamant about the impossibility of translating dialect. Against this background, the article set out to establish the extent to which Michael Katims succeeds at preserving the flavour of the ch’ti dialect in his English subtitles of the French film Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis. Bearing in mind both the widely acknowledged difficulty of translating dialect (Berman 1985: 294, Hatim and Mason 1990: 40-45) and the added constraints of attempting this in the audiovisual context of subtitling (Díaz Cintas and Remael 2007: 191-92), this article has focused on instances in the film where ch’ti pronunciation, vocabulary, expressions and grammar result in confusion and, ultimately, amusement, and has looked into how this language has been rendered in its English subtitles. Examining five scenes, the article has shown Katims’s use of an eclectic blend of distinct translation solutions. These range from the freer and more creative— including transposition of pronunciation, juxtaposition of different linguistic registers and national variants, and rewriting of wordplays—to

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the closer-to-the-original and more foreignising such as literal transferral of SL terms and close translation of expressions. Collectively, these solutions produce a TT which draws attention to the otherness of ch’ti and retains the self-conscious references to this dialect which are present in the ST. This is exactly the approach recommended by Berman (1985/2000: 285-286) in his discussion of translating novels. Berman criticises those translation strategies which conceal the foreign identity of the ST. In his eyes, the translation of novels, which contain a proliferation of languages and accents, almost always results in the production of homogenised, or linguistically flat, discourse in the TT. He thus advocates making the foreign qualities of the ST visible in the TT in order to render the latter less “flat” or more “textured”. Perhaps one of the best measures to gauge the success of Katims’s translation is to consider the response of anglophone viewers with more or less knowledge of the linguistic skills involved in producing these subtitles. Amongst reviews on www.amazon.co.uk are the following: “Just stick the English subtitles on (which somehow have an accent) and enjoy!”; “Kudos to Michael Katims’ (sic) excellent subtitle adaptation that manages to pull off the tricky […] puns and wordplays that a lesser translator might decide were simply untranslatable”. Katims is, it appears, highly successful in preserving both the linguistic specificity and the resulting humour of Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis in his translation. To return to Landers (2001: 117), dialect is indeed firmly rooted in the particular geographical and cultural context in which it originates; close translation of this could therefore never be achieved. As Díaz Cintas and Remael (2007: 191) write: “The connotations of different target language dialects will never be the same as those of the source culture dialects they replace”. However, in the present case, no attempt is made to substitute ch’ti with an equivalent TL dialect. Rather, working against the audiovisual background, which always contributes significantly to preserving an original film’s context and colour (ibid.: 193), Katims succeeds in alluding to this dialect in the TL, and therefore in conveying the essence of ch’ti in his subtitles. If Landers is convinced that dialect should never be translated, the present article has demonstrated that this can certainly be done.

Notes 1. Other practitioners also employ this translation strategy, which can be witnessed in Bell and Hockridge’s (1973: 23) translation of slurred, drunken speech in Astérix chez les Bretons (Goscinny and Uderzo 1966/1995: 23) and in Ellender’s

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(2007: 22-25) translation of a speech impediment in Claude Sarraute’s P(o)ur home (2000). 2. This technique is used by Belmont and Chabrier in their 1977 translation of Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange. By preserving lexical items of the Russian dialect nadsat in their French translation, these translators produce a similar foreignising effect on the TT reader as the original use of nadsat produces on the ST reader.

References Bell, Anthea and Derek Hockridge, trs. 1973. Asterix in Britain. London: Hodder Dargaud. Berman, Antoine. 1985/2000. “Translation and the trials of the foreign” in Lawrence Venuti (ed.) The Translation Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 281-89. Burgess, Anthony. 1962/2000. A Clockwork Orange. London: Penguin. —. 1972/1993. L’Orange Mécanique (tr. G. Belmont and H. Chabrier). Paris: Robert Laffont. De Linde, Zoe and Neil Kay. 1999. The Semiotics of Subtitling. Manchester: St. Jerome. Díaz Cintas, Jorge and Aline Remael. 2007. Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling. Manchester: St. Jerome. Ellender, Claire. 2006. Preserving Polyphonies: Responding to the Writings of Claude Sarraute. PhD thesis. Lancaster University. —. 2007. “Dealing with defects: translating a speech impediment in Claude Sarraute’s ‘P(o)ur home”. In Other Words: The Journal for Literary Translators 29: 18-19. Goscinny, René and Albert Uderzo. 1966/1995. Astérix chez les Bretons. Paris: Dargaud. Hatim, Basil and Ian Mason. 1990. Discourse and the Translator. London: Routledge. Hornsby, Michael. 2012. “From the periphery to the centre: recent debates on the place of Breton (and other regional languages) in the French Republic”: 171-97. www.academia.edu/966439/From_the_Periphery_to_the_Centre_recen t_debates_on_the_place_of_Breton_and_other_regional_languages_in _the_French_Republic Landers, Clifford. 2001. Literary Translation: A Practical Guide. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Luyken, Georg-Michel, Thomas Herbst, Jo Langham-Brown, Helen Reid and Hermann Spinhof. 1991. Overcoming Language Barriers in

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Television: Dubbing and Subtitling for the European Audience. ManManchester: European Institute for the Media. Nida, Eugène. 1964. Towards a Science of Translating. Leiden: E.J. Brill. Pooley, Tim. 1996. Ch‘timi: The Urban Vernaculars of Northern France. Key Features of the Phonology and Grammar of Northern French. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Ruler, John. 2010. Cross-Channel France. Nord-Pas de Calais: The Land beyond the Ports. Bradt Travel Guides: Chalfont St Peter, Guildford Connecticut. Sarraute, Claude. 2000. "P(o)ur homme". Psychologies Magazine 79: 1-2. www.psychologies.com/Couple/Crises-Divorce/Conflits/Articles-etDossiers/P-o-ur-homme Venuti, Lawrence. 1995. The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London: Routledge.

CHAPTER FIVE SUBTITLING NONVERBAL CULTURAL REFERENCES: SATYAJIT RAY’S APU TRILOGY TANIYA GUPTA UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA, SPAIN

Abstract In this paper, a descriptive analysis is carried out of how culture-specific information is encoded in AV texts, not only in verbal information, but also in the nonverbal semiotic modes, and how it influences translation choices in interlingual subtitling from a multimodal perspective. In a departure from earlier studies on the translation of cultural references, the methodology is derived from film as well as translation studies, given that it is based on factors that are specific to film texts such as paralanguage, kinesics, proxemics and cultural signs. It is applied here to Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy and its Spanish and English subtitled versions.

1. Introduction: the international impact of Indian cinema The Indian film industry ranks among the most famous in the world, surpassed perhaps only by the US film industry. Bollywood cinema is the best known, Bollywood being a term that is used to refer to the mainstream commercial Hindi language section of Indian cinema, produced in Mumbai. Historically, Indian films have had a large fan acknowledgement in the Indian sub-continent, as well as in Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The Indian diaspora has significantly contributed to the export of these films, and now that certain films are available with subtitles in European languages, there has been an increased interest among foreign audiences as well. International distribution houses release Indian films outside India and many international film festivals screen Indian films, both as mainstream and as parallel cinema. Here, parallel cinema refers to an alternative film scene in India inspired mainly

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by Italian Neo-Realism that is grounded in a realistic portrayal of sociopolitical and cultural issues (Krishen 1991). While the film movement (also termed the New Wave cinema by its followers) dwindled after the 1980s, the remnants of its style and the “close to home” approach to socially relevant issues has endured in the films of contemporary filmmakers and the genre retains its popularity among film critics and enthusiasts, mostly notably with the films of Satyajit Ray (Elena 1998: 244-5). A recent trend that bridges the divide between mainstream and parallel Indian cinema is that of Hindies, films often made in HindiEnglish, by both small and big production companies, that deal with local and global issues at different levels, while maintaining certain key features of traditional film-making. Mainstream Indian cinema, with its perceived escapism and song-and-dance routines, has received less attention in academia than parallel cinema due to what Hogan (2008: 3) defines as the “art/entertainment opposition”. In this study, I have selected Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy not because it is a more internationally celebrated example of Indian cinema than Bollywood, but because the aim of this paper is to explore, at the level of the film text and its translation, how audiovisual translation (AVT) can contribute to the internationalisation of Indian cinema and what still remains to be done.

2. Satyajit Ray and the Apu Trilogy Satyajit Ray has long been considered the most internationally acclaimed exponent of the New Wave cinema in India. Ray’s cinema is important to this study because of the wide variety of topics, techniques and genres explored in his films. They are genuinely representative of the cultures they depict and offer a vision into the complex reality that is India. According to Sen (1996), the society and culture depicted by Ray in his films is not a homogeneous stereotyped construct but a portrait of a heterogeneous contemporary India. Ray explores topics of universal interest and pertinence within the framework of Indian society. And one of his principal concerns is the divide between cultures and how to bridge it in his films, without pandering to any preconceived notions of the East and losing cultural individuality in the bargain (ibid.: 32). In Ray’s (in Robinson, 2004: 373) own words: “The most distinctive feature [of my films] is that they are deeply rooted in Bengal, in Bengali culture, mannerisms and mores. What makes them universal in appeal is that they are about human beings”. Satyajit Ray paints socio-political and cultural portraits of a country and its people, guided always by his humanitarian vision, which, in my

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opinion, makes his films an apt choice for an article devoted to cultural transfer and sharing in AVT. For the purposes of this study I take up the English and Spanish subtitled versions of his most acclaimed work, the Apu Trilogy, which consists of the following three Bengali films: Pather Panchali (1955, Song of the Little Road / La canción del camino), Apajarito (1956, The Unvanquished / El invencible) and Apur Sansar (1959, The World of Apu / El mundo de Apu). Their storyline is based on Bengali society and culture and, therefore, of great interest to research that largely deals with the different filmic expressions of a culture and their representation through AVT to another, more distant culture. I have worked with the subtitled versions, not just because English dubbed versions do not exist, but because I think that a subtitled text is one of the few modalities of translation where both the original and the translated text are presented simultaneously, giving rise to new challenges for the translator. Given that we are dealing with a filmic medium (where multiple channels and codes of communication interact to produce meaning), it is worthwhile to analyse the translation of a text so deeply embedded in a socio-cultural context far removed from the target culture.

3. Theoretical framework Any study involving translation must be carried out from an interdisciplinary perspective, and AVT is no exception. This descriptive study is based on three disciplines: Cultural Studies, Film Studies and Audiovisual Translation. Each discipline has a fundamental role to play in the methodology followed here and therefore contributes overall to the interdisciplinary character of this project, which is now explained in detail.

3.1. Translating cultural references Thanks to the increased interest in AVT, the definition of cultural references has been adapted to include the multi-channel and multimodal nature of audiovisual texts, in a departure from earlier definitions that were limited to written texts. It is possible to observe certain similarities between cultural references in written texts and multimodal texts; they refer to material or ideological concepts that are unique to a community or are shared with others. Leppihalme (1997: 3) uses the term allusions and gives it a wider meaning: a variety of uses of pre-formed linguistic material, either in its original form or modified, as well as proper names, in order to communicate an implicit meaning. According to Franco Aixelá (1996: 57), the existence of a cultural reference or, as he terms it, culture-

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specific item (CSI), depends on the conflict generated when the transfer of a reference in the original text to another target language (TL) creates a problem for the translator. This conflict may be attributed to the absence of value, or a different value attributed to it, in the target culture. Within the field of AVT, Nedergaard-Larsen (1993: 209) establishes the term culture-bound elements to refer to “the non-linguistic sphere, to different phenomena or events that exist in the source language culture”, a definition also expounded by Pedersen (2005: 114) who, however, does point out that Extralinguistic Culture-bound References or ECRs are linguistic references to cultural items that in themselves do not form part of a language system. What is common among all these definitions is that they refer to linguistically coded items that pose problems of a culturespecific nature while translating. Hardly any research has been devoted to cultural references encoded in the various other filmic codes that constitute an audiovisual text. It is not hard to understand why, because translators, by the very nature of their work, deal principally with the verbal text, and do not work with either visual or acoustic cultural references, unless they are mentioned in the linguistic code. Nevertheless, these cultural references provide often a deeper understanding of the film plot, narrative and socio-cultural setting and they affect the strategies employed in the translation of the verbal text. For the purposes of this project, I will employ Pedersen’s (2005) taxonomy of translation strategies for translating culture in subtitles, which, in turn, is based on Leppihalme (1997) and Nedergaard-Larsen’s (1993) classifications. Given that it is developed with a view to audiovisual texts, although lexico-specific, it takes into consideration cultural information contained in the nonverbal visual and acoustic codes. Pedersen is aware of the technical constraints often present in the translation of audiovisual texts and that it sometimes necessitates certain inventive strategies, which may not be the case in other modalities of translation. He lists the strategies in order of their source language (SL) and TL orientation as: 1. Retention, where the original cultural reference is directly borrowed in its entirety from the original text. 2. Specification 2.1. Explicitation, where implicit information is made explicit. 2.2. Addition, where a reference is expanded upon to explain it. 3. Direct translation, or literal translation. 4. Generalization, where the (culture) specific is replaced by the general.

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5. Substitution 5.1. Cultural substitution, to exchange the original cultural reference with one belonging to the target culture, or by a transcultural reference. 5.2. Paraphrase 5.2.1. Paraphrase with sense transfer, where the mention of the original reference is removed, but its meaning or character is retained in other words. 5.2.2. Situational paraphrase, to omit all traces of the original cultural reference and replace it with something that fits the situation. 6. Omission

3.2. Subtitling and multimodality For the purposes of this study, subtitling is defined as the translation into another language of primarily the verbal component of an original film text, consisting traditionally of one or two lines of written text placed generally at the bottom of the screen, synchronised with the appearance of the verbal component in the original language, thus excluding intralingual subtitling and subtitling for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing (SDH). Contrary to other modalities in AVT, such as dubbing, subtitling gives the receiver simultaneous access to the original and the translation. Gottlieb (1997: 111) refers to subtitling as “diagonal translation” insomuch as it involves a shift from the oral SL to the written TL. It would be wrong to consider a translation in this modality to consist of only the subtitles. If the source text is the film or audiovisual material in the original language, the translated text is the film with the subtitles in the TL. Subtitles by themselves would be incomprehensible and do not communicate the meaning of the film. An audiovisual text is multimodal, comprising of different semiotic modes, including spoken and written language, music, moving and still images, sound effects, etc. Each mode functions both independently and collectively with other modes in order to communicate meaning. To consider subtitles as the target text would only be correct if the entirety of the information presented by all these modes were to be communicated by these two or more lines of text, which is not the case. Gottlieb (1997: 111) talks of subtitling as intrasemiotic translation, as in his opinion, for a translation to be intersemiotic, there must be a change in text format, e.g. a film adaptation of a literary work. This is perhaps true at the macro-level. On the micro-level, however, I would like to suggest

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that the translator does sometimes, if not always, carry out an intersemiotic translation. Earlier studies have already established that an audiovisual text is a polysemiotic text that combines different sign systems to jointly produce meaning, of which verbal signs constitute only one (Delabastita 1989, 1990, Chaume 1997). Admittedly, the linguistic text is generally the only component that translators can “manipulate”, because the original audio channel is present along with the subtitles (Chaume, 2004a). Nevertheless, their translation takes into account the information communicated in the visual and acoustic (nonverbal) components. Several works have underlined the importance of nonverbal information in AVT (Delabastita 1990, Chaume 1997, 2004, Zabalbeascoa 1997, Gambier 2006), and while it is true that a subtitler does not change anything in the original text, but merely adds another element to it, the information contained in a particular semiotic code might either lose or gain added significance as a result of the target audience’s knowledge of the cultural sphere of the original text. An example in which the visuals contain important information that relies on the filmmaker and the audience sharing the same culture, can be found in the ending of the film Planet of the Apes (Franklin Schaffner, 1968), when the protagonist discovers, to his anguish, that the planet he has been on, is Earth, when he sees the decayed remnants of the Statue of Liberty. It is not clear from the spoken word alone, how the protagonist recognised his home planet. If subtitlers believed (however improbable it might be in this case) that the audience would miss something due to a lack of shared culture, they might insert a hint about the statue’s recognisability. To my knowledge no subtitles clarified this scene in the target languages, not only because of the Statue of Liberty's fame, but also because it may make the “manipulation” too obvious to audiences with even a limited command of English. But in the case of less universal imagery and a SL that the target audience probably does not understand at all, the translator has more freedom, and indeed responsibility, to convey the full text, including information not present in the spoken word but in other elements of the audiovisual text. So we see that a shift may occur where the original element is divested of its meaning as the foreign audience is unfamiliar with it, and the translated verbal text acquires additional meaning. At a micro-level, this translation technique might be considered intersemiotic.

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3.3. Film codes When talking about multimodality, Kress (2009: 79) cites image, writing, music, gesture, speech, moving image, soundtrack as examples of modes, all of which are constituting elements of a film text. Many of the modes mentioned by Kress are used in film texts to convey meaning. In Film Studies these elements are defined as “signifying codes” of film language (Chaume 2004b: 16). Casetti and Di Chio’s (1991) extensive list has been synthesized by Chaume (1997) into a precise list of film codes most relevant to our study, explained further in the following section.

4. Cultural references in different codes and their translation As this paper deals with both verbally and nonverbally coded cultural information in film texts, I propose a descriptive model for analysing the strategies used in their translation, from the perspective of film studies. Classifying each reference according to the nature of their encoding, this section encloses a few examples of certain coded cultural information present in the three Ray films. The Spanish and English subtitled versions are compared to each other and to the original Bengali text, along with the cultural category they belong to and the perceived translation strategy used in each case. Due to space constraints only a selection of certain codes has been presented here, excluding the sound arrangement, photographic, planning and graphic codes which will be treated in a following article.

4.1. Linguistic code Of all the codes that are transmitted through the audio channel, the linguistic code occupies the principal position, both in terms of frequency and its logical importance in AVT, since this is the code that the translator primarily works with. Cultural references in the linguistic code are easy to come by; there are around 70 linguistically coded cultural references in the first film alone. I present example 1 here which, although principally linguistic in nature, also derives part of its meaning from the visual component of the scene and therefore is of interest in this study:

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Example 1 Film code Film Time code Original (BEN) Back Translation EN Subtitles (SP) Subtitles (EN) Cultural category Translation Strategy (SP) Translation strategy (EN)

Linguistic Aparajito 32:03 öĊ / ñǩđöĊ (Jol / Gongajol) [Water / Ganga water] Agua / Agua… Ganges… [Water / Water… Ganga…] Ganga… Customs-rituals Literal translation Retention (with TL adjustment)

In this example, Harihar, Apu’s father who is sick in bed with pneumonia, asks his wife for water from the holy river Ganga. What is interesting about this request is that a person is normally given water from the Ganga when they are dying. It is a Hindu rite, and all the more important here, since Harihar is a priest. His request communicates his knowledge of his imminent death to an audience familiar with the ritual. The look of realisation on Sarbojaya’s face, as well as her urgent appeal to Apu as she shakes him awake and tells him to hurry back with the water, is also indicative of the situation. In the original text in Bengali, she says to Apu: òđĘù ĒñĘĠ eï òù öĊ ĒĂĘĠ äĠ ĺþđ ąđąđ (Ghate giye ek ghot jol niye ay to baba), which literally translates as “From the river bank get a pot of water, dear”. In the Spanish subtitles, the phrase öĊ/ñǩđöĊ (Jol / Gongajol) is translated literally, while the English version retains the original name of the river, but omits the “water” part presumably because it is well known that the Ganga is a river. The Spanish version then follows up with an explanation in the translation of her request to Apu: Ve por agua sagrada [Go for holy water], while the English version translates it as “Go to the ghat, get a pot of water and run back at once”. Contrary to the English translator, the Spanish translator forgoes a more literal translation in favour of explicitation, obviously keeping in mind that a foreign audience might not be able to grasp the implicit foretelling of Harihar’s demise. S/he might also have tried to draw a parallel here with the Christian custom of last rites, anointing with holy oil and communion, to convey the message of this cultural reference to an audience more familiar with Christian rituals, which would make it a strategy of cultural substitution as mentioned by Pedersen (2005).

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4.2. Paralinguistic code Paralinguistic information conveyed by means of the acoustic channel in audiovisual texts consists of oral elements, utterances that do not completely form part of a lexicon, rather they are (transcriptions of) certain sounds emitted by us that denote certain qualities and emphasise or reaffirm the messages pronounced verbally. They may either appear as sole enunciations or, more frequently, as part of verbal speech. Poyatos (1995: 30-33) makes an exhaustive list of paralinguistic features such as Primary Qualities, or tempo, rhythm, intonation, pitch, etc.; Qualifiers, or nasality, breathiness, surly or complaining tones and modulations, to name a few. Differentiators are sounds characterising emotional states such as laughter, sighs, crying, shouts, etc. and Alternants consist of utterances that represent affirmation, negation, frustration and doubt, among others. Most paralinguistic information is normally not translated in subtitling since it is generally recognisable in most cultures but, in my opinion, alternants may sometimes warrant special attention. Let me illustrate with example 2: Example 2 Film code Film Time code Original (BEN) Subtitles (SP & EN) Cultural category (Leppihalme) Translation Strategy (SP & EN)

Paralinguistic Aparajito 32:03 æċ! (Ish) Emotions Omission

The paralinguistic expression “Ish” occurs at various moments in the econd and third films of the trilogy. Based on Poyatos’ classification, it is an alternant that can convey a variety of meanings on its own, as well as in addition to verbal sentences. “Ish” can mean disgust, pity, regret, sorrow, etc. depending on the situational context. When uttered in conjunction with sentences, it presents no problem as the meaning is clarified by the sentence; however, it is often used on its own by Bengalis. To my knowledge, no specific equivalent exists in either English or Spanish, the most common strategy being to omit it, and let the viewer work out its meaning from the conversations that precede or follow it as well as the accompanying visual component. In both films, it has been left untranslated, in the second, since it is immediately followed by: ñđ ĺĈ ăĔĘĉ

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ăĔĘĉ ĈđĘc [your body is burning], which in the Spanish subtitles becomes: estás ardiendo de fiebre [you’re burning with fever]. But in the third film, it appears as an exclamation without any accompanying sentences. Possibly the translator chose to omit it because the next shot illustrates the cause. Aparna, Apu’s wife, spies a cockroach on the balcony under a pile of firewood, and her face communicates her disgust as she takes up a broom and hits it hard, killing it.

4.3. Musical code By musical code, we take to mean both background music and songs in a film, especially those of importance to the narrative storyline. One particular point that distinguishes Indian cinema for critics and film researchers worldwide is their musical format. It is quite common to find several musical or song-and-dance sequences in mainstream Indian films and even art film directors have utilised this technique, albeit perhaps in a somewhat different manner. An interesting example of a musical code, which does have a significant function with respect to the narrative, is available to us in Apur Sansar: Example 3 Film code Film Time code Original (BEN)

Back translation in EN Subtitles (SP& EN) Cultural category Translation Strategy (SP & EN)

Musical Apur Sansar 36:24 o ąnĔ ĺĉ... äĘñ ĈĒĀ öđĂþđć ĺĉ ąnĔ , ĈđĘą ĺĉ õđĒĉĈđ […] ĉđĒðþđć ąđĒnĠđ ĺĉ ąnĔ , äĒć ĉđĒðþđć ąđĒnĠđ ĺĉ ĂĀēĉ þēĘĉ…

[O bondhu re… Agey jonto jantam re bondhu jabe re chhariya […] Rakhitam bandhiya re bondhu, ami rakhitam bandhiya re nodir tire…] [Oh friend… if before I had known, friend, that you would leave me […] I would have bound (my boat), friend, I would have bound (my boat) to the river shore…] Literature Omission

This clip provides an example of a cultural reference encoded both in the photographic and musical code. For now, let us talk about the cultural

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reference in the musical code. We hear a boatman’s song, first indistinctly, as if from a distance, corroborated by the opening visual shot of this sequence where we see two boats on a river while the song increases in volume. The shot then changes to a close-up of Apu’s profile near the window, the camera pans to reveal a wider view of the bridal chamber and comes to a stop in the centre, with the shot framed by the four bedposts and Apu and his bride standing at opposite sides of the bed. All the while, the song maintains the continuity of the sequence, now as part of the background score. No dialogue is spoken for the most part, allowing the song to continue at an audible volume. The cultural reference here is not a word or a sentence, but the boatman’s song, which belongs to a genre of Bengal folk music called Bhatiyali. These songs are of an introspective, spiritual and social character, and have often been used by filmmakers to underscore certain emotional states, or to make a comment on aspects of Bengal society. In this film it indicates the state of mind of our hero, who in a fit of chivalry married his friend’s cousin when her intended groom turned out to be a raving lunatic, and now doubts the wisdom of his decision. The lyrics of the song translate roughly as “Oh friend, if only I had known, that you would leave me… for then I would have bound my boat to the river shore”. The opening shot is also mirrored in the composition of the bridal chamber; the two people separated both physically and emotionally by the bed, like the two banks of a river. It is also worth noticing that Apu and his friend Pulu arrive at Aparna’s house on a boat similar to the ones visible in the first shot of this sequence, thus the song in a way echoes Apu’s journey to the village and the situation he finds himself in. Given that no one speaks in this scene, it might have been an option to translate the lyrics of the song, as it is a metaphor for Apu’s doubt and insecurity about his hasty decision. Having observed that the subtitles in general tend to deal with the unambiguously diegetic verbal text of the film, that is, the dialogues spoken by the characters, I expect the translator did not deem the boatman’s song worthy of translation as s/he seems to not have considered it integral (in my opinion mistakenly) to the plot.

4.4. Iconographic code From the perspective of AVT, the iconographic code is especially significant, given that a visual icon, index or symbol communicates meaning, often but not always in conjunction with the verbal part of the film text. Translators then have to take into consideration that their translation of the verbal text must not contradict that which is echoed by

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the image. However, a problem arises when the visual element is culturespecific and less likely to be recognised by the target audience, thus risking the loss of its semiotic content. Chaume (2004a: 228-39) mentions two ways in which the iconographic code interacts with the linguistic code to produce meaning: substitution and reiteration. In the first case, the visual code substitutes for the verbal code or vice-versa, and in the second, one code serves to emphasise the meaning of the other. A third case might also be that of sharing, where neither code substitutes nor repeats the message communicated by the other, but where both (or even more codes) jointly constitute the message, and their co-existence is necessary. Example 4 Film code Film Time code Original (BEN) Subtitles (SP) Subtitles (EN) Cultural category (Leppihalme) Translation Strategy (SP) Translation Strategy (EN)

Iconographic Apur Sansar 36:24 Visual symbol of bending down to touch the feet of an older person. Que Dios te bendiga. [May God bless you.] Customs-rituals Cultural substitution (TL ECR) Omission

In this shot, Apu and Pulu arrive at Aparna’s house and Pulu introduces Apu to Aparna’s parents. Pulu goes to his aunt, bends down, touches her feet and then raises his hand to his head and heart. Apu also does the same on being introduced to her. In India, this is a widely practiced gesture of respect while greeting elders, especially parents and close relatives. Even if there is no relation, one makes this sign of respect to elderly people if they have been introduced, and they in turn, give their blessings. In this sequence, this gesture is wholly visual and thus substitutes for any verbal mention made, by either of the characters, except perhaps for Aparna’s mother who softly says, ÿđï, ÿđï (Thak, thak) meaning “It’s all right” or “Don’t bother”, which, being nearly inaudible as well as a very short utterance, is left untranslated. As it is a mid-shot of Aparna’s mother, we do not see the complete gesture, only that they bend down and, before rising, touch their heads and hearts. In India, this partial view is enough to communicate to the viewers the significance of their action, but it may be lost on a foreign audience.

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While no verbal text accompanies the image in this first instance, the mother says, äċēąŪ đĀ ïĒĉ ąđąđ ĀēòŪ öēĒą Ďo [I bless you, son, may you live long], at the end of the conversation. Here is an opportunity for the translator to provide the information lost in the previous sequence, as it adds a verbal element to the earlier visual sign in the source text. It thus conveys the meaning of the action carried out previously (that of touching the feet to seek blessings). In the Spanish version it is translated, as Que Dios te bendiga [God bless you]. The English version leaves it untranslated, perhaps because we do not see her at all at this point, the camera focusing solely on Apu’s face.

4.5. Mobility code When talking about mobility codes and AVT, Chaume (1997, 2004a) refers to two types of mobility; one, the movements of the camera with respect to the elements in the shot, and the other the movements of the people or objects in the scene with respect to the camera. While his work deals mostly with the latter, here we would like to present an example (5) of the former, where the translation is indeed influenced by the camera perspective. Example 5 Film code Film Time code Original (BEN)

Back Translation EN Subtitles (SP)

Subtitles (EN) Cultural category (Leppihalme)

Mobility Pather Panchali 21:32 ei ĺči öĂsđĂ ćāƟąĒþŪ, pƿąý ĒñĒĉ, iĎđĉ ĒċðĉĘĀċ, äïđċăĘÿ ċþþ čĒćĉ čǹĊćđĂ, (Ei shei jonosthan modhyoborti, prosrobono giri, öĊāĉăùĊ čáĘĈđĘñ… ihar shikhorodesh, akashpothe shototo shomiro shoncholoman, jolodhoropotolo shongjoge) [This is a place in between, hills with waterfalls, from their peaks, in the sky the breeze always blows, with flocks of clouds…] ¡Todo bueno y barato! [Everything nice and cheap!] ¡Arroz, soja! [Rice, soybeans!] ¡Buen arroz, buen arroz! [Good rice, good rice!] ¡Legumbres y especias! [Vegetables and spices!] ¡Buenas y baratas! [Nice and cheap!] Literature-Geography

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In this example, the sequence starts with a close-up shot of a pair of scales on which a shopkeeper is weighing goods, while we hear his monotonous voice. It then zooms out to show him seated at his store selling food to customers, while the verbal text is repeated. The cultural reference is also constituted by the somewhat comic figure of the shopkeeper who doubles as the teacher of the only school in the village which is located at his store. Between dictating a spelling lesson for the students to write down on their slates, and at the same time carrying out his business, he peppers his speech with dire threats to the rather inattentive boys. The camera then swings to the right to show a little girl who wants to buy some puffed rice, thus further establishing the central figure’s function as shopkeeper and then cuts to a more distant shot encompassing the seated students, the little girl and the shopkeeper, thus referring to his role of teacher as well. Historically, the real-life role of a storekeeper as teacher in a small neck-of-the-woods village in Bengal is one that is often found in Bengali literature and thus constitutes a cultural reference. What is interesting here, apart from the intended comic effect, is the translation of the shopkeeper’s speech, influenced by the visual components of the sequence as recorded by the camera. The original text in classical Bengali describes a place and the (incomplete) sentence literally translates as “This is a place in between, hills with waterfalls from their peaks, in the sky the breeze always blows, with flocks of clouds”. However, the Spanish translation says ¡Legumbres y especias! ¡Buenas y baratas! [...] Todo bueno y barato [Vegetables and spices! Good and cheap! […] All good and cheap]. The English version leaves it untranslated. As far as linguistic equivalence is concerned, this solution might be deemed a mistranslation, however it is worthwhile to consider the reasons behind opting for this particular translation. Given that the text is in classical Bengali and not very easily understood by modern-day Bengali speakers (and the translator), s/he might have had to rely solely on the visual component and the verbal intonation. From this perspective, it might seem very well from the voice pitch and modulation of the shopkeeper that he is indeed peddling his goods, somewhat in the fashion of markets in many Asian and Middle-Eastern countries. Even if the verbal text were understood by the translator, considering the prominence of the shopkeeper’s actions and the camera’s focus, and given that he is selling food all throughout the sequence, it might very well have

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influenced the translator into inventing a completely new text, one more in accordance with the visual elements in the camera shot.

4.6. Syntactic code (editing) Generally, audiovisual texts portray a simulated/manipulated “reality”. Dialogues are actually written texts meant to be verbalised or spoken as if they were spontaneous oral language. Every image, sound and dialogue is intentional and meant to signify something or convey a certain meaning. It is subject to the filmmaker’s desire or purpose, as well as the audience’s comprehension based on a socio-cognitive sphere of shared experiences and knowledge. Shots, sequences, episodes are all strung together to create the narrative text, and the connections drawn between their containing elements carry the story forward. Therefore, for a translator, it is important to take into account these associations, as they often have an influence on the techniques used to translate the verbal text. A translator may decide on one strategy over another, when faced with a translation problem in a certain shot, based on the information coded in previous or later shots or even sequences. Let us look at example 6, from Pather Panchali: Example 6 Film code Film Time code Original (BEN) Back Translation EN Subtitles (SP)

Subtitles (EN) Cultural category (Leppihalme) Translation Strategy (SP) Translation Strategy (EN)

Syntactic Pather Panchali 1:37:02 ĺĊąĔ ăđþđĉ ñĉć ôđ, Ĉđ ąĖĒɳ ôĘĊ Ĉđ (Lebu patar gorom cha, Ja brishti chole ja) [Hot tea with lemon leaves / go rain, go away] No te acerques, niña, al agua. / Quédate quieta y espera. / Mira que soy la muerte. [Approach not, little girl, the water. / Be quiet and wait. / Behold, I am Death.] Rain, rain, go away… Literature

Situational paraphrase Cultural substitution

In this shot, Durga recites a Bengali children’s rhyme, which in English means, “hot tea with lemon leaves, go rain, go away”. The English

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version translates it as “rain, rain, go away”, whereas the Spanish version comes out with a more elaborate and perhaps, more explicit translation. It says, “Approach not, little girl, the water. / Be quiet and wait. / Behold, I am Death”. The original rhyme might make sense to a Bengali audience, familiar as they are with the original literary work on which the film is based; it is a premonition of the girl’s death from pneumonia shortly after she is caught in the rain. The English translation substitutes it with the first verse of an English nursery rhyme, thus maintaining the literary genre and reference to the rain, but phrased in more ambiguous terms, akin to the original. But based on the events unfolding in the next sequence, the Spanish translator decides to make the meaning of the rhyme more explicit, and strengthening its symbolic value for a foreign audience, who might not understand the original.

5. Conclusion These examples present but a few instances of how certain nonverbal codes of film language in these three films interact with the linguistic code to create meaning in audiovisual texts, and influence subtitling strategies. For the most part, we encounter cases where, not considered of primary relevance, the cultural references invoked by the interaction of these nonverbal codes with the verbal code are omitted altogether, and other cases that give rise to certain innovative though unorthodox strategies. It is not the intention of this paper to debate the pros and cons of the translation decisions taken by the subtitler, rather an attempt to understand what led to those decisions. It also brings to our notice the wealth of nonverbal cultural information often contained in film texts and how it is necessary to take it into account while translating. Admittedly, apart from the fact that subtitlers and dubbing professionals must necessarily place the greatest importance on the linguistic code as it forms the basis for AVT, professional constraints and practices do not always permit such an indepth analysis of the text. Leppihalme (1997) talks about “culture bumps” and, in my opinion, these are exactly that, while they do not impede following the film narrative, taking them into consideration while translating would definitely add flavour to the text, and make the experience more enjoyable and comprehensible for the audience; what we understand better, we enjoy all the more. But there may be certain instances, where these culture bumps may become actual culture pitfalls, and actually hamper the receivers’ comprehension of the target text.

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References Casetti, Francesco and Federico Di Chio. 2008. Cómo analizar un film. Barcelona: Paidós. Chaume, Frederic. 1997. “Translating non-verbal communication in dubbing”, in Fernando Poyatos (ed.) Nonverbal Communication and Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 315-26. —. 2004a. Cine y traducción. Madrid: Cátedra. —. 2004b. “Film studies and translation studies: two disciplines at stake in audiovisual translation”. Meta 49(1): 12–24. Delabatista, Dirk. 1989. “Translation and mass communication: film and TV translation as evidence of cultural dynamics”. Babel 35(4): 193218. —. 1990. “Translation and the mass media”, in Susan Bassnet and André Lefevere (eds), Translation, History and Culture. New York: Pinter Publishers, 97-109 Elena, Alberto. 1998. Satyajit Ray. Madrid: Cátedra. Franco Aixelá, Javier. 1996. “Culture-specific items in translation”, in Román Álvarez Rodríguez and M Carmen-África Vidal (eds) Translation, Power, Subversion. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 52– 78. Gottlieb, Henrik. 1997. Subtitles, Translation & Idioms. PhD Thesis. Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen. Hogan, Patrick Colm. 2008. Understanding Indian Movies: Culture, Cognition, and Cinematic Imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press. Kress, Günther. 2009. Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication. London: Routledge. Krishen, Pradip. 1991. “Knocking at the doors of public culture: India’s parallel cinema”. Public Culture 4(1): 25-41. Leppihalme, Ritva. 1997. Culture Bumps: An Empirical Approach to the Translation of Allusions. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Nedergaard-Larsen, Birgit. 1993. “Culture-bound problems in subtitling”. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 1(2): 207-41. Pedersen, Jan. 2007. “How is culture rendered in subtitles?”, in Heidrun Gerzymisch-Arbogast and Sandra Nauert (eds), MuTra: Challenges of Multidimensional Translation. http://euroconferences.info/proceedings/2005_Proceedings/2005_Peder sen_Jan.pdf

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Poyatos, Fernando. 1995. “Paralanguage and extrasomatic environmental sounds in literary translation: Perspectives problems”. TEXTconTEXT 1: 25-45. Robinson, Andrew. 2004. Satyajit Ray, The Inner Eye: Biography Master Film-Maker. London: I.B. Tauris. Sen, Amartya. “Satyajit Ray and the art of universalism: our culture, culture”. http://satyajitray.ucsc.edu/articles/sen.html

and and of a their

CHAPTER SIX SHOW ME THE FUNNY: A MULTIMODAL ANALYSIS OF (NON)VERBAL HUMOUR IN DUBBED SITCOMS GIOVANNA DI PIETRO UNIVERSITY OF BARI ‘ALDO MORO’, ITALY

Abstract This paper objective is to analyse the types of interplay between verbal and nonverbal communication within the field of dubbing from English into Italian and the potential modifications of the humorous effect in the translated audiovisual products involved. The paper reports on the findings obtained from a multimodal analysis of the first five episodes of the US TV series How I Met Your Mother and their dubbed Italian versions. This analysis has been conducted in the attempt to investigate the elusive link between what is said and how it is said: not only the words uttered, but the way in which they are pronounced, the sounds and images accompanying them, the facial and bodily movements emphasising them, the situational context and the spatial-temporal setting in which they take place. The whole spectrum of acoustic and visual data has been taken into account in order to provide a global analysis of humour in the sitcom. The ultimate aim is to reach a better understanding of the dynamics triggering verbally and nonverballyexpressed humour via the co-deployment of sound, images, and words in both original and translated audiovisual texts.

1. Introduction1 Situation comedy is produced with the intent of amusing and entertaining the audience thanks to a blend of visual and acoustic data that interact in order to create laughter; hence, sitcoms present hybrid forms of humour as a consequence of their multimodal nature. All audiovisual products are indeed plurisemiotic text-types, whose meaning is engendered by the interplay between two channels of communication—acoustic and

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visual—and two codes—verbal and nonverbal. Various combinations of codes and channels are possible, as Table 1 shows: Table 1. Audiovisual channels and codes Verbal code Nonverbal code

Acoustic channel Verbal language (VL) Paralanguage (P) Music/sound effects (M/SFX)

Visual channel Written language (WL) Kinesics (K) Non-human image (NHI) Camera action (CA) Editing (E) Photography (PH)

The verbal code is represented by language, which can be vehiculated both by the acoustic and the visual channels in oral and written form respectively. However, language is not the only audiovisual code worth analysing. As Zabalbeascoa (2009: 23) states, “verbal signs combine in various ways with other sounds and images to make up different patterns of cohesion, intertextuality and the other features of textual structure and meaning”. It is on this interaction between verbal and nonverbal codes that our research is based. The nonverbal code comprises a wide range of acoustically and visually-expressed semiotic modes, such as paralanguage,2 music and sound effects, kinesics,3 photography, non-human images (shots of objects, setting), camera action (types of shot), and editing, which cooccur with verbal codes in “a regularity of humorous illocutionary effects emphasised by the subsequent emission of canned laughter” (Sanderson 2009: 127).4 In order to be fully understood and enjoyed by its audience, an audiovisual programme needs to be credible and effective – that is, it must create a suspension of disbelief in its audience. Not only are both aims achieved thanks to a well-crafted and compelling script (its verbal component), but also thanks to the joint effort of all the semiotic codes composing it, especially the visual ones. Indeed, the “unsaid” seems to play a significant role in the transmission of meaning within any audiovisual text, which is particularly relevant for translation, and especially for dubbing. As Chaume (2004: 9, my translation, my emphasis) underlines: The linguistic code, which is indubitably the most important code from the translational point of view, loses its preponderance in audiovisual texts, giving way to other signifying codes that interact with it and influence translation in an unequalled way. The extra meaning produced by the

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interaction between the signifying codes should be the main concern of a translator.

This means that audiovisual programmes differ from any other texttype because their sources of meaning and the effects they produce— humour included—are created by something more than words. In fact, the closer the link between words, images, and plot, the more realistic a sitcom will be, and the more enjoyable. So, what kind of relationships exists between the audible and the visible? In which ways can they interact to produce humour? And most importantly, what happens to this interaction when dubbing takes place?

2. Types of humour and plurisemiotic interplay As Poyatos (2002a: 54) explains: With relation to the message that we wish to express verbally, our nonverbal behaviors can confirm it (e.g. a gesture that supports it visually), duplicate it (e.g. a gesture that repeats it), emphasize it (e.g., a tear that intensifies it), weaken it (e.g. a voice type that weakens its credibility), and even contradict it (e.g. a voice type that betrays exactly the opposite), but also mask it with other nonverbal signs that sort of camouflage it (e.g. pretending indifference in order to conceal the anxiety that something is causing us).

By way of simplification, we can therefore say that verbal and nonverbal communication modes can either reinforce one another or contradict one another, thus constituting a text with complex and specific kinds of cohesion and coherence. As a consequence, several types of audiovisual humour exist, whose nature will depend on the relationships established between the semiotic codes activating them. They can be grouped in three macro-categories: 1. 2. 3.

Verbal humour (Chiaro 1992, Attardo 2002), e.g. wordplay, double entendre. Nonverbal humour (Zabalbeascoa 2001: 260), e.g. visual humour (slapstick comedy, charades, pantomimes), paralinguistic humour (onomatopoeic sounds). Verbal + nonverbal humour (Zabalbeascoa 2001: 261, chiste complejo [complex joke]), e.g. sarcasm and irony, whose perlocutionary effect relies on the contradiction between the locutionary act performed verbally and the deeper illocutionary

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meaning conveyed by paralinguistic and kinesic features (the speaker’s tone and facial expressions in primis). In the case of AVT, Díaz Cintas (2008: 3) emphasises the relevance of the nonverbal over the other semiotic codes, by stating that “although, a priori, all dimensions could be thought to be equally important in terms of communication, the reality is that the visual-nonverbal, i.e. the image, seems to carry more weight than the word”. And yet, most studies on AVT focus on the mere verbal component and are usually based on the analysis of the written transcript of the film/TV series involved (Goris 1991, 1993, Chiaro 1992, 2000, Pérez-González 2007, Martínez Sierra 2009), with only a few exceptions (Poyatos 1997, Chaume 2004, Baumgarten 2008, Zabalbeascoa 2009). Such an imbalance between the study of verbal and nonverbal codes prompts Kaindl and Oittinen (2008: 5) to call for an “iconic turn” that should encompass the global analysis of the audiovisual text in its multimodal specificity. Going beyond the verbal level in AVT studies is not a matter of secondary importance, especially in the case of dubbing where the codes vehiculated by the acoustic channel can be changed but the visual image is usually immutable. What are the consequences of such a constrained translation type as dubbing for the original balance between the semiotic codes interacting in a sitcom? And what are the consequences for the effectiveness of dubbed humour? A multimodal analysis of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) can help shed light on these questions.

3. Multimodal analysis: methodology HIMYM is a US sitcom created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays that premiered on CBS in 2005. In Italy, its dubbed version aired on Italia 1 and Joi in 2008 with the title E alla fine arriva mamma [And finally mom arrives]. The sitcom is construed with a retrospective narrative frame; it starts in 2030 with middle-aged architect Ted Mosby telling his teenage daughter and son the story of how he met their mother. His narration takes us back to 2005, when he was 27 years old and living with his two best friends from college, Marshall and Lily, who had been dating for nine years when Marshall proposed. Their engagement caused Ted to think about finding his soulmate, much to the disapproval of his self-appointed best friend and cynical womaniser Barney, who invited him to enjoy life by having random liaisons. Despite Barney’s advice, Ted fell victim of a coup de foudre for a young Canadian reporter, Robin, to whom he

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inadvertently disclosed his feelings twice the very night he met her, thus scaring her away. After watching the first five episodes of the sitcom in both their original and dubbed versions and writing a bilingual synopsis and videobased transcript for each of them, a multimodal text integrating their verbal and nonverbal content has been produced. The text has been organised in six columns (see Example 1): 1.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Characters and paratextual elements (written language, types of shot and editing, photography, setting, music and sound effects), with transcription notes based on the model adopted by the members of the Italian Association of Dialogue Adapters for Dubbed Audiovisual Products (AIDAC, www.aidac.it). Source text (ST): verbal language (VL), e.g. dialogue lines, song lyrics. Target text (TT): verbal language (VL). ST: paralanguage (P), i.e. primary features, qualifiers, alternants, differentiators, canned laughter (CL), with prosodic transcription conventions adapted from Bonsignori (2009). TT: paralanguage (P). Kinesics (K), i.e. somatic action, unaltered for both ST and TT, accompanied by screenshots indicating bodily movements by means of vectorial arrows.

All examples of humour contained in the episodes have been identified using CL as a humour-spotting device in the sitcom. Scores of examples have been reduced to the ones containing a higher degree of humour based on the intensity, frequency, and length/duration of CL in the ST. The sources of humour have subsequently been identified and described in terms of the semiotic codes vehiculating them and the narrative devices producing them. Finally, all kinds of interplay between the semiotic codes have been analysed both in the ST and the TT. The purpose of this multimodal analysis is threefold: (1) searching for modifications in the types of plurisemiotic interplay due to the translation/adaptation process, (2) looking for instances of potential manipulation of the humorous effect, and (3) trying to understand the reasons behind such phenomena and identify some translational patterns.

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3.1. The analysis: first episode Table 2 shows the main types of interplay between the semiotic codes triggering the humorous moments contained in the first HIMYM episode: Table 2. Types of interplay in HIMYM (season 1, episode 1) Types of interplay K & P reinforcing VL K & P contradicting VL P & VL contradicting K P & VL only K & P only K only M/SFX contradicting K, P & VL CA reinforcing M/SFX CA reinforcing K CA reinforcing P CA, K & P reinforcing VL CA & M/SFX reinforcing K TOTAL

ST 23 cases 9 cases 2 cases 1 case 1 case 4 cases 1 case

TT 20 cases 9 cases 4 cases 1 case 1 case 1 case 1 case

1 case 2 cases 1 case 1 case 1 case 47

1 case 2 cases 1 case 1 case 1 case 43 (4 cases with no CL)

The multimodal analysis of the episode reveals that instances of CL are fewer in the TT, and the ones eliminated correspond to cases of nonverbal humour or humorous moments where nonverbal data are predominant over verbal language (e.g. K only). The other three major modifications in the TT regard three kinds of interplay: 1. 2. 3.

Kinesics (K) & paralanguage (P) reinforcing verbal language (VL). P & VL contradicting K. K only.

As Figure 1 shows, the perlocutionary force of VL and P—the only codes that can be manipulated by the translator and the dubbing actors, respectively—is likely to change during the translation and postsynchronisation process. P is the most modified semiotic code; VL, on the other hand, appears to undergo fewer modifications.

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Figure 1. Modifications of VL and P in HIMYM (season 1, episode 1)

Example 1 shows one of said modifications. At this point in the episode, Ted is telling his friends Marshall and Lily about his date with Robin. When he reveals to them that he refrained from kissing her because she did not give him “the signal”, Lily replies with a sarcastic remark which deliberately clashes with her apparently sincere and sorrowful facial expression. Lily mocks Ted via a series of verbal and nonverbal signs, which contradict each other in order to emphasise her will to laugh about her friend’s cowardice, thus making Ted the butt of the joke. While her kinesic behaviour and paralinguistic features seem to suggest sincere empathy (pitiful smile and head-bobble, coupled with an apparently soft, cuddly voice), her sarcasm transpires from the words uttered: “So you chickened out like a little bitch”. In this case, kinesics and paralanguage contradict the aggressive force emphasised by the verbal language in order to vehiculate a corrosive comeback whose humorous perlocutionary meaning stems from Lily’s self-perceived superiority. Nevertheless, the TT employs a euphemistic paraphrase (te la facevi sotto e hai rifiutato, [you wet your pants and called it quits]) to avoid the expletive “bitch”, with a consequent attenuation of Lily’s face-threatening utterance. An overtly contemptuous, sarcastic tone is used in Italian to compensate for the minced verbal aggression, thus placing the acoustic data in contrast with the visual image. Furthermore, the Italian version presents an added sigh, a paralinguistic feature which co-occurs with Lily’s sceptical facial expression and makes her visually-expressed reaction to Ted’s lack of courage more explicit via the acoustic channel.

Lily

Ted

Marshall and Lily

Ted

Characters and paratextual elements Marshall

So you chickened out like a little bitch!

Look, this woman could be my future wife. I want our first kiss to be amazing. Aww, Ted, that is so sweet! Potrebbe essere la mia futura moglie! Il primo bacio dev’essere indimenticabile! Ohh, Ted, ma quanto sei stato cariiino! Quindi tu te la facevi sotto e hai rinunciato!

Allora? Poi l’hai baciata? No. Non era il momento giusto.

So? Did you kiss her?

No. the moment wasn’t +right*.

TT: Verbal language

(CL)

In a soft, cuddly voice

Excited voice, high pitch Assertive voice, falling tone

ST: Paralanguage

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ST: Verbal language

Example 1. Lily’s sarcasm

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(CL)

In an overtly contemptuous, sarcastic voice

Excited (trembling) voice, high pitch Hesitating, risingfalling tone +sigh*

TT: Paralanguage

Nods rhythmically + bobbles head back, arches eyebrows

Sarcastic smile, nods

Exchange a meaningful look, roll eyes

Sad smile

Excited facial expression

Kinesics

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3.2. Second episode Table 3 shows the major types of interplay between the semiotic codes in the second HIMYM episode. Six kinds of interplay seem to be modified in the TT: 1. K & P reinforcing VL. 2. K & P contradicting VL. 3. K & VL contradicting P. 4. P & VL contradicting K. 5. K & P only. 6. K only. Table 3. Types of interplay in HIMYM (season 1, episode 2) Types of interplay K & P reinforcing VL K & P contradicting VL K & VL contradicting P P & VL contradicting K K & P only K only CA reinforcing P & VL CA, K & P reinforcing VL CA, K & P contradicting VL CA + M/SFX reinforcing K, P & VL TOTAL

ST 22 cases 12 cases 0 cases 6 cases 2 cases 2 cases 1 case 2 cases 1 case 1 case 49

TT 21 cases 13 cases 1 case 6 cases 1 case 1 case 1 case 2 cases 1 case 1 case 48 (1 case with no CL)

P is again the most modified semiotic code (Figure 2), while VL undergoes fewer modifications, although the scores are higher if compared to the previous episode. These findings seem to suggest that the modifications taking place in the second episode are more homogeneous than the ones in the pilot episode. Examples 2.1 and 2.2 show one modification identified in the second HIMYM episode. In the humorous moment analysed, Barney is commenting on the magical powers of Ted’s apartment roof, the perfect place to have amorous encounters with strange women. As Barney thanks his friend for allowing him to spend the night there with his random partner Tatiana, his boastful narration is suddenly interrupted by the girl herself, who shows up unexpectedly and starts being openly affectionate with him, thus breaking his “one night stand rule”. Although he pretends to be happy to see her again, his bewilderment transpires from his hesitating and trembling voice. As he is dragged once again towards the roof, he turns to Ted and mouths a voiceless cry for help.

Ted Barney

Characters and paratextual elements Barney

l’ho fatta ruotare su se stessa un paio di volte, non troverà-maipiù-la-straaada,

La ragazza di ieri sera l’ho portata da me, poi stamattina l’ho portata fuori,

Oh, avevi veramente ragione sulla terrazza! La terrazza! Quella terrazza stanotte si è incendiata, Ted!

Oh, you were so right about the roof! The roof! The-roof-is-onFIRE, Ted!

The girl from last night? I took her back to my place, then this morning took her outside, spun her around a couple of times, sent her walking,

TT: Verbal language

ST: Verbal language

Example 2.1. Barney’s bewilderment

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Rising pitch, staccato tempo. Tone: surprised

Fast tempo

Slow tempo, staccato rhythm (CL)

ST: Paralanguage

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Falling pitch and loudness level:

High pitch in the end of each phrase

Rough, throaty voice (CL)

High pitch, enthusiastic tone

TT: Paralanguage

Wagging index and middle finger alternately

Index finger whirling in the air

Deictic: hand pointing to the door

Condescending smile

Eyes wide open for emphasis

Kinesics

Barney

Ted

Characters and paratextual elements Barney Dice che lavora con Carlos, chi è +Carlos*?

She said she works with Carlos, who’s Carlos? I don’t know any Carlos. GRRR!= +Non* conosco nessun +1Carlos*! +Aaaaargh!*=

TT: Verbal language

Angry

Alarmed

ST: Paralanguage

Surprised, alarmed

Come ha fatto? L’hai invitata tu? Ma io non so chi sia!

though pretendingly nonchalant (CL)

ma eccola lì.

ST: Verbal language

Example 2.2. Barney’s desperation

Ted

she will never find her way back and thereshe-is! How did she get here? Did you invite her? I have no idea who that is.

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Frustrated, less intense groan

Smiles again: amused Clenches fists, frowns, pounds foot on the ground

Kinesics

Shrugs, smiles

Secretive, alarmed

Looks around Surprised face, stupefied smile

Unbelieving, high pitch

TT: Paralanguage

Lower loudness level, almost whispering

frustration (CL)

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Barney (to Ted)

Barney Aiutami!

“Pulcino”? Sicura?

Dai, pulcino, ho voglia di un drink!

Tatina

Come on, +sweetie*, I need a drink. “Sweetie”? Really?=

+Mmm*!

Sei tornaata! Ma certo, tesoro! +Mmm*!

ciaaaao!

Youuu!

You’re back! I sure am! Mmm!

=Eeeehi,

=H-hi…

(CL)

+laughing*. Flirtatious + tipsy voice

Singsong intonation

(laughs)

(CL) Chokes his anger, trembling voice

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Barney

Tatiana Barney Tatiana

Barney (to Tatiana)

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Whispers

(CL)

Cheerful voice

Trembling voice

(laughs) (trembling voice)

Trembling voice

They walk into the kitchen. Barney looks at Ted for help and mouths “Help me!”

Frowns, surprised

Drags him away

Kisses Barney, holding him by the suit Looks down on his suit, then frowns, looks at her, raises one eyebrow

Turns around. Feigns nonchalance

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Figure 2. Modifications of VL and P in HIMYM (season 1, episode 2)

Humour springs from various sources in this case: from Barney’s hyperbolic fit of desperation, which is manifested by the incongruity between nonverbal communication and verbal language, and, at the verbal level, from an intertextual reference. Barney’s sentence “the roof is on fire” quotes the lyrics of a rap song by Rock Master Scott and the Dynamic Three which should be familiar to most Americans in their thirties. This intertextual reference is eliminated in the TT, which simply proposes a rather literal paraphrase quella terrazza stanotte si è incendiata [that terrace tonight got on fire]. Moreover, the conjunction “and” in Barney’s line “she will never find her way back and there she is” is substituted by the adversative ma [but], an explicitation which clarifies the actual nature of the link between the two opposed sentences but weakens the humorous effect residing in the ill-suited conjunction, which gives Barney’s line an illusion of oral spontaneity, while conveying the character’s downplayed astonishment at the girl’s appearance. This shift in meaning is emphasised by a modified paralinguistic behaviour: while Barney’s tone is surprised, then alarmed in the original version, it becomes unpleased, then frustrated in the dubbed one; the rising tone of his sentence “and there she is!” is replaced by a falling tone in the Italian line ed eccola là [and she is there]. However, the frustrated groan which marks the passage from Barney’s sincere feelings (expressed in his verbal exchange with Ted) to his pretendedly nonchalant reaction to Tatiana’s arrival sounds much milder in the TT, reducing the impact of such an unforeseen and—to Barney—unpleasant event as the girl’s unannounced déjà-vu. Barney’s silent help request is voiced in the TT by means of the whispered aiutami! [help me!], a necessary explicative strategy to make the Italian audience understand the silent message conveyed by the actor’s lip movement. The explicitation and redundancy of information in the TT

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makes translated humour drift towards the acoustic pole and overshadows the relevance of the visual data.

3.3. Third episode The major modifications in the Italian version of the third HIMYM episode shown in Table 4 seem to regard seven kinds of interplay: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

K & P reinforcing VL K & P contradicting VL K & VL contradicting P P & VL contradicting K K only CA reinforcing K CA & M/SFX reinforcing K

Table 4. Types of interplay in HIMYM (season 1, episode 3) Types of interplay K & P contradicting VL K & VL contradicting P P & VL contradicting K K & P only K only CA reinforcing K CA reinforcing P & VL CA, K & P reinforcing VL CA & M/SFX reinforcing K TOTAL

ST 16 cases 2 cases 5 cases 3 cases 4 cases 2 cases 1 case 1 case 2 cases 49

TT 11 cases 1 case 6 cases 3 cases 3 cases 3 cases 1 case 1 case 1 case 49

P is again the most modified semiotic code (Figure 3); VL undergoes fewer modifications than P, but the scores are higher if compared to the previous episode. Therefore, the modifications taking place in this episode are more homogeneous than the ones implemented in the previous episodes.

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Figure 3. Modifications of VL and P in HIMYM (season 1, episode 3)

In Examples 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4 Barney convinces Ted to go to the airport with him “to pick someone up”, which, in Barney’s language, translates as picking up girls. While on the pursuit of two attractive young women, who eventually turn out to be engaged, they are arrested by airport security because of two suitcases that they had suspiciously left unattended. As Ted tries to explain the misunderstanding, Barney starts making up an implausible story presenting him and Ted as international businessmen on a work-related trip, but the ridiculousness of his excuse and the fear transpiring from his voice cannot help but worsen their situation. Humour is engendered by the contrast between the message Barney wants to convey and the paralinguistic features of his utterance, which reveal his actual feelings. The ST is characterised by Barney’s insistent repetition of the sentence “we are international businessmen”, uttered with a slow tempo and a staccato rhythm, almost spelt out in order to maximise the chances of comprehension on the recipient’s part. However, the repetition of the verbal message is counterbalanced by a change in its intonation, which resounds with a climax of fear from seemingly assertive to insecure, to worried, to scared. Barney’s increasingly trembling voice and his high-pitched peaks on focused words are pointlessly compensated for by his kinesic action, which co-occurs with verbal language in the effort to make him sound and look sincerely angry. A series of rhythmical headnods and a crossed frown aim at showing consternation over the unpleasant qui pro quo; however, his words (pronounced with oddlyplaced stresses, an insecure rising-falling tone and a vibrato voice) destroy his feeble attempt at sounding self-confident and credible, thus revealing the fallacy of his excuse and, in the meantime, the weakness of his position.

Characters and paratextual elements Ted

TT: Verbal language No, cioè, quando hai detto “si va a prendere qualcuno all’aeroporto” intendevi “si va a prendere qualcuno preso a caso all’aeroporto”?

Wait, so when you said you were going to “pick someone up at the airport” you meant you were going to “picksomeone-up at the airport”? (CL)

Spells out words: Staccato rhythm, slow tempo for emphasis. Incredulous

ST: Paralanguage

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ST: Verbal language

Example 3.1. Barney’s fictional back-story

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Higher pitch, spells out words. Staccato rhythm, slow tempo for emphasis. Incredulous (CL)

TT: Paralanguage

Bows a little, eyes wide open. Unbelieving look

Hands in his pocket

Kinesics

Barney

just back from a lucrative trip to Japan.

Tsk! Scenario. Couple of girls fly into town, looking for a fun weekend in NYC, when they meet two handsome international business men… appena tornati da una missione in Giappone.

Ti spiego la scena: un paio di ragazze arrivano qui a New York per passare un allegro weekend e incontrano due affascinanti uomini d’affari Higher pitch (CL)

Clicks tongue Serious tone

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Bigger voice, lower pitch Feeble, high-pitched voice (CL)

Joins hands

Adjusts tie

Winks Index finger pointing up, hand moving as he speaks

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Characters and paratextual elements Barney

TT: Verbal language Signore, io sono molto indignato! Siamo dei seriuomini-d’affari impegnati in un importantissimo viaggio d’affari e io viimpongo-di rilasciarci all’+istante*!

This-is-an-outrage. Weee are internationalbusinessmen-- on a very-importantinternational business trip. I DEMAAANDyou-release usimmediately.

(CL)

Loudness level rising Raucous voice

Loudness level rising Anxiety growing: trembling voice (CL)

Slow tempo Staccato rhythm

TT: Paralanguage

Spells out words Staccato rhythm

ST: Paralanguage

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ST: Verbal language

Example 3.2. Barney’s crescendo of fear (part 1)

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Frowns Nods, arches eyebrows

Kinesics

Barney (to Officer)

Barney

Characters and paratextual elements Ted

=Noi siamo dei seri uomini d’affari. Il mio collega ha sbadatamente dimenticato i bagagli. Per cortesia, ci lasci andare o rischieremo di perdere il nostro meeting di lavoro!

My colleague accidentally left the bags there. Now please let us go… before we miss our internationalbusiness-meeting.

Ahh—non c’è niente dentro, mi creda! E’ un +equivoco*! +Ti* prego!

Look, this is +all* just—it’s a misunderstanding. Please.= /

=We-areinternationalbusinessmen.

TT: Verbal language

ST: Verbal language

Example 3.3. Barney’s crescendo of fear (part 2)

Trembling high-pitched voice, high loudness (CL)

High pitch and loudness level, staccato rhythm (CL)

Detached

Scoffing

ST: Paralanguage

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Ironic tone: big throaty voice (CL)

(CL) Normal tone

Derisory

High pitch

TT: Paralanguage

Opens arms Smiles self-ironically to make them understand Stopping him with his hand (“let me handle this”) Nodding on all the focus words

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Barney

Sir!... Lower your voice or we’ll restrain you. Dude, seriously, relax.

Officer McNeil Sì, ha ragione! Rilassati!

Signore!... Non urli o la faccio rinchiudere!

+OH*, PIANTIAMOLA!

Falsely serious tone, low loudness (CL)

Trembling voice, high pitch and loudness (CL)

Noi siamo dei +seri uomini d’affari*--

We-areinternational+businessmen*--

+OH*, COME ON!

ST: Paralanguage

TT: Verbal language

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ST: Verbal language

Ted

Characters and paratextual elements Barney (to Officer)

Example 3.4. Barney’s crescendo of fear (part 3)

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High loudness, high pitch, reproachful (CL)

High loudness

Same features as previous utterances (CL)

TT: Paralanguage

Visibly angry, leans closer to him to shout in his face

Nodding rhythmically

Kinesics

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Drastic changes take place in the dubbing actor’s paralinguistic behaviour: no trace is left of the fear climax, which is replaced by the identical repetition of the same paralinguistic features at each utterance. The sentence is pronounced without a staccato rhythm, without a loud, trembling voice, thus acquiring an unrealistically ironic turn which makes the ridicule fall flat.

3.4. Fourth episode As Table 5 shows, the major changes occurring in the fourth episode’s TT involve four kinds of interplay: 1. 2. 3. 4.

K & P reinforcing VL K & P contradicting VL K & VL contradicting P P & VL contradicting K

Table 5. Types of interplay in HIMYM (season 1, episode 4) Types of interplay K & P reinforcing VL K & P contradicting VL K & VL contradicting P P & VL contradicting K P & VL only K & P only K only M/SFX reinforcing K, P & VL CA reinforcing P & VL CA, K & P contradicting VL CA & M/SFX reinforcing K, P & VL TOTAL

ST 18 cases 25 cases 1 case 0 cases 1 case 1 case 1 case 1 case 1 case 1 case 2 cases 52

TT 21 cases 14 cases 2 cases 4 cases 1 case 1 case 1 case 1 case 1 case 1 case 2 cases 49 (3 cases with no CL)

While VL undergoes fewer modifications than P, and its scores are lower if compared to the previous episode, P is again the most modified semiotic code (Figure 4). The modifications taking place in the fourth episode seem less homogeneous than the ones identified in the previous episodes.

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Figure 4. Modifications of VL and P in HIMYM (season 1, episode 4)

In Example 4, Barney dares Robin, who works as a TV-journalist for a local news broadcast, to say some inappropriate words on her on-air reports. In the reaction to her self-boycotted news stories, she comes to a sad realisation about her professional life: no one watches her show and her career is leading her nowhere, which leads her to deliberately hit rockbottom. The sources of humour in this example are twofold: incongruity and superiority.5 We laugh at the unusual situation and at the clash between Robin’s professionalism and her sudden burst of vulgarity, but at the same time we laugh at her. Such contrast is engendered by the incongruity between the situational context and the unexpected reversal of our expectations, but what really prompts the audience’s laughter is the contradiction between words and nonverbal actions. A salacious remark about Robin’s sexual preferences is uttered with a monotonous, inexpressive prosody and accompanied by a kinesic gesture (slapping her bottom) which appears even more mechanical and out of place when coupled with her vacant stare. In this example, paralanguage is the pivot of the modifications in the interplay between semiotic codes. Considerable changes occur in the passage from the US to the Italian version. While in the former we hear Robin’s quasi-robotic voice, whose flat intonation serves the purpose of conveying her frustration by contradicting her verbally-expressed message, in the latter her voice changes into a high-pitched type with a cheerful, coquettish intonation which co-occurs with her words but creates a mismatch with her alienated facial expression. VL is also modified by means of an explicitation—io faccio solo sesso estremo [I’m only into hardcore sex]—which is counterbalanced by the omission of the word “dirty”.

Characters and paratextual elements Robin

TT: Verbal language Quello che doveva essere un giorno di festa si è purtroppo trasformato in tragedia: Ethel e Sadie Margolis, le due gemelle più anziane di New York, sono improvvisamente venute a mancare alla vigilia del loro centesimo compleanno.

ST: Verbal language

An occasion that was supposed to be joyous suddenly turned tragic when Ethel and Sadie Margolis, New York’s oldest twins, suddenly passed away on this, the eve of their one hundredth birthday.

Example 4. Robin’s self-destructive irony

ST: Paralanguage

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TT: Paralanguage

Serious face, standing up holding a microphone

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I’m a dirty, dirty girl. Ow. Reporting live, Robin Scherbatsky, Metro News One. Io faccio solo sesso estremo! Ahi! In diretta, Robin Scherbatsky per Metro News One!

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In a trembling, highpitched voice (CL)

Frustrated look: drops the microphone, looks down

Slaps behind

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3.5. Fifth episode Table 6 shows how the major modifications in the Italian version of HIMYM’s fifth episode regard six kinds of interplay: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

K & P reinforcing VL K & P contradicting VL K & VL contradicting P P & VL contradicting K WL contradicting VL M/SFX & WL reinforcing K

Table 6. Types of interplay in HIMYM (season 1, episode 5) Types of interplay K & P reinforcing VL K & P contradicting VL K & VL contradicting P P & VL contradicting K K & P only K only WL contradicting VL M/SFX reinforcing K M/SFX & WL reinforcing K M/SFX contradicting K, P & VL K & P contradicting M/SFX & VL CA reinforcing M/SFX CA, M/SFX & WL reinforcing K CA reinforcing K CA reinforcing P & VL CA, K & P reinforcing VL CA & M/SFX reinforcing K CA & M/SFX reinforcing K, P & VL TOTAL

ST 15 cases 17 cases 0 cases 2 cases 2 cases 1 case 1 case 3 cases 6 cases 1 case 1 case 1 case 1 case 1 case 2 cases 1 case 1 case 1 case 57

TT 18 cases 11 cases 1 case 4 cases 2 cases 1 case 0 cases 3 cases 5 cases 1 case 1 case 1 case 1 case 1 case 2 cases 1 case 1 case 1 case 55 (2 cases with no CL)

P is again the most altered code (Figure 5); VL undergoes fewer modifications than P and its scores are lower if compared to the previous episode.

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Figure 4. Modifications of VL and P in HIMYM (season 1, episode 4)

Audiovisual humour can be also triggered by a less frequent semiotic code in HIMYM: music. Its influence on the construction of humour in Example 5 is confirmed repeatedly throughout the fifth episode, which is characterised by a higher percentage of nonverbally-expressed and written language-based humour. In this episode Robin is getting the gang into OK, an up-and-coming stylish club, to set Ted up with her friend Kelly. The dance floor experience ends up not being quite what any of them expected; loud music makes their words inaudible, thus forcing them to put some unconventional communication strategies into action. In the example analysed, not only are the semiotic codes at work independent from each other, but they also contradict one another. Music stands in the way of verbal communication, impeding a smooth verbal exchange which is compensated for by a rhythmical use of nonverbal communication features. Kinesics and paralanguage succeed in filling the voids left out by the incessant notes and loud beats which play and stop at fixed time intervals. Humour is engendered by this alternation between music and communication in which rhythm acquires a central role, with Marshall and Barney moving and speaking intermittently on the beat. The fun in the scene resides in Marshall’s deictic gestures, which cross the line of mere cohesion devices to gradually become dance moves mirrored by Barney’s rhythmic head-tilts. The incongruity between the message (Marshall’s request for a painkiller) and the nonverbal signs vehiculating it (the regular staccatos which make the characters’ words sound like the lyrics of a rap song, their dance-like movements) spurs the audience to laugh about such an unlikely situation. Moreover, their behaviour seems completely normal to them, as their serious faces suggest. Unfortunately,

Marshall

Characters and paratextual elements Techno music comes and goes at regular intervals (three beats followed by one pause)

ST: Verbal language

TT: Verbal language

Example 5. Marshall and Barney’s rhythmic dialogue

ST: Paralanguage

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TT: Paralanguage

Enters dance hall, taps Barney on the shoulder

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(music starts again)

MAYBE THERE’S…

… ANY ASPIRIN?

(music starts again) (music stops)

(music starts again) Barney (music stops)

DO YOU HAVE…

BROKE MY TOOTH!

(music starts again) Barney (music stops) Marshall

(music stops) Marshall

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PROBABILMENTE…

UN ANALGESICO?

NON AVRESTI…

HO ROTTO UN DENTE!

Shouts on the beat

Shouts in a fast, staccato tempo on the beat

Rhythmical delivery, in sync with music

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Not talking rhythmically (words overlapping with music)

About to cry. Not talking rhythmically (words overlapping with music)

In pain: trembling voice

Normal delivery, off sync

Dances

Shakes head

Looks sorry and mouths “Oh!” Taps the ground rhythmically, dances

Touches his cheek and shouts

Turns around; he is happily surprised, mouths “hi”

(music starts again) (music stops)

(music stops)

… THERESTROOM!

… A MACHINE IN…

… LA’ IN BAGNO!

TROVI UN DISTRIBUTORE…

Not talking rhythmically (words overlapping with music) (CL)

(CL)

Not talking rhythmically (words overlapping with music)

Shouts on the beat

Shouts on the beat

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Moves his face twice rhythmically to the side/back of the room to give him directions while dancing

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the TT fails to reproduce the essence of the scene constituted by rhythm; its longer dialogue cues, uttered with a smoother and slower tempo, fail to convey a similar humorous effect as the ST. A modification of VL can also be noticed in the form of the substitution of the brand name “Aspirin” with its scientific hyperonym analgesic [analgesic].

4. Findings and further remarks Table 7 summarises the scores of humorous moments in both the ST and the TT and highlights the modification patterns regarding the interplay between verbal and nonverbal communication in the TT: Table 7. Modified types of interplay in the TT Episodes HIMYM episode 1 HIMYM episode 2 HIMYM episode 3 HIMYM episode 4 HIMYM episode 5 TOTAL

Humorous moments (based on CL count in ST) 47

Modified P in the TT (CL included) 41

Modified VL in the TT

49

33

22

49

33

28

52

40

27

57

37

24

254

184

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The data show the existence of four major types of interplay, which are also more subject to change in the passage from one language to the other: 1. 2. 3. 4.

K & P reinforcing VL K & P contradicting VL P & VL contradicting K K & VL contradicting P

This means that K, P and VL are the main semiotic signs involved in the production of humour within the corpus. The analysis also highlights the tendency of the TT to present modifications concerning the following features:

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The original P, CL included The original meanings expressed by VL The overall interplay between semiotic codes, K and P particularly The sources, rendition and effectiveness of humour

There seem to be fewer scores of CL in the TT, and the data show that CL is often absent in nonverbal humorous moments. Given the selfevident fact that CL prompts the audience to laugh at funny scenes, one may wonder why it has been eliminated in these cases. A probable answer could be the following: because nonverbal humour has not been considered funny enough per se by the Italian translators, which demonstrates a lack of attention on their part towards nonverbal aspects of communication and the power they have to convey humour. However, the duration and intensity of CL is heightened in several verbal language-based humorous moments, especially when their translation is not particularly felicitous. This pattern seems to suggest the use of intensified CL as an ab externo repair strategy aimed at strengthening an altered or weakened joke, which corroborates the hypothesis that the translators may have underestimated the importance of the visual data, while focussing on the sole verbal level because this is the only part they could actually modify. A possible reason behind this VL-oriented approach can be time constraint: the translators have probably been working under stringent deadlines and on the basis of the written transcript only, without having the possibility of viewing the video.6 The most striking findings regard P, which proves to be responsible for the major modifications in the TT (72.44 % of the cases). This demonstrates how crucial primary features of voice, alternants, differentiators, and qualifiers are to humour and, consequently, how difficult it may result for translators to recognise and render them in their own native language and for a dubbing actor to voice them so that the final product of their work can convey the same meanings and effect as the ST. The possible reasons for such changes involving P may be the following: (a) the Italian dubbing actors’ tendency to reinterpret their roles in a creative way, often by improvising, just like the original actors do (Ranzato 2011); (b) the dubbing director and the actors giving their own perception of the characters’ peculiarities of speech; (c) the dubbing actors adding from their own paralinguistic repertoires, which can be culture-based, thus potentially diverging from the paralinguistic features of communication which characterise the SL.

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A marked tendency in the TT to fill in visual gaps by paralinguistic means has been identified. The following translational patterns ensue: 1. Added alternants and differentiators. Hesitators, attention callers, nonverbal discourse markers, turn launchers, and all the paralinguistic devices that can be employed to manifest someone’s feelings, state of mind, or reactions in a communicative act are usually added in the Italian episodes—if absent in the original ones—by means of some sort of paralinguistic padding, an aural filler which domesticates a seemingly under-expressive (thus potentially foreignising) kinesic behaviour. This paralinguistic explicitation is used as a compensatory strategy to make up for an intercultural visual gap. Example 1 shows an instance of said phenomenon. 2. Voicing of silent cues. As seen in Example 2, originally silent cues are voiced in order to allow the Italian audience to understand what in the original is a solely kinesic message, which the source language audience could get by reading the actor’s lips. 3. Over-expressive voice quality and polarised character portrayal. Recurring changes in voice quality occur as a consequence of the Italian dubbing actors’ more emphatic interpretations of their roles. This added pathos in dialogue lines leads to a generally over-expressive acting style which contributes to the alteration of the original balance between K, P and VL, as well as a shift of information focus and, most importantly, of character portrayal and features of social interaction. All the characters in the dubbed episodes present a wide range of paralinguistic features that make them sound more emotionally involved in the events of their daily routine, while in the ST they have a much more detached and self-ironic attitude towards life. Their intensified pitch variation, their increased use of alternants (especially hesitators like uh and um, along with a greater number of sighs and exhaling sounds), a different use of voice quality for emphasis which intensifies originally bland moments and conversely anaesthetises intense moments, their trembling or stuttering enunciation, their different use of rhythm and tempo make them perform psychologically-polarised actions and reactions; if they are joyful, they are more joyful; if they are embarrassed, they are more embarrassed; if they are ironic, they will express such irony in a forced way (Examples 1, 3, 4). All these data draw a different psychological portrayal which makes the characters seem flatter than they actually are; besides, they change the audience’s perception of the social relationships existing between them.

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Interestingly, VL seems to be less subject to modifications than expected, especially if compared to P, the other semiotic code which can be altered during the dubbing process (45.28 % vs. 72.44 % modified scores). These data show the need for further studies that go beyond the sole verbal content and analyse the audiovisual text in its multimodal nature.

5. Conclusions All the translational tendencies identified seem to converge towards the same direction: a will to explain the TT by making the unalterable and potentially extraneous nonverbal content more cohesive, informationally redundant and “interpersonally expressive” (Baumgarten 2008: 22) through linguistic explicitation and paralinguistic addition. The dubbed episodes appear to be more cohesive at verbal level because of a redundancy of verbally-expressed meanings and an addition of paralinguistic features which clarify the nature of the communicative exchange. However, a lowered coherence emerges at multimodal level, which is mostly due to a paralanguage-based mismatch between the acoustic and the visual channels (see Examples 3 and 4). These tendencies introduce remarkable modifications in the original relationships between the semiotic codes, as translated texts present more information through (para)linguistic means than through the whole range of semiotic data, to the detriment of the visual element and its significance. As a consequence, humour seems slanted towards the verbal/paralinguistic pole and less oriented towards an integrated rendition of nonverbal action. The “acoustic-oriented approach” employed in the TT, which tends to spoon-feed the Italian audience by giving them unidirectional information and over-interpreted actions, eventually alters the original balance between the semiotic codes, sometimes in a radical way that modifies both the original sources of humour and their effect on the recipients. Of course, the translational tendencies identified are an inevitable consequence of the inviolability of the visual image, which leaves the translator no other choice than linguistic remoulding (Whitman 1992: 125). The presence of linguistic and cultural diversity as well as the plethora of simultaneously acting semiotic codes emphasise, on the one hand, the necessity of not overlooking information provided by semiotic codes other than linguistic and, on the other hand, the need to search for appropriate solutions to problems regarding nonverbal information and its key role in audiovisual diegesis and humour.

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A closer analysis of the translation of both verbal and nonverbal communication is therefore important in order to understand the extent to which humour can be adapted for the target audience. This is an aim which can only be achieved by adopting an enlarged perspective that sees the audiovisual product in its multimodal richness as a network of plurisemiotic meaning-making resources.

Notes 1. The author wishes to thank Prof. Sara Laviosa and Prof. Frederic Chaume for their precious feedback on research work. 2. We follow Poyatos’s (2002a, 2002b, 2002c) paralinguistic taxonomy, which consists of primary features (pitch, loudness, rhythm, tempo, syllabic duration, resonance, timbre and intonation), qualifiers (laryngeal/pharyngeal control), alternants (onomatopoeias, hesitators, etc.) and differentiators (laughing, shouting, crying, etc.). Unlike Poyatos, who does not account for canned laughter, we include the canned laughter in the latter category. 3. As for kinesics – intended as an umbrella term comprising kinesics proper (bodily movements), haptics (physical contact between interactants), proxemics (physical distance/proximity between interactants) and oculesics (eye gaze orientation) – we follow Ekman and Friesen’s (1969; 1972) taxonomy, which consists of emblems, illustrators, affect displays, regulators and adaptors. 4. Also known as “laugh track” or “added laughter” and indicated as “CL” in the multimodal analysis. 5. According to Attardo (1994), for a text to be humorous, there must be a script opposition, i.e. a contrast between two overlapping semantic scripts producing an effect of incongruity or contradicting what is expected in some given circumstances. Differently from incongruity, which is a cognitive process, superiority has a social dimension, since “being superior is always being superior to someone” (Vandaele 2002: 225). 6. This is most likely to be the case when the rough translation and the adaptation are not done by the same person, as the Italian collective bargaining in this field (Contratto Collettivo Nazionale di Lavoro nel Settore Doppiaggio, 2008: 16, www.aidac.it/documenti/ccnl.pdf) states that translators are not allowed to watch the video whilst translating, whereas those dubbing professionals who are able to translate and adapt the original audiovisual product are generally provided with both the video and the script.

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Poyatos, Fernando. 1997. Nonverbal Communication and Translation. New Perspectives and Challenges in Literature, Interpretation and the Media. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. —. 2002a. Nonverbal Communication across Disciplines. Volume I: Culture, Sensory Interaction, Speech, Conversation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. —. 2002b. Nonverbal Communication across Disciplines. Volume II: Paralanguage, Kinesics, Silence, Personal and Environmental Interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. —. 2002c. Nonverbal Communication across Disciplines. Volume III: Narrative Literature, Theater, Cinema, Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Ranzato, Irene. 2011. “Translating Woody Allen into Italian. Creativity in dubbing”. The Journal of Specialised Translation 15: 121-41. Sanderson, John D. 2009. “Strategies for the dubbing of puns with one visual semantic layer”, in Jorge Díaz Cintas (ed.) New Trends in Audiovisual Translation. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 123-32. Vandaele, Jeroen. 2002. “Humor mechanisms in film comedy: incongruity and superiority”. Poetics Today 23(2): 221-49. Whitman, Candace. 1992. Through the Dubbing Glass. The Synchronization of American Motion Pictures into German, French and Spanish. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. Zabalbeascoa, Patrick. 2001. “La traducción del humor en textos audiovisuales”, in Miguel Duro (ed.) La traducción para el doblaje y la subtitulación. Madrid: Cátedra, 251-66. —. 2009. “The nature of the audiovisual text and its parameters”, in Jorge Díaz Cintas (ed.) The Didactics of Audiovisual Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 21-37.

CHAPTER SEVEN WHEN HUMOUR GETS FISHY: THE TRANSLATION OF HUMOUR IN ANIMATED FILMS MARÍA PILAR GONZÁLEZ VERA UNIVERSITY OF ZARAGOZA, SPAIN

Abstract One of the common pitfalls for translators is the translation of humour. Difficulties concerning its transfer are caused by the structural complexity of most jokes, which comprise a wide variety of linguistic and cultural elements. This diversity requires a profound knowledge on the part of the translator, not only of the foreign language but also of the source culture. The appropriate translation of these humorous units should be a priority for the translator since jokes are, in many cases, vital to the success of the product. The present paper deals with humour and its translation. It classifies the instances of humour found in Disney’s The Little Mermaid and DreamWorks’s Shark Tale and discusses the translation strategies applied in their Spanish dubbed versions.

1. Introduction Humour has been defined as “the quality of being amusing or comic” (COED). The elusiveness of its nature has led translators to propose operational definitions of humour such as the one given by Vandaele (2002: 154): “the safest place to break that circle for humour is when it becomes tangible (in the form of laughter, for instance)”. In the past, humour in children was “viewed in either of two ways: as a signal of hostility and aggression or as an indication of psychosocial development. Now humour is viewed as a useful index of cognitive development” (Bernsten 1986: 65). The strong presence of humour in audiovisual texts has made it one of the most active and dynamic areas in the study of audiovisual translation (AVT). The translation of humour has traditionally

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focused on two core concepts, language and culture, and whereas some studies have considered it to be a purely linguistic challenge, others have preferred to put the emphasis on its cultural dimension. In this regard, one of the leading scholars in this field, Chiaro (2010: 1), highlights the importance of culture in the translation of verbal humour by saying: As it crosses geographic boundaries humour has to come to terms with linguistic and cultural elements which are often only typical of the source culture from which it was produced thereby losing its power to amuse in the new location. Humour generating devices such as words and phrases with more than one meaning and distinctive references to people, history, events and customs of a particular culture are characteristics that are often the basis of wordplay. And it is the combination of such linguistic and culture-specific features that creates one of the most arduous challenges not only for professional translators of comic literature, theatre and films, but also for anyone who has tried to tell a joke or be funny in a language other than their own.

Likewise, Vandaele (2001: 32) points out that, in the latest research on the translation of humour, language and culture are intermingled. He distinguishes three routes in the study of humour: (1) the one that concentrates on the close link between language and culture; (2) the one that follows sociolinguistics; and (3) the metalinguistic approach, which analyses the relationship that is established between signifier and signified in the production of humorous effect (ibid.: 35). Humour occurs in many forms, ranging from visual humour to punch lines and jokes relying on gestures or sounds. Humour results from the interaction of various elements on a number of different levels (Attardo 2001), and in this regard, scholars such as Zabalbeascoa (1997) and Díaz Cintas (2001) have maintained that humour does not just concern linguistic aspects such as morphology, syntax and semantics, but also “suprasegmental features, language variation and the combination of verbal and nonverbal elements that were either eliminated by definition or swept under the carpet” (Zabalbeascoa 1997: 328). Thus, visually presented humour, for example in audiovisual texts, relies on the linguistic knowledge of the audience to connect the images to language in those cases where the spoken language would not be enough to make them laugh. This paper deals with humour conveyed by language, known as verbalised humour (Attardo 1994: 96) or verbally expressed humour (Ritchie 2000). According to Ritchie (2010: 34), humour conveyed by language may be subdivided broadly-speaking into two classes:

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referential (or conceptual) humour uses language to convey some meaning (e.g. a story, a description of a situation or event) which is itself the source of humour, regardless of the medium used to convey it. Verbal humour, on the other hand, relies on the particular language used to express it, so that it may use idiosyncratic features of the language (such as which words sound alike or which sentence structures are ambiguous).

This analysis centres on humour conveyed by language and looks at its translation into Spanish in two films: The Little Mermaid (Ron Clements and John Musker, 1989) and Shark Tale (Bibo Bergeron, Vicky Jenson and Rob Letterman, 2004). These two animated films, produced by Walt Disney and DreamWorks respectively, have in common an underwater setting with aquatic creatures as the main characters. The importance of sea-life in these films can also be observed in the manner in which the humour is handled. The classification proposed by Pascua and Rey-Jouvin (2010: 400) is very useful for this analysis, since it includes referential and verbal humour and classifies the type of references activated when creating humour, while taking into consideration cultural and linguistic parameters: -

Linguistic references: wordplay, jokes, idioms (phrases and sayings), loans, ambiguity, neologisms. Situational references: nonsense, craziness, ridiculousness. Personal references: nicknames, invented names, appearance. Cultural references: values, political correctness or incorrectness, intertextuality, advertising language.

However, as mentioned, this study is restricted to humour based on language and is concerned with linguistic, personal and cultural references.

2. Linguistic references The first category includes wordplay, which is a type of verbal humour greatly dependent on linguistic form (Attardo 1994: 27).) Wordplay is defined by Delabastita (1996: 128) as “the general name for the various textual phenomena in which structural features of the language(s) used are exploited in order to bring about a communicatively significant confrontation of two (or more) linguistic structures with more or less similar forms and more or less different meanings”. He distinguishes four types: (1) homonymy, which refers to a situation in which two words have the same sound and spelling although there is a difference in meaning; (2) homophony, which occurs when two words have identical sounds but are

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spelt in a different way; (3) homography, which describes a situation in which two words have been spelt identically despite the difference in sound, and; (4) paronymy, when two words share close resemblance, but there are slight differences in both spelling and sound. In addition, another type of wordplay which must be included in this study is the portmanteau, defined by Nash (1985: 143) as “a label for the coinage that packs two meanings into one word”. It is the result of blending, a word formation process in which parts of different words are combined to make up a new word. The analysis of The Little Mermaid reveals the following two plays on words, one of which is an example of homonymy (Example 1) and one of portmanteau (Example 2): Example 1 Film The Little Mermaid

Source -

Type of change Target Homonymy

(01:01:45) Scuttle (to Ariel): The whole town’s buzzin’ about the prince gettin’ hitched this afternoon. You know, he’s getting married. Scuttle: Por toda la ciudad se comenta [Scuttle: The whole town’s buzzin’ que esta tarde por fin pescan al about the prince being fished this príncipe. Vamos que se casa. afternoon. You know, he’s getting married.]

In this example the colloquial and humorous expression “to get hitched” used in the source text (ST) instead of the formal “to get married” is replaced in the target text (TT) by the similarly colloquial Spanish expression ser pescado [to be fished]. The translator opts to add a comic touch to the TT by the introduction of homonymy, as this wordplay is based on the double meaning of pescar, which means both “to get hitched” and “to catch a fish”. The use of this word also alludes to fishing terminology, à propos in the context. The following example represents a case of portmanteau:

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Example 2 Film The Little Mermaid

Source Portmanteau

Type of change Target Portmanteau

(00:19:38) Scuttle: We’re bein’ intrepidaceous. Scuttle: Estamos en una acción [Scuttle: We’re in an inconstrepid inarvertrépida. action]

The ST bases the humour on the wordplay formed by the combination of parts of different words making up a new witty word. Scuttle merges the adjective “intrepid” with “-aceous”, which results in a comic effect. The same strategy is followed in the TT where the translator blends the words inadvertido + intrépido, bringing about a new word inarvertrépida, which combines the meanings of the two words: “inconspicuous” and “intrepid”. Another type of linguistic reference in the production of humour, and one that is very closely related to culture, is that of idioms (phrases and sayings). Idioms are set combinations of words, the meaning of which cannot be inferred from the individual words. Instead, the whole group of words has a meaning which is recognised through established usage. Idioms may undergo a change by which they provoke conceptual or verbal humour (Armstrong 2005: 183). In this regard, Veisbergs (1997: 157-158) introduces the concept of contextually transformed idioms, which are idioms modified either structurally or semantically. Structural transformation brings about a change in structure and meaning by means of devices such as addition, insertion, allusion, ellipsis, and substitution (ibid.: 158), whereas semantic transformation produces a change only in meaning, using devices such as sustained metaphor, zeugma, and dual actualization. Therefore, in terms of semantic transformation, the idiom is uttered in its entirety, but the interpretation changes (ibid.: 156-158). There are some cases in which humour in idioms or set phrases is easily conveyed from the ST to the TT, although there are others in which this is not possible (González Cascallana 2010: 479). Translators may apply different translation strategies depending on whether humour is retained in the TT or not, and may opt for recreation and compensation strategies in cases in which priority has been given to the function of humour in the text. This is the case in examples 3-7:

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Source Idiom

Type of change Target Portmanteau

(00:06:00) Flounder: Do you really think there might be sharks around here? Ariel: Flounder, don’t be such a guppy. Flounder: ¿Crees que puede haber [Flounder: Do you think there might tiburones por aquí? be sharks around here? Ariel: Flounder, no seas pezqueñajo. Ariel: Flounder, don’t be such a little squirt of a fish.]

In example 3 Ariel refers to her fish-friend as pezqueñajo, a combination of two words pez [fish] and pequeñajo [little squirt]. By means of this new word, Ariel tries to make fun of Flounder, laughing at his cowardice. By contrast, the ST does not rely on this type of wordplay but on another type of linguistic reference to produce humour. Ariel reproaches Flounder for being a guppy, one of the most popular aquarium fish species in the world and also one of the cheapest fish available in shops (www.aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=guppy). The phrase “be a guppy” reminds one of the expression “be a young pup”, by means of the rhyme between “guppy” and “puppy”. The original expression is used by adults to refer to younger people’s innocence and inexperience in the same way in which Ariel stresses Flounder’s callowness. Another example of the use of idioms with a comic purpose is: Example 4 Film The Little Mermaid

Source Idiom

Type of change Target Homonymy

(00:44:39) Scuttle (who does not realize Ariel has legs and he is on her leg): I gotta admit I can’t put my foot on it right now. […] Sebastian: She’s got legs, you idiot. […] Geez, man. Scuttle: Debo admitir que no consigo [Scuttle: I gotta admit I can’t nail it dar en el clavo. […] down right now. […] Sebastian: Tiene piernas, merluzo. Sebastian: She’s got legs, you hake. […] Besugo. […] Red bream.]

Here Scuttle alters the saying “I cannot put my finger on it”, substituting “finger” for “foot”. The humorous effect is achieved by the fact that the mistake is related to Scuttle’s forgetfulness as he does not realize that Ariel has turned into a normal girl and her tail has become a

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pair of legs. This comic effect fails in the TT since the translator chooses to rely on an equivalent saying but without any change which could hint at Ariel’s legs. However, the introduction in the TT of a case of homonymy when the crab, Sebastian, calls Scuttle merluzo [hake] and besugo [red bream] compensates for this loss of comic effect. The wordplay is based on the double meaning of these two terms, which, on the one hand, are used in Spanish to mean that somebody is a fool, and which are also species of fish. The choice of two “fishy” insults may generate humour, considering that it is uttered by a crab and that the action takes place in the underwater world. In examples 5 and 6, the translator chooses to apply the same strategy as the one used in the ST where one of the components in a well-known saying is exchanged for another which is related to the sea. In the first case, the ST mixes two sayings by taking the first part of the phrase “if you give them an inch, they will take a mile” and the second part of another with a similar meaning “if you let them, they will walk all over you”. The structural transformation of the idiom is more extensive as the second part of the new idiom changes “walk” for “swim” because of the setting. The lexical substitution due to the context is also observed in the TT where the Spanish saying les das la mano y cogen todo el brazo [you give them the hand and they take the whole arm] is modified by the crab Sebastian through the replacement of the body parts “hand” and “arm” with the parts of a crab, “pincer” and ‘”law”. Example 5 Film The Little Mermaid

Source Idiom

Type of change Target Idiom

(00:12:55) Sebastian: You give them (teenagers) an inch, they swim all over you. Sebastian: Les da la pinza y cogen [Sebastian: You give them the toda la pata. pincer and they take the whole claw.]

In a similar way, the idiom of the ST in example 6 is adapted according to the setting in which the action takes place:

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Example 6 Film Type of change The Little Source Target Mermaid Idiom Idiom + idiom (00:05:49) Ariel and Flounder are about to enter a shipwreck. Flounder is scared. Ariel: Not getting cold fins now, are you? Flounder: No way. It’s just… it looks damp in there. Yeah. And I think I may be coming down with something. Ariel: ¿Oye no te temblaran las aletas [Ariel: Hey, are your fins trembling ahora? now? Flounder: Qué va, es sólo que… allí Flounder: No way. It’s just that… hay mucha humedad. Sí. Y creo que there it is very damp. Yeah. And I estoy pescando un resfriado. think I am fishing a cold.]

The idiom “get cold feet”, which means “to become disheartened or timid, losing one’s previous enthusiasm or courage” (www.phrases. org.uk/meanings/cold-feet.html), substitutes the body part “foot” for the part of a fish “fin”. Likewise, the TT includes a modified version of the idiom temblar las manos [to tremble the hands], the meaning of which is similar to that expressed in the ST. The translator adopts the same strategy as in the ST by using the part of the fish aleta [fin] instead of the body part manos [hands]. Additionally, the joke embedded in Flounder’s statement relating to the sea being damp is reinforced by the introduction in the TT of another wellknown phrase: pescar un resfriado [come down with cold]. Whereas the ST opts for a neutral expression instead of another with two layers of meaning such as “angle for a cold”, the translator plays on the double meaning of pescar, which may either mean to catch a cold or to catch a fish Moreover, some instances (examples 7-11) may also be observed in which the translator chooses to add humour to the conventional idioms embedded in the ST by replacing certain words with marine terminology: Example 7 Film Shark Tale

Type of change Source Target Idiom (00:39:06) Shark 1: Where the heck is he? Lenny! Shark 1: ¿Dónde centollos está? [Shark 1: Where the spider crabs is ¡Lenny! he? Lenny!]

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Example 8 Film Shark Tale

Type of change Source Target Idiom (00:52:05) Katie Current: Holy mackerel. Katie Current: ¡Por todos los centollos! [Katie Current: For all the spider crabs!]

The translator modifies the pre-existing English phrases “where the heck” and “holy mackerel”, in examples 7 and 8 respectively, introducing references to species of fish. In the first case, the original expression is a colloquial euphemism where the invented word “heck” replaces the word “hell” in order to avoid blasphemy. The Spanish translation also softens the idiom ¿dónde demonios está? [where the devils is?] through the use of centollos [spider crabs] instead of demonios [devils]. The softening involves, once again, the addition of nuances related to the underwater world. Similarly, example 8 presents an idiom that already exists in English, “holy mackerel”, which includes an allusion to a species of fish. The lack of a Spanish idiom including a reference to a fish leads the translator to adapt the original expression por todos los cielos [for all the heavens] to por todos los centollos [for all the spider crabs], which contains a reference to a marine species. The modification of idioms by the substitution of marine lexes also appears in two more cases (examples 9-10) where the original idioms are modified with the aim of amplifying the comic effect: Example 9 Film The Little Mermaid

Type of change Source Target Idiom (00:06:58) Ariel is amazed after discovering a fork in a sunken ship. Ariel: Oh my gosh. Ariel: Santo océano. [Ariel: Holy ocean.] Example 10 Film The Little Mermaid

Source (00:09:59) Ariel: Oh my gosh. Ariel: Santo océano.

Type of change Target Idiom [Ariel: Oh holy ocean ]

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However, this strategy is not followed in Shark Tale, where the same expression, “oh my gosh”, is translated without any marine nuances: Example 11 Film Shark Tale

Source (00:06:52) Angie: Oh, my gosh! Angie: ¡Ay, qué susto! Example 12 Film Shark Tale

Source (00:08:04) Angie: Oh, my gosh! Angie: ¡Oh, madre mía!

Type of change Target [Angie: Oh, what a fright!] Type of change Target [Angie: Oh, my mother!]

By contrast, the translator of Shark Tale compensates for the loss of humour in other parts of the film with the introduction of an idiom modified with a humorous intent (example 13). The common expression “to behave like an idiot” is altered by replacing “idiot” for a species of fish, “conger eel”. Its use not only achieves a humorous effect due to its nonsensical meaning, but it also contributes to the carefree spirit characteristic of animated films: Example 13 Film Shark Tale

Type of change Source Target Idiom (00:50:08) Oscar (to Angie): I’m sorry. I totally betrayed you. Oscar: Lo siento. Me he comportado [Oscar: I’m sorry. I have behaved como un congrio. like a conger eel.]

3. Personal references Proper nouns can also have a significance that is somewhat akin to wordplay (Manini 1996: 161). While, under normal circumstances, proper names do not carry a heavy semantic load; in animated films they are semanticised and “are used not only to reinforce characterization […], but in some cases to anticipate the drawing of a character or even make it unnecessary” (Valero Garcés 2003: 122). Manini (1996: 164-166)

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mentions four dimensions to classify names: intertextuality, exoticism, morphological structure, and extent of characterisation. Intertextual names include those names borrowed from other famous sources, usually literary or historical, creating a link between the fictional character and the source of the name. Although there are certain names which might be included within this group, like Triton, they do not have a humorous function in the films. The second category refers to names that are reminiscent of faraway people, places, or cultures. Especially in the case of Shark Tale, where foreign names are used for stereotypical reasons, none can be considered to have a humorous intent. Morphological structure includes those cases where common names, either intentionally modified or without any modification, become proper names. This is the case with the name of the seagull in The Little Mermaid, Scuttle (example 14). His name, which makes reference to a nautical term that means to “sink (one’s own ship) deliberately by holing it or opening its seacocks to let water in” (OED), is not translated in the TT where the translator applies the foreignisation strategy of preservation, by which the term is transferred directly into the TT with no further explanation: Example 14 Film The Little Mermaid

Type of change Source Name

Target -

Scuttle

In this study, morphological structure is inextricably linked to the category of extent of characterisation, in which names indicate something about the qualities or attributes of the characters. For instance, example 15 is a clear illustration of proper names that are based on common substantives which share certain qualities with the characters. The names of the moray eels “Flotsam and Jetsam” are charged with meaning, which according to the Webster’s Dictionary are: Flotsam: floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo; broadly: floating debris. Jetsam: the part of a ship, its equipment, or its cargo that is cast overboard to lighten the load in time of distress and that sinks or is washed ashore.

These names have a specific role in the story since this kind of wreckage corresponds to the evil personality of the eels in the film. The fact that the translator follows the same strategy of preservation as in the

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previous case leads to the suppression of part of the function for which they were created, meaning that the communicative process intended by the author is not fulfilled (http://ler.letras.up.pt/uploads/ficheiros/ 4666.pdf). Example 15 Film The Little Mermaid

Type of change Source Name

Target -

Flotsam and Jetsam

Within the category of personal references, example 16 illustrates a case of a nickname being used in the portrayal of the character for comic effect: Example 16 Film Shark Tale

Type of change Source Target Name Name (00:50:37) Oscar (to Lenny): Too late, veggie-boy. Oscar: Demasiado tarde, comealgas. [Oscar: Too late, seaweed-eater.]

Oscar, who is talking to Lenny, the vegetarian shark, refers to him as “veggie-boy”. The humour implied by the irony in the ST is emphasised in the TT when the translator relies on the translation strategy of transformation (Davies 2003: 86). The alteration of the original leads to a domestication of the text which is brought closer to the target audience (TA). In the Spanish text, Lenny is called comealgas [seaweed-eater] which not only reveals the vegetarian tendency of the shark, but also carries some humour through the reference to marine vegetation.

4. Cultural references Regarding cultural references, the analysis includes five examples involving cases of intertextual references based on the names of celebrities and brand names. Example 17 shows a marine version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame where the names of the celebrities are modified in order to provide them with aquatic nuances and, therefore, achieve a humorous effect. Thus, the ST plays on the names of famous singers and actors such as Tina Turner,

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Russel Crowe, Jessica Simpson and Rod Stewart to attain the compound nouns based on the following fish species, respectively: tuna, mussel, shrimp, and cod. In the TT, there is neither a modification of the image, nor a subtitle to offer a play on words based on intertextual references to celebrities and to types of fish. Although the popularity of these stars means that the Spanish audience is able to recognise their names on the starfish in this peculiar Walk of Fame, the non-translation of the fish species leads the TA to lose part of the humour present in the ST. Example 17 Film Shark Tale

Type of change Source Target Intertextuality (00:02:42) Starfish with the following names: Tuna Turner, Mussel Crowe, Jessica Shrimpson, Cod Stewart. Starfish with the following names: [Starfish with the following names: Tuna Turner, Mussel Crowe, Jessica Tuna Turner, Mussel Crowe, Jessica Shrimpson, Cod Stewart. Shrimpson, Cod Stewart.]

In a similar way, example 18 includes a case of paronymy based on the intertextual reference to the Gallup Poll, the American organisation which conducts surveys as part of its statistical research services. The close resemblance between the spelling and sound of Gallup Poll and Scallop Poll leads to humour as the latter is adapted by replacing the word “Gallup” with the name of the shell-fish, foregrounding the aquatic nature of the film. Although the translator opts for the replacement of one type of wordplay, paronymy, with another, homonymy, it cannot be based, in this case, on an intertextual reference, but on the double meaning of the word sondeo: poll and sounding. In addition, the ST shows another case of homonymy in the adjective “in-depth” which may refer both to a thorough study and to the physical depth of the sea, which disappears in the TT since it is translated as “great”, losing any marine connotation.

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Example 18 Film Shark Tale

Type of change Source Target Intertextuality + Homonymy (WP) Paronymy(WP) + Homonymy (WP) (00:03:51) Katie Current: According to the latest Scallop Poll, fear of sharks is at an all-time high. Join us tonight for an in-depth report. Katie Current: Según los últimos [Katie Current: According to the sondeos el miedo a los tiburones se ha latest soundings, fear of sharks has disparado. Les invitamos a ver un gran shot up. We invite you to see a great documental. documentary.]

Finally, examples 19-21 concern those cases in which the source of humour is found in references to advertising language: Example 19 Film Shark Tale

Type of change Source Target Advertising language (00:55:20) Oscar: Yeah, and you tell Don Lame-o that I don’t never, ever, ever, never, want to see another shark on this reef again. Oscar: Sí. Y tú dile a Don “Limpio” [Oscar: Yeah. And you tell Don que nunca nunca nunca jamás en la “Clean” that I don’t ever, ever, ever vida quiero volver a ver en este again in my life want to see a shark arrecife un tiburón. on this reef.]

Example 19 includes the expression “Don Lame-o” in the ST, which is an insult commonly used by children to refer to someone without character. By contrast, the translator proposes a play on words based on advertising language that respects isochrony. Humour is achieved by the correspondence of the sound of the name of the Mafioso character, Don Lino, and the sound of the name given in Spanish commercials to “Mister Muscle”, Don Limpio. Likewise, example 20 shows a case in which the translator humorously adopts a foreignising strategy by alluding to an American cleaning product. The use of a foreign brand name does not interfere with the understanding of the joke as the brand is very well-known to the Spanish audience, who would understand the joke based on the correspondence between the name of the main character, Oscar, and the American brand of sausages “Oscar Mayer”, when referring to Mayer. By means of the allusion to the famous brand, Shortie Fish pokes fun at Oscar’s lack of fame, which contrasts with the fame of the brand of sausages.

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Example 20 Film Shark Tale

Type of change Source Target Advertising language (00:04:39) Oscar: (to fish kids) Why ya’ll messin’ with my fantasy? Shortie Fish: ’Cause you so broke, your baloney has no first name. Oscar: ¿Por qué os metéis con mi [Oscar: Why are you messing with my fantasía? fantasy? Shortie Fish: Porque si te Shortie Fish: Because if they knew conocieran, las salchichas solo se you, the sausages would only be called llamarían Mayer. Mayer.]

Another case is example 21, which differs from the previous example in that humour is triggered by using advertising language in both the ST and TT. The ST plays on the Krispy Kremes brand name, famous for its pastry products, inventing a new marine-based product name, “Kelpy Kremes”, in which kelp, a type of seaweed, replaces krispy. In the same way, the translator employs the tactic of combining “donuts”, a wellknown sweet snack in Spain, with the beginning of a marine word, plancton [plankton]: Example 21 Film Shark Tale

Type of change Source Target Advertising language Advertising language (00:07:54) Oscar: Oh. I almost forgot. I brought you some breakfast. Angie: You didn't. Kelpy Kremes? Oscar: Oh, ¡qué despiste! Te he [Oscar: Oh, how absentminded! I traído el desayuno. brought you breakfast. Angie: Oh, ¿sí? ¿Placdonuts? Angie: Oh, really? Placdonuts?]

5. Conclusion The study of humour based on allusions to sea-life in the animated films, The Little Mermaid and Shark Tale, has been the focus of attention in this paper. The analysis has concentrated on those cases of humour conveyed by language, which have been classified according to whether the marine references are linguistic, personal or cultural (Pascua and Rey Jouvin 2010). The study has shown some of the linguistic mechanisms used to create humour, has emphasised the role played by language and discussed the translation into Spanish.

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The analysis shows that, although there may have been some loss of humour in the TT in some cases, translators have tried hard to compensate, with the introduction of additional humorous elements that were not present in the original. Finally, it is revealing that simple wordplays and common idioms which may be familiar to younger audiences are the preferred humorous devices in the classic film, The Little Mermaid, whereas cultural references form the basis for the jokes in Shark Tale. This may be due to the fact that Shark Tale could be regarded as an animated film aimed at a wider audience, including not only children, but also adults with a wider cultural frame of reference. This would seem to support Zabalbeascoa’s (2000: 23) idea about the presence of black moles in animated movies, i.e. a type of intertextual device whereby the moles convey hidden messages to adults and in which culture plays a crucial role.

References Armstrong, Nigel. 2005. Translation, Linguistics, Culture: A FrenchEnglish Handbook. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd. Attardo, Salvatore. 1994. Linguistic Theories of Humour. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. —. 2001. Humorous Texts: A Semantic and Pragmatic Analysis. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Bernsten, Deena. 1986. “The development of humor: implications for assessment and intervention”. Topics in Language Disorders 6(4): 6571. Chiaro, Delia. 2010. “Translation and humour, humour and translation”, in Delia Chiaro (ed.) Translation, Humour and Literature. London: Continuum, 1-29. COED. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English. 1995. Ninth edition. Della Thompson (ed.) Oxford: Clarendon. Davies, E. E., 2003. “A goblin or a dirty nose?”. The Translator 9(1): 65100. Delabastita, Dirk. 1996. “Introduction”. The Translator 2(2): 127-39. Díaz Cintas, Jorge. 2001. “Aspectos semióticos en la subtitulación de situaciones cómicas”, in Eterio Pajares, Raquel Merino and J. M. Santamaría (ed.) Trasvases Culturales: Literatura, Cine y Traducción 3. Vitoria: University of the Basque Countey, 119-30. Manini, Luca. 1996. “Meaningful literary names: their forms and functions, and their translation”. The Translator 2(2): 161-78.

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Pascua, Isabel and Bernadette Rey-Jouvin. 2010. “Traducir el humor en la LIJ. ¡Menuda gracia!”, in ANILIJ and VARIA (ed.) El Humor en la Literatura Infantil y Juvenil. Cádiz: ANILIJ, 399-408. Ritchie, Graeme. 2000. “Describing verbally expressed humour” in Proceedings of the AISB Symposium on Creative and Cultural Aspects and Applications of AI and Cognitive Science. Birmingham, 71-78. —. 2010. “Linguistic factors in humour”, in Delia Chiaro (ed.) Translation, Humour and Literature. London: Continuum, 33-48. Valero Garcés, Carmen. 2003. “Translating the imaginary world in the Harry Potter series or how Muggles, Quaffles, Snitches, and Nickles travel to other cultures”. Quaderns. Revista de Traducció 9: 121-34. Vandaele, Jeroen. 2001. "«Si sérieux s’abstenir». Le discours sur l’humour traduit". Target 13(1): 29-44. —. 2002. “Introduction. (Re-)constructing humour: meanings and means”. The Translator 8(2): 149-71. Veisbergs, Andrejs. 1997. “The contextual use of idioms, wordplay, and translation”, in Dirk Delabastita (ed.) Traductio: Essays on Punning and Translation. New York: St Jerome: 155-76. Zabalbeascoa, Patrick. 1997. “Dubbing and the nonverbal dimension of translation”, in Fernando Poyatos (ed.) Nonverbal Communication and Translation. New Perspectives and Challenges in Literature, Interpretation and the Media. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 327-42. —. 2000. “Contenidos para adultos en el género infantil: el caso del doblaje de Walt Disney”, in Veljka Ruzicka, Celia Vázquez, and Lourdes Lorenzo (eds) Literatura infantil y juvenil: tendencias actuales en investigación. Vigo: Universidad de Vigo, 19-30.

CHAPTER EIGHT “IT AIN’T OGRE TIL IT’S OGRE”: THE DUBBING OF SHREK INTO ITALIAN VINCENZA MINUTELLA UNIVERSITY OF TURIN, ITALY

Abstract The aim of this paper is to explore how humour in the four Shrek films has been dubbed into Italian. These feature films have been chosen because they present different layers of meaning and are addressed to children as well as adults. Their subverting of well-known fairy tales, their numerous intertextual allusions as well as cultural references provide a wide range of challenging material for translators and dialogue writers. Particular attention is devoted to the several instances of Verbally Expressed Humour in the films, and to the difficulties that these pose in translation for dubbing. The ultimate objective is to identify occurrences of different types of humour that rely on linguistic and cultural features and to describe the translation strategies adopted by the Italian translator and dialogue writer.

1. Introduction The aim of this article is to explore how humour in the animated movies of Shrek has been dubbed into Italian. More specifically, these films are analysed in order to identify occurrences of different types of humour and to describe the translation strategies adopted by the Italian translator and dialogue writer. This study is based on the four films to date: Shrek 1 (Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, 2001); Shrek 2 (Andrew Adamson, Kelly Ashbury and Conrad Vernon, 2004); Shrek the Third (Chris Miller and Raman Hui, 2007); Shrek Forever After (Mike Mitchell, 2010). These four animated movies have been chosen because – to quote Shrek himself – they “are like onions […] they have layers” of meaning, giving rise to various types of humour and lending themselves to different readings. The films are addressed to children as well as adults

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and their main function is to make both audiences laugh. Their subverting of well-known fairy tales, their numerous puns, intertextual allusions and cultural references provide challenging material for translators and dialogue writers. The purpose of the present study is thus to explore whether and how humour is conveyed in dubbing. As far as the methodology is concerned, the analysis of the English original and the Italian dubbed versions involved different stages. First, the English dialogue was compiled thanks to the scripts available on the internet. Second, instances of humour were noted by the author and commented upon by a native speaker of American English. Third, the Italian “equivalents” for those instances of humour in the dubbed versions were transcribed and analysed. Fourth, some meaningful examples were selected in order to describe the translation strategies adopted to deal with humour in dubbing. The last phase consisted in comparing the findings of such an analysis with the point of view of the dialogue writer, Francesco Vairano, and of the translator, Elena Di Carlo, who were interviewed in order to ascertain whether translation theory/criticism and translation practice are really “worlds apart”.1

2. From English dialogue list to Italian dubbed version As one of the aims of this study is to establish links between audiovisual translation theory and professional practice, the dialogue writer and the translator of the Shrek films were interviewed. An interesting aspect in the translation and adaptation process is that the final Italian script is the result of multiple manipulation forces by several professionals. Indeed, the English script was a detailed dialogue list with several “clarifying notes both linguistic and extralinguistic” (Díaz Cintas 2001: 201) which illustrated the meaning of idioms, puns, cultural references, neologisms, names, and often suggested how to translate specific features. This dialogue list was supplied by the producer to the distributor and then to the dialogue writer, who asked the translator to provide a “literal” translation in Italian with explanatory notes. Di Carlo translated the text adding explanations, attempting to maintain linguistic characterisation, different registers, rhyme and rhythm, and suggesting creative and humorous renderings wherever possible. Vairano then worked on the final Italian version to be used for the recording of the dubbed film. Vairano’s adaptation was subsequently back translated into English by Di Carlo, and sent back to the production company who wanted to control and ensure the quality of the dubbed version.

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As regards their approach to the film, both translator and dialogue writer aimed at recreating humour, being funny and creative. Vairano’s top priorities in adapting the dialogue were to search for witty solutions and to maintain the various levels of interpretation which are typical of Shrek. When writing the Italian dialogue, he wanted to speak to children as well as adults, thus conveying humorous instances and double entendres without being too explicit. In addition, he always tried to recreate puns and to maintain the rhyme and rhythm of the ST, whether in the same place in the films or elsewhere by means of compensation. As for equivalence, Vairano attempted to reproduce it at the semantic level as far as possible, but if a literal equivalent was considered not to be funny or easily understandable by an Italian audience, he modified it. Cultural references and allusions were thus retained if Vairano thought that Italians could understand them, but they were modified if they were difficult to understand due to a lack of shared socio-cultural knowledge. Overall, functional equivalence, i.e. making people laugh, was the preferred, overriding principle behind any final solutions.

3. Describing humour The notion of humour is a slippery one, not easy to define. Some of its central features are “perceived incongruity” and “a feeling of superiority”, combined with the fact that it usually generates laughter or smiles, i.e. it “has a humorous effect” (Vandaele 2002: 153). The umbrella term “humour” can be used to refer to numerous realities, such as wordplay or puns (i.e. linguistic features), humour based on world knowledge (i.e. cultural references and allusions), visual jokes based on images rather than language (Díaz Cintas and Remael 2007: 227), humour based on an interaction between visual and verbal elements, situational humour, irony (stemming from a contrast between propositional content and situation) and parody among others. However, scholars in humour studies stress the fact that there is no clear-cut classification and that the categories often overlap (Delabastita 1997: 2, Vandaele 2002). Moreover, audiovisual texts abound in “complex jokes” (Zabalbeascoa 1996: 254, Díaz Cintas and Remael 2007: 228) or “chistes compuestos” (Martínez Sierra 2008: 141), where various elements are combined. For the purposes of this study, some concepts in particular will be discussed. Verbally Expressed Humour (VEH), defined as “any verbal form of attempt to amuse” (Chiaro and Piferi 2010: 285), is adopted in these pages as a broad term that encompasses various types of humour that employ language. It includes humour based on linguistic features, humour

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that relies on culturally-based references and allusions, irony, parody as well as “good lines [and] sharp and clever remark[s]” (Chiaro 2004: 45). Within VEH, this study focuses specifically on humour that exploits linguistic features, i.e. “language-dependent jokes” (Díaz Cintas and Remael 2007: 222), and humour based on world knowledge or allusions. A typical instance of language-dependent humour is the use of wordplay. According to Delabastita (1996: 128), a wordplay or pun “contrasts linguistic structures with different meanings on the basis of their formal similarity” and can be based on homonymy (different words with identical form but different meanings), polysemy (different senses of the same word), homophony (words with the same pronunciation but different spelling), homography (words with the same spelling but different pronunciation), and paronymy (words having slight differences in both spelling and sound). Wordplay can involve single words or longer linguistic items such as collocations, idioms or proverbs, and subcategories are not clear-cut (Delabastita 1997: 2). Humour can also be highly culturespecific when it refers to world knowledge through the use of cultural references and allusions. Leppihalme (1997: 3) defines allusions as “a variety of uses of preformed linguistic material […] in either its original or a modified form, and of proper names, to convey often implicit meaning”. Such type of humour is obviously extremely difficult to perceive and reproduce in another language if the audience is not familiar with the socio-cultural background.

4. Translating humour The translation of humour is a challenging task and when dealing with VEH, “formal equivalence is extremely difficult if not impossible in translation” (Chiaro 2004: 37). If formal or semantic equivalence cannot be achieved, scholars tend to agree that the translator’s aim should be to achieve equivalent effect. For instance, Chiaro (ibid.: 38) argues that the translator should place “the intended function or Skopos of a text in pole position regardless of equivalence”. Since the skopos of a humorous text such as Shrek is to make people laugh, the translator’s role is to produce the same comic effect and make the Italian audience laugh. Gottlieb (1997: 215) similarly points out that “what is funny in the original should also be (made) funny in the translated version”, while Zabalbeascoa (1996: 247) goes so far as to state that “it would be desirable for the translation to be even funnier than the source text”. According to Chiaro (2006: 200), when translators are faced with instances of VEH in audiovisual texts, they tend to adopt one of the

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following strategies: “(1) the substitution of VEH in the Source Language (SL) with an example of VEH in the Target Language (TL); (2) the replacement of the SL VEH with an idiomatic expression in the TL; (3) the replacement of the SL VEH with an example of compensatory VEH elsewhere in the TL text.” The latter is a case of compensation, since the omission of humour in one place in the text is compensated for by inserting a new instance of humour in another part of the audiovisual programme. Other translation strategies adopted in written texts such as literal rendering, use of related rhetorical devices, or omission of humorous utterances may also be found but are less frequent in audiovisual texts. Although the humorous effect may be lost in some cases, there seems to be a tendency towards compensation with the addition of funny lines elsewhere in the text, or with the use of idiomatic expressions (Delabastita 1996: 134, Chiaro 2004, 2006, Bucaria 2008: 51).

5. The translation of VEH in Shrek Various types of humour can be identified in Shrek and recent research on the perception of humour in these films reveals that children prefer nonverbal humour (Chiaro and Piferi 2010: 291). This article, however, sets out to explore VEH that is particularly challenging because it plays on linguistic and/or highly culture-specific features and therefore is more likely to be appreciated by adults than by children. Analysis of the four films of Shrek has highlighted the presence of the following subtypes of VEH which are relevant to the study: (1) VEH based on linguistic elements or language-dependent jokes; and (2) VEH based on allusions in the form of references to fairy tales, songs, nursery rhymes, people, places, films and the like. It should be pointed out that the above categories often overlap, with the co-occurrence of more than one type in one humorous instance, giving rise to complex jokes. The following sections illustrate how such types of VEH are rendered in the Italian dubbed versions of Shrek, shedding light on the strategies adopted by Vairano and by Di Carlo.

5.1. VEH based on linguistic elements Language-dependent humour takes many guises in the Shrek tetralogy. For instance, the proper names of some of the characters are deliberately altered in order to make the audience laugh, usually by means of blending different lexical items and of playing with their meanings and nuances. A funny name is that of professor “Primbottom” who gives an invigorating

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lecture on how to “just say nay” to high school students in Shrek the Third. In this example humour derives from combining together two terms that seem to be very far apart from each other, both in terms of meaning and register: “prim” (in the sense of extremely formal, puritanical or prudish) and “bottom”. Moreover, the name triggers intertextual allusions. In fact the adjective “prim” might allude to the slogan “just say nay” which was used in campaigns against drugs in US schools, of which “Worcestershire high school” is a parody. The name might also remind young spectators of “Neville Longbottom”, a character in the Harry Potter saga. In the dubbed Italian version “professor Primbottom” is called professor Pudicachiappa, where humour is achieved through a literal translation of the English word pudico [prim] and a slightly more colloquial chiappa [buttock]. It is worth noting that the translator had suggested the names Pudicoposteriore [prim + rear] and Acchiappachiappole, a neologism that combines the verb acchiappare [to catch], the noun chiappa [buttock] and the archaic word chiappole [things of little or no value, trifles], which is also a paronym of zeppole (a traditional Neapolitan type of doughnut). Another interesting name is that of the female ogre “Gretched”, which may be a blend of the name “Gretel” (a well known character from the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm) and the adjective “wretched”. In the dubbed version the character becomes Gretida, a blend of Gretel and fetida [stinking, disgusting]. A name which is subject to humorous alterations is that of “Rumplestiltskin”, a character borrowed from another fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, who in the published Italian version of the tale became Tremotino. In the film, Rumplestiltskin is derided by other characters who intentionally distort his name, as in Example 1: Example 1 Prince Charming: And you! Frumpypigskin. Rumplestiltskin: Rumplestiltskin. Principe Azzurro: E tu! Tremolino! [Hey, you! Tremolino! Tremotino: Tremotino. Tremotino.]

In this case, the SL humour is achieved through the use of a compound name with a similar sound, made up of the words “frumpy”, meaning “outof-date”, and “pigskin”, whereas the dubbed version renders this wordplay by slightly changing the spelling of the name. The replacement of the “t” of Tremotino with an “l” in Tremolino reminds the Italian audience of the verb tremolare [to tremble], which usually refers to a voice, hence becoming an ironic comment on the character’s feeble and trembling voice in the Italian version.

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In Example 2 Pinocchio insults Rumplestiltskin by calling him “Grumpel Stinkypants”, which is a humorous combination of the nonexistent term “grumpel”, from “grumpy”, and “stinky pants”. The dubbed version does not translate the name literally, but rather creates the humorous effect by adding a prefix (s-) and an affix (-tanfo-) therefore distorting the name Tremolino into a combination of stremo from stremato [exhausted] with tanfo [stink, stench] and the diminutive suffix -ino. The English reference to stink is thus maintained also in Italian: Example 2 Pinocchio: Nobody needs your deals anymore, Grumpel Stinkypants! A nessuno servono più i tuoi patti, [Nobody needs your deals anymore, Stremo-tanfino! Little Exhaustench’!]

A case of added humour in the dubbed version happens with the name “Donkey”, which in the original does not contain any VEH, whereas the Italian name Ciuchino definitely carries more connotations. Rather than using the equivalent for “Donkey” [Asino], the dialogue writer has opted for Ciuchino [little donkey], from ciuco [donkey, ass] and the diminutive suffix –ino. The name helps to create a new network of intertextual references as it reminds the Italian audience of Collodi’s fairy tale Pinocchio, in which Pinocchio was turned into a donkey and called Ciuchino Pinocchio. In order to deal with humorous names, the Italian dialogue writer resorts to creative solutions that also play with the linguistic make up of the names, and goes even further to add VEH in cases where the original does not intend humour, as with the name of Donkey. A recurrent way to create humour in Shrek is by resorting to wordplay. Instances of puns and of linguistic creativity abound in the films under analysis. In the following exchange in Example 3 Shrek produces a pun by playing on the homonymy of the lexical item “spell”, which can mean both “magic words” and “period of time”. The Italian dubbed version similarly plays on the polysemy of the substantive fattura, which can mean “invoice” or “spell”: Example 3 Puss: That’s the Fairy Godmother’s cottage. She’s the largest producer of hexes and potions in the whole kingdom. Shrek: Then why don’t we pop in there for a spell? Ha-ha! Spell! Gatto: È il villino della fata madrina. [That’s the Fairy Godmother’s È la più grossa produttrice de pozioni cottage. She’s the largest producer of e incantesimi de todo el reame. potions and charms in the whole

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kingdom. Then let’s go and ask her to invoice us/to cast a spell! Ah ah! Invoice/spell! Ahaha.]

In Example 4 below, wordplay and language creativity are combined in the utterances pronounced by Donkey and Puss in Boots, who tease one another by playing with language at a morphological level: Example 4 Donkey: Man, you are a cat-astrophe! Puss: And you are ri-donkey-lous! Ciuchino: Bello, tu sei una [Man, you are a cat-astrophe!] gattastrofe! [And you got wasted!] Gatto: E tu sei inciuccato!

In this instance, Donkey plays with the words “cat” and “catastrophe”, while Puss plays with the words “donkey” and “ridiculous” to create two neologisms in English. Humour is conveyed by puns which exploit the linguistic potential of affixation, homophony, and paronymy. In the first case, the Italian dialogue writer follows the same strategy as in the original and coins a new term by blending the words gatto [cat] and catastrofe [catastrophe] to produce the invented word gatt-astrofe, which also exploits paronymy with catastrofe as both terms have similar but no identical spelling and pronunciation. In the second case, the translator does not feel the need to invent a new word as the solution resorts to using an existing Italian colloquial word for “drunk”, inciuccato, which contains the word ciuco [donkey]. Another neologism created through wordplay is contained in Example 5: Example 5 Donkey: I’m being ass-napped! Mi vuole asinchiappare!

[He wants to ass-catch-ugger- me!]

In the latest film of the series, when Donkey is being kidnapped by Shrek, he cries for help using the compound word, “ass-napped”, through analogy with “kidnapped”, which is then substituted with another pun in the Italian dubbed version. In this specific case Vairano decided to play with several words, and the result is humorous, and arguably more vulgar, than the original: the invented verb asinchiappare is made up of the substantives asino [donkey], chiappa [buttock] and the verb acchiappare

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[to catch], and it sounds like the verb inchiappettare, a colloquial word for “to bugger”. The original Shrek also contains some vulgar puns or allusions, which tend to be quite veiled so that they are not too explicit for the young audience. The filmmakers probably wanted the children to miss specific allusions or puns which were only meant for adults, and therefore inserted such innuendoes in songs or simply hinted at them tangentially (Nieminem 2007: 39). Avoidance of explicit foulness may also be required by the production company to make sure that the films are not rated for an older audience, hence losing potential revenue. An example of “hidden” vulgar allusion and pun can be found in Puss in Boots’s comment, Example 6, on the fact that Shrek is going to become a father: Example 6 Puss: Oh, and you my friend are royally... (The fog horn blasts. We cannot hear Puss’ last word) E tu, amico mio, sei regalmente fo… [And you, my friend, are royally fu-]

Puss in Boots is clearly alluding to the taboo expression “to be royally fucked/screwed”, even if the final swearword that closes the expression is not uttered in English. As this expression is not very common in English, children who watch the film in the original version may not perceive this double layer of meaning. In addition, there is a pun on the use of the adverb “royally”, which is part of the vulgar expression but also refers to the fact that Shrek may become a king. In Italian, a similar expression does not exist and the audience’s mind is not “primed” for this collocation, which explains why the Italian dubbed version makes the meaning of the source text (ST) more explicit by adding the two initial letters (fo-) of the taboo word fottuto [fucked]. In this way, an adult audience is more likely to understand what the cat actually means, while a young audience might miss the vulgar innuendo. The end result is a substitution in Italian which is more explicit, but still not openly bawdy. Shrek also contains several instances of what Veisbergs (1997: 157) calls “wordplay based on idioms”, whereby idioms are manipulated in order to trigger humour. This is achieved by modifying their structure through “addition, insertion, allusion, ellipsis, or substitution” (ibid.: 158), leading not only to a new linguistic formulation but also to a new meaning. In the following exchange between Donkey and Shrek, Example 7, the humorous effect is generated by the distortion of the idiom:

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Example 7 Donkey: Donkeys don’t have layers. We wear our fear right out there on our sleeves. Shrek: Wait a second. Donkeys don't have sleeves. Ciuchino: Gli asini non hanno gli [Donkeys don’t have layers. We, we strati. Noi, noi sudiamo sette sweat seven shirts because we’re camicie per la paura. scared. Shrek: Ehi, un momento! Gli asini Hey, wait a second! Donkeys don’t non portano le camicie! wear shirts!]

Donkey’s utterance constitutes a structural transformation of the idiom “to wear (one’s) heart on (one’s) sleeve”, which means “to show one’s feelings clearly and openly by one’s behaviour”. The idiom is modified by substituting the positive word “heart” with the negative word “fear” and the added humorous effect results from the fact that Shrek interprets the idiom literally, pointing out that “donkeys don’t have sleeves”. The Italian dubbed version also contains the idiom sudare sette camicie [to sweat seven shirts], which means “to sweat blood”, and is used in its standard formulation without any structural transformation. Hence, the humour in Italian only plays on one level, i.e. on Shrek’s inability to discern between the literal and the figurative meaning of the idiom. On this occasion, although the Italian idiom is different from the English one, it uses elements belonging to the same semantic field, i.e. clothes. Example 8, in which Shrek is seen running away from Fiona and from the castle’s exit, thus actually going towards the fearful dragon, is a further instance of idiom-based VEH: Example 8 Fiona: Wait. Where are you going? The exit’s over there. Shrek: Well, I have to save my ass. Fiona: Fermo! Dove andate? L’uscita è [Stop! Where are you going? The da quella parte. exit’s over there. Shrek: Beh, devo salvare il mio asino. Well, I have to save my donkey.]

In this exchange, humour is triggered by the polysemy of the word “ass”, that can refer to the animal but also to the human body part, and the double meaning of the expression “to save my ass”. While Shrek literally means that he has to save his donkey from the dragon, his words are ambiguous for Fiona, who is not aware of the existence of Donkey and thus interprets them in the idiomatic way and thinks that he is running away because he wants to save himself. Since Italian does not have an equivalent idiom that could fit in this context, Vairano opted for a literal

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translation of the expression. As a result, the VEH is lost in the Italian dubbed version, but the absurd situation is still humorous. Music and songs play an important role in Shrek. The films are peppered with invented, new songs such as the Du Loc song or the song used by Robin Hood and the Merry Men to introduce themselves to Fiona; with songs that are literally borrowed from other films; with contemporary popular rock songs, or with older rock and folk songs, all of which are used as a commentary on the characters and their situations (Nieminem 2007: 39). VEH is often channeled through songs or rhyme. Example 9 below is the song that wooden puppets sing to welcome newcomers in the town of Du Loc, ruled by the ruthless Lord Farquaad: Example 9 Welcome to DuLoc such a perfect town Here we have some rules Let us lay them down Don't make waves, stay in line And we'll get along fine DuLoc is a perfect place Please keep off the grass Shine your shoes, wipe your... face DuLoc is, DuLoc is DuLoc is a perfect place. Ora sei a Du Loc la perfetta città [Now you’re in Du Loc, the perfect town Qualche regola c’è certo servirà There are some rules, they’ll be useful Stare calmo e stare in coda Keeping calm and staying in line qui va molto di moda Are very fashionable here Du Loc è il paradiso. Du Loc is paradise. Ehi amico tu e il mulo, Hey man, you and the mule, su pulitevi il … viso Come on, wipe your …face Du Loc è, Du Loc è, Du Loc è il Du Loc is, Du Loc is, Du Loc is paradiso! paradise!]

The humour in the original results from a combination of words and images together with the use of rhyme. So, when the puppets say “wipe your…”, they turn their back to the camera and show their bottom, to then quickly turn back again and show their face. As a result, the audience expects to hear a word that will rhyme with “grass”, the last word of the previous verse, and will match with the visuals (“ass”). However, after a deliberate pause, the word that the audience hear is “face”, which rhymes with “place”, the substantive used to finish the line two verses before and that also matches the visuals (“face”), but obviously breaks the viewers’ expectations. The dialogue writer attempts to recreate a similar effect in the dubbed version with the use of the word mulo [mule] in the previous verse so that the Italian audience would expect to hear a word rhyming with it and linked to the

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images (culo, [ass]), whilst instead they hear the word viso [face], which rhymes with paradiso [paradise], used in the previous and following verses. Language-dependent humour is also conveyed through specific accents or dialects, in particular foreign accents and words. For instance, humour is triggered by Puss’ Spanish, the Muffin man’s French and the Three pigs’ German origins, which are expressed through accent and lexical choices. Explanatory notes in the dialogue list advised the dialogue writers to use foreign words as much as possible, and to adopt the compensation strategy where needed. The dubbed version retains this linguistic characterisation and sometimes emphasises it, adding foreign words which were not in the original dialogues.

5.2. VEH based on allusions Another important source of humour in Shrek is the constant presence of cultural references or allusions to fairy tales, songs, people, objects, nursery rhymes, and the like. An example based on allusions is found in a song Donkey sings to Shrek while they are on the ship leaving the kingdom of Far Far Away (Example 10). Fiona has just told Shrek that he is going to become a father, and Shrek is shocked. Donkey tries to “comfort him” singing the following song: Example 10 Donkey: (singing, Cat’s in the cradle song) And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon, Little boy blue and the man in the moon. “When you coming home, son?” “I don’t know when, But we’ll get together then, Dad-” Shrek: Donkey, can you just cut to the part where you’re supposed to make me feel better? Ciuchino: (singing, RAP rhythm, [Hey, now that he’s born, who can totally different) Ehi, adesso che sleep? lui è nato chi è che dorme? Sei ridotto peggio di una cosa You’re pretty bad, you look worse than a shapeless thing! informe! Vorresti la tua pace, ma non c’è You’d love to have some peace, but they have no mercy. pietà. Ormai ti hanno fregato, sei papà. It’s too late, they’ve cheated you, you’re a Daddy. Shrek: Ciuchino, puoi saltare alla Ciuchino, can you cut to the part where parte in cui dovresti farmi sentire you’re supposed to make me feel meglio? better?]

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The SL VEH is conveyed through Donkey’s allusion to Harry Chapin’s folk song Cat’s in the Cradle (1974), which tells of a father who is too busy to stay home and play with his son, but when the child becomes a man the roles are inverted: the son is now too busy to spend time with his Dad. The chorus of this song contains references to nursery rhymes, imagery, and objects related to children. For instance, “Little boy blue” is an English nursery rhyme that goes as follows: Little boy blue come blow your horn. The sheep’s in the meadow, the cow’s in the corn. But where’s the boy who looks after the sheep? He’s under a haystack fast asleep. Will you wake him? No, not I. For if I do, he’s sure to cry.

“Man in the moon” may refer to an imaginary man who lives in the moon, whose face children can picture when the moon is full, but also to the following nursery rhyme: The man in the moon came down too soon and asked his way to Norwich, he went by the South and burnt his mouth by supping on cold plum porridge.

In the dubbed version the allusions are lost since the lyrics and the music are completely changed. Ciuchino sings to rap music and directly refers to the problems that a new father has to cope with, such as lack of sleep. Instead of resorting to semantic equivalence or to the establishment of a network of allusions, the dubbed version prefers to recreate VEH through total rewriting of the lyrics and the use of rhyme (dorme-informe, pietà-papà) as a stylistically creative resource. It is worth noting that the translation provided by Di Carlo was completely different from the above dubbed version. In fact after a literal translation Di Carlo added the following invented verses: “Dondola la culla e scuoti il sonaglino la pappa è pronta, dai prendi il bavaglino. Succhia il ciuccetto, fai la ninnananna se finalmente dormi, sarà una manna!

[Swing the cradle and shake the little rattle, pap is ready, come on, take the bib. Suck your little dummy/go to bye-byes, if you sleep at last, it’ll be a godsend!]

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The translator thus managed to recreate VEH by resorting to the same semantic field (i.e. objects, words and actions related to babies), using rhyme (sonaglino-bavaglino, ninnananna-manna) and also managing to keep the same rhythm as the original. This example illustrates how the translation by Di Carlo is not merely a “literal”, rough rendering of the ST, but can indeed be extremely creative. However, it is always the dialogue writer who makes the final decision on the Italian dialogue, and in this specific case Vairano opted for a different solution. Example 11 below also rests its humorous impact on the power of allusion. Two ogres belonging to the “resistance” group against Rumplestilskin comment on the difficulty of breaking into his palace: Example 11 Ogre: Don’t be a fool, mule! Brogan: She’s right. Rumpel’s palace is locked up tighter than Old Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard. Orco: Non fare il cretino, Ciuchino! [Don’t act like a fool, Ciuchino! Brogan: Ha ragione, il palazzo di She’s right, Rumpelstilstkin’s palace Tremotino è più impenetrabile della is more impenetrable than Ali Baba’s caverna di Alì Babà. cave.]

The SL VEH results from the internal rhyme (“fool”, “mule”) and the cultural reference to “Old Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard”. In fact this noun phrase contains an allusion to the nursery rhyme “Old Mother Hubbard”, whose first stanza goes as follows: Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard to get her poor doggie a bone. When she got there the cupboard was bare so the poor little doggie had none.

However, there might also be a second reference to a brand of kitchens and furniture which is quite well known in the USA. The dubbed version is equally humorous in the sense that rhyme and allusion have also been used to recreate the wittiness, though the translator has decided to play with different elements. The initial rhyme is achieved with the use of cretino [fool] and Ciuchino, while Brogan’s reference to the nursery rhyme, unknown to Italians, has been transposed into la caverna di Alì Babà [Ali Baba’s cave], a transparent allusion to the famous Arabic folk tale Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, part of the One Thousand and One

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Nights and very well-known in Italy. The translation strategy is thus one of total substitution. As pointed out by Chiaro and Piferi (2010: 287), Shrek also contains many “references to chunks of dialogue from other films” which cannot be easily appreciated “by non-autoctonous audiences”. One such example is Donkey’s comment on his ability to fly: Example 12 Donkey: You might have seen a house fly, maybe even a super fly but I bet you ain’t never seen a donkey fly. Ha, ha! Uh-oh. Avrai visto un tappeto volante, [You might have seen a flying magari anche un disco volante, ma carpet, maybe even a flying saucer, scommetto che non hai mai visto un but I bet you’ve never seen a flying mulo volante. mule.]

Donkey’s words are an allusion to the Walt Disney film Dumbo (1941), in which one crow asks, “Did you ever see an elephant fly?”, to which three other crows reply, “I’ve seen a horse fly. I’ve seen a dragon fly. I’ve seen a house fly”. This exchange is phonetically ambiguous as the crows play with the homonymy between the noun “fly”, the verb “to fly” and the ending “-fly”. Indeed, the three items can be understood as the combination of a subject and a predicate (“a horse fly”, “a dragon fly”, “a house fly”); or they could also be interpreted as three substantives naming insects (“horsefly”, “dragonfly”, “housefly”). The Italian version of Dumbo attempts to recreate the humorous effect by repeating the same verb in three typical Italian expressions: volare gli schiaffi [slaps fly]; volare gli insulti [insults fly], which has the figurative meaning of “the air is thick with insults”; and volare le sedie [chairs fly]. In the case of Shrek, Donkey’s utterance is humorous because it contains a reference to Dumbo, by slightly changing the words, and plays also with homonymy. Hence, “a house fly” may be interpreted as the insect; “super fly” could be understood as an analogy with Superman, therefore a superhero, an allusion to the film Super Fly (Gordon Parks Jr., 1972), or a reference to Superfly, aka Supahfly, a well-known character from the cartoon series Joe Cartoon (1998-), who gets himself in certain situations, mostly involving alcohol or drug use. The dubbed version is funny because Ciuchino mentions objects such as a flying carpet and a flying saucer, which are not commonly seen by people in real life, so Donkey’s utterance sounds absurd. While a flying saucer refers to an unidentified flying object, a flying carpet is a legendary object belonging to the world of fairy tales and films for children, which appears in a story in the One Thousand and One Nights and in the Disney film Aladdin (Ron

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Clements, John Musker, 1992). However, in the Italian version the wordplay is lost, there is no reference to the cartoon Dumbo and the utterance is arguably less humorous. Another cultural reference that an Italian audience might find difficult to decode is the one contained in Donkey’s suggestion that they should castrate Puss in Boots: Example 13 Donkey: I’d say we take the sword and neuter him right here. Give him the Bob Barker treatment. Prendere quella spada e renderlo [Take that sword and neuter him. neutro. Gli togliamo un po’ di We’ll cut off some of his pendants.] pendagli.

Donkey alludes to the fact that Bob Barker, best known for hosting CBS's The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, making it the longestrunning daytime game show in US television history, believed that pets should be castrated (neutered) in order to control animal overpopulation (Nieminem 2007: 63). He began ending some episodes of The Price Is Right with the utterances: “Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Barker). Although the VEH based on the allusion is irremediably lost, the Italian solution compensates this loss with the utterance gli togliamo un po’ di pendagli [we’ll cut off some of his pendants.], where pendagli refers euphemistically to his genitals.

6. Conclusions The aim of this paper has been to explore how language and culturedependent humour in Shrek has been rendered in the Italian dubbed versions of the four films. The analysis suggests that the most frequent translation strategy is the substitution of the VEH in the SL with an equivalent VEH in the TL, while there are also a few cases of omission and of literal translation. It also emerges that there is a clear tendency to compensate for the loss of humour in some scenes by activating humorous and creative language solutions elsewhere in the text. By his own admission, the Italian dialogue writer’s main objective is to give priority to creativity and to the need to make people laugh. In this sense, he focuses on the function or skopos of the target text in his attempt to be funny, considering the film as a whole and resorting to compensatory strategies when needed. As argued by Zabalbeascoa (1996: 247): “translating

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comedy in order to produce comedy entails that intended comic effect is a priority that is both very high on the scale of importance and a global one, i.e., relevant to the text as a whole”. Another important issue that emerges from the interviews and from the material analysed is that the high quality of the dubbed version of Shrek is the result of a collaborative rewriting process that starts with a good, detailed dialogue list which is translated by a highly qualified professional and is then reworked and given new life by the dialogue writer, who imbues it with his own wittiness. The analysis carried out in this study also indicates that some issues are worth studying further, such as the use of parallel corpora containing the original, dubbed and subtitled versions of the films in various languages to compare translation choices in different languages. The role of dialogue writers and translators should not be underestimated and direct contact with them can also help scholars better understand translation practice and dynamics. Another important line of investigation would be the study of humour perception and reception as already initiated by authors like Chiaro (2004) and Chiaro and Piferi (2010). English-speaking as well as Italian-speaking children and adults could be interviewed in order to ascertain what they perceive as humorous, since the perception and appreciation of humour are highly subjective variables (Chiaro and Piferi 2010: 300, Vandaele 2002: 150) and are not only language or culture-dependent, particularly in products as highly semiotically rich as the Shrek tetralogy.

Notes 1. I would like to express my gratitude to Elena Di Carlo and Francesco Vairano for their kindness.

References Bucaria, Chiara, 2008. “Manipulation and creativity in the adaptation of humour: the case of Will and Grace”. Textus. English Studies in Italy, XXI(1): 47-64. Burzio, Cinzia, 2009. Investigating Humorous Discourse and Translation in Cartoons: the Case of Shrek. BA thesis. Turin: University of Turin. Chiaro, Delia, 2004. “Investigating the perception of translated Verbally Expressed Humour on Italian TV”. ESP Across Cultures 1: 35-52. —. 2006. “Verbally Expressed Humour on screen: reflections on translation and reception”. The Journal of Specialised Translation, 6: 198-208. www.jostrans.org/issue06/art_chiaro.pdf

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Chiaro, Delia, and Roberta Piferi, 2010. ““It’s green! It’s cool! It’s Shrek!” Italian children, laughter and subtitles”, in Elena Di Giovanni, Chiara Elefante and Roberta Pederzoli (eds) Écrire et traduire pour les enfants – Writing and Translating for Children, Brussels: Peter Lang, 283-301. Delabastita, Dirk (ed.) 1996. Wordplay and Translation. The Translator 2(2). —. 1997. “Introduction” in Dirk Delabastita (ed.) Traductio. Essays on Punning and Translation. Manchester: St Jerome and Presses Universitaires de Namur, 1-22. Díaz Cintas, Jorge. 2001. “Striving for quality in subtitling: the role of a good dialogue list”, in Yves Gambier and Henrik Gottlieb (eds) (Multi)Media Translation: Concepts, Practices and Research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 199-211. Díaz Cintas, Jorge, and Aline Remael, 2007. Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling. Manchester: St. Jerome. Gottlieb, Henrik, 1997. “You got the picture? On the polysemiotics of subtitling wordplay”, in Dirk Delabastita (ed.) Traductio. Essays on Punning and Translation. Manchester: St Jerome and Presses Universitaires de Namur, 207-32. Javadi, Parissa, 2011. “Translation of humor in cartoons”. http://ecitizen.org/traveler-choice-amsterdam-piece Leppihalme, Ritva, 1997. Culture Bumps. An Empirical Approach to the Translation of Allusions. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Martínez Sierra, Juan José, 2008. Humor y traducción: Los Simpson cruzan la frontera. Castelló: University Jaume I. Nieminen, Sini, 2007. “Sgt Pompous and the Fancy Pants Club Band”. Comparing and Contrasting the Translations of Verbal Humour in Screen Translations of Shrek. BA thesis. Jyvaskyla: University of Jyvaskyla. https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/bitstream/handle/123456789/7293/URN_NBN _fi_jyu-2007782.pdf?sequence=1 Vandaele, Jeroen, 2002. “Introduction. (re-)constructing humour: meanings and means”. The Translator, 8(2): 149-72. Veisbergs, Andrejs, 1997. “The contextual use of idioms, wordplay, and translation”, in Dirk Delabastita (ed.) Traductio. Essays on Punning and Translation. Manchester: St Jerome and Presses Universitaires de Namur, 155-76. Zabalbeascoa, Patrick, 1996. “Translating jokes for dubbed television situation comedies”. The Translator, 2(2): 235-67.

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Filmography Shrek (USA, 2001), directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jensen. Italian dialogue by Francesco Vairano, songs translated by Marco Manusso. Shrek 2 (USA, 2004), directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon. Italian dialogue by Francesco Vairano. Shrek The Third (USA, 2007), directed by Chris Miller and Raman Hui. Italian dialogue by Francesco Vairano. Shrek Forever After (USA, 2010), directed by Mike Mitchell. Italian dialogue by Francesco Vairano.

CHAPTER NINE DUBBING TEENAGE SPEECH INTO ITALIAN: CREATIVE TRANSLATION IN SKINS IRENE RANZATO SAPIENZA UNIVERSITY OF ROME, ITALY

Abstract The members of a speech community can be defined as people who have habitual contact with each other and have developed a shared use of the language, with a common lexicon and language practices. The partly stereotyped speech communities depicted in audiovisual productions offer a wide variety of examples for the researchers’ analysis. Some of the most interesting communities are those of teenagers in a given place and at a given moment in time, as their way of speaking often reflects a specifically local reality and is characterised by creativity and ephemerality. This paper discusses the case study of the comedic teenage drama Skins, a UK production which has been running since 2007, portraying the lives of a group of young people from Bristol. Their lively, dense, rich vocabulary becomes even more imaginative in the hands of the creative adapters responsible for the Italian dubbed version, who have resorted to various strategies to give an exotic feel in Italian to this teenage jargon.

1. The idiolect of a speech community The field of audiovisuals portrays plenty of speech communities that can be ideal case studies for researchers: from those who speak the professional lingos of doctors and lawyers to the variously cohesive social groups which, for different reasons, have developed shared language practices. Some of the most interesting communities are those of teenagers in a given place and at a given moment in time as their way of speaking often reflects a specifically local reality which is difficult to render in translation, as virtually nothing like teenage slang

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becomes dated and old-fashioned so rapidly. Needless to say that those found in audiovisual programmes are fictional idiolects which may mimic reality but more often than not show small or great departures from it. To represent audiovisual speech communities, a common screenwriting device is in fact to create stereotypes. So, within a particular community and depending on its nature, whether they are doctors working in the same hospital or friends going to the same school, we will have the cynical but smart and clever type, the charismatic leader, the sensitive guy, and the sexy girl, among others. They are simplifications hard to find in real life but present even in the most nuanced and sophisticated scripts. This fictional speech, and the way Italian translators and dubbing adapters have dealt with it when transferring it into Italian, are the object of the present analysis. Although the concept of speech community was first introduced by de Saussure (1967/2009: 92), it was in effect Bloomfield (1933: 49) who devoted a whole chapter to it in his book Language and defined it as a group of people who interact through language. The concept would later be revisited in the course of the late 1960s and early 1970s, thanks to the contribution of sociolinguistics. According to Labov (1972: 120), “the speech community is not defined by any marked agreement in the use of language elements, so much as by participation in a set of shared norms”. Among other scholars, Gumperz (1968/2009: 66) has studied the subject extensively, providing the following definition of a speech community: “any human aggregate characterized by regular and frequent interaction by means of a shared body of verbal signs and set off from similar aggregates by significant differences in language usage”. Some years later, the same scholar offered a new definition which can be said to be even more to the point as it refers to the degrees of variation within the community: a system of organized diversity held together by common norms and aspirations. Members of such a community typically vary with respect to certain beliefs and other aspects of behavior. Such variation, which seems irregular when observed at the level of the individual, nonetheless shows systematic regularities at the statistical level of social facts. (Gumperz 1982: 24)

As Mesthrie et al. (2005: 37) remark: “the term stresses that language practices may be equally diagnostic of the social coherence of a group, and may be a more natural boundary for sociolinguistic study

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than, say, geographical cohesion alone”. For these authors, it is evident that the term of speech community carries varied nuances according to the different scholars using it, and they claim that it is difficult to define it as an actual technical term (ibid.: 38). Some scholars emphasise the subjective nature of the concept. For Hudson (1996: 3637), for example, a speech community is a group of people who somehow feel they are a community, more than a group which could be evident only for a linguist or a stranger. It is thus a subjective reality, not objective – and based only vaguely on an objective reality. Despite the slippery nature of the concept, it is, nonetheless, safe to say that the members of a speech community are people who have habitual contact with each other and have developed a shared use of the language, with a common lexicon and language practices.

2. Young people speech Singling out an audiovisual teenage speech community for research purposes, one should keep in mind the larger context of studies on young people’s language, which are unfortunately still rather sparse. Such lack of scientific interest should be explained, according to Radtke (1992: 6), by viewing the problem in a larger context of a more sociocultural nature: the “non-centrality” of young people’s problems at least until the end of the 19th century. Only in the 20th century did young people start acquiring for the first time the role of a relatively autonomous and homogeneous group, because in the past the centrality of the family had prevented young people to be perceived as a group with a space of their own. According to the same scholar, the languages of young people in the various nations of Europe cannot be viewed as single, isolated entities (ibid.: 8, 30-32). Instead, they should be considered as international, because the shifting social status of young people, in any nation, has prompted “the diffusion of a “new” linguistic substandard which had as its first consequence, in all of Europe, the progressive erosion of dialects. That happened, in the XIX century, in all European nations” (ibid.: 8, my translation), although dialect words are occasionally still included in most youth varieties.1 This is the reason why all youth varieties tend to share a few rhetorical (metaphor and metonymy) or lexicological (affixation) procedures. The following list of rhetorical, lexicological, and pragmatic procedures of youth speech includes the features cited above integrated

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with the ones I would argue are the most recurrent and most typical of youth language among those quoted by Sobrero (1992: 45-58): x x x x x x x x x x x

metaphor; metonymy; hyperbole; affixation (especially with the purpose of semantic exaggeration); apocope; forms of dialectal origin; loan words (in some European countries, including Italy, especially anglicisms and hispanisms or pseudo-hispanisms); slang words; technical or sectorial terms; playful deformations; informal address strategies (tutoyer, calling everyone by their first name, etc.).

One of the main objectives of this chapter is to verify whether some or most of these characteristics found in natural speech, do also feature in the dialogue—both original and dubbed—of the present case study.

3. Skins The British teen drama Skins is a television series that follows the lives of a group of young people from Bristol and of their mostly dysfunctional families. It deals, in an often comedic way, with issues related to sex, substance abuse, psychological disorders, violence, and death. The show was first broadcast in England on E4 on 25th January 2007. Seven seasons of this very successful, BAFTA-award winning show have already been broadcast at the time of writing. It was originally created by Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain – father and son – and employs a team of young writers to author the scripts. Every two seasons the series introduces new characters, thus completely renewing the cast. The characters are followed during the two years that their sixth form education lasts. At the time of writing this article, Skins is into its seventh season, thus fourth generation. It is interesting to note that an American version of the series was created and cancelled by MTV after only ten episodes. This was apparently due to the controversy created by some of its “outrageous” content, despite the fact that the US version is far less crude and much more sanitised than the British one.2

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With this preliminary information at hand, the aim of this chapter is to investigate what has become of all these linguistic and cultural specificities in the dubbing into Italian of such a television programme, addressed to a selected audience of mainly teenagers, thus with very definite generational features. For this purpose, the first four seasons of Skins have been analysed, for a total of 37 episodes, of 45 minutes per episode; i.e. a grand total of 1,665 minutes of running programme. Details about the actual adaptation process are rarely illuminating, particularly when the process itself is rather fuzzy and unclear, as Pavesi and Perego (2006) very aptly defined it. But in the case of this sitcom, the information available is indeed relevant. The change of cast between the first and the second generaton of Skins led to a crucial change in the Italian adapting team. The first two seasons, broadcast by a channel viewed mainly by young people, MTV, and by the satellite channel Jimmy, were adapted by Massimo Corizza, dubbing director and author of the Italian dialogue. The credits for the following seasons are much more complicated as they mention Roberta Ponticello of MTV as in charge of the Italian version, meaning that she had the last say on the dialogue exchanges. The umbrella definition of edizione italiana [Italian edition] includes Daniele Barcaroli as author of the new dialogue, while Massimo Corizza is still dialogue coordinator and dubbing director for the third series. Carla Chiavaroli, dubbing assistant for this “second generation”, explained in a personal communication that the explicit direction from the commissioner, MTV, was that no religious references should be made and that the swearing and the crudest dialogue exchanges should be limited. Apparently, the dubbing of the first two seasons, in which Corizza enjoyed more freedom, had been deemed too explicit.3 The main characters of the first generation are Tony (played by the up and coming actor Nicholas Hoult), an attractive, manipulative, intelligent, reckless, unscrupulous young man; Sid, shy and insecure, Tony’s best friend and opposite; Michelle, Tony’s girlfriend, apparently vain and superficial, but actually sensitive, good-hearted, and down-to-earth; Cassie, an eccentric girl with some psychological problems including an eating disorder; Chris, the party animal of the group; Jal, Michelle’s sensible, serious best friend; and Abigail, Tony’s posh mistress, among many others. The second generation partly replicates these stereotypes with slightly different nuances, exploring other social and personal issues by introducing new characters. Despite the plethora of characters, and with few exceptions, Skins teenagers share a quite uniform way of speaking, which I would like to argue

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justifies the choice to treat theirs as the idiolect of a speech community rather than the idiolect of single individuals. How do Skins teenagers speak? The first clear fact that emerges from the analysis of the corpus is the uniformity of registers; a quite unrealistic situation if we think that “a major aspect of developing communicative competence is the mastery of a wide range of registers– varieties of language […] that are considered appropriate for and are used in different situations. Much language acquisition after the early stages consists in expanding one’s register repertoire” (Hoyle and Temple Adger 1998: 7). The language of the classroom is often more literate than the language used at home (ibid.: 9) as teenagers develop “conscious awareness of the systematic grammatical distinctions between informal talk and more formal narrative prose” (Gumperz and Field 1995: 146-147). Nonetheless, the young people in Skins hardly ever change register. Because we are dealing with stereotypes, the characters tend to behave in a rather uniform way, linguistically speaking, in every given situation, whether they are at school, speaking to friends or teachers, or at home with their family. And yet, all the linguistic youth features mentioned above can be detected in the original dialogue, especially the use of hyperboles, affixations, dialect and slang words, and playful deformations. So, even if the handling of registers can be considered unrealistic to some extent, the presence of the linguistic features usually ascribed to youth speech contributes to keeping the dialogue exchanges close to reality. The changes between the two sets of seasons, 1-2 and 3-4, were significant. The first two seasons, due to subtler characterisations and arguably better actors, are far more powerful than the following seasons which, as mentioned before, introduce a completely new set of characters while following the guidelines of the first episodes. As far as language varieties are concerned, the dialogue exchanges found in Skins are mainly spoken in standard English, but there are sometimes examples of Bristol, Cockney and other accents which are invariably translated into standard Italian. One interesting exception is the character of Thomas, introduced in the third series. An immigrant boy from Congo, his English is somehow guarded and old-fashioned and he keeps code-switching from English to French. In the Italian dubbed version, the solution reached is that Thomas maintains his French accent when speaking Italian. Another meaningful example is the variety of Black British English spoken by Jal’s brothers, two young boys who speak in colourful rapping English. Although their

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exchanges have been rendered in standard Italian, the adapter has tried to make them livelier by resorting to unusual or juvenile expressions. In terms of social backgrounds, apart from Thomas, these teenagers mainly come from British lower middle class to middle class families. There are only a few notable exceptions, for example the character of Abigail, present in the first two series, who is a posh, upper middle class girl from an all-girls school. These characters offer the occasion for sociocultural and sociolinguistic reflections, as illustrated in some of the examples reported below. Example 1 best introduces the peculiar translation strategies adopted by the creators of the Italian dubbed version in the first two seasons: Example 1 - Season 1 Episode 4 CONTEXT: Chris’s mother seems to have just disappeared from the house; her son does not know where she is. She left him an envelope full of money. TONY: You sure you just didn’t forget? CHRIS: Forget what? TONY: She said she’s going on holiday, you said “Yeah”, then dropped a couple of pills and forgot about the conversation. CHRIS: Look, I don’t know, man. It says she’s gone for a few days, but… ANWAR: Is it true?? Our money, babe! Our money! Yes! MAXXI: That’s fucking great, Anwar. TONY: Cheer up, you fucker. You’re home alone and you’ve got an important question to answer. How you gonna spend this money? Italian adaptation Back translation TONY: Non eri a Sballolandia? TONY: Weren’t you in Stoneland? CHRIS: Sottotitolamelo. CHRIS: Subtitle it for me. TONY: Lei ti avrà avvertito della TONY: She must have told you about sua vacanza, tu gli hai detto di sì e her holiday, you said yes and after a dopo un po’ di pillole ti è passato di few pills it has gone off your mind. mente. CHRIS: Sarà evaporata per CHRIS: She must have evaporated qualche giorno chissà dove ma… for a few days, who knows where ANWAR: E’ vero? Sono Paperon but… de’ Paperoni, sono miliardario, ANWAR: Is it true? I’m Uncle evviva! Scrooge, I’m a billionaire, great! MAXXI: Sforzati di crescere, MAXXI: Try to grow up, Fethry Paperoga! Duck! TONY: Sta’ allegrotto giavellotto, TONY: Cheer up you javelin, you hai uno stenditoio e un’importante have a place to lie down and an risposta da darci. Come spenderai important answer to give us. How questi mille? will you spend these thousand [pounds]?

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In this example from the first season we have an original dialogue exchange in a colloquial but quite straightforward standard English, despite the use of the swearwords. In the Italian version, on the other hand, the introduction of new linguistic features can be noted, namely: x x x x x

neologism: Sballolandia; hyperboles: evaporata, sottotitolamelo; culture specific elements: from the world of Disney comics, Paperon de’ Paperoni, Paperoga; slang word: stenditoio; rhymes: sta’ allegrotto giavellotto.

First of all the adapter has created a new word—Sballolandia—out of sballare, which is a slang word meaning “to be stoned”. So he translated the standard “You sure you just didn’t forget”—notable only for the colloquial way of asking the question (“you sure” instead of “are you sure”)—with Non eri a Sballolandia? [Weren’t you in Stoneland?], meaning “Weren’t you too stoned to realise what happened?”. Chris’s amusing answer is Sottotitolamelo [Subtitle it for me], meaning “Speak clear”. This is not at all a common expression among young people, in fact I will go so far as to say that the adapter is creating here a new young people’s idiolect, by using expressions which do not correspond to the ones used by real Italian teenagers but which still sound absolutely plausible. This plausibility is also proved by the use of another hyperbole, evaporata. In Italian, Chris’s mother has not only gone, she has evaporated into thin air. The addition of two culture specific elements from the world of Disney animation shows how these references can be successfully extrapolated and be used to create humour. Anwar’s happy outburst, “Our money, babe!”, is completely transformed by using the iconic image of the billionaire par excellence, Disney’s Uncle Scrooge. The introduction of another Disney character, Paperoga, is also used to build on the humour as the name alliterates with Paperone. Alliteration and rhyming are often used in the Italian version of Skins to create humour, as the rhyme in Tony’s last line also shows: sta’ allegrotto, giavellotto. In this case, a literal translation of the English original, “Cheer up, you fucker”, would be unable to convey both the content and form of the original. Instead, the solution adopted resorts to the use of the adjective allegrotto, from allegro [cheerful], which is just a playful, rarely used but existing Italian deformation to create a rhyme with the following word, giavellotto [javelin], which works as a

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vaguely sexual reference. Rhyming and alliteration are strategies which I find particularly intelligent, if well used, to give an exotic feel to conversation exchanges, especially as an alternative to the customary neutralisation when translating dialects and sociolects. In this case, both lexical items serve to construct Tony’s idiolect, by far the most important and charismatic member of the group, and the one whose dialogues best show the creative intervention of the adapters, which is particularly evident in the use of rhymes, only present in the Italian version of the programme. His last line in the dubbed exchange contains a cluster of colloquialisms, including the word stenditoio [literally: clothes horse], used here in the very slang sense of “a place to lie down, to sleep or have sex” [from stendersi = to lie down]. This may also well be an invention of the adapter as no recorded use of this word in this deducible slang meaning has been found elsewhere. In terms of sociolects, one of the most interesting characters is Abigail, a posh girl who soon becomes Tony’s mistress. In the next exchange, Abigail, who is clearly attracted by Tony, tries to impress him by using expressions which are not normally included in the linguistic spectrum of her social class: Example 2 - Season 1 Episode 7 CONTEXT: Tony and Abigail are having a conversation outside her upper class school. ABIGAIL: Hi, Tony. You’re looking so, so fit. Fit as fuck, yah? Yah? TONY: Hi, Abi. ABIGAIL: I heard you dumped that chav girl. That’s so safe. Slut. TONY: We just weren’t on the same level intellectually. Not like you and me, eh, Abi? ABIGAIL: I am rather brainy. Italian adaptation Back translation ABIGAIL: Ciao, Tony. Oggi hai uno ABIGAIL: Hi, Tony. Today you sguardo fico fosco e tosto. Un tosto have a cool, somber, and tough che tosto si intosta. Ah ah, carina look. A tough one soon toughing vero? Ho sentito che hai mollato la up. Ha, ha, a good one, right? I riccia. Bravo, un gesto da estasi. heard you dumped the curly one. Well done, an ecstatic move. Vacca. Cow. TONY: Sai, noi intellettualmente TONY: You know, we were eravamo diversi. Non in sintonia intellectually different. Not in come noi due. tune like you and me. ABIGAIL: In effetti ho un quoziente eminente.

ABIGAIL: Indeed I have an eminent quotient.

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The first interesting feature in the original text is not only the way Abigail’s social class is characterised in terms of upper class pronunciation—she typically speaks with a plum in her mouth—but also the linguistic nature of the expressions she uses: “fit as fuck” is a clumsy attempt of the upper class at a free and cool way of speaking to impress Tony, and “chav” is the popular derogatory term used in the UK to define some young people from a working class background, who are supposedly ignorant, violent, and wear flashy, cheap clothes. The Italian adaptation avoids this culture specific obstacle and opts for a sort of limerick, which by the use of alliteration makes Abigail’s line sound like a children’s poem or even a tongue twister: fico, fosco e tosto; un tosto che tosto si intosta is a play on basically meaningless words, which contributes to portraying quite precisely Abigail’s vacuous personality. In this same vein, the rhyme at the end of the dialogue, ho un quoziente eminente [I have an eminent quotient], translates with more sophisticated words the original “I am rather brainy”. This excerpt also includes the hyperbolic remark un gesto da estasi [an ecstatic move], which is not an ad hoc invention in the dubbed version as da estasi [something inducing ecstasy, fantastic] can be sometimes used in Italian in mock impressions of snob, upper class people as a means to parody their way of speaking. The expression is used here to translate the more juvenile “that’s so safe”, which is again an attempt by Abigail to loosen her linguistic stiffness and to speak cool. Example 3 illustrates the Italian adaptation tendency to use creative additions: Example 3 - Season 1 Episode 8 CONTEXT: Tony has been left alone by his friends. For the first time the gang leader is feeling blue and quite lonely. KENNY: Where’s all your mates then, Tone? Fallen on hard times, have you, shag? TONY: Something like that. KENNY: Well, no offence but the sooner I get these sold, the sooner I get to the missus for cocoa and cuddles. And I’m not going to get much sold standing next to a posh lad, am I? TONY: Right. OK. No worries. See you later. KENNY: Ta-ta.

Dubbing Teenage Speech into Italian: Creative Translation in Skins Italian adaptation KENNY: E i tuoi amichetti dove sono, Tony? Forse il grande regista non ha più i suoi attori? TONY: Sì, più o meno. KENNY: Senza offesa, Fellini, ma prima sbologno queste copie, prima posso tornare dalla mia bella per coccole e cioccolata. E non venderò un cazzo se sto vicino a uno spilungone alla moda. E pure docciato. TONY: Chiaro, OK, me ne vado. Ci si vede. KENNY: Sì, con gli occhiali.

Back translation KENNY: And your mates, where are they, Tony? Perhaps the great director hasn’t got his actors anymore? TONY: Yes, more or less. KENNY: No offence, Fellini, but the sooner I get rid of these copies, the sooner I get to my babe for cuddles and chocolate. And I won’t sell a fuck if I stand near a trendy beanpole. And showered, too. TONY: That’s clear, OK, I’m going. We’ll see each other. KENNY: Yes, with the glasses.

The most evident addition is the culture specific “target culture” reference (Ranzato 2013: 85-86) to the Italian director Federico Fellini, whose fame can certainly be considered transcultural, using one of Pedersen’s (2005: 3-9) definitions of culture-bound references. This addition is introduced by the line: il grande regista non ha più i suoi attori? [the great director hasn’t got his actors anymore?], which translates the almost unmarked line: “fallen on hard times, have you, shag?”. Two more arguably arbitrary additions complete the Italian version. The first one, e pure docciato [and also showered], adds to alla moda [trendy] to show the speaker’s contempt for a posh lad who does not look as “scruffy” as he does. The second one, sì, con gli occhiali [yes, with the glasses], answers Tony’s goodbye and means that Kenny has no intention of seeing Tony again; in fact, it will be so hard for him to see him that he would have to wear glasses. All additions show how thin the line is between translation and free adaptation in the Italian version of this series, especially in its first two seasons. The use of culture specific references with the purpose of rendering dialogue exchanges more lively and creative is a fundamental strategy in this and other instances. However, it is not by any means the only strategy used to manipulate this teenage idiolect. Example 4 shows the hilarious addition of “sectorial words”, which is yet another feature recognised as typical of most youth varieties:

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Example 4 - Season 1 Episode 4 CONTEXT: After a party Sid is stinking of alcohol, vomit, sweat, smoke etc. But Chris’s house is even smellier than Sid. TONY (OFF): What have you been doing man? SID (OFF): Nothing. TONY (OFF): You stink of sick. SID (OFF): Yeah, but not, like, badly. TONY (OFF): If Chris’s house didn’t out-stink you, yeah, people would actually be walking away from you. SID: Well, we’ll just borrow some deodorant. Italian adaptation Back translation TONY (OFF): Quando ti sei TONY (OFF): When was last time lavato l’ultima volta, al tuo you had a wash, at your battesimo? christening? SID (OFF): Non esagerare, l’odore SID (OFF): Don’t exaggerate, the non è così tremendo. smell is not so awful. TONY (OFF): Se ti mettessi al TONY (OFF): If you sat at the computer partirebbe l’antivirus. computer the antivirus would Hai l’alito in quarantena e le start off. Your breath is in ascelle trifolate. quarantine and your armpits have been cooked in oil with parsley and garlic. SID: Va bene, mi farò prestare un SID: OK, I’ll borrow a deodorant. deodorante.

In this example, the fact that Tony and Sid are speaking off camera gives the adapters an easy chance to freely manipulate the dialogue as technical limitations are not an issue. Al tuo battesimo [at your christening] is of course the addition of a hyperbolic remark. Tony’s lines in Italian change completely in comparison to the English original, mainly by the introduction of sectorial words, which, as mentioned before, are deemed to be a feature of young people’s speech: the words are antivirus and trifolate, the latter being a term used in cooking recipes which does not have a synthetic translation in English and literally means “cooked in oil with parsley and garlic”. The following Example 5 is an interesting one, which includes the addition of various linguistic features:

Dubbing Teenage Speech into Italian: Creative Translation in Skins Example 5 - Season 1 Episode 4 CONTEXT: Chris has been going around the school completely naked. TONY: You’ve created such a noise, man. Everyone’s talking about some naked guy who just walked through school. SID: People are trying to work out whether you’ve made some kind of political statement. Italian adaptation Back translation TONY: Sei una star. Tutti parlano di TONY: You’re a star. Mr Strippato che gira per la scuola Everybody talks about Mr da mitico e armato. Stoned/Stripped who walks about the school, mythical and armed. SID: Si chiederanno se il suo strip SID: They’ll wonder if his strip tease is a gesture of political tease sia un gesto di protesta politico. protest.

In the Italian version, a series of features typical of youth varieties can be detected again: x x x x x

hyperbole: Sei una star; neologism: Strippato; calque: Strippato; slang words: Strippato, mitico; rhyme: Strippato/armato.

The multifarious function of the word Strippato is due to the two different allusions it contains. Strippare is a slang word which can be roughly translated as “to be stoned”, from the English “trip”, although it has plenty of other meanings slightly varying according to its use in the different regions of Italy, including “eating till you burst” and “vomit”. In these last cases, the root is probably not the English “trip” but the Italian word trippa [tripe/fat belly]. In the area of Rome in particular, strippare is often used in the sense of “being terribly scared” or “to be crazy for someone”. Thus the sentence ho strippato can mean “I was scared stiff” or “I am crazy for X”. In this specific instance from Skins, the word certainly carries the slang meaning of “stoned” but the adapter has taken the opportunity to play with the word “strip” from strip tease. This is the reason why the use of Strippato in this exchange can be considered a calque and a neologism meaning “naked”, as Chris has in fact been going around naked. The adapter also creates the occasion for a rhyme and, as it is often the case, the rhyme is used to characterise Tony’s way of speaking.

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Hence, armato [armed] rhymes with Strippato, and it is simply used because Chris was not only naked but was also holding a weapon. Tony’s smart way of speaking is recreated in Italian thanks to the use of literary words, cultured quotations and rhymes. Peppering his exchanges with unusual words adds to his charisma and makes him stand out among his group of friends. Tony’s inventive line also includes the adjective mitico [mythical], which sounds slightly jarring on his lips: mitico is in fact a popular but out of date slang expression used by teenagers especially in the 1980s and early 1990s in the sense of “cool, great”. Although its meaning is still well known, the term would sound more natural if spoken by someone who used to be a teenager in those years. It is yet more evidence of the ephemerality of young people’s language and of the importance of taking into account generation gaps, a subject which has not yet been sufficiently explored in translation studies. In Example 6, the creativity of the original text is closely matched in the Italian adaptation: Example 6 - Season 1 Episode 1 CONTEXT: Chris and Tony are discussing the possibility that a group of posh girls, which includes Abigail, could ever want to have sex with them. CHRIS: Those girls do not fickety fick with town scum like you. Back translation Italian adaptation CHRIS: Quelle non faranno CHRIS: Those ones will not let volare le loro farfalle firmate sul their designer butterflies fly on tuo strabanalissimo tronchetto. your superextrabanal little trunk.

The social gap between the boys and the posh girls is marked in Italian by using a very different strategy from that found in the original. The rather crude “town scum like you” is substituted by a sexual reference to tronchetto [little trunk], understood as a tree trunk or a chunky piece of wood. The euphemising term for fuck, “fickety fick”, was probably inspired by a children’s rhyme and can be considered an ad hoc creation by Chris, as no record of this meaning has been found in English. In Italian, the expression is replaced by the rather poetical farfalle firmate [designers’ butterflies], meaning that the girls’ “butterflies”, which is not a frequent name to define the female sexual organ, are not common, lower class ones for town scum like Chris and Tony, as they are in effect the creation of some fashion designer. The examples above, all taken from the “first generation” of Skins, show the strong authorial intervention of the adapter in the Italian

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translation of the dialogue, an intervention which is much less evident in later episodes of the series.

4. Conclusions The changes seen in the make up of the Italian adaptation team between the first two and the following seasons of Skins coincided with a different attitude on the part of the commissioner, the international broadcaster MTV, who expressly instructed the adapters to produce less “outrageous” scripts in Italian and to dilute the translation when necessary. The contrast between the translation solutions found in series 1-2 and those found in series 3-4 is rather telling. In the first two, the regularity that clearly emerges is that the Italian adaptation introduces a substantial number of new features, which are not present in the source text and which contribute to giving a remarkably original twist to the dialogue. My contention is that these creative, and to some extent daring strategies manage to lend an exotic feel to this teenage jargon which partly compensates for the loss of original culture specific items, which have been mostly omitted. All in all, the recourse to rhyming and the addition of new cultural references result in a sort of laboratory-created teenage language.4 The Italian dubbing dialogue comes across as an artificial idiolect which could be defined, making use of a juvenile affixation, as “hyper-young”. The more realistic idiolect of the original speech community has become, in the Italian version of the series, the jargon of youngsters who are, if not imaginary, at least unusually creative.

Notes 1. In the case of Italy, De Mauro (1974: 179) highlights an important moment in the intersection of the language used by young people and its translation: when the book The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger was first translated by Jacopo Darca into Italian (Vita da uomo, 1952), the need was felt for the first time to create an expressive, non dialectal language, that is a substandard variety of Italian, disseminated at national level. 2. This is often the case with the remake of programmes for US audiences. See for example the British TV show Queer as Folk (Russell T. Davies, 19992000) as opposed to the American, slightly diluted version of the same name (Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, 2000-2005). 3. For a discussion of some Italian broadcasters’ “guidelines” for adapters, relative to the translation of sensitive contents, see Parini (2012: 331-2) and Ranzato (2013: 221).

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4. For the use of rhyming as a strategy in Italian audiovisual translation, see also Ranzato (2010: 118-20).

References Bloomfield, Leonard. 1933. Language. New York: Henry Holt and Co. Carroll, Lewis. 2003. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and through the Looking Glass. London: Penguin. Cowen, Ron and Daniel Lipman, Queer as Folk, 2000-2005, USA. Davies, Russell T., Queer as Folk, 1999-2000, UK. De Mauro, Tullio. 1974. Storia linguistica dell’Italia unita. Bari: Laterza. Elsley, Bryan and Jamie Brittain, Skins, 2007-in production, UK. Gumperz, John J. 1968/2009. “The speech community”, in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. London: Macmillan, 381-86. Reprinted in Alessandro Duranti (ed.). 2009. Linguistic Anthropology A Reader. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 66-73. —. 1982. Language and Social Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gumperz, John J., and Margaret Field. 1995. “Children’s discourse and inferential practices in cooperative learning”. Discourse Processes 19: 133-47. Hoyle, Susan M. and Carolyn Temple Adger. 1998. Kids Talk. New York: Oxford University Press. Hudson, Richard A. 1996. Sociolinguistica. Bologna: Il Mulino. Labov, William. 1972. Sociolinguistic Patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Mesthrie, Rajend, Johann Swann, Andrea Deumert and William L. Leap. 2005. Introducing Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Parini, Ilaria. “Censorship of anime in Italian distribution”. Meta 57(2): 325-37. Pavesi, Maria and Elisa Perego. 2006. “Profiling audiovisual translators in Italy: a preliminary analysis”. The Journal of Specialised Translation 6: 99-144. www.jostrans.org/issue06/art_pavesi.pdf Pedersen, Jan. 2005. “How is culture rendered in subtitles?” in MuTra2005 – Challenges of Multidimensional Translation: Conference Proceedings. www.euroconferences.info/proceedings/2055_Pedersen_Jan.pdf Radtke, Egar. 1992. “La dimensione internazionale del linguaggio giovanile”, in Emanuela Banfi and Alberto A. Sobrero (eds.) Il linguaggio giovanile degli anni Novanta. Regole, invenzioni, gioco. Roma: Laterza, 5-44.

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Ranzato, Irene. 2010. “Localising cockney: translating dialect into Italian”, in Jorge Díaz Cintas, Anna Matamala and Josélia Neves (eds) New Insights into Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 109-22. —. 2013. The Translation of Cultural References in the Italian Dubbing of Television Series. PhD Thesis. London: Imperial College London. Salinger, J.D. 1951/1994. The Catcher in the Rye. London: Penguin (translated into Italian by J. Darca, 1952. Vita da uomo. Roma: Gherardo Casini). de Saussure, Ferdinand. 1967/2009. Corso di linguistica generale. Bari: Laterza. Sobrero, Alberto A. 1992. “Varietà giovanili come sono, come cambiano”, in Emanuela Banfi and Alberto A. Sobrero (eds) Il linguaggio giovanile degli anni Novanta. Regole, invenzioni, gioco. Roma: Laterza, 45-58.

CHAPTER TEN TRANSLATING SPEECH IN MEDIA TEXTS NATHALIE MÄLZER-SEMLINGER UNIVERSITY OF HILDESHEIM, GERMANY

Abstract In this study, I examine the question of how speech is rendered in fictional media texts (the term “media text” encompasses not only the text in a narrower sense, but the totality of the semiotic codes constituting the work) and which strategies are used by the translators of those texts into other languages. Assuming that the original author mimics some features of orality in order to create the impression of natural spoken language, I analyse which of those features are or can be imitated, in turn, by the translator. My underlying hypothesis is that the recreation or omission of certain features of orality in the translation can be attributed not only to issues arising from the asymmetries between the two languages involved, but more significantly to the semiotic environment of the media text and the translation mode. In order to bring out the differences, I compare a French film and the novel it is based on with their translations into German: François Bégaudeau’s Entre les murs, adapted for the cinema by Laurent Cantet. Both the novel and the film are particularly interesting because of the strong use they make of colloquial language. My analysis takes into account three different forms of translation which have a distinct impact on the rendering of the dialogue in the German versions: the translation of the novel, the film subtitles, and the dubbed dialogue.

1. Introduction In this article I analyse the German translations of French dialogue exchanges found in two different types of media texts. I use the term “media text” in the sense proposed by Burger (2005: 66), who defines it as a combination of oral or written text and other semiotic codes. The media texts in question are the dubbed and the subtitled versions of the feature film Entre les murs (Laurent Cantet, 2008) and the translation of the François Bégaudeau novel on which it is based. The three main questions

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of this analysis centre on how speech is rendered in the different media texts, on the challenges encountered by translators, and on the strategies they use to overcome them.

2. Recreating oral features in media texts The way speech is rendered in media texts is highly dependent on the medium itself. Even when a film is a so-called “faithful” adaptation of a novel, the representation of speech differs significantly between the two. One reason for this is that in media texts—regardless of whether they are fictional or non-fictional—dialogue exchanges are unlike everyday conversation (Remael 2004: 105) and correspond rather to a feigned orality, although some degree of verisimilitude can be found. This also holds for François Bégaudeau’s novel and the film adaptation – for which Bégaudeau co-authored the script and in which he plays the role of the teacher –, despite the fact that both use a semi-documentary approach to portraying the everyday life and problems of a school in the Parisian suburbs. Using lifelike exchanges certainly creates an effet de réel (Barthes 1968), but the two media texts employ different ways of attaining this effect. The reasons for this disparity are obvious. Different media texts rely on different media and semiotic codes, and a verbal exchange can be transmitted through different channels. In most films, verbal exchanges are spoken, rely on a phonic code and are transmitted through the audio channel, while in a novel, whose medium is usually a book, dialogue is written and visually presented by means of a graphic code. One of the reasons that the use of different channels and codes has an impact on the way oral features are presented is that speech transmitted through the audio channel is ephemeral, even in the case of DVDs, where the verbal text can be replayed as often as desired. The possibility of re-reading offered by a medium without time constraints, such as a book, allows for an easier comprehension of long and complex sentences and thus has an impact on the way in which they are phrased and on how oral features are rendered. Another reason for these differences is that the orally transmitted verbal text, e.g. in a film or radio play, is linked to other semiotic codes such as paraverbal elements (prosodic and paralinguistic), volume, rhythm, accent, intonation, voice quality and emotional factors (Brinker 2001: 1060). Both films and books can present a verbal text supported by additional, nonverbal semiotic codes. This is rarer in the case of books, although there are, of course, instances of illustrated novels or poems whose typography

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conveys additional meaning. In films, however, a combination of semiotic codes is essential: the audience perceives moving images through the visual channel, while the audio channel transmits music or sounds in addition to an orally presented verbal text. It is this type of presentation that allows for the creation of a complex network of relationships between the various codes. Another factor affecting the rendering of dialogue is that this particular “discourse mode” (Fludernik 2000) can be embedded in various ways in the overall verbal text, depending not only on the medium but also on the genre or media text type. In the case of a novel, the words uttered by the characters can be represented in different ways and combined with other kinds of text. Writers can make use of different linguistic devices for embedding speech into a narrative, such as direct and indirect speech, reported speech or free indirect speech. Furthermore, Fludernik (ibid.: 282) argues that it is possible to distinguish between what she calls narrative, argumentative, instructive, conversational and reflective macrogenres combining different discourse modes (report sequences, orientational passages, dialogue, directives, metalinguistic statements, etc.). It can therefore be argued that genre is just as important for the way dialogue is structured in a media text as is the medium itself. This applies to media texts in the source language; in the case of translated media texts, additional factors must be taken into account.

3. Factors pertaining specifically to translated dialogue The medium- and genre-related factors which influence the form speech takes in media texts also have an impact on the translation of dialogue and have to be taken into account by translators, who also face additional challenges. As noted above, speech in fictional media texts is always feigned orality, which exacerbates problems arising from disparity between languages, since in each language and culture, speech acts are shaped in a specific way. Typical features of orality such as elisions, syntactical particularities, or a lexis coloured by a dialect, also differ significantly from one language to another (Koch and Oesterreicher 2011: 41). Important factors affecting translated speech are the code and channel used by the translation itself, as well as the way in which speech is embedded in the overall media text. Obviously, the translation of dialogue in a novel differs significantly from dialogue in subtitles or dubbing. While the translation of a novel usually substitutes the whole original media text with an isosemiotic target text (as long as it is entirely constituted by a verbal written text, and with the exception of bilingual

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editions, where the translation is added to the source text), the subtitles of a film are presented on a different channel than, and concurrently with, the oral source text. As such, subtitles are subject to constraints of time and space. Dubbing, on the other hand, substitutes only part of the original media text, and the orally presented, isosemiotically translated dialogue is also subject to a number of constraints (mainly various forms of synchrony). These constraints and switches of channel and code influence the form that the dialogue will take in the translation. For an analysis and comparison of the different translations of Bégaudeau’s work and the choices made by the translators, it is important to keep in mind the following four factors and the impact they may have on the translation: the language pair, the medium, the genre (or text type) and the translation mode itself. I have chosen Laurent Cantet’s film Entre les murs for an analysis of its verbal exchanges and their translations because, for one, it is an adaptation—even if only “librement inspiré” (Cantet 2008) —of a novel, which permits to compare the rendering of the dialogue in both media texts. Second, even if it is a fictional film, several factors allow the audience to watch the film as non-fictional, as documentary (Odin 1984: 271). The author of the novel and co-author of the screenplay, François Bégaudeau, said that he wanted to make a film about everyday life in a certain type of school in Paris (Stoppel 2010: 65). To be seen as being as “real” as possible, all the actors of the film are non-professionals playing themselves, including Bégaudeau, a teacher who plays the role of the teacher in the film. While the actors were given a script, there was also a certain amount of space for improvisation, as can be seen in a comparison between the finished film and the screenplay (Stoppel 2010: 173). Interestingly, the film does not tell a story as such, but consists of numerous scenes showing various conflicts between the teacher and his pupils, making it more mimetic than narrative. Most of the time, these conflicts are about a mutual lack of respect, which is partly expressed in the way the characters talk to each other. Finally, language is used remarkably often in a meta-linguistic way, due to the subject of the film: a teacher trying to teach French and impart a correct use of the language.

4. The film adaptation of Entre les murs The following three scenes illustrate the ways in which the four categories of factors affecting translation—(1) the language pair, (2) the medium, (3) the genre and (4) the translation modality—variously impact the translated dialogue.

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4.1. First example In this scene, found both in the novel and in the film, we are presented with a conflict between the teacher, Marin, and one of his pupils, Khoumba, whom he asks to read out loud a passage from The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. Khoumba refuses, provoking a conflict with Marin. In the novel, this scene is conveyed with a combination of two discourse modes: a report sequence made by a homodiegetic (i.e. he inhabits the point of view of the character) first-person narrator with an internal focalisation (i.e. he knows not more than the character) (Genette 1994: 134), the teacher making his demand and Khoumba’s reaction to it (1); Marin’s comment on his next action (4); and a dialogue sequence between the teacher and two pupils: Khoumba and Kevin (2, 3, 6, 7). Source text (Bégaudeau 2006: 58): (1) J’ai demandé à Khoumba de lire l’extrait, elle a dit qu’elle n’avait pas envie. (2) – Envie ou pas, tu lis. (3) – Vous allez pas me forcer à lire.

[I asked Khoumba to read the excerpt; she says that she doesn’t feel like it.

(4) J’ai pris les vingt-quatre autres à témoin. (5) – Ça s’appelle comment ce que Khoumba vient de faire ? (6) – Insolence. (7) – Bien, Kevin. C’est vrai qu’on a affaire à un spécialiste.

I called the other twenty-four as witnesses. What do you call what Khoumba just did? Insolence. Good, Kevin. It’s true that we’re dealing with an expert.]

Feel like it or not, read. You can’t force me to read.

Target text (Bégaudeau 2008: 45): (1’) Ich bat Khoumba, den Abschnitt vorzulesen, doch sie hatte keine Lust. (2’) »Egal, ob du Lust hast oder nicht, du liest das jetzt.« (3’) »Sie können mich nicht zum Lesen zwingen, Monsieur.« (4’) Ich rief die anderen vierundzwanzig als Zeugen auf. (5’) »Wie würde man Khoumbas Verhalten nennen?« (6’) »Frech.« (7’) »Gut, Kevin. Aber darin bist du ja auch Experte.«

[I asked Khoumba to read the passage but she didn’t feel like it. Whether you feel like it or not, you’re going to read this now. You can’t force me to read, Monsieur. I called the other twenty-four as witnesses. What would you call Khoumba’s behaviour? Insolent. Good, Kevin. But you’re an expert of course.]

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In the translation of (1) there is a slight shift from an internal focalisation to an omniscient narrator, as in the German version (1’) Marin seems to know Khoumba’s reasons for not reading without her even saying it. The translated dialogue in direct speech does not differ very much from the original. Marin’s first response is shorter in French (2), but it would have been difficult to keep it as short in German without making it sound strange. More curious is the translator’s choice to add Monsieur in (3’), which is not in the original. Given the fact that this scene is about the pupil’s disrespect, the character appears less coherent in the German version. In (4), the narrator gives a slightly ironic commentary on his subsequent question, where, in order not to lose face, he switches to a meta-level, asking the class to find the right word for Khoumba’s behaviour. To summarise, there are few typical features of orality in this passage, apart from a question of intonation (5) and a missing negation particle in (3). These specific features are typical of the French language and cannot be imitated in German; as a result, the translation sounds more proper than the original. The film omits the narrator’s voice and there are thus no report sequences, but only a scenic representation of the conflict, expressed by Marin and Khoumba’s verbal exchange, gestures and facial expressions. Marin asks Khoumba to read, she refuses, they argue about it. And, finally, we have the following exchange: Source text (Cantet 2008, 1:27:45-54): Close shot on Khoumba, looking down (1) K: J'ai pas envie d'lire, (2) M (off camera): Mais ... j'm'en fous qu't'as pas envie d'lire, moi. Khoumba makes a sucking noise. Close shot on Marin (3) M: Ça veut dire quoi c'que vient de faire Khoumba ? Close shot on Wey, raising his hand, and another pupil (4) M (off camera): Wey ? / Ouais ? (5) W: Tiper.

[I don’t feel like reading But…I don’t care whether you feel like reading or not. What do you call what Khoumba just did? Wey? / Yeah? [slang term for ‘sucking one’s teeth’]

In this scene, in order to overcome the conflict, Marin uses the same diversionary tactic as in the novel, switching to a meta-level, which permits him to recover his authority as a teacher. But the reason for his

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question is different in the film. In the novel, Khoumba is considered to be insolent because she refuses to read. There is no reference here to the sucking noise Khoumba makes in the film, the slang term for which is tiper, although it comes up elsewhere in the novel. Tiper is translated into German with the non-existing word antchipen, with an explanation added in parentheses, also given in the original. The author seemed unsure as to whether a French reader would know the meaning of the word and explains: “tiper: faire du bruit avec sa bouche en coin, ce qui veut dire : va te faire …” (2006: 74) [tiper: making a noise by pursing one’s lips, meaning: Go f… yourself]. In the film, the conflict is also about Khoumba’s disrespect, which is not only expressed by her refusal to read, but also by her use of an inappropriate register and her action of tiper. This leads Wey, who is Chinese, to misinterpret the teacher’s question, referring to the sucking noise when he answers “tiper”, upon which Marin explains that he meant Khoumba’s general behaviour and not this particular gesture. This scene is told differently in the novel, perhaps in order to avoid a possibly clunky repetition of the word tiper—the first time in order to narrate Khoumba’s action and the second in Wey’s answer to the teacher. In the film, there is no need to repeat the word, as Khoumba’s gesture can be represented through the audio channel with a nonverbal paralinguistic sucking noise and the visual channel (her facial expression) before Wey names it. Thus there is a scenic representation of tiper and then the pronunciation of the word itself. In a sense, this scene fulfils the same function as the parenthetical explanation of the word “tiper” in the novel—in the film, the scene provides the explanation. But what happens to it in the dubbing and subtitling? Dubbing (1’) K: Ich les' nich. (2’) M: Mir doch scheißegal, ob du Lust hast. (3’) M: Wie nennen wir das, was Khoumba da macht? (4’) M: Wey? (5’) W: Affenlaute.

[I’m not reading.like it. I don’t give a shit whether you feel like it or not. What do we call what Khoumba is doing? Wey? Monkey sounds.]

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Subtitles (1’’) -Ich hab keine Lust. (2’’) -Das interessiert mich nicht. (3’’) Was hat Khoumba soeben getan? (4’’) -Wey? (5’’) -Gefeixt.

[-I don’t feel like it. -I’m not interested. What did Khoumba just do? -Wey? -Smirked.]

The main problem of these translations is clearly specific to the language pair. Tiper (5) does not have an equivalent in the German language and culture, either as a word or as a gesture. It is a typical black African or Caribbean gesture and in this context has approximately the same meaning as the F word (Khoumba is black). In the original film, there is an explanation of the meaning of the sound and word tiper. But this explanatory function of the original dialogue sequence is not preserved by the translations, which opt for two different solutions to tackle the problem. These choices are influenced by the medium and the translation mode. As in the original, the dubbed version does not have the option of adding information in parentheses because such explanations could only be given in a narrator’s voiceover or in an additional clarification, devices not used in the film. As the translator assumes that the meaning of this sound is widely unknown to the German audience, in the dubbing the sound is described as Affenlaute [monkey sounds] (5’). Apart from having racist connotations, which are not present in the original, this solution is not very convincing as Wey is insulting Khoumba, but this does not provoke any reaction from her. The subtitles opt for gefeixt [smirked] (5’’), but here again we have an even more striking contradiction between text and image, as Khoumba did not laugh or smile. Another problem is that the German word is rare and not likely to be used by a boy who is not a native speaker. As a result, the characterisation of Wey is altered by both translations: in the dubbing he seems less intelligent than in the original, although other scenes stress his braininess, while in the subtitled version he appears more articulate in French than in the rest of the film. Thus there is a shift not only in the mimetic function, but also in the narrative function, as the characters do not act coherently. Incidentally, the wordplay we find in the original film thanks to the homophony between the French non-standard pronunciation of oui [yes] as ouais and Wey’s name cannot be rendered by the dubbing nor by the subtitles, both of which interpret the utterance as the name of the boy and not as a “yes”. This results in a loss of poetic or entertaining function.1

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Typical features of orality in the dubbing and subtitles are the elisions in (1’) nich in place of nicht and (1’’) hab in place of habe, used for Khoumba’s speech, but not for that of the teacher. At least for the subtitles, this choice is a strong marker, as authors like Ivarsson and Carroll (1998: 157) advise that correct spelling should be used, even if elisions like hab in place of habe are frequently found in novels. In summary, even in this short dialogue exchange, there is a complex combination of factors impacting the translation of speech: language-pair issues, problems concerning the translation mode, the discourse mode of the film, and the medium.

4.2. Second example This scene also takes place in the classroom: Marin and one pupil have just lost face in front of the class, because Esmeralda and Louise have revealed to the pupil that Marin thought he was mentally “limited” – he said words to this effect in a teachers’ conference the girls attended. In this situation, Marin tries to riposte by blaming the girls for their behaviour during the meeting as they spent the entire time giggling. His reaction provokes one of the central conflicts of the novel and the film. Marin insults the girls by saying that they have an attitude of pétasses. In the novel (Bégaudeau 2006: 83), he says: “Je m’excuse mais moi, rire comme ça en public, c’est c’que j’appelle une attitude de pétasses” [I’m sorry but laughing like that in public, that’s what I call acting like a bitch/bimbo]. The German translation omits the explanation “laughing like that in public” and just says “Sorry, aber so benehmen sich nur Schnallen” (Bégaudeau 2008: 65) [Sorry, but only bimbos act like that]. These translation choices seem odd, as there is no need to omit the explanation for the insult. Also, the Anglicism “sorry” does not sound very realistic in the mouth of a French teacher so intent on imparting standard French to his pupils. The reason for choosing this word from a more familiar register might be that in the French version the effet de réel of feigned orality is obtained by typical elisions and syntactic reordering, which is not easy to render in German. Elisions are less common in the German written code and would characterise the speaker as a young person or a person from a lower social class. The main translation problem of this scene—and maybe of the entire novel and film—is the double meaning of the word pétasse, which can mean either “bitch” or “bimbo”. In the novel, the narrator describes the reaction of his pupils to this word as being vehement: “Elles ont explosé en chœur” (Bégaudeau 2006: 83) and “Sie explodierten im Chor”

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(Bégaudeau 2008: 65) [They exploded in unison]. But, of course, the reader cannot hear or see this metaphorical explosion in the novel, while in the film this report sequence is again transformed into a scenic representation without a narrator: the facial expressions of the pupils and the prosody of their speech show they are outraged. In the film, this scene even leads to an outbreak of violence, which in the novel occurs at another point in the narrative. Original film (Cantet 2008, 1:30:30-33) Close shot on Marin, turning to the left M: Moi j’suis désolé, mais rire comme ça hein, en plein conseil de classe, c’est c’que j’appelle une attitude de pétasses.

[I’m sorry, but laughing like that, eh in the middle of the teachers’ conference, that’s what I call acting like bitches/bimbos.]

Dubbing Es tut mir leid, aber in der Klassenkonferenz so zu kichern, so benehmen sich für mich nur Schlampen.

[I’m sorry, but giggling like that at a teachers’conference, only sluts act like that.]

Subtitles Es tut mir leid, aber so benehmen sich nur Schlampen.

[I’m sorry, but only sluts act like that.]

This example clearly shows how the medium has influenced the translators’ choices. As the film audience can see and hear the pupils’ indignation and the escalation of the conflict, it was necessary to opt for a strong word as a source for the conflict; in this case Schlampen, corresponding to “slut” or “floozie”. This is not as important in the novel, where the reader reads about the reaction of the pupils as recounted by the homodiegetic narrator – even if his use of the explosion metaphor is strong, it can also be read as ironic and it is ultimately only his ears and eyes that construe the girls’ reaction as violent. Thus the translation opts for Schnalle [bimbo]. The two different translations, Schlampe and Schnalle, alter the narrative function of this scene. While the ambiguity of the word pétasse allows the audience and the reader of the original versions to see the situation from the perspective of both the teacher and the pupils, in the German version of the film, the audience is likely to agree with the pupils that this word is a shocking insult, while in the German version of the novel, the reader might think that the girls are overreacting a bit.

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In terms of typical features of orality, the original film includes the interjection hein, as well as some elisions. They are not rendered in the dubbing, as these features are difficult to imitate in German. In contrast to the translation of the novel, the dubbing reorders the sentence, while the subtitles provide correct syntax and spelling, shortening the sentence by omitting the explanation for the insult, as does the translation of the novel.

4.3. Third example In the final example, the translators are not confronted with a languagepair problem, but only with a problem concerning the translation mode. This example again features a conflict between a pupil and Marin. In the novel, the scene takes place between Katia and Marin whereas in the film it is between Khoumba and Marin after his insistence that she reads out loud. In the novel, the dialogue sequence is as follows: (Bégaudeau 2006: 57) (1) – (…) vous êtes vénère et vous vous en prenez à moi, ça s’fait pas. (2) – D’abord on dit pas vénère, on dit quoi ? (3) – On dit quoi quoi ? (4) – Utilise un vrai mot français, ça changera.

[- … You’re pissed off and now you’re picking on me, that’s not fair. - First of all, you don’t say pissed off. What do you say? - What do you mean what do you say? - Use a real French word for a change.]

Target Text (Bégaudeau 2008: 44) (1’) »(…) bloß weil Sie angepisst sind, das is echt fies. (2’) »Erstens sagt man nicht angepisst, sondern?« (3’) »Wie, sondern?« (4’) »Verwende gefälligst ein anständiges Wort, das würde schon was ändern.«

[…just because you’re pissed off, that’s so mean. First of all, you don’t say pissed off, but? What do you mean, but?] Be so kind as to use a proper/decent word, that would be a start.]

The sentences in the dialogue sequence of the novel are much longer and are attributed to a different pupil than in the film. Given that in the film the two characters are getting angry in this exchange, it seems more realistic to have them speak in shorter sentences. Here is the short dialogue exchange between Khoumba and Marin:

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Original version of the film (Cantet 2008, 1:28:15-17) Close shot on Khoumba; the other pupils are looking at her. (1) Vénère. (2) Oui. Close shot on Marin; he looks angry. (3) Dis-le moi en français courant, si tu veux bien.

[Pissed off. Yes. Say it in standard French, if you would be so kind.]

Dubbing (1’) Pissed. (2’) Ja. (3’) Übersetzt du das für mich? Wärst du so freundlich?

[Pissed off. Yes. Can you translate that for me? Would you be so kind?]

Subtitles (the subtitle appears one shot earlier) (1’’) -Abgenervt. (3’’) -Normales Französisch bitte.

[-Cheesed off. -Normal French please.]

In the original, Khoumba uses a verlan (slang from the suburbs) word, “vénère” (1). It is not really vulgar, but it is not the appropriate register for a pupil talking to a teacher. This gives Marin the opportunity for another diversionary tactic: he again switches to the meta-level, this time to the meta-linguistic level, by asking Khoumba to repeat the term in standard French. The dubbing opts for a solution that avoids mentioning the French language (3’), as it would remind the audience that it is watching a dubbed film and destroy the paradoxical illusion that it is normal to hear people in France speaking German. In contrast, the subtitles opt for an explicit mention of the language the audience can hear, Französisch [French] (3’’). This is not necessary, but consistent, as the subtitles are added to the original media text and the audience is constantly being reminded that the scene is taking place between people speaking French. This choice shows that the subtitles here are assigned a function comparable to a paratext or an interlinear translation. Concerning the translation of verlan elements, the dubbing opts for a more vulgar register with the Anglicism “pissed [off]” (1’), while the subtitles employ the more colloquial term abgenervt [cheesed off] (1’’), thereby adhering to the recommendation of using less vulgarity in written code. These kinds of shifts in the mimetic function seem to be typical of subtitling. Like dubbing, the translation of the novel avoids mention of the French language (4’). But as the verlan word is translated not by an

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English word, but by angepisst (1’), a case of grammatically adapted borrowing, the teacher can criticise the register as not proper or decent. Thus in this last example, the challenges encountered are not so much related to the language pair or to the medium, but to the translation mode.

5. Conclusion These examples show that translators’ choices can be affected by very different factors and, in most cases, by a complex combination of factors which are not necessarily related to the nature of the languages in use. The resulting shifts in the function of speech sometimes have an impact on the representation of the narrative, which in turn may affect the reception of the translated media text. In these media texts, Marin, the main character, will probably be perceived and judged in a different way depending on the medium, the language and the translation mode chosen by the audience.

Notes 1. On functions of dialogue see Mälzer-Semlinger (2011: 217-18).

References Barthes, Roland. 1968. "L’Effet de réel". Communications 11: 84-9. Bégaudeau, François. 2006. Entre le murs. Paris: Verticales. ––. 2008. Die Klasse. (tr. K. Buchholz and B. Große). Frankfurt: Suhrkamp. Brinker, Klaus, Gerd Antos, Wolfgang Heinemann and Sven Sager (eds) 2001. Text- und Gesprächslinguistik. Ein internationales Handbuch zeitgenössischer Forschung. Berlin: de Gruyter. Burger, Harald. 2005. Mediensprache. Eine Einführung in Sprache und Kommunikationsformen der Massenmedien. Berlin: de Gruyter. Cantet, Laurent. 2008. Die Klasse. DVD. France: Haut et Court. Fludernik, Monika. 2000. "Genres, text types, or discourse modes? Narrative modalities and generic categorization“. Style 34(2): 274-92. Genette, Gérard. 1994. Die Erzählung. Munich: Fink. Ivarsson, Jan and Mary Carroll. 1998. Subtitling. Simrishamn: TransEdit. Koch, Peter and Wulf Oesterreicher. 1990. Gesprochene Sprache in der Romania. Französisch, Italienisch, Spanisch. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Mälzer-Semlinger, Nathalie. 2011. "Bild-Text-Beziehungen beim Filmübersetzen“. Lebende Sprachen (2): 214-23.

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Odin, Roger. 1984. "Dokumentarischer Film – dokumentarisierende Lektüre" in Eva Hohenberger (ed.) 1998. Bilder des Wirklichen: Texte zur Theorie des Dokumentarfilms. Berlin: Vorwerk, 259-75. Stoppel, Karl. (ed.) 2010. Entre les murs. Scénario de François Bégaudeau, Laurent Cantet et Robin Campillo. Stuttgart: Reclam.

CHAPTER ELEVEN AUDIENCE PERCEPTION OF CHARACTERS IN PEDRO ALMODÓVAR’S FILM LA FLOR DE MI SECRETO CARLOS DE PABLOS-ORTEGA UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA, UK

Abstract The study upon which this paper is based aims to contribute to the existing gap in audiovisual translation, that of audience perception, by exploring the relationship between subtitles, soundtrack, and audience perception. Two hundred undergraduate students took part in this investigation and were divided into three groups according to their nationalities: Spanish (Spain), British and North American (USA and Canada). The selected audiovisual material for the study was a six-and-a-half-minute clip from Pedro Almodóvar’s 1995 film La flor de mi secreto. Participants were shown the selected clip, subtitled in English, three times: twice with English subtitles only and the third time with the same subtitles plus the original soundtrack in Spanish. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire in which they selected the most appropriate word/s in their native language which described the characters portrayed in the clip. The purpose of this exercise was to measure the effect of the subtitles on the participant’s word choice, firstly in isolation and then with the soundtrack. Results revealed differences in word choice for the description of the characters across nationalities.

1. Introduction1 It is argued that in audiovisual translation (AVT) more research needs to be mdevoted to audience reception studies. Antonini and Chiaro (2009: 99) point out that AVT studies have focused on translation techniques from the translator’s point of view and that little work has been carried out on the exploration of users’ perceptions. To date, studies on AVT reception have mainly focused on choices of subtitling or revoicing for

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children’s TV programmes (Karamitroglou 2000), on the reception of translated humour in Spanish and Italian dubbing and subtitling (Fuentes Luque 2001, Antonini et al. 2003), on the perception of dubbing by Italian audiences (Antonini and Chiaro 2009) and on the reception of intralingual subtitling (Remael et al. 2008). This paper aims to explore how the audience perceives the characters of a film taking into account two crucial components in AVT: the audio and visual dimensions. In a subtitled film, the images help to convey and decode the message contained in the subtitles. However, these are elements that can also mislead audiences in the interpretation of meaning, particularly when dealing with two diverse cultures. As for the audio, the soundtrack is fundamental to interpret the message conveyed by the film and, in this sense, it is essential to take into consideration prosodic features such as rhythm, stress or intonation of speech when translating. These paralinguistic features have a direct impact on the perception of the characters’ emotional state and on their use of rhetorical devices such as irony or sarcasm. Given that, on occasion, audiences have no knowledge of the source language(s) spoken in the film, I would like to argue that certain prosodic elements (intonation, pitch, etc.) influence the perception of the characters. Thus, the main hypothesis for this investigation is twofold: firstly, I believe that the soundtrack of a film in isolation can provide audiences with an inaccurate understanding of the characters and, secondly, that subtitles are partly responsible for the way in which audiences read and interpret a character’s behaviour and personality. The dialogue of a film is one of the most significant factors in the perception of characters and of the way in which they are portrayed. However, other signs and symbols, like the film set or the characters’ appearance, are also key in the understanding of the message and bear substantial meaning for the viewers and their interpretation of the characters. In addition, other nonverbal dimensions need also to be taken into account when interpreting the message, such as kinesics (the interpretation of body language, facial expressions and gestures), and proxemics (the distance between the participants in a conversation). The way viewers perceive characters is two dimensional. On the one hand, there is a personal dimension through which audiences perceive them by looking into the characters’ idiosyncratic features (gestures, body language, voice, intonation and rhythm); and on the other hand, the cultural dimension, which impinges on the way the characters are seen as members of a group and, consequently, as part of a specific culture (the Spanish culture). The latter is usually transmitted via stereotypes and, as such, is likely to lead to misinterpretation of the culture.

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This study explores three main areas: the first deals with sociopragmatics and with the perception that non-native speakers of Spanish obtain, via subtitles, of certain linguistic aspects reflected in the film. From an intercultural perspective, the second looks into the fact that certain cultural components, which are embedded in the use of the language and in the interaction between the native speakers of that language, may be perceived differently across cultures. This can, in turn, lead to intercultural misunderstanding as interactions do not happen in the same way in all languages and cultures. The third area focuses upon the representation of the Spanish culture through the work of an international Spanish film director, Pedro Almodóvar. Although it has been argued that his films both exploit cultural elements which are part of a subculture in Spain and represent the essence of a culture which is not necessarily the “real Spain” (D´Lugo 2006), the results of this investigation reveal the opposite, as native Spanish speakers admit that certain aspects featured in his films (characters, situations, dialogues) are part of what they see as Spain and/or Spanish people. In this chapter, I first introduce the methodological aspects of the investigation (groups of informants, questionnaire, and data analysis). I then provide the results, based on the perceptions of the characters, in two parts: by looking at the results of all the groups of informants, and then, by analyzing the same data contrastively, across the nationalities. Finally, I present the conclusions and suggest areas for further study.

2. Methodology In this section, I first describe the characteristics of the participants in the investigation, and later detail and justify the use of the two main research tools: the film clip and the questionnaire for data collection. Two hundred undergraduate students took part in the study and were divided into three main groups according to their nationality: one hundred British, fifty North Americans (NAm) from the USA and Canada, and fifty Spanish from Spain (Sp). British participants were further divided into two subgroups of fifty each. The criterion for this division was based on whether participants had previously resided in a Spanish speaking country (British Contact – BrC) or not (British No Contact - BrNc). All British and North American informants studied Spanish as a foreign language as part of their Honours Degree Programme or as a subsidiary element within their university study programme. Spanish participants were students of English and/or Translation and Interpreting at their home universities in Spain.

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The extract used for data collection is a 6-minute scene from Pedro Almodóvar’s 1995 film La flor de mi secreto (The Flower of my Secret). The film tells the story of Leocadia, a writer of sentimental novels, who is unhappy with her professional life and her husband, a soldier working in Brussels and Bosnia, who is never home. The clip used for the study (see Appendix 1 for the English subtitles) presents three of the main characters in the film: Leocadia (known as Leo), Rosa (Leocadia’s sister) and their mother. In the extract, Leo arrives at Rosa’s flat, located in a working class area on the outskirts of Madrid, and where she lives with her husband, two children and mother. Leo comes to visit regularly and brings them clothes she does not use any more and one of her latest novels. Her family does not know that she is the actual writer of these novels as she uses the name Amanda Gris as her pseudonym. In the clip, Leo hands over some money to Rosa and her mother as a gift, and Rosa responds by offering Leo homemade food. As Leo does not feel like eating anything at that moment, Rosa gets the food ready in containers for Leo to take home. The reason for the choice of this particular clip is twofold: firstly, Almodóvar presents the three main characters of the film in great detail and, although the extract is only six minutes long, the women’s personalities are clearly presented to the audience. Secondly, although the dialogue exchanges in this extract may seem extreme and unusual, the clip shows a typical situation which could have taken place in any workingclass family’s flat in Spain. In his conversation with Strauss (1996: 157), Almodóvar comments on these specific characters and scenes: I’m very happy with these scenes. For me, it’s an authentic family portrait. Leo belongs to a different social class, but, when she goes home to her mother and sister, we realize their roots are the same. We experience the way these two women live with the daughter’s husband and children. The relationship described by Chus and Rossi2 is typical of certain Spanish families. Mother and daughter adore each other. When they part, it’s a disaster, they weep. But the second they’re reunited all they do is say terrible things to each other. And it goes on all their lives. It’s funny, but it’s also terrible. Within the couple formed by Chus Lampreave and Rossy de Palma, two women of fiery temperament, it is not hysteria that wins in the end, but emotion, an emotion which is highly surprising.

It is interesting to note that the film chosen for this study has also provided a rich source for other areas of research. Díaz Cintas (2001), for example, carried out an investigation in which he explored and contrasted taboo language in the subtitles of the video/cinema and TV versions of the film.

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In order to collect the data related to the perception of the characters in the film clip, a questionnaire was designed, in the informants’ native language (English and Spanish) and adapted in terms of lexical choice for the two variants of British and American English (Appendix 2). The questionnaire is divided into two parts: the first presents a brief explanation of the task which the informants are being asked to carry out as well as a brief summary of the clip and a short physical description of the characters to help students with their identification. Both during and following the screening of the clip, informants were asked to choose from a set of sixteen adjectives, how to best describe each of the characters’ behaviour and personality: eight adjectives referring to positive qualities (happy, generous, calm, bright, sensitive, extrovert, honest and direct) and eight others referring to non-positive qualities (jealous, worried, daft, angry, stubborn, abrupt, insensitive and nosy). In order to select the specific adjectives used in the questionnaire, two native speakers of Spanish and two of English were previously asked to watch the clip and to note down the words that best described the personality and behaviour of the characters, to act as a control for the investigation. It is important to note that the adjective “direct” can be interpreted both positively and negatively. For certain cultures, Spanish for example, being direct is mainly considered a positive quality as this is often associated with being clear and straightforward. However, this attitude might be interpreted differently in other cultures and countries, as in Britain for example, where being too direct might be interpreted as insensitive. Informants were also given the opportunity to add any other adjectives which they considered appropriate for the description of the three characters and were asked to note any non-linguistic factors that could have affected their choice of words. For this part of the questionnaire, informants were instructed that they would view the clip twice, subtitled in English and without the soundtrack in order to make sure that they had enough time to read the subtitles and to look at nonverbal elements (facial expressions, movements, and the like), which could possibly influence their responses. In the second part of the questionnaire, informants watched the clip with subtitles and the original soundtrack. This time they were asked to complete the same questions for each of the three characters and to respond to the likelihood of the situation portrayed in the clip taking place in Spain, the UK, the USA or Canada, by using a Likert scale from 1 to 5, and to justify their answers. Once the questionnaires were completed by all informants, the results were quantified and analyzed contrastively. Percentages were calculated in

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order to better interpret the data obtained and to facilitate the comparison between groups. The alternative adjectives and words used to describe the characters were listed in order to help establish similarities and differences across nationalities. The results of the final question on the probability of the situation portrayed in the film were also quantified and contrasted.

3. Results and discussion One of the most significant findings is that, generally speaking, all participants, regardless of their nationality, selected the same adjectives in order to describe each of the characters: four adjectives to describe Leo, six to describe Rosa and five for the mother. This is probably due to the fact that Rosa and her mother show a stronger personality than Leo, which is not only reflected in the English subtitles with the original dialogue in Spanish, but also in the nonverbal elements. The results show that in more than 50% of the cases, informants selected three positively-oriented adjectives to describe Leo (calm, generous and sensitive), and only one negative (worried). In the case of Rosa, the most frequently selected positive adjectives are generous, direct and honest; and worried, angry and abrupt as negatively-oriented. The mother is described more negatively, as four of the six adjectives chosen are negatively-oriented: angry, stubborn, abrupt and insensitive as opposed to one positive adjective (direct). These results confirm that, despite the different nationalities, the perception of characters in this clip is similar and that British and North American informants, regardless of their contact with the Spanish culture, chose the same words as the Spanish informants. At first glance, we notice that more adjectives were chosen when the soundtrack was on, which happened more often when assessing Rosa and the mother’s personalities and behaviour than when assessing Leo. As mentioned before, these findings may be explained by the fact that these two characters come across as direct, angry and abrupt; features which are definitely enhanced or intensified by their intonation and the pitch of their voices when the soundtrack is on. Table 1 shows the results for the character of Leo, where the presence or absence of the soundtrack is taken into account. Although the percentages are similar across all the groups, both with and without the soundtrack, the order in which the adjectives were selected differs. In the case of BrC and BrNC, the adjective worried is in third position (70%) when the soundtrack was not on but comes in first position (76%) when the soundtrack was on. Something similar happened with the adjective

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calm in the case of NAm m informants, as it was choosen in second d position (66%) whenn there was noo soundtrack and a in first poosition when the t sound was on (74% %). Sp inform mants selected d the adjectivee worried in first f place (84%) with the soundtraack on, but th hey chose to uuse it in seco ond place (74%) wherre the soundtrack was absen nt. A possiblee explanation for these results may be the fact thhat hearing Leeo’s voice hass a direct impaact on the perception oof this character. For BrC C and Sp infformants, the prosodic aspects of L Leo’s voice made m them feeel that she w was worried whilst w for NAm inform mants she sounnded calmer. Table 1: Reesults for the character of Leo nationa lities soundtr ack on /off percent ages

possiti on of adjject ivees 1st 2nd 3rd 4th

British – No contact (BrNC)

British – Contacct (BrC)

86 calm

76 calm

80 gener ous 68 worri ed 62 sensit ive

70 worri ed 68 gener ous 58 sensit ive

82 gener ous 76 calm 70 worri ed 54 sensit ive

North h Amerrican (NAm m)

Spa anish (Sp p)

76 worri ed 72 calm

76 generr ous 66 calm m

68 gener ous 38 Sensi tive

64 worrii ed 52 sensitt ive

86 6 gen ner ou us 74 4 worrri ed d calm

84 worri ed 82 gener ous 74 calm

50 0 sensit ive

64 sensit ive

74 calm 70 gener ous 54 worri ed 48 sensit ive

Participaants also incluuded a numb ber of additioonal words to describe Leo when thhe soundtrackk was both preesent and abseent, including g anxious, caring, affecctionate, patient, depressed d, concerned,, preoccupied d, sincere, drained, exxhausted, kindd hearted, lo onely, motheerly, inquisitivve, posh, sensible, enncouraging, wealthy, w and tired. No m major differen nces were found in terrms of the usee of these adjjectives acros s nationalitiess, or with respect to thhe presence orr absence of th he soundtrack.. The resuults regardingg the other tw wo characters, Rosa and thee mother, show more significant findings. f Rosaa is describedd as generou us, direct, honest, worrried, angry, and a abrupt and d the presencee of the sound dtrack has a clear effecct on how all groups g of info ormants perceeive her (Tablle 2). One of the most remarkable reesults is the po osition of the adjective ang gry and its correlation w with the absennce and presen nce of the souundtrack. Regaardless of the nationallity, the perccentage of participants w who used thiss specific

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adjective to describe Rossa is higher when w the sounndtrack was on. o In the case of BrN NC, this adjectiive was choseen by 60% of participants in n contrast with only 388 % when there was no sou undtrack. Thiss proves that this t group of informannts, despite the t fact that they had noot lived in a Spanish speaking couuntry, can perrceive Rosa’s anger by the intonation and d pitch of her voice. T This also occcurs in the case of BrC aand NAm informants, though in thhese two casees, they placeed this adjectiive in second position, after worrieed, whilst it iss in fourth an nd third positiions (BrNC and a NAm respectivelyy) when the sooundtrack wass not on. Intereestingly enough, in the case of Spannish participannts, the adjecttive angry waas chosen in th hird place (after worriied and direcct) regardless of the presennce or absence of the sound. This seems to inddicate that Spaanish native sspeakers can recognise r and interpreet the tone off the voice without w any pproblem, and are fully aware of thee significancee of the intonaation of the chharacter’s voicce, whilst BrC, BrNc aand NAm chaanged their perrceptions on hhearing the so oundtrack. This result not only suppports, but co onfirms our initial hypoth hesis that misinterprettation of chaaracters’ behaaviour and peersonality maay occur, based on thee influence of the soundtracck. Table 2: Reesults for the character of Rosa Nationalitie Poosition s off the ad djective soundtrack s off /on 1st 2nd 3rd percentages 4th 5th

6th

British h – No con ntact (BrN NC)

Briitish – Contact (B BrC)

64 66 60 78 worried angry direct worried d worried 56 58 generou 58 angry s direct 52 56 38 50 direct worried generou u direct s 46 44 38 34 angry abrupt angry abrupt honestt abrupt 40 40 generou generou s s 28 36 26 36 honest honest abrupt honest

N North Am merican (N NAm)

Spanish S (Sp)

50 70 68 54 worrieed worried worriied direct 52 directt

46 angry

64 62 direcct worried

48 angryy

44 direct

44 angrry

56 angry

40 38 40 54 honesst honest generrou abrupt s 38 32 38 52 pt honest generoou generou abrup s s 24 24 36 42 abruppt abrupt honeest generou s

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The additional words included to describe Rosa indicate that the nonnative speakers of Spanish perceived this character negatively: anxious, exasperated, grumpy, irritated, annoyed, snappy, and rude. The contrast between comments made by native and non-native speakers of Spanish is noteworthy. Sp informants see Rosa as someone who is trabajadora [hardworking] and resignada [resigned] and who is also buena persona ya que aguanta todos los males de su madre [good person since she puts up with her mum’s problems], whereas the group of BrNC, following the showing which included the soundtrack, perceive Rosa as “a little hysterical, annoyed and bitter” and someone who “doesn’t seem to like her mother” and who is “snappy and rude towards her”; thus supporting the initial hypothesis on misinterpretation. Table 3 contains the findings with regard to the informants’ perception of Leo and Rosa’s mother. The adjectives selected are: direct, stubborn, insensitive, abrupt, and angry. Interestingly, all participants, regardless of their nationality, chose stubborn as the first word to describe the mother’s personality and behaviour. Similarly to what happened with the results on Rosa, most participants used fewer adjectives when the soundtrack was on and, as with previous results, the position in which the adjectives are selected is a vital indicator of the perception of the characters. The negatively-oriented adjectives angry and abrupt are, once again, in a lower position among BrNC, BrC and NAm informants when the soundtrack is off. However, as happened with the perception of Rosa, Spanish native speakers opted for other adjectives, such as stubborn, abrupt and direct, before the word angry. This means that Sp informants were not influenced by the soundtrack and they did not necessarily interpret the intonation or pitch of the mother’s voice as an element to indicate anger. The adjective direct was also used by all groups to describe the mother. In the case of BrNC informants, this adjective was chosen in first position whilst it appears in third place for BrC informants and in second place for NAm informants, when the soundtrack was off. Spanish informants, on the other hand, did not regard directness as an important feature to describe the mother, placing it in fourth position. As expected, results when hearing the soundtrack differ considerably across groups of informants. Thus, when describing the mother, direct was chosen in fifth place by BrNC and NAm, and in fourth place by BrC, whilst Sp informants chose it in third place after stubborn and abrupt. These results indicate that non-native speakers of Spanish, both British and American informants, view the character of the mother as stubborn, abrupt, insensitive and angry. The adjective direct was chosen less

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frequently w when there waas no soundtraack. Sp inform mants only sellected the adjective dirrect in fourth position, wheen there was nno soundtrack,, and they did not captture this nuannce via the use of English subtitles eitheer. In this sense, it couuld be arguedd that the use of subtitles aalone could leead to an erroneous innterpretation of o a character presented p in a film. Table 3: Reesults for the character of the mother nationalit posiition ies of adjeectiv soundtrac es k off /on 1st 2nd percentag 3rd es 4th 5th

British – No contacct (BrNC C)

78 direct

Britissh – Conttact (BrC C)

North A American (NA Am)

Spanish (Sp)

92 88 98 80 8 78 92 76 s stubbornn stubborn stubbo orn stubborn stuubborn stubborn stubborn

76 68 86 stubborn ab brupt abrupt inssensiti 72 78 insensiti ve direct ve 66 60 58 abrupt an ngry insensiti ve 48 38 38 angry dirrect angry

78 7 76 abrupt a direct

76 angry

72 7 angry a

68 66 abrupt angry

72 direct

62 insensiti ve 60 direct

70 angry

60 6 direct d insensiti ve v

60 angry insensitii ve abrupt

74 76 abrup pt abrupt

62 direct

32 36 insensiti insensiti ve ve

The addditional wordss used to desscribe the moother show a tendency towards a neegative percepption of the character acrosss nationalitiees. British informants used the worrds racist an nd ageist, proobably becausse of her flippant com mments on thee young hippiies who live iin the area, whilst w this type of remaark was not made m by any otther informannts, Sp or NAm m. One of the commennts from a Sppanish inform mant, típica abbuela españolla hoy en día [typical Spanish granndmother now wadays], seem ms to reinforcee the idea that Almodóóvar’s films do d indeed represent elemennts of the truee Spanish culture and ssociety. As for thhe final questiion on the likelihood of thee situation tak king place in Spain, U UK or USA/C Canada, the results are shhown in Tab ble 5. Sp informants agreed almost unanimoussly that the situation cou uld easily happen in Spain (236 of 250 2 of the Lik kert scale anaalysis). BrC in nformants with personnal experiencee in the targeet culture connsidered it mo ore likely (185 of 2500) to happen inn Spain than those with noo contact (169 9 of 250). On the conttrary, Sp inforrmants found this situationn unlikely to happen h in the UK (677 of 250), folllowed by NA Am informannts (101 of 250), 2 BrC

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informants (104 of 250) and BrNC informants (113.5 of 250). As seen in the findings on the perception of the mother, these results confirm the idea that the situation presented in the clip could be a daily occurrence in Spain. Table 4: Likelihood of the situation portrayed in the clip taking place in Spain, UK and North America British – No contact (BrNC) British – Contact (BrC) Results of 250 (Likert scale)

likely in SP 169 likely in SP 185

likely in UK 113.5 likely in UK 104

likely in SP

likely in North America 101 likely in UK 67

North American (NAm) Spanish (Sp)

126 likely in SP 236

4. Conclusion The results of this study show that there are discrepancies in the perceptions of characters by British, North American and Spanish audiences with regard to the use of subtitles in isolation and their use in combination with the soundtrack of the clip. Although, at first glance, all groups of informants opted to use the same adjectives to describe the three characters in the clip, the quantitative results demonstrate that there are clear differences in the frequency of use. This was particularly noticeable when audiences had no knowledge or experience of the source culture (i.e. British participants who have not resided in Spain). BrC and Sp groups of informants were more often in agreement in their choice of adjective than were those with no previous contact (BrNC). One significant finding is that the three groups of non-native speakers of Spanish used more adjectives to describe the characters when they could not hear the soundtrack, whereas Spanish participants chose fewer adjectives. This may be due to the fact that non-native speakers of Spanish rely more heavily on the English subtitles to capture the nuances than the Spanish native speakers. On the other hand, when the soundtrack was made available, the results show that more adjectives were selected to describe the characters by the Spanish native speakers than by any of the other groups, confirming the power of sound on the native speakers of Spanish. Not surprisingly, the group of Sp informants could easily interpret the dialogue in Spanish as well as the prosodic elements of their native language (intonation, stress, etc.). Nevertheless, the number of adjectives used to describe the

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characters and the frequency of their use can be considered a key factor in the perception of the characters by the audience. Non-native speakers of Spanish marked adjectives like angry in a higher position when they could hear the soundtrack than the group of native speakers of Spanish. This confirms the initial hypothesis that the perception of characters varies considerably across nationalities. Delabastita (1989) distinguishes four semiotic channels in audiovisual programmes: (1) the nonverbal visual channel (the picture), (2) the nonverbal audio channels (music and sound effects), (3) the verbal audio channel (the dialogue), and (4) the verbal visual channels (signs and captions). The results of this study confirm not only the importance of all these channels as carriers of semiotic information, but also highlight the importance of decoding the audio channel appropriately by the groups of non-native speakers of Spanish. This would help capture and interpret the nature of the characters in the film and, consequently, would prevent the misinterpretation of the Spanish culture. In the case of the character of Leo, the frequency of adjectives used by native and non-native speakers of Spanish only differs slightly, regardless of the presence of the soundtrack. However, these differences become evident in the case of Rosa and her mother as these two characters have stronger personalities and tend to show their emotions in a brusquer manner. Although most participants used similar additional words to describe these two characters after having watched the scene without sound, BrC and BrNC informants drew upon a wider range of adjectives and expressions than NAm and Sp informants. The choice of words that describe the characters varies considerably with the presence or absence of the soundtrack, and non native-speakers of Spanish not only used a larger number of adjectives, but also a wider variety when the soundtrack was off and they had to rely on the subtitles and images. Conversely, the group of Spanish native speakers used fewer and less varied adjectives for the descriptions, possibly because they could not interpret the English subtitles in the same way as native speakers and were able to rely more upon nonverbal cues, such as body language and gestures, in order to make their selection of words. Generally speaking, the degree of contact with the Spanish culture does not appear to have had a strong impact on the results, and although this scene presents a slightly exaggerated image, it appears to fit the stereotype of the Spanish culture. As Pinto (2010: 270-1) points out in his investigation of the translation of advice in the English subtitles of Spanish films, the elimination of pragmatic features can provoke a feeling of unintended rudeness in the subtitles as the “English subtitles consistently give the characters an appearance of brusqueness that is not present in the

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original dialogue”. This is in line with the outcome of this investigation and it would be worth conducting further research in other language combinations in order to explore how different film characters from other cultures are perceived by the audience when watching films with the help of subtitles.

Notes 1. I would like to thank Prof. Mina Ogando Lavin and her students from University of Texas at Austin, USA, and Dr Marta Guirao Ochoa and her students from CES Felipe II in Aranjuez, Madrid, Spain, for their kind collaboration in the research of this study. 2. The names of the Spanish actresses who play the mother, Chus Lampreave, and Rosa/Rossy de Palma.

References Antonini, Rachele, Chiara Bucaria and Alessandra Senzani. 2003. “It’s a priest thing, you wouldn’t understand: Father Ted Goes to Italy”. Antares VI: 26-30. Antonini, Rachele and Delia Chiaro. 2009. “The perception of dubbing by Italian audiences”, in Jorge Díaz Cintas (ed.) Audiovisual Translation: Language Transfer on Screen. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 97114. Delabastita, Dirk. 1989. “Translation and mass-communication: film and TV translation as evidence of cultural dynamics”. Babel 35(4): 193-218. Díaz Cintas, Jorge. 2001. “Sex, (sub)titles and videotapes”, in Lourdes Lorenzo García and Ana M. Pereira Rodríguez (eds) Traducción subordinada II: el subtitulado (inglés-español/galego). Vigo: Universidade de Vigo, 47-67. D’Lugo, Marvin. 2006. Pedro Almodóvar, Urbana and Chicago: University of Illionis. Fuentes Luque, Adrián. 2001. “Estudio empírico sobre la recepción del humor audiovisual”, in Lourdes Lorenzo García and Ana M. Pereira Rodríguez (eds) Traducción subordinada II: el subtitulado (inglésespañol/galego). Vigo: Universidade de Vigo, 85-110. Karamitroglou, Fotios. 2000. Towards a Methodology for the Investigation of Norms in Audiovisual Translation. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Pinto, Derrin. 2010. “Lost in subtitle translations: the case of advice in the English subtitles of Spanish films”. Intercultural Pragmatics 7(2): 25777.

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Remael, Aline, Annick De Houwer and Reinhild Vandekerckhove. 2008. “Intralingual open subtitling in Flanders: audiovisual translation, linguistic variation and audience needs”. The Journal of Specialised Translation 10: 76-105. Strauss, Frédéric, 1994. Almodóvar on Almodóvar, London: Faber and Faber.

Appendix 1 Transcription of English subtitles from the film clip (DVD). Character Leo Rosa Rosa Leo

Subtitles Rosa, I'm Leo. // Come in What is that? // Some clothes.

3

Rosa Leo

4

Rosa

5

Mother

6

Leo Mother

7

Leo Rosa Mother Rosa

You shouldn’t have. // If they’re no good.... Of course, they are. // They’re all brand new. My baby! My baby’s here! How are you? // So-so. What can you expect? Why’s that? // She's been depressed. The weather, and Madrid. //The weather. And her nerves…she gets so excited. Be quiet flea- face.

1 2

8 9

Rosa

10

Mother

11

Mother

12

Leo

13

Mother

Your sister says // it’s all nerves and imagination. Don't argue. // It must be the weather, I’m the same. My legs are as heavy as lead.

62

Character Leo Rosa Rosa

63

Rosa

64

Leo

65 66

Rosa Leo Rosa

How can she? // You’ve got a lot on your plate. I’m used to it.

67

Mother

Complaining about me?

68

Mother

Don’t listen to her. I’m not mad.

69

Mother

I wish my legs were // as healthy as my head.

70

Mother Leo

71

Mother Leo

72

Mother

Your hands are cold. You should wear the gown I gave you. It's pretty enough to be in a museum. // You should wear it. It’s better packed away.

73

Rosa

61

Subtitles How is he? // Not good. Doing odd jobs, // drinking more and more each day. What with mum who won’t shut up, // I’m between a rock and hard place. She should come and live with me.

She looks like a beggar. // She puts me to shame.

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204 14

Leo

15

Mother Leo

16

Rosa Mother

17

Mother

18

Mother

19

Rosa

20

Rosa

21

Mother

22

Rosa Leo

23

Mother

24

Rosa

25

Rosa

26

Mother

27

Mother

You should go out. // You’ll become a couch potato. I’m a couch potato. // You should take her out. She doesn't want to go anywhere. // Why would I want to go out? to get killed by a skinhead, // or knocked down by a car? I don’t know what I did // but the skinheads look at me... Of course! She calls them // filthy hippies to their faces. Poor kids.

How do I know if they’re // skinheads or yuppies? I can’t see. She won’t go to the opticians // Here's Amanda Gris’s latest. I can’t read novels any more. // I can’t even crochet. Here, I can read it. What a lovely anthology. Let’s sit down on the sofa. // This chair hurts my back. Your sister likes the gold bits // on these chairs. She's like a gipsy.

74

Mother

Nothing I do pleases your sister.

75

Mother

76

Rosa

She's as weird as my sister, God rest her. // You’re just the same. You take after her // and your aunt and your grandma.

77

Mother Leo

And who else? // Leave our genes alone.

78

Mother

One day I’ll go to the village // and won’t be a burden.

79

Rosa

Who says you're a burden.

80

Mother

81

Rosa Mother

When I lied down after lunch, she comes // to wake me up like a sergeantmajor. She doesn't sleep at night. // “Move yourself!”

82

Mother

What does she want me to do? Aerobics?

83

Mother

84

Mother

85 86

Rosa Mother Rosa

I’ll die soon, Good will. // Then I won’t bother anyone. Where have you put it? // You’re like a magpie. What do you want? The peppers. They're right there, under your nose.

87

Mother

It’s like I told you.

Audience Perception of Characters in La flor de mi secreto 28

Mother

29

Rosa

30

Mother

31

Mother

32

Mother

33

Mother

34

Leo

35

Mother

36

Rosa

37

Mother

38

Mother

39

Leo Rosa

40

Mother

41

Mother

42

Mother

43

Rosa Leo

205

I twiddle my thumbs here all day,// since I can’t see anything. An operation would give her back // most of her sight. Your sister wants me // in an operating theatre. I don’t want an operation,

88

Mother

I can't see a thing.

89

Rosa

90

Mother Leo

See? She’s blind and yet // she wants to go to the village. I don’t like Madrid. // You can't go to the village alone.

91

Leo

I won’t be operated // while there’s a breath in my body. When I’m dead you can do what you like. Don't say that.

92

Mother

93

Mother

94

Leo

Don't worry, you won't wait long. Listen to her, // you only have to mention the optician. Leo, an operation is like a melon.

95

Mother

You shouldn’t bother. I’ve got a cook. As if that gypsy can cook.

96

Rosa Leo

Racist. // She’s wonderful. And her ironing…

97

Leo

Until you cut it open, // you don’t know if it’s ripe or overripe. You're quite right. // She is a philosopher now. Well, the philosopher is constipated // and she’s going to the bathroom. If I don’t take a daily // glycerine suppository, I can’t crap. Move yourself. // Or do I have to pole vault? See what she’s like? // Incredible.

98

Mother

Paco says no one irons his shirts // like her, not even me. He’s be better off at home // than away in the war.

99

Rosa Leo

More pudding? // No, thanks.

100

Rosa Leo

I'll pack it for you. // Don't bother.

101

Mother Rosa

You look worn out. // Some calamares too.

102

Mother

103

Rosa

Going off to war. As if we didn’t // have enough to worry about. And some tortilla.

We need to find someone to do // the housework and look after her. Who pokes their nose in, eats my food... // Don't even think about it. I roasted some peppers for you.

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206 44

Rosa

45

Rosa

46

Rosa

47

Rosa

48

Rosa Leo

49

Rosa

50

Rosa Leo

51

Leo Rosa

52

Rosa

53

Rosa Leo

54

Leo

55

Rosa

56

Rosa

57

Rosa Leo Leo Rosa

58

59

Leo

So impatient. // She has to crap everyfive minutes so she uses a suppository every day. I forgot to offer you anything. What am I like? // I’ll make you something to eat. Coffee? I was making some. // Yes, thanks. You can’t argue with her, she goes wild. She’s more aggressive every day. // It's her age. She’s lost in the big city. // She'll end up like her sister and the aunts and her grandmother. // They all went mad. It’s in her blood. Calamares, the way you like them. // No, I'll just have the coffee. So how will we end up? // We’ve got the same blood. Have you seen the clothes she wears? // She looks like a beggar. What about some pudding? // It's just milk and eggs. You can’t say no to that. // All right. I brought you something. // You’ve given us enough. Rosa, don’t start please.

104

Mother

I pray every day // that no harm will come to him.

105

Leo

Pray for me too.

106

Mother

107

Rosa Mother

Of course. For you above all. You don’t pray for me. // You're an atheist.

108

Rosa

So what? Praying’s your thing.

109

Rosa

A biscuit?

110

Mother

111

Leo

By the way, you have to give me // something for the village taxes. Here it is.

112

Mother

Don’t forget // it’s the boy’s birthday next week.

113

Rosa

He doesn't need anything.

114

Mother

He could do with some new jeans. // He’s always wearing the same pair.

115

Mother

He's almost grown-up. // He’s so polite and he studies hard,

116

Mother

117

Rosa

118

Rosa Mother

not like his sister, //who doesn’t even wash her own knickers. You behave as if // you were no older than she is. The calamares // Leocadia...

119

Mother

She's the cross I have to bear.

Audience Perception of Characters in La flor de mi secreto 60

Rosa

207

I’ll take as an advance // until Santiago finds a job.

Appendix 2 – Questionnaire Questionnaire for British informants, with North American variants in brackets. PART 1 You are going to see a clip from a Spanish film (subtitled in English and without sound) TWICE. In the extract there are three women talking: Rosa (with dark hair), Leocadia (Leo) (with auburn hair) and their mother (the old lady with grey hair). Leo arrives at Rosa’s house where Rosa lives with her family and her mother. After watching the clip, please complete the questions. 1.A. In your opinion, which word or words best describe each character in this extract? Please tick where appropriate. Leo † happy † generous † calm † bright

† sensitive † extrovert † honest † direct

† jealous † worried † daft (dumb) † angry

† stubborn † abrupt † insensitive † nosy

Can you add any other word/s to describe Leo? Rosa † happy † generous † calm † bright

† sensitive † extrovert † honest † direct

† jealous † worried † daft (dumb) † angry

† stubborn † abrupt † insensitive † nosy

Can you add any other word/s to describe Rosa? The mother † happy † generous † calm † bright

† sensitive † extrovert † honest † direct

† jealous † worried † daft (dumb) † angry

† stubborn † abrupt † insensitive † nosy

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Can you add any other word/s to describe the mother? 1.B. What (non-linguistic) factors might have affected your choice of words to describe each character? PART 2 2.A. (Same questions as in part 1) 2.B. Answer the following questions. How likely do you think the situation portrayed in this clip would have been in Spain? † very likely

† unlikely

† don’t know

Why? How likely do you think the situation portrayed in this clip would have been in the UK/US/Canada? † very likely

Why?

† unlikely

† don’t know

CHAPTER TWELVE CHORUS LINES— TRANSLATING MUSICAL TELEVISION SERIES IN THE AGE OF PARTICIPATORY CULTURE: THE CASE OF GLEE ALICE CASARINI UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA IN FORLÌ, ITALY

Abstract This paper combines a television/fandom studies approach with an AVT studies analysis of the first season of the musical dramedy Glee, which focuses on a high school glee club and is characterized by an unusual format: each episode constitutes a miniature musical based on popular songs with lyrics that relate to both the storylines and the personalities of the main characters. The translational challenge intrinsic to this specific structure is magnified by the show’s pro-active fan base, the self-defined gleeks (Glee + geeks), whose all-round appreciation of the programme includes attending Glee tours, participating in fandom-measuring contests and recreating tribute musical numbers on YouTube. As demonstrated by the singing flash mob that welcomed the show’s Italian premiere, gleeks already thrived in Italy well before the airing of the dubbed episodes. Since the different skills of old and new television audiences are most often put to test when facing culture-specific references, this paper will compare the different strategies with which dubbing and fansubbing tend to render these elements, suggesting a possible solution to the new challenges that AVT needs to face in the light of a tech-savvy, linguistically aware “viewership 2.0”.

1. Introduction The greatest revolution in television consumption in the past decade originates from the ontological schism between television as an everincreasing array of programmes experienced through a screen and television as a physical, electronic device—a rupture which Grasso (2009:

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vii) aptly defines as a “divorce”. Advances in technology have been affecting the dynamics of television watching since the diffusion of TV sets in the 1950s, yet this particular change has had an enormous impact on the spatial and temporal attributes of television consumption and on the viewers’ level of agency. The emancipation of the audience from predetermined slots that were necessarily static both in terms of space (the living room) and time (each network’s programming) has brought about a parallel explosion of the viewers’ room for interaction with the very products they used to absorb idly. The path towards today’s considerable level of audience participation began with the mass-marketing of the VCR in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which implied temporal freedom from superimposed schedules: viewers were able to watch their chosen programmes whenever they preferred, rewinding tapes to review sequences or entire movies or fast-forwarding through commercial breaks. Yet, as Díaz Cintas (2005) points out, it was the advent of the DVD that had “the greatest impact in the way audiovisual programs are sold and marketed”. The DVD granted spectators further control over their viewing options, allowing them to enjoy extra material, set language preferences and explore each episode with a more scholarly approach through repeated viewings and close reading. As Thompson (2007: xix) suggests, for TV shows “the basic unit of release on DVD is an entire season, sometimes an entire series. Producers now make shows with the knowledge that each episode might be viewed and scrutinized over and over again”. Besides favouring this fundamental development, the DVD also paved the way for the removal of spatial constraints in television watching, since portable players allow viewers to enjoy shows and movies outside their homes and on platforms other than the TV sets in their parlours. Nevertheless, it was the parallel diffusion of the internet that ultimately led to the breaking point in the marriage between television as a range of programmes and the television set as a tool to access those programmes, a communion that had remained mostly unquestioned for the first four decades of the small screen era. With the advent of broadband internet and the proliferation of both legitimate, network-owned streaming platforms and illegal file sharing software (from Napster to Torrent clients) and cyberlockers such as the now terminated MegaVideo, audiovisual material was suddenly just a few clicks away. Not only were viewers able to choose exactly what to watch and when and where to view it, they could also retrieve the selected material for free and sometimes even access it before its official release.1 Television broadcasters subsequently strove to keep their audiences in front of the actual television screen (and of its profitable commercials) by switching to narrowcasting strategies and assembling an

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increasingly wide offer of cable and digital channels, on-demand programming and pay-per-view options. A still large percentage of TV “purists” survives to this day, but it is nonetheless threatened by the internet distribution, as illustrated in Ericsson ConsumerLab’s (2010: online) study: At least once a week, 93% are still watching scheduled "linear" broadcast TV, but the role of broadcast TV is changing owing to the introduction of new distribution channels. More than 70% of consumers surveyed are streaming, downloading or watching recorded broadcast TV on a weekly basis, and 50% are using internet-based on-demand TV/video every week.

The divorce between broadcasts and the television set did not lead to a complete separation, but rather to the end of the monogamous relationship between the two and to the hybridisation of their respective natures: while the TV set integrated new functions such as web-browsing or sensor-based console gaming (through Nintendo’s Wii or Microsoft’s Kinect, for instance), television programmes abandoned their congenital permanent residence and propagated to different kinds of screens, from cinemas to personal computers and from portable gaming devices to tablets and mobile phones. This evolution has had a significant impact on both the makers and the consumers of television products. On the one hand, TV producers are now forced to offer a larger selection of higher-quality productions to earn loyal followers and survive amidst the thousands of available distribution channels; on the other hand, viewers have acquired full responsibility for the construction of their own viewing experience, which no longer entails simple, passive reception, but extends well beyond the limits of single audiovisual texts through transmedia storytelling and active, user-governed re-mediation. Both phenomena deserve closer analysis in light of their consequences on all aspects of programme consumption and distribution, including interlingual translation for foreign markets. This article will thus explore the recent development of an involved television viewership and its impact on both professional and volunteer AVT practices, using the musical dramedy Glee (Ryan Murphy, Brian Falchuk and Ian Brennan, 2009) as a case study to highlight how the AVT community is reacting to the increasingly differentiated needs of its audiences. A comparative analysis of the dubbed and the fansubbed versions of the show’s first season will highlight how these two types of AVT frequently seem to be taking opposite sides in what Gottlieb (2009: 25) defines as the perpetual “tug-of-war between fidelity and audience concerns”. Dubbing usually favours a smoother, hassle-free reception, both because of lip-synching constraints and because of the estimated

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background knowledge of its main target audience. On the other hand, fansubbing posits a smaller but more conversant target public, to whom it caters by generally avoiding domesticating translation strategies. The difference between these two approaches is most evident in the translation of culture-specific references (Pedersen 2005, Gottlieb 2009, Ranzato 2011). Rather than providing an extensive overview of all the varieties of “cultural bumps” (Leppihalme 1997) or “lingua-cultural drops in translational voltage” (Antonini and Chiaro 2005: 39) found in Glee, which would extend far beyond the scope of a single article, I shall thus analyse a series of “extralinguistic culture-bound references” or ECRs (Pedersen 2005) that best illustrate the watershed between what is expected of “general” viewers and of fansubbing users in terms of conversance with US culture, highlighting the need for the AVT industry to reassess its practices in the light of these developments.

2. Expanded texts and viewership 2.0 The fragmentation of the viewing experience has led producers to adopt a “long tail” marketing strategy, which Anderson (2006) explains as “selling less of more”, offering a larger number of programmes with more specific, well-defined identities, settings and jargons. The immediate accessibility of audiovisual products over the internet supersedes “the economics of scarcity”, the necessarily limited quantity of products that can be physically available in a store or warehouse (Anderson 2004), thus offering viewers a virtually endless choice of programmes and leading to the “radical personalization of consumption” (Grasso 2009: ix). Instead of catering to an anachronistic general public, many producers decided to target the more profitable niche audiences, who do not only guarantee loyal following of the actual broadcasts, but also engage in an interactive relationship with the shows, re-mediating contents and purchasing all kinds of merchandise. The availability of differentiated, higher-quality programmes for easy retrieval and repeated consumption was both cause and effect of the ongoing process of viewer specialization: a significant percentage of the audience began to approach television shows with an almost scholarly interest, which led Jenkins (2006) to coin the term “aca/fan” to describe the mixture of fan devotion and academic rigour showed by the newer generations of spectators. The act of television watching now transcends sheer reception, often extending into both analysis and re-elaboration. Unwinding in front of the small screen may never disappear completely, yet for more and more people “viewing” and “watching” have become active verbs through the mechanisms of personal

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re-mediation and social watching practices. The new generations of prosumers (producers/consumers) “build their own palimpsests [but also] customize their television experience by augmenting it autonomously” (Carini 2009: 5, my translation), perceiving their favourite shows as “lovemarks that stimulate the production of user-generated contents that extend beyond superimposed dynamics and products” (Zaccone 2010: online, my translation). This development has rewritten the core functioning of television production and consumption: the traditional top-down stream of audiovisual products expands into an overflow (Will Brooker, in Carini 2009: 30) due to audience demand and merges with the equally vast bottom-up counter-flow of analytical and creative responses made possible by the freely available, user-friendly internet technologies. As Merrin (2008: online) underlines: In place of a top-down, one-to-many vertical cascade from centralised industry sources we discover today bottom-up, many-to-many, horizontal, peer-to-peer communication. “Pull” media challenge “push” media; open structures challenge hierarchical structures; micro-production challenges macro-production; open-access amateur production challenges closed access, elite-professions; economic and technological barriers to media production are transformed by cheap, democratised, easy-to-use technologies.

The encounter between these two flows generates a tidal wave of expanded texts (Carini 2009) that transcend both the traditional separation between creators and recipients and the conventional limits of single television products. The evolution of television watching resembles the development of videogame level design: traditional “linear” viewing mirrors classic arcade and platform games such as Donkey Kong and the original Super Mario Bros, in which players could only progress along a mono-directional, pre-determined path. On the contrary, in the “age of convergence” (Jenkins 2006) the audience is free to roam the virtually infinite universe generated by each text and to modify it according to their own preferences, in a manner that is similar to open-world games such as the latest Legend of Zelda instalments or the fully customisable Little Big Planet. The extent to which viewers are able to experience each show is proportional to the effort they put into their mission: as they both explore and co-create the map for their viewing experience, they have to exploit all the tools in their inventory to retrieve the puzzle pieces that producers have scattered over different media platforms and to reorganize and integrate them with pieces of their own design. Both producers and

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viewers are generally glad to join the game, as they are both interested in pursuing the maximum possible expansion of each text: The starting point is an Original Text designed to be tweaked and used by both the audience and the industry. […] The overflow thus becomes a flux that extends beyond the limits of the small screen under the influence of this double convergence. […] The television text travels over different platforms, inhales new vital energy and originates endless other texts. It is a flowing text that generates other flows outside the small screen. Yet this expansion is natural, expected and necessary. Each text anticipates the context for its own expansion (Carini 2009: 31-32, my translation).

Original texts are therefore designed to allow their own augmentation, for which the new type of pro-active, tech-savvy audience plays a pivotal role. I refer to this advanced spectatorial group as viewership 2.0, in that it does not only use paratextual and ancillary resources as an aid to the reception of each show, but it also exploits technology to interact directly with each fictional world, modifying it at will and creating alternative social communities defined through their cultural preferences and their appreciation and re-mediation of television products.

3. Choral television re-mediation: Glee and “gleeks” The musical dramedy Glee was created by Ryan Murphy in 2009 and is based on the lives and misfortunes of the high school glee club New Directions. Season 1 was broadcast on Fox USA in 2009 with the remarkable total viewership of 9.77 million people (Web 1). The show addresses a specific subgroup of the new viewership 2.0—a musicallyminded niche audience that is interested in the singing and dancing numbers as much as in plot developments and is willing to re-mediate both the fictional world of the show and the actual performances. Set at the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio, Glee focuses on a group of social outcasts who form a choir led by their charming teacher Will Schuester and work their way up to the national glee championship. Music and plot-relevant lyrics bring together a set of stock characters such as the high-maintenance but kind-hearted diva; the male homosexual fashionista; the African-American feminist; the shy, Asian-American goth girl; the reformed jock; and the disabled geek. These characters learn to bond and to find their own identities through singing and dancing and through their rivalry with the all-popular Cheerios, the cheerleading team marshalled by iron lady Sue Sylvester. While this losers-versus-the-incrowd premise echoes countless teen movies (Bring it On or Mean Girls,

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to name but two), what makes Glee stand out in the high school dramedy tradition is its uncommon structure. Each 44-minute episode constitutes an actual musical show with diegetically-relevant tunes performed by the show’s own cast. Musical numbers range from Madonna’s and Lady Gaga’s hits to themes from actual stage musicals such as Wicked or Funny Girl, combining different genres, complete with matching stage design, costumes and choreographies. The show has little to offer in terms of horizontal development, as the countless, repetitive storylines in which the glee club risks losing one or more members or flunking the sectional/regional/national championship soon cease to create narrative suspense, while predictable, saccharine plot twists often provide way more than a “spoonful of sugar”. Nonetheless, the show’s self-irony (especially in terms of social stereotyping) and its wholehearted and well-executed tributes to the power of music have immediately attracted flights of devoted worshippers, and even though numerous viewers have bidden the show “so long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye” in the first half of 2012, season three (2011/2012) has still scored 7.31 million total viewers, guaranteeing the renewal of the show (Web 2). Much of Glee’s success is due to its unusual format, specifically designed to cater to a very profitable type of cult viewership that has emerged over the past few years. The advent of “younger”, hipper shows on both Broadway and London’s West End started to attract youthful crowds with musicals such as Rent and Wicked, giving an innovative twist to a highly codified genre. Television soon began to tap into this new kind of audience, producing a plethora of music-based shows, ranging from teen-oriented series such as High School Musical and Hannah Montana to acclaimed talent shows such as American Idol and America’s Got Talent. Non-musical television series also began to feature musical episodes as a special treat to their regular fans and a way to explore different narrative formats, starting from Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s seminal episode 6x07 entitled “Once more with feeling”,2 which aired in 2001 and was highly acclaimed by fans and critics alike, and spanning to shows as diverse as Scrubs (6x06, “My Musical”, 2007) and Grey’s Anatomy (7x17, “Song beneath the song”, 2011). Watching musical films as a shared experience also rose to theatre-sized, costume-required sing-along showings of captioned classics such as The Sound of Music and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, regularly sold out at cult venues like London’s Prince Charles Cinema. Musical shows have an incredible marketing potential due to both their transmedia spreadability and their pro-active audience, who usually volunteer a massive, free-of-charge grassroots endorsement. The top-down

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promotional campaign for Glee made extensive use of brand stretching and experiential marketing strategies through a variety of ancillary products entailing a first-person involvement on the viewers’ part. Along with the inevitable distribution of the show’s official soundtracks (currently up to volume 7, plus special themed CDs with Christmas tunes, love ballads and graduation songs like “School’s out”), Fox licensed the Glee chapter of the hit Karaoke Revolution franchise for Nintendo Wii and the pay-per-song iPhone app Glee Karaoke. Last but not least, two concerts from the Glee cast’s live tour were assembled into Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, released in US theatres on 12 August 2011, adding yet another layer to the cross-platform success of the show. The revenue table for Season 1 (2009-2010), compiled by The Hollywood Reporter (Web 3), highlights the multimedia marketability of the series, which earned over three hundred million dollars against a seventy-five million dollar outlay. Advertising was only responsible for a third of the assessed revenues: the remaining two thirds originated from worldwide album sales and from consumer products and DVDs, while the undisclosed yet significant figures for tour tickets, videogames and other forms of merchandise undoubtedly establish the series as a transmedia franchise. Yet, the show can also count on a costless bottom-up promotion volunteered by its highly creative fans. The so-called “gleeks” (Glee + geeks) share a sort of “loser pride” (as they stress by imitating the show’s trademark Loser sign, an L formed with one’s right thumb and index finger upon one’s own forehead) and mirror the bonding dynamics of the glee club by recreating online communities based on their love for the show and on their desire to interact with it (http://gleeksunited.com). Besides discussing the series and rooting for specific, slang-labelled twosomes (such as the heterosexual duo nicknamed “Finchel”, Finn and Rachel, or the same-sex couple “Kurtofsky”, Kurt and Karofsky), fans have contributed to the diffusion and re-mediation of the show so much that the Glee phenomenon has been defined as “a user-generated musical epidemic” (Zaccone 2009: online, my translation). Glee fans tend to be not only affirmational (Web 4), i.e. celebrating the show as it is, but also transformational, i.e. determined to twist it to their own purposes through appropriation strategies of textual poaching such as fan fiction, fan art or crossovers with other shows. Gleeks also enjoy interacting with the show’s music, sharing copycat videos on YouTube and participating in Foxsponsored contests such as Who Is the Biggest GLEEk, which prompted fans to inundate their Twitter and Facebook profiles with “ActiviGLEEs”, as explained in 2009 in the following abstract from the official rules (Web 5):

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Can you make it to No. 1 and claim bragging rights as the “Biggest GLEEk”? […]Start earning points right away for fan activiGLEEs such as mentioning GLEE in status updates, posting links of the day to your profile or inviting friends to join the competition. ActiviGLEEs are valued at a certain number of points, and totals will be tracked on the GLEEderboard. GLEEks will move up the ranks from “Sectionals” to “Regionals,” and top point-earners will make it all the way to “Nationals”.

The chance to win merchandise and the grand prize of a dinner with the Glee cast in Los Angeles certainly constituted a considerable incentive, but the idea behind the competition tapped into the very core of social watching practices – fans’ desire to publicly declare their passion for their favourite show and their ability to fully integrate it into their daily lives. The effectiveness of this strategy has been confirmed by the subsequent emergence of numerous platforms that cater to hardcore social watchers: for instance, websites like Miso and GetGlue allow users to check in to each episode they watch to earn virtual, network-sponsored badges or stickers, which can then be shared on social networking websites for extra points (and extra publicity for the shows).

4. “Don’t Make Me Over”: transferring meaning into Italian Glee’s Italian fans proved to be just as enthusiastic and pro-active as their Anglophone counterparts: four days before the show’s premiere on Fox Italia on Christmas Day, 2009, a flash mob invaded a popular shopping mall in Rome, performing a medley of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing and Queen’s Somebody to Love. The Italian fan base proved to be closely familiar with the show before it even landed on Italian television; a glance at the frequent discussions on popular cult television websites such as Serialmente (Web 6) confirms that numerous Italian viewers attempt to keep up with the original US programming, in spite of the linguistic challenges that this effort implies. The desire to both understand and interact with the show right after the US airing prompted the Italian audience to search for alternative solutions to gain immediate access to the original episodes. As with many other popular shows, the easiest answer was provided by the increasingly widespread phenomenon of fansubbing, the production and distribution of amateur subtitles that are available for free soon after the original broadcast of each new episode. The delayed consumption caused by the dubbing process and the audience’s recent desire to explore the real essence of Anglophone shows have made fansubbing extremely popular in Italy, in spite of the country’s

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long-standing, prestigious dubbing tradition. ItaSA (Italian Subs Addicted), the main Italian fansubbing community, currently boast a total of over 230.000 members. More than 230 volunteer translators create free subtitle files within days or even hours of the US airing of new episodes, complying with a rigorous division of labour and working late at night to translate shows broadcast in the US primetime. The immediate and costless retrieval of amateur subtitles generates tough competition for the deferred, professionally dubbed versions and attracts more and more users in spite of the fact that “fansubs are technically illegal”, as Díaz Cintas and Muñoz Sánchez (2006: 45) underline. Moreover, “fansubs share some of the characteristics of professional subtitling, but they are clearly more daring in their formal presentation, taking advantage of the potential offered by digital technology” (ibid.: 51). Glee fansubbers try to accommodate different viewing preferences, providing viewers with both a regular set of subtitles, in which lyrics are translated to clarify their narrative impact, and a karaoke version with lyrics in English to allow for a sing-along viewing. To assess the increasing differentiation of the Italian audience, I have compared the fansubs for Glee’s season 1 provided by ItaSA (Web 7) with the corresponding dubbed episodes, which were first aired on Fox Italia from 25 December 2009 to 20 October 2010.3 Table 1 summarizes the main differences between the two translation approaches: Table 1. Dubbing versus fansubbing Professional dubbing Longer wait, though far shorter from the second half of season two. Cable subscription required (longer wait for digital TV / DVD box sets). Legal but delayed retrieval. Dialogues in Italian, songs in English without subtitles. Less interactive. Transparency over fidelity (wider use of omissions, generalisations, substitutions, etc.). More fluent; mimics spoken language; better from a technical point of view.

Amateur fansubbing Available shortly after the original US broadcast. Used with downloaded video files. Illegal but immediate, costless retrieval. Mac option. Choice between regular subs with translated lyrics and karaoke subs with sing-along lyrics. Song titles and performers are specified. Wider use of higher-fidelity, lowertransparency translation strategies, sometimes accompanied by clarifications. Often technically imprecise: lengthy, crammed, limited attention to segmentation and reading speed.

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Table 1 highlights how dubbing and fansubbing cater for two different types of audiences. While overall relatively true to the original dialogues, the dubbed version tends to favour transparency over fidelity, addressing an audience that will gladly accept a longer wait for a version that is easier to follow and that mimics spoken language, allowing for a smoother, effortless reception. However, the dubbed version fails to provide song subtitles in either English or Italian, thus inhibiting comprehension and interaction, both of which are crucial for a show like Glee. Moreover, the dubbed version suffers from the inevitable limitations imposed by lipsynching and perhaps by a non-fan knowledge of the show, which sometimes result in sheer mistranslations. On the other hand, the professional skills of the dubbing team create a far better product from a technical perspective, a smoother version that flows more easily and effectively reproduces natural speech. Fansubs usually provide a more complete and accurate rendition, often including clarifications and generally lapsing into fewer mistranslations; yet they also tend to cram information into lengthy chunks that are frequently imprecise in terms of segmentation, reading speed and general quality standards. Fansubs thus offer a more challenging viewing experience which is only suitable for the type of audience that pursues a faster access to new episodes and a deeper exploration of the show, involving the comprehension of song lyrics, karaoke singing and the appropriation of the show in a manner that clearly transcends traditional passive viewing. These two different translational approaches yield alternately successful results. On several occasions, dubbing proves significantly less accurate than fansubs, especially when it comes to food references. For instance, in episode 1x05, “The Rhodes not taken”, a “pepperoni pizza” becomes a homophonous but not synonymous pizza ai peperoni [pizza with peppers], when the video clearly displays a salami topping. Similarly, in episode 1x10, “Ballads”, a clearly visible whole ham, the main course at a family dinner, implausibly shrinks into medaglioni [meat medallions]. While incorrect food references might not have a strong impact on comprehension, in certain circumstances the need to mimic natural language causes dubbing to slip onto more serious mistranslations, which tend to appear less frequently in fansubs. Table 2 illustrates two examples that are particularly representative of the way in which lip-synching and naturalness concerns inhibit proper translation:

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Table 2. Mistranslations in dubbing Speaker

Original version

Emma (1x07, “Throwd own”)

That’s how my parents got me to do chores.

Dalton (1x11, “Hairogr aphy”)

I run the glee club at a school for the deaf. You think I”m rolling around in deaf choir money?

Italian fansubbin g E' così che i miei genitori mi hanno // convinta a fare le pulizie. Dirigo il Glee club // in una scuola per sordi. // Crede che mi riempiano di // soldi per un coro di sordi?

Back translatio n [That’s how my parents got me to do chores.]

I miei è così che mi facevano studiare nei cori.

[That’s how my parents got me to sing in choirs.]

[I run the glee club at a school for the deaf. Do you think they fill me with money for a deaf choir?]

Gestisco un coro in una scuola per sordomut i? Pensa che mi rotoli nei soldi per un coro di sordi?

[I run the glee club at a school for the deafmute. You think I’m rolling around in deaf choir money?]

Italian dubbing

Back translation

The dubbing of episode 1x07 mistakes “chores”, as in cleaning the house, for “choirs”, thus failing to provide a cogent example of an activity that would not appeal to a group of singers. Episode 1x11 lapses into an illogical rendition: the members of a deaf glee club are referred to as sordomuti [deaf-mute], reflecting a usage that is not only obsolete, based on the superseded belief that all deaf people are also incapable of speech, but also irrational, since these people actually sing. On the other hand, an excessive concern with content fidelity might result in a translation that proves hard to understand even for the “specialized” audience that fansubbers postulate. Estimating with which elements the target audience might or might not be familiar proves most difficult upon translating what Pedersen (2005: online) defines as Extralinguistic Culture-bound References: Extralinguistic Culture-bound Reference (ECR) is defined as reference that is attempted by means of any culture-bound linguistic expression, which refers to an extralinguistic entity or process, and which is assumed to have a discourse referent that is identifiable to a relevant audience as this referent is within the encyclopaedic knowledge of this audience.

Kurt (1x17 “Bad Reputation”)

Kurt (1x17, “Bad Reputation”)

Rachel (1x14, “Hell-O”)

Quinn (1x12, “Mattress”)

Speaker

Il sei andremo a vedere Phantom.

On the 6th we’re going to see Phantom. That was Carrot-Top funny compared to this comedic tour de force. What does a C-lister do when their tiny star is about to fall off Perez Hilton's radar screen? Quello era penoso come il comico Carrot // Top in confronto a questo spasso. Cosa fanno gli pseudo-famosi // quando la loro stella // sta per uscir fuori dallo // schermo radar di Perez Hilton?

Italian fansubbing biglietti stagionali per il Cedar Point.

Original version season tickets to Cedar Point.

[That was as lame as the comedian Carrot Top compared to these antics.] [What do pseudo-famous people do when their tiny star is about to fall off Perez Hilton's radar screen?]

[On the 6th we’re going to see Phantom.]

Back translation [season tickets to Cedar Point.]

Table 3. Dealing with ECRs in fansubbing and dubbing

Che cosa fa una celebrità di serie C quando la sua minuscola stella rischia di diventare invisibile?

Quello è niente in confronto a questo spettacolo tristissimo.

C’è il Fantasma dell’Opera.

abbonamenti stagionali al luna park.

Italian dubbing

Chorus Lines—The Case of Glee

[What do C-list celebrities do when their minuscule star is about to become invisible?]

[That’s nothing compared to this really lame show.]

Back translation [season tickets to the amusement park.] [The Phantom of the Opera is playing.]

Retention vs Generalisation

Specification (Addition) vs Generalisation

Retention vs Specification (Explicitation)

Translation strategy Retention vs Generalisation

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Enjoy it while you can, Weezie.

And you'd be a total MILF if it weren't for the whole faking-themother thing.

Santana to Mercedes (1x18, “Laryingitis”)

Finn, to Prof. Schuester’s ex wife (1x21, “Funk”)

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E sarebbe una MILF assurda se non fosse // per la storia della finta gravidanza.

Goditela finché puoi, Weezie Jefferson.

[Enjoy it while you can, Weezie Jefferson. [And you'd be a total MILF if it weren't for the fake pregnancy thing.]

Chapter Twelve [Enjoy it while you can. [And you'd be perfect if it weren't for the fake pregnancy thing.]

Goditela pure finché puoi. E sarebbe perfetta se non fosse per la storia della finta gravidanza.

Retention vs Omission

Explicitation vs Omission

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Table 3 highlights the different approaches with which fansubbing and dubbing render ECRs, presenting a series of examples from season 1 and catalogued according to Pedersen’s model of ECR transfer strategies. As is evident from these examples, fansubbing tends to render ECRs through “Source Language (SL) oriented strategies” (Pedersen 2005: online) such as retention or explicitation, while dubbing usually privileges “Target-Language (TL) oriented strategies” (ibid.) such as generalisation or omission. The reasoning behind is based on the premise that fansubbing users are more interested in the source culture than viewers who choose the dubbed version. While this idea might generally hold true, gauging the position of the boundary between transparent and opaque SL references is a complicated task that will hardly ever yield incontrovertible results. On the one hand, retention strategies are not guaranteed to work in all instances and their role in preserving the intertextual references of the source text is still nullified if they do not prove transparent even to “specialized” viewers. The first three examples in Table 3 are thus far harder to identify without the aids provided by the dubbed version: the hypernym “amusement park” for Cedar Point (episode 1x12); the extended title for Phantom of the Opera (1x14); and the generalisation “a really lame show” (1x17), which is probably more effective than the explicitation “the comedian”, since Carrot Top is virtually unknown in Italy. On the other hand, however, dubbing adaptors risk impoverishing the AV text through their tendency to adopt lower-fidelity translation strategies whenever in doubt, what Ranzato (2010: 98-99, my translation) knows as threshold references: elements with which an international audience is potentially familiar, but which still require a knowledge of art, entertainment, literature or famous events related to the source culture that cannot always be expected of the target audience, which prompts adaptors to employ strategies that often eliminate or generalize the original reference.

Many Italian viewers would probably understand references to celebrity rumourmonger Perez Hilton (1x17), to the Jeffersons as the emblematic African-American family (1x18) and to the acronym MILF (Mother I’d Like to Fuck; episode 1x21), indicating an attractive older woman. MILF has been popularized by the American Pie saga and is frequently used in Italian as well, together with its literal equivalent MIMF (Mamma che Io Mi Farei); thus the dubbed version obliterates a reference that provides a crucial explanation of the sentence in which it is pronounced (16-year-old Finn tries to reassure his teacher’s ex wife

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regarding her sexual appeal, but then realizes she cannot be defined as a MILF in that she has faked her pregnancy and was never a real mother). A possible compromise between maintaining obscure references and diluting the source text might be offered by cultural substitution, which Pedersen (2005) defines as the replacement of the source text ECR with another ECR and which is used effectively in several instances throughout season 1, as illustrated in Table 4: Table 4. Retention in fansubbing, cultural substitution in dubbing Speaker Burt Hummel (1x09, “Wheels”)

Will to Sue (1x15, “The Power of Madonna”) Burt Hummel (1x16, “Home”)

AfricanAmerican journalist Tracy Pendergast (1x16, “Home”)

Original version Put on a blindfold and listen to my kid sing and you will swear you hear Ronnie Spector. How’s the Florence Henderson look working out for you?

Italian fansubbing …giurerete di aver // sentito Ronnie Spector.

Back translation [… you will swear you heard Ronnie Spector.]

Italian dubbing …vi sembrerà di sentire Cindy Lauper.

Back translation […you’ll think you heard Cindy Lauper.]

Ti sta dando risultati // il look alla Florence Henderson?

[Is the Florence Henderson look working out for you?]

[Has anyone ever told you you look like Mrs Fletcher?]

Suddenly I'm not the guy who sat through Riverdance three years in a row? You're bossy, insulting, and the fact that twice you called me Rerun makes me think you're a little racist.

Improvvisamente dimentichi chi ti ha // portato a vedere la Riverdance per tre anni?

[Suddenly you forget who took you to see Riverdance three years in a row?]

Ti hanno mai detto che assomigli alla signora Fletcher? E chi ti ha portato a vedere Billy Elliot per tre volte di fila?

E' prepotente, offensiva e il fatto // che mi abbia chiamato due volte Rerun // mi fa pensare che sia un pochino razzista.

[You're bossy, insulting, and the fact that twice you called me Rerun makes me think you're a little racist.]

E' prepotente, aggressiva e il fatto che mi abbia chiamato Arnold due volte mi fa pensare che sia un pochino razzista.

[You're bossy, aggressive, and the fact that twice you called me Arnold makes me think you're a little racist.]

[And who took you to see Billy Elliot three times in a row?]

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Pop culture references that are deemed too obscure for the target audience of the dubbed version are replaced with better-known equivalents. Kurt’s high-pitched voice (episode 1x09) is thus compared to Cindy Lauper’s, whom Italian viewers identify with girly music more than Ronnie Spector. Similarly, the boy’s passion for dance shows is made clearer, albeit more stereotypical, through a reference to the popular musical Billy Elliot (1x16), as opposed to the Riverdance, which has had much less resonance in Italy. Likewise, in episode 1x15 Will mentions TV actress Florence Henderson to ridicule Sue’s hairdo, but adaptors replaced this reference with Angela Lansbury’s correspondingly coiffed character Jessica Fletcher, since Murder She Wrote is still aired in Italy and is far more popular with newer generations than The Brady Bunch. In the last example (episode 1x16), Freddy “Rerun” Stubbs from What’s Happening! is replaced with Arnold Jackson from Diff’rent Strokes, whom is more easily perceived as the archetypical African-American TV character. However, cultural substitution does not necessarily work in all circumstances: for instance, in the first example from Table 3 it would have been hard to find a more transparent equivalent to Cedar Point, since most Italian viewers are only familiar with Disneyland and Disneyworld, both of which are too far away from Ohio to be plausible. Translation strategies must thus be applied in a case-by-case manner and a compromise between the two AVT approaches might yield a successful result.

5. Conclusion As illustrated in the previous section, professional dubbing and amateur subtitling tend to have complementary advantages and disadvantages, as well as different target audiences with different levels of agency. As Vellar (2009: online) summarizes, television watching in the age of convergence has been deeply influenced by “the emergence of a networked collectivism of amateur experts (Baym and Burnett 2008) [who] perform their competence and their passion publishing tertiary texts as fansite[s], fan art […], fanfiction and fansubs”. This development prompts an urgent reassessment of all AVT practices: a large part of the Italian audience still prefers traditional “linear” television watching and demands dubbed programmes, yet a growing number of viewers have acquired enough skills in television reception and (foreign) language command that they have outgrown the necessarily limited programme appreciation that occurs through dubbing. Italian networks and AVT agents cannot ignore the challenges imposed by the new forms of

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television watching and by amateur translation practices. In order to maintain control over the acquisition and redistribution of foreign programmes, the AVT industry should thus acknowledge the existence of another type of audience that is not only more loyal, but also more demanding, especially in terms of speed and ease of programme retrieval. While the “general audience” still constitutes a high percentage of the total spectators, this new viewership 2.0 is a growing presence that demands special attention. One possible solution to accommodate the needs of both types of audiences might entail merging the best features of dubbing and fansubbing, maximising their benefits and reducing their respective flaws. Recent efforts by various Italian networks point to a new, promising trend that focuses on improving both the quality and the rate at which new episodes are made available to the Italian audience through official channels. MTV Italy’s pioneer attempt to broadcast imported shows in English with Italian subtitles (The Hills, Next, and Parental Control) received favourable reviews and paved the way for the more recent strategies adopted by far-sighted networks such as Fox, based on broadcasting a professionally subtitled version of the most successful shows on the day following the US premiere and offering a fully dubbed version just a week later. This strategy was most famously applied in the case of the Lost series finale, which was aired with subtitles at the crack of dawn on 24 May 24 2010 on the pay-TV channel Fox Italy and attracted a remarkable number of viewers in spite of its unfavourable slot. The success of this experiment led Fox to a more frequent use of subtitling for event marketing purposes, allowing Italian viewers to participate in the US-scheduled viewing experience with minimum delay. Glee itself benefited from this strategy: starting from the second half of season 2, the Italian translation of the show underwent a significant acceleration to enable the airing of a weekly double-feature comprising the subtitled version of the latest episode (forty-eight hours after the US broadcast) and the dubbed version of the previous one (only nine days after the original airing). The continuing use of this double approach for new Fox shows such as Terra Nova as well as for shows aired by other Italian networks (such as The Event on the Mediaset Premium channel Joi) bears witness to the effectiveness of the network-orchestrated subtitling/dubbing marriage. Nonetheless, collaboration with the most proficient viewers and amateur translators might also provide an equally valid alternative. Conversant fans could be hired as consultants to accelerate the dubbing process, while the fansubbers’ knowledge of US shows and of American culture in general

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and their ability to cope with tight deadlines would prove most fruitful when combined with professional AVT skills such as technical expertise, text reduction strategies and techniques to sift relevant information. The subtitling company Sub-Ti laid the groundwork for future partnerships between AVT professionals and amateur subtitlers: their “Fans and subs” contest (Web 8), launched in April 2011, aimed at recruiting two particularly skilled fansubbers for professional assignments (Di Giovanni and Spoletti 2011). The success of both Fox’s and Sub-Ti’s attempts leaves room for further steps towards translational convergence: provided both voices manage to sing in key with each other, an AVT duet will most likely be the number that brings the house down.

Notes 1. Disclaimer: this analysis is carried out for scholarly purposes and is not meant to encourage copyright infringement and illegal retrieval of audiovisual material. 2. Episodes are indexed according to the “season number x episode number” formula: for instance, episode 6x07 is the seventh episode of the sixth season of a show. 3. The English and Italian dialogues used as examples have been transcribed from the Italian box set Glee – Season 1, published by 20th Century Fox in February 2011. The Italian version contained in the box set coincides with the dubbed episodes aired on Fox Italy and later on Italia 1 and La5.

References Anderson, Chris. 2004. “The long tail” in Wired (US) 12:10, October. www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html —. 2006. The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More. New York: Hyperion. Antonini, Rachele and Delia Chiaro. 2005. “The quality of dubbed television programmes in Italy: the experimental design of an empirical study”, in Marina Bondi and Nick Maxwell (eds) Cross-Cultural Encounters: Linguistic Perspectives. Rome: Officina Edizioni, 33-44. Baym, Nancy and Robert Burnett. 2008. “Amateur experts: International fan labor in Swedish independent music”. Paper Prepared for Internet Research, 9.0, Copenhagen, October. www.onlinefandom.com/wpcontent/uploads/2008/10/amateurexperts.pdf Carini, Stefania. 2009. Il testo espanso. Il telefilm nell'età della convergenza. Milano: Vita e pensiero.

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Díaz Cintas, Jorge. 2005. “Back to the future in subtitling”, in Heidrun Gerzymisch-Arbogast and Sandra Nauert (eds) MuTra 2005 – Challenges of Multidimensional Translation: Conference Proceedings. www.euroconferences.info/proceedings/2005_Proceedings/2005_Diaz Cintas_Jorge.pdf Díaz Cintas, Jorge, and Pablo Muñoz Sánchez. 2006. “Fansubs: audiovisual translation in an amateur environment”. The Journal of Specialised Translation 6: 37-52. www.jostrans.org/issue06/art_diaz_munoz.pdf Di Giovanni, Elena and Federico Spoletti. 2011. “In search of a common ground: professional visibility for amateur subtitlers”. Paper presented at Media for All 4, London, 28 June – 1 July. Manuscript. Ericsson ConsumerLab. 2010. Multi Screen Media Consumption 2010. www.ericsson.com/news/1440031 Grasso, Aldo. 2009. “Preface to Carini, Stefania. Il testo espanso. Il telefilm nell’età della convergenza”. Milano: Vita e pensiero. Gottlieb, Henrik. 2009. “Subtitling against the current: Danish concepts, English minds”, in Jorge Díaz Cintas (ed.) New Trends in Audiovisual Translation, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 21-43. Jenkins, Henry. 2006. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York, NYU Press. ––. 2006–present. “Confessions of an aca/fan” weblog. www.henryjenkins.org Merrin, William. 2008. „Media studies 2.0“. http://mediastudies2point0.blogspot.com Pedersen, Jan. 2005. “How is culture rendered in subtitles?”, in Heidrun Gerzymisch-Arbogast and Sandra Nauert (eds) MuTra 2005 – Challenges of Multidimensional Translation: Conference Proceedings. www.euroconferences.info/proceedings/2005_Proceedings/2005_Peder sen_Jan.pdf Ranzato, Irene. 2011. La traduzione audiovisiva. Analisi degli elementi culturospecifici. Rome: Bulzoni. Thompson, Robert. 2007. “Preface to McCabe, J., and Akass, K. (eds) Quality TV: Contemporary American Television and Beyond”. London: IB Tauris, xvii-xx. Vellar, Agnese. 2009. Addicted to Passion. Performances of Fan Audiencehood in Italian Networked Publics. http://agneseh.wordpress.com/addicted-to-passion Web 1: www.deadline.com/2010/05/full-series-rankings-for-the-2009-10broadcast-season/#more-44277=* Web 2: http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/glee-ratings-2011-2012

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Web 3: www.badtv.it/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/4-FEA-Glee-Portfolio. jpg Web 4: http://obsession-inc.dreamwidth.org/82589.html Web 5: www.facebook.com/notes/glee/fox-invites-glee-fans-to-join-the-biggestgleek-competition-at-wwwfoxcomgleek/136157066788 Web 6: www.serialmente.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=21124 Web 7: www.italiansubs.net/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=6&fu nc=select&id=1256 Web 8: www.subti.com/news/?Fans_and_Subs Zaccone, Emanuela. 2009. Glee: Un’epidemia musicale user-generated. www.ninjamarketing.it/2009/12/22/glee-unepidemia-musicale-usergenerated ––. 2010. Lost celebra i suoi fan per il gran finale: tra user-generated contents, crowdsourcing e intelligenza collettiva. www.ninjamarketing.it/2010/05/24/lost-celebra-i-suoi-fan-per-il-granfinale-tra-user-generated-contents-crowdsourcing-e-intelligenzacollettiva

CHAPTER THIRTEEN BEYOND THE BOOK: THE USE OF SUBTITLED AUDIOVISUAL MATERIAL TO PROMOTE CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION ANNAMARIA CAIMI UNIVERSITY OF PAVIA, ITALY

AND CRISTINA MARIOTTI UNIVERSITY OF PAVIA, ITALY

Abstract The present study describes a course designed for L2 learning and practice in higher education. It is based on the acquisition of subject matter content by means of L2 intralingual subtitled audiovisual teaching aids. Intralingual subtitles are compared to other types of audio-subtitle combinations to demonstrate that the choice of adding this type of screen translation to the audiovisual material is better suited to help students improve their language level. The course was tested with undergraduate students. At the end of this teaching experience, it emerged that students had speeded up their reading abilities and felt more confident in the use of the target language (TL). The students’ positive feedback suggests that intralingual subtitled audiovisuals may offer a more effective and comprehensive way of activating L2 learning strategies than traditional teaching/learning materials.

1. Introduction For the foreseeable future, printed textbooks will continue to be the traditional tools used to learn subjects at any level of education, although nowadays digital literacy and the internet provide all kinds of written

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communication online, including electronic books. The rapid advances in digital technology have created new channels that help increase the speed of transfer of information and are playing a pivotal role in the development of intellectual and social activity all over the world. If we go back in time, we can see that the invention of the printing press in the 15th century speeded up communication by improving and accelerating the circulation of books and, consequently, the spreading of new ideas. This invention marked the rise of a communication revolution that brought about vast socio-cultural, political, and economic changes (Eisenstein 1979, 1983). In a similar way, the digital revolution of the 20th century has brought about dramatic changes in communication technology that have accelerated the transfer of all kinds of information. The market is now offering a variety of audiovisual products (DVDs and Blu-ray discs) as well as devices (smart phones, tablets, mobile players) that influence our social behaviour by granting instant access to knowledge, entertainment and interpersonal communication. Furthermore, the education sector is increasingly using audiovisual and digital tools as teaching/learning aids because people’s habit of watching films and television programmes, and their attachment to the internet and computer games, are global phenomena that have already modified and will continue to modify the process of acquiring knowledge. With the commercial distribution of motion pictures and television programmes at international level, it became necessary to translate audiovisual products, mainly by dubbing and subtitling them. Subtitled audiovisual materials, in particular, have become up-to-date teaching aids in many disciplines. In foreign language teaching, they have proved to be very effective because they can foster a positive attitude in the learners (Hennessey 1995, Brett 1998, King 2002, Mariotti 2002, Talaván Zanón 2006, Perego and Pavesi 2007, Díaz Cintas and Fernández Cruz 2008, Santiago Araújo 2008, Vanderplank 2010) and they provide rich input at several levels through the interplay of animation, soundtrack, dialogue and written text. The aim of this study is to describe the benefits of subtitled audiovisual aids and digital slides combined with Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in higher education. The term Content and Language Integrated Learning refers to educational settings where a language other than the students’ mother tongue is used as a medium of instruction (Dalton-Puffer 2007). Like other types of content-based instruction, this approach entails important advantages for L2 acquisition. First of all, it offers exposure to highly contextualized second language input, since the activities of the class are tailored to the subject being taught and are geared

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towards encouraging students to think and learn through the use of the target language (Mariotti 2007). Second, it can stimulate incidental learning of the L2, which is assumed to be extremely effective and longlasting (Wode 1999, Hulstijn 2005), and takes place when the learners’ attention is focused on the message contained in an utterance or a text rather than the form through which that message is being conveyed. Drawing on these premises, the CLIL approach to foreign language teaching/learning seems an ideal setting for the use of multimedia technology and, in particular, of subtitled audiovisual teaching aids, which may complement and reinforce the students’ focus on subject matter content by providing images, dialogues and written text in a way that facilitates L2 comprehension and acquisition. The content of the course being discussed in these pages is the political structure of the European Union, and the medium of instruction consists in a specifically developed audiovisual aid. The success of the experiment rests mainly with the strategies and the techniques used in the classroom to make students exploit their ability to learn through multimedia subtitled teaching tools.

2. An audiovisual subtitled learning programme for a content and language integrated university course This teaching/learning experiment has been devised to serve the needs of the undergraduate students enrolled in the three-year degree course of the Faculty of Political Science at Pavia University, Italy. In this course, English language learning is compulsory and students have to attend classes for two years. Each year is divided into two modules. The first module is based on the use of English in a traditional way: students practice grammar rules by studying conventional books, while the teacher monitors their performance and corrects their mistakes through standard exercises. This grammar module is complemented with a second module, where the CLIL approach is used to teach EU-related contents. The subject matter of the course is the European Union and its Member States. This topic was chosen because it is paramount to make European students aware of their European citizenship. During the course they learn about the European Union’s historical roots, the function of its treaties, institutions, traditions, and socio-political expectations. The first year starts with a summary of the most important historical events which mark the different stages of European enlargement and continues with an overview of the main European institutions in order to inform the learners about their rights and duties as European citizens. The second year focuses on the various European member states, covering their date of entry,

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currency, geographical, socio-political, economic and cultural aspects, food habits and study opportunities. The course is also aimed at making students aware of the work carried out by EU officers engaged in projects, whose aim is to promote socio-cultural integration and favour multilingualism. The singularity of this approach consists in the introduction of a teaching aid that combines intralingual subtitled video clips with digital slides of two types: the first type contains written text in the form of short sentences and keywords taken from the dialogue, whereas the second type displays images taken from the video clip. The written slides stimulate language and content revision and favour consolidation by highlighting words that make students recollect what they have seen, heard and read at the same time. The slides with pictures stimulate the students’ visual modality and are used with a view to assessing to what extent they can relate visual stimuli to the language connected with them. The course was designed to practice the TL, i.e. English, in the context of a subject matter which is in keeping with the intellectual and cultural needs of Political Science students. The experience was remarkably useful because it combined foreign language practice and subject matter content awareness through the use of subtitled audiovisual materials. Additionally, the audiovisual aid that was created for this experiment can be easily integrated in any curriculum and adapted to any foreign language.

3. The educational value of intralingual subtitles The teaching community, urged by the digital revolution, is increasingly looking for multimedia teaching tools which can satisfy the needs of students keen on using digital devices to learn and communicate. Subtitling is a useful practice that creates opportunities for listening, reading and viewing activities, and the usefulness of subtitled multimedia programmes as teaching aids is supported by many studies. The Dual Coding Theory of Cognition (Sadoski and Paivio 2001), which emphasises the role of non-linguistic knowledge and mental imagery in literacy, has often been mentioned by researchers as one of the reasons why subtitles can be so powerful in L2 learning (Danan 2004, Caimi 2007). Audiovisual subtitled materials stimulate the creation of mental images and verbal associations and, as highlighted by Danan (2004: 72), “interconnectedness occurs in the case of subtitled audiovisual material, when both audio and visual channels have to be processed simultaneously”. Drawing on Paivio’s (1991a, 1991b) research, she points out that audiovisual subtitled videos produce signs belonging to three functionally independent codes,

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i.e. the verbal, the written and the visual, and that they reciprocally activate one another, as they are linked by referential connections. According to the general model of Dual Coding Theory (DCT), which highlights the interconnectedness of the verbal and imagery systems (Sadoski and Paivio 2001), the verbal and the visual systems can be activated independently, but they interconnect to allow dual coding of information. Our mental language, which is made of verbal representations, and our imagery, made of nonverbal representations, send signals through nerve cells which stimulate the neural structures that carry information between the brain and the other parts of the body (ibid.). The DCT model is in line with the Cognitive Information Processing Theory which considers the three stages of memory (sensory, short-term and long-term) and extends their functions to the field of instruction (Reiser and Dempsey 2007). Its aim is to asses how different types of instruction can facilitate or hinder memory retrieval and learning. These studies on the interconnectedness of verbal and nonverbal systems provide sufficient background for the use of subtitled videos in teaching/learning contexts. In fact, multimodal integrated input for L2 learning purposes stimulates memory channels and strengthens comprehension because it makes the learner concentrate on a triple reception experience, which can be more engaging than reading a book. Sadoski and Paivio’s (2001) general DCT model, reported in Caimi (2005: 66-68), can function as a guide to test the reception of subtitled audiovisual programmes. From the perspective of (foreign) language learning, three main types of subtitles can be distinguished: 1. 2. 3.

interlingual or standard subtitles: dialogue in the foreign language and subtitles in the mother tongue; interlingual reversed subtitles: dialogue in the mother tongue and subtitles in the foreign language; and intralingual subtitles: dialogue in the foreign language and subtitles in the same foreign language.

Interlingual subtitles provide viewers with a written translation of the source text speech in their language, but given that people generally speak faster than they read, subtitling tends to be characterised by space and time constraints (Díaz Cintas and Remael 2007). The combination of foreign language dialogue and mother tongue subtitles is particularly suited for an audience who likes watching films to relax and enjoy themselves. This is the most common type of subtitles and that is why they are also referred to as standard subtitles. According to Danan (2004), subtitled films and TV

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programmes are beneficial because they facilitate language learning by helping informal viewers or intentional viewer-learners visualise the translation of what they hear, especially if the input is beyond their linguistic ability. If the learners’ foreign language competence is between beginner and lower-intermediate they need linguistic support in their mother tongue to understand the plot. This type of screen translation, when used in teaching/learning contexts, is especially useful to make students practice listening comprehension. As for reversed subtitles, Danan’s (1992) experiments with reversed subtitled audiovisual materials (French sound track and English subtitles) have proved effective as far as TL structure and vocabulary learning are concerned. Our experience in Pavia has showed that reversed subtitles may be beneficial if the learners are beginners or have a lower-intermediate competence of the TL and work in small groups; nevertheless, our students admitted that if they lost concentration, they avoided reading L2 subtitles and just listened to the L1 soundtrack. Intralingual subtitles, originally produced to enable hearing-impaired viewers to enjoy motion pictures and TV programmes, turned out to be an opportunity for foreign language learning, especially for students with at least intermediate competence in the L2, as at this level they should be able to study the TL without using their mother tongue. Since explanations in the mother-tongue may interfere with the syntactic structure of the TL, our decision was to use only intralingual subtitles for our audiovisual CLIL experiment. Most European students learn English at school and, when registering at University, their English competence is, or should be, between intermediate and upper intermediate, with some of them also advanced. In Italy, most students who start attending university have reached a B1 level and, for this reason, the intralingual combination is definitely the most appropriate one to enhance language acquisition at morphological, syntactic, semantic and phonetic levels.1 So far, data on teaching experiences based on audiovisual subtitled teaching aids are not sufficiently reported in specialised literature. In the last decade, the Education, Audiovisual, and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), which is responsible for the management of certain European Union’s programmes in the field of education, has been funding a number of research projects on the importance of subtitles in foreign language learning contexts.2 The authors of the present contribution have been using subtitled audiovisual materials in teaching/learning contexts for several years and are now sharing this experience with a group of European colleagues.3 Though the teaching/learning experiments we are carrying out are still in progress, preliminary data from our groups of informants

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indicate that students and learners with at least intermediate L2 competence prefer practicing the foreign language by means of intralingual subtitled materials.

4. How to combine intralingual subtitled audiovisuals with Content and Language Integrated Learning In order to achieve mastery and fluency in a foreign language, learners have to practice it through repetition and exercises in specific contexts. CLIL ensures the use of the foreign language for authentic communication, making the classroom and environment that provides opportunities for learning through incidental language acquisition rather than through explicit formal language teaching. In this sense, traditional foreign language classes tend to be taught in terms of explaining grammar rules and monitoring formal correctness in oral or written production, which implies that the content is based on metalinguistic knowledge. In these settings the need for reading comprehension may be satisfied by the choice of generic books on TL culture or literature anthologies in humanistic curricula. On the other hand, content subjects such as geography, history, sociology, etc. constitute a reservoir of concepts, topics and meanings where the natural use of the TL is possible. Language instructors who take up the challenge of CLIL, teach specific subjects in the foreign language, in our case English. Their main effort is to acquire competence in the branch of knowledge they have decided to teach, ideally with the support and collaboration of colleagues who are specialists. Therefore CLIL teachers have to explore appropriate methodologies and activities that are in keeping with the content area to be dealt with in a foreign language and adapt their teaching materials appropriately. In our course, CLIL materials are based on audiovisual subtitled aids that can be screened directly in the classroom or watched by viewer-learners individually on their personal computers. As a consequence, no books are necessary either in class or at home, and students rely only on videos with intralingual subtitles and supported by digital slides. The slides focus upon key terms, explanations or pictures in order to consolidate the acquisitional process overtly based on content and meaning, but with a covert attention to the L2 syntax. In fact, the technique of revising the core concepts, conveyed by texts and images, has proven successful and beneficial for the students and the teacher in our case. It is a facilitating technique that consolidates the information input at written and visual levels and favours correct pronunciation in the oral

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reproduction of what has been learnt through the soundtrack of the video clip.

5. Design and implementation The audiovisual teaching/learning material is made up of excerpts from different documentaries on the European Union, and with comments in the form of dialogues which follow a question-and-answer pattern and are transcribed at the bottom of the screen in the form of English intralingual subtitles. The viewing, reading and listening activities are stopped at regular intervals to be followed by digital slides with images of the key events shown in the film and by slides where the key terms of the dialogues are summarised in a sequence of short sentences or phrases. This approach turns the lesson into an entertaining cultural activity where the content is explained through images and dialogues and is revised through reading on the screen. At the beginning of the course the duration of the video clip is about ten minutes so that students get used to the new teaching method. After three lessons, of two hours each, the time devoted to watching subtitled learning material can be increased to 15/20 minutes to reach a maximum of 30 minutes. The second hour is devoted to written and oral exercises to test the students’ general comprehension as well as their ability to remember the key terminology in the subject, consolidate their pronunciation, and turn the film dialogue into prose by means of summarising what they have just heard and watched on the screen.

6. Rationale for the choice of subject and learning activities The objective is to teach a non-language subject, yet the knowledge is conveyed in a foreign language with a view to making learners improve their fluency through exposure to visual and auditory channels. The choice of this subject was motivated to meet the needs of Pavia Political Science students and provides an overview of the relevant stages in the making of the European Union and of the principles and regulations, in terms of rights and duties, which govern the relations between the Union and its citizens. Since English language learning is compulsory in all the Faculty curricula, a multimodal course on the EU from a socio-political and intercultural perspective was considered to be most appropriate in this case. The exposure to content-based subtitled video clips has shown that students concentrate more on the message conveyed by the dialogues than

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on the dialogues’ formal characteristics. The lessons are divided into the following phases: 1. First phase: viewing activity. The soundtrack, which contains descriptions and dialogues, complements the images they watch, promoting this way the students’ listening and reading abilities. The simultaneous reception of oral dialogues and their subtitled written counterparts in the same language facilitates vocabulary learning and, consequently, the acquisition of content. 2. Second phase: assessment of the students’ ability to interrelate information conveyed through different channels. Success in this task depends on the individual student’s ability to correlate simultaneously the meaning potential of the three integrated communicative channels that make up audiovisual materials. This ability can be improved with practice and, although it requires the viewer-learners’ attention and concentration, it provides them with significant quantities of rich and comprehensible language input (Vanderplank 1988: 272-3). Before discussing the interrelation among the different communicative channels, students are asked to concentrate for five minutes and to answer a short oral test based on general questions. Most students give answers which show that the viewing experience has helped them develop awareness in a type of discourse with what they may not have been familiar before. 3. Third phase: the use of slides to reinforce CLIL. The most relevant information conveyed by the video clip is summarised in digital slides which are then shown to the students as a post-viewing activity. The main objective is to assess their reactions in terms of memory storage of the integrated communicative systems they have been exposed to and content retrieval in the foreign language. When they read the text of the slides, which displays key terms from the lesson, the verbal and nonverbal representations stored in their mind during the integrated viewing, listening and reading activities are brought into action in their neural structures that carry information between the brain and the other parts of the body through nerve cells (Paivio 1991a, 1991b). The written slide is alternated with a relevant image taken from the video clip. The Dual Coding Theory model claims that pictures are faster and easier to recall because the visual system is continuous and parallel to the memory system in its organisation. The function of slides alternating the reading of a text and the observation of an image attempts to stimulate an imagery-based mnemonic technique, whose main purpose is to provide evidence about

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both imaginal and verbal integration processes and to fix the extent to which these processes operate independently and interactively (ibid.). The verbal memory, which is structured in discrete, sequential units, is incorporated within the learners’ cognitive and imagery structures which encode content and language information retrieved at recall (Sadoski and Paivio 2001). This method is likely to privilege incidental second language acquisition, i.e. language acquisition that takes place when the learners’ attention is primarily focused on processing the subject matter to be studied and learnt. When the second language is the medium of instruction, rather than its explicit focus, it is practiced and learnt subconsciously. 4. Assessment techniques: during the first year of the course, students sit for written tests based on questions and answers which echo those of the video clip dialogues. Students are asked to explain, in their own words, a few key terms relating to the most important issues covered in the lessons. The tests also include an image taken from the audiovisual teaching aids, and students are asked to describe it and explain what the image represents in relation to the EU. In the second year, the final test combines written and oral production. In the first part, students are required to write an essay on one of the topics concerning the EU. The second part of the exam consists in a conversation during which the examiner asks the same questions as those in the dialogues and guides the students to reproduce the answers of the video clips. The aim is to test both the students’ fluency in the English language and their mastery of the contents.

7. Concluding remarks In a contribution on the internet blog Focus,4 Cavallero (2011: online) states that, “the digital revolution in the book publishing industry has been compared to the Copernican revolution for scientific knowledge”. The impact of technology on the written word has been profound and, thanks to digitisation, books in the traditional sense are increasingly coming to coexist with electronic works in various forms, from e-books to virtual libraries, films and sound recordings. The integration of multimodal channels is gradually changing traditional ways of teaching and learning. Young generations tend to be very familiar with the technological tools that are transforming the way we communicate and, to be in keeping with the overt or covert demands of these contemporary learners, an increasing number of teachers and researchers are experimenting with new forms and

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tools to convey knowledge. The case study sketched in this contribution illustrates one of these experiences. A considerable number of studies based on observation and feedback have shown the positive effects of CLIL on foreign language learning (Pavesi et al. 2001, Pavesi 2002, Mariotti 2007) and, similarly, studies on subtitles (Vanderplank 1988, Caimi 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, Danan 2004) have shown their positive effects on viewer-learners. To our knowledge, the case study described in this article is the first to combine audiovisual subtitled materials and Content and Language Integrated Learning. In this respect, the design of this multimodal course, which can be easily adopted in other educational contexts in and outside Europe, is the result of years of experience in the use of subtitled language learning teaching aids and the implementation of CLIL oriented courses. The linguistic pre-requisites of the viewer-learners should be approximately in line with Level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, which corresponds to an intermediate level. This course is meant to overcome some of the traditional teachinglearning limitations by offering students a flexible multimodal tool that can be adapted to different educational settings and promote digital multilingual literacy. From the data acquired up to now, the multimedia approach has enhanced competence and confidence in the use of English in the classroom. The experience of the past years enables the researchers involved in this project to feel confident that the course design provides a good method for supporting students’ comprehension of content material, encouraging the production of output both in spoken and written forms. Multimediality has been argued to enhance input by making it more comprehensible because a combination of imagery, in which spoken and written messages improve information processing and account for the individual student’s learning style. Last, but not least, multimodal learning aids can be easily updated and conveyed directly to the users. In one of his recent articles, Flyvbjerg (2011: 303) writes that, “the highest levels in the learning process, that is, virtuosity and true expertise, are reached only via a person’s own experiences as practitioner of the relevant skills”. This assertion confirms that in any field of learning, practical applications provide the basis necessary to support any course design. In addition, intralingual subtitled videos are the added value that can be adapted to any foreign language course. In fact, if intralingual subtitles have proved beneficial to learn English, they are likely to lead to the same result in other languages.

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Notes 1. According to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, B1 - Intermediate level means that the student: can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.; can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken; can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest; and can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. 2. See, for instance, the Study on the Use of Subtitling - The Potential of Subtitling to Encourage Foreign Language Learning and Improve the Mastery of Foreign Languages, carried out by the Media Consulting Group in 2009/2011, and whose final report can be found on http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/studies/documents/study_on_the_use_of_subtitling/ra pport_final-en.pdf. Also worth mentioning are the projects “Learning via Subtitling” (http://levis.cti.gr), whose main remit was the development of educational material for active foreign language-learning based on film subtitling, the more recent “ClipFlair” (www.clipflair.net), which provides a motivating, easily accessible application for foreign-language learning through revoicing (including dubbing, audio description, karaoke singing and reciting) and captioning (including subtitling and video annotations). 3. The title of the joint research project is “Subtitles and Language Learning”. The project is based on experiments carried out by colleagues of the following universities: Helsinki University, Finland; University of Turku, Finland; Hellenic Open University, Greece; Bar Ilan University, Israel; Vilniaus Universitetas, Lithuania; University of Pavia, Italy; Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Poznan, Poland; Universidade do Algarve (UALG), Portugal; University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Jaume I (UJI), Castelló, Spain. 4. Focus is a blog of the Unesco World Forum on Culture and Cultural industries. In 2011, the annual forum focussed on The E-book Economy, Author’s Right in the Digital Era and The Digital Library.

References Brett, Paul. 1998. “The rationale for the usefulness of multimedia for language learning”. Network 1(1): 11-16. Caimi, Annamaria. 2007. “Pedagogical insights for an experimental English language learning course based on subtitling”, in Anthony Baldry, Maria Pavesi, Carol Taylor Torsello and Christopher Taylor (eds) From Didactas to Ecolingua. Trieste: EUT, 61-68.

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—. 2006. “Audiovisual translation and language learning: the promotion of intralingual subtitles”. The Journal of Specialised Translation 6: 8598. www.jostrans.org/issue06/art_caimi.pdf —. 2005. “Subtitling in a cognitive perspective to encourage second language learning”, in John D. Sanderson (ed.) Research on Translation for Subtitling in Spain and Italy. Alicante: Universidad de Alicante, 6577. —. (ed.) 2002. Cinema: Paradiso delle Lingue. I sottotitoli nell’apprendimento linguistico, Rassegna Italiana di Linguistica Applicata (RILA), 1-2. Cavallero, Riccardo. 2011. “The digital revolution in the book publishing history”. Blog Focus, 1 June. http://focus2011.org/focus Dalton-Puffer, Christiane. 2007. Discourse in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Classrooms. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Danan, Martine. 2004. “Captioning and subtitling: undervalued language learning strategies” Meta 49(1): 67-77. —. 1992. “Reversed subtitling and dual coding theory: new directions for foreign language instruction”. Language Learning 42(4): 497–527. Díaz Cintas Jorge and Marco Fernández Cruz. 2008. “Using subtitled video materials for foreign language instruction”, in Jorge Díaz Cintas (ed.) The Didactics of Audiovisual Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 201-14. Díaz Cintas, Jorge and Aline Remael. 2007. Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling. Manchester: St Jerome. Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. 1979. The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. —. 1983. The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Flyvbjerg, Bent. 2011. “Case study”, in Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln (eds) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 301-16. Hennessey, Janis M. 1995. “Using foreign films to develop proficiency and to motivate the foreign language student”. Foreign Language Annals 28(1): 116-20. Hulstijn, Jan H. 2005. “Theoretical and empirical issues in the study of implicit and explicit second-language learning”. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 27: 129-40. King, Jane. 2002. “Using DVD feature film in the EFL classroom”. ELT Newsletter 88. www.eltnewsletter.com/back/February2002/art882002.htm

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Mariotti, Cristina. 2007. Interaction Strategies in English-medium Instruction. Milano: FrancoAngeli. —. 2002. “Dall’immagine al sottotitolo: strategie d’uso dei materiali audiovisivi nell’insegnamento dell’inglese L2”. Rassegna Italiana di Linguistica Applicata (RILA), 1-2: 207-13. Pavesi, Maria. 2002. “Per una didattica naturale: strategie discorsive nell’insegnamento integrato di lingua e contenuti”, in Fabrizio Maggi, Cristina Mariotti and Maria Pavesi (eds) Lingue straniere veicolo di apprendimento. Como: Ibis, 47-64. Pavesi, Maria, Daniela Bertocchi, Marie Hofmannová and Monkia Kazianka (eds) 2001. Insegnare in una lingua straniera. Guida per gli insegnanti e le scuole all’uso delle lingue straniere nell’insegnamento delle discipline. Milan: MIUR, Direzione Generale della Lombardia. Paivio, Allan. 1991a. Images in Mind: The Evolution of a Theory. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf. —. 1991b. “Dual coding theory: retrospect and current status”. Canadian Journal of Psychology 45: 255-87. Perego, Elisa and Maria Pavesi. 2007. “Subtitles and audiovisual genres for the language learner”. Rassegna Italiana di Linguistica Applicata 39: 147-66. Reiser, Robert A. and John V. Dempsey (eds) 2007. Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology, 2nd ed. Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Sadoski, Mark and Allan Paivio. 2001. Imagery and Text. A Dual Coding Theory of Reading and Writing. Mahwah NJ: LEA Publishers. Santiago Araújo, Vera L. 2008. “The educational use of subtitled films in EFL teaching”, in Jorge Díaz Cintas (ed.) The Didactics of Audiovisual Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 227-38. Talaván Zanón, Noa. 2006. “Using subtitles to enhance foreign language learning”. Porta Linguarum 6: 41-52. Vanderplanck, Robert. 2010. “Déjà vu? A decade of research on language laboratories, Television and video in language learning”. Language Teaching 43(1): 1-37. —. 1988. “The value of teletext subtitles in language learning”. ELT Journal 42(4): 272-81. Wode, Henning. 1999. “Incidental vocabulary acquisition in the foreign language classroom”. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 21(1): 243-58.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN HOW USEFUL ARE TELEVISION SUBTITLES IN HELPING DEAF CHILDREN TO INTERPRET CARTOON PROGRAMMES? CRISTINA CAMBRA, UNIVERSITY AUTÒNOMA DE BARCELONA, SPAIN

NÚRIA SILVESTRE UNIVERSITY AUTÒNOMA DE BARCELONA, SPAIN

AND AURORA LEAL UNIVERSITY AUTÒNOMA DE BARCELONA, SPAIN

Abstract Since the beginning of captioning service in Spain, the number of television programmes with subtitles has gradually increased representing a great step forward in the breaking down of communicative barriers that deaf and hard-ofhearing people experience in accessing culture, information, and entertainment. Watching TV is a complex activity because the viewer must pay attention to concurrent visual stimulus (images and subtitles) and auditory information (oral language, sound and music effects). Since 2003, members of the GISTAL Research Centre, at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, have been interested in exploring what deaf children understand when watching television with subtitles: do subtitles guarantee the comprehension of the televised message? Do deaf children have time to read the subtitles and interpret the images with all its significance at the same time? In this chapter, we analyse the interpretation of a Shin-Chan cartoon by prelingually deaf pupils, aged between six and ten years, who use oral language to communicate. After watching the cartoon with TV subtitles in Catalan, they were asked to explain what happened in the story. The results show that they had difficulties to interpret some of the sequences in the story, not only because of their reading skills, but also because of the speed at which subtitles were presented. New criteria based on subtitling only the essential information of the narrative that cannot be deduced from the images are suggested for the effective interpretation of the cartoon message. The adaptations were

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carried out in another study with success as they helped deaf children to better understand the meaning of the cartoon.

1. Introduction1 Subtitling is a necessary tool for deaf people to understand messages in situations in which the communicative conditions do not fit deaf viewers’ reception possibilities, such as lectures, loudspeaker announcements, etc. In the case of messages that combine verbal and visual information, such as audiovisuals, subtitles pose a special challenge since they demand quick reading in order for viewers to be able to process both kinds of information. One of the main conditions expected from the audience for the effective use of subtitling is that they have good reading comprehension and reading speed skills. In this sense, children who are in the process of learning how to read and write are the group that often encounters most difficulties when reading and understanding television programmes. By the time hearing students learn how to read at school, they are already competent in the oral language needed to understand thousands of words and are also familiar with most of the sentences that can be constructed with them. Their knowledge of the oral language helps them learn the written language because they already know the meaning of most words when they hear them; that is, they already have the acoustic picture that activates the meaning. However, for deaf children, learning how to read entails discovering a language that they have not fully mastered.

1.1 Deaf children’s reading One of the reasons why deaf children have reading problems is their insufficient mastery of the oral language. Despite the fact that advances in prosthetics have made better access to oral language possible, deafness prevents the oral language from being learnt naturally, and it instead requires systematic language learning. This means that even today, many deaf students begin to learn to read at a disadvantage compared to their hearing classmates of the same age, since they start with different levels of the oral language. Nothing prevents a deaf child from learning the language mechanically, but this requires a mastery of the language made possible by using phonological codes, exercising short-term memory, gaining encyclopaedic information on the world, being able to make inferences, and having extensive reading practice.

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Some of the studies carried out on reading reveal the reading challenges faced by deaf persons (Williams 2004; Fung et al. 2005). In 1984, the studies by Quigley & Paul noted that the average reading levels in deaf students when they finished school, at approximately sixteen years of age, was no higher than the level achieved by hearing students aged nine to ten. In a previous study Conrad (1979) had found that deaf persons with a high degree of auditory loss remained at a reading level equivalent to ages eight to nine, and their reading comprehension corresponded to that of a hearing person aged six to seven. Only 5% of the sample in his study (18 of the 355 deaf persons evaluated in the UK) managed to achieve a reading level equivalent to their chronological age. In general, only 10% of deaf people over the age of eighteen have managed to achieve a functional reading level (Di Francesca 1972, Conrad 1979). In Spain, the results were quite similar. Asensio (1989) explored 106 deaf students in their eighth year of primary school and concluded that, by the end of primary school, the average deaf student had a reading level no higher than that of a nine-year-old child. Asensio also noted that while hearing students progressed significantly from one year to the next, deaf students progressed more slowly. Digital hearing aids and cochlear implants have helped users to achieve language perception performance levels that would have been unheard of in the past, and they have even yielded improvements in reading skills, as indicated by Geers (2003) in a study of 181 deaf children aged eight and nine. Nonetheless, it is still too early to reach definitive conclusions about the impact of these tools in the users’ reading competence (Valero and Villalba 2004). Some of the reading difficulties encountered by deaf children include problems distinguishing the meaning of one word from another very familiar word with a similar graphic spelling (Luetke-Stahlman and Corcoran Nielsen 2003); the disparity in the vocabulary level with which students begin to read and write, which tends to be lower than their chronological age (Paul 2001); and the difficulties in using a word that they have learned in one given context in different contexts (LuetkeStahlman 1998, Fagan and Pisoni, 2009).

1.2 Subtitling in television programmes In Spain, subtitling for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing (SDH) began in the 1990s, although it was not evenly spread among all the television channels. To harmonise the subtitling offered by the different television channels, in 2003 norm UNE 153010 was drafted by AENOR, which

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stipulates quality requirements for subtitling. These guidelines meant a step forward not only because they outline quality minimums and suggest ways of presenting the subtitles on screen, but also because they reinforce the idea that familiarity with the way in which subtitles are presented helps viewers to read them more easily and effectively and can thus contribute to their having more time to look at the pictures. Some of the criteria for presenting subtitles mentioned in the UNE norm deal with the combinations of colours that are the most legible and tire the eyes the least; the space that the subtitles should occupy and their placement when there are potential clashes with important visual information; the adherence to basic grammatical rules, which prevent logical units of discourse from being split; the time that subtitles need to be shown, i.e. the number of words per minute (wpm) or characters per second (cps); the synchronisation between vocalisation and subtitles; the way of presenting information on the identity and emotional states of the speakers; and the advice that subtitles should be literal whenever possible. Several studies have been conducted to analyse subtitling conditions (Díaz Cintas 2007, Zárate 2008). One of the most studied questions is the speed at which subtitles appear on screen (Jensema 1998, Kirkland 1999, Tyler et al. 2009) and some studies have shown that the programmes with the quickest subtitles are debates, news and television series, while those with the slowest subtitles are sports and children’s programmes. According to Jensema et al. (2000), reading subtitles is a priority activity which dominates eye movements, while watching the action becomes a secondary activity. In this sense, Jensema et al. (ibid.) calculate that 84% percent of the time is invested in reading subtitles, while only 14% is spent looking at the pictures. The authors stress that the percentage of time used to read the subtitles is practically invariable when the speed at which they are shown changes. In this sense, when caption speed increased from the slowest speed (100 wpm) to fastest speed (180 wpm), mean percentage of time spent gazing at subtitles increased only from 82% to 86%. Another factor in subtitling that has been studied in depth is viewers’ preferences regarding the formal presentation of subtitles: font size and type, colours, placement on the screen. Kirkland (1999) compares the preferences in how subtitles are presented between two groups of deaf people: one made up of 98 students and another of 109 adults. The results indicate that there are differences between the two groups. The students preferred Helvetica as the font shown in white over a semi-transparent or totally transparent background located next to the speaker, while the adults preferred Times New Roman presented over a dark background and placed in the middle of the screen. A similar analysis is being conducted

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nowadays with the aim of looking into the presentation of subtitles on screen (Muller 2011).

2. Objectives In addition to the way subtitles are presented, we should also bear in mind that deaf users’ reading skills are another variable that determines their comprehension of the television programmes. To ascertain this point, two consecutive studies were conducted bearing both factors in mind, i.e. the formal characteristics of the subtitles and the viewers’ reading skills. Each study lasted one year, and their overarching goal was to explore deaf participants’ interpretation of subtitled programmes and, depending on the results, to recommend new subtitling criteria and to check their effectiveness. For these studies, the age bracket in which children learn to read and write, i.e. six to ten, was chosen to guarantee a homogeneous population in terms of the period in which they learn the written language and to match the possible educational implications to this period. The specific objectives of the first study were: 1. To explore deaf children’s interpretation of a subtitled children’s television programme bearing in mind the contribution of both pictures and verbal information. 2. To analyse the kinds of difficulties that arise in a subtitled children’s programme. 3. To assess the influence of reading competence on the reception of the information. 4. To consequently define subtitling criteria which may facilitate access to subtitled programmes. The objectives of the second study were: 1. To apply the subtitling criteria defined in the preceding study to a children’s television programme. 2. To analyse the children’s interpretation of the programme subtitled according to the new criteria, assessing the role of the pictures and subtitles. 3. To assess the influence of reading competence on the reception of the information.

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3. Methodology In this section we present the participants that took part in both studies, the instruments that were used to collect the data and the procedure followed to gather and analyse the data.

3.1 Participants The participating in both studies shared the following common characteristics: -

Prelingually deaf. Born into hearing families. Used oral language to communicate. Their auditory age, i.e. the time they had been wearing a cochlear implant or hearing aid, was over 2 years. Their hearing enhancement with the prosthesis, whether hearing aid or cochlear implant, was between 20 and 52 decibels (dB). Mainstreamed into schools with hearing classmates and their schooling was based on oral input. Received individualised attention from a speech therapist at school. Did not have any other associated disabilities.

In the first study, there were six children (three girls and three boys) of the age of six and seven, and they were in the first or second year of primary school. Sixteen children (eight girls and eight boys) aged seven to ten participated in the second study and they were in the second, the third or the fourth year of primary school. Choosing different participants in both studies enabled us to eliminate the effect of historical memory which could have arisen had we used the same sample of subjects.

3.2 Instruments The same instruments were used in both studies. On the one hand, two tests to assess the participants’ reading competence, a reading comprehension test and a reading speed test, as these may influence the degree of accessibility to the programme content (Jelinek and Jackson 2001). On the other hand, an audiovisual programme which in the first study was watched with the television subtitles in Catalan and in the second study was watched with the new subtitles, also in Catalan, designed specifically for deaf children according to the results obtained in the first study.

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3.2.1 Reading comprehension test The reading comprehension test was taken from Canals (1989) and was basically selected because it is the standard in Spain. The test is made up of five comprehension subtests corresponding to each year of primary school, from first to fifth year. These subtests contain exercises which require the participants to put sentences into the correct order, carry out orders, or answer questions after reading a short text. Each participant was administered the subtest that corresponded to their year at school, and if they did not pass it they were administered the subtest from the previous year until they managed to pass it and their reading comprehension level was determined.

3.2.2 Reading speed test Children’s level of reading speed was evaluated using the test for reading speed (Canals, 1989), which consists of reading an excerpt from a text at the level of each participant’s year at school for one minute and counting the number of words read. In order to assess the results, as indicated in the test, children in the first year of primary school should be able to read an average of 40 wpm, children in their second year 62 wpm, children in their third year 85 wpm, and children in their fourth year should be able to read 100 wpm.

3.2.3 Audiovisual programme A film was produced by selecting short fragments from the TV subtitled Shin-Chan cartoon series. When editing the material, consideration was given to the need for the story to maintain a narrative structure. The final clip lasts three minutes and consists of the following sequences: introduction, intention, conflict, emotional response and final consequence. The story tells how Shin-Chan and two friends go to the woods to catch insects, but they cannot catch any because Shin-Chan is actually eating the honey they are using to catch them. This leads his friends to get seriously annoyed, and they have to go back home. The very same clip was used in both studies, with only the subtitles changing. In the first study, the subtitles were left exactly as they appeared on television. The average speed of the subtitles for the TV cartoon was 96 wpm, while in the second study with the newly design subtitles, the reading speed was down to 53 wpm.

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3.3 Procedure All tests were administered individually at the deaf children’s school. The tests to evaluate their reading competence followed the rules of administration and correction indicated on the test. As mentioned above, in the first study the clip was watched with the same subtitles as those shown on the television broadcast, while the second study used new subtitles designed specifically to facilitate the understanding of the programme. In both studies, after seeing the audiovisual material with subtitles, the participants were asked to orally explain the story they had seen. The oral content of what the participants recounted was first transcribed and then analysed qualitatively in accordance with criteria for analysing narrative discourse. This was done by focusing on whether narrative coherence was maintained and looking at which sequences were retained from the discourse.

4. Results The results are presented following the sequencing of the two studies: first we shall present the results of the participants’ reading competence in the first study (reading comprehension and reading speed) and their understanding of the subtitled television cartoon, and then we shall recommend some new subtitling criteria. Finally, we shall share the results of the participants’ reading competence in the second study as well as the results observed after applying the new subtitling criteria in the story of the Shin-Chan cartoon.

FIRST STUDY 4.1 Reading comprehension and reading speed The most significant data observed was that none of the deaf pupils in the first year of primary school passed the level of reading comprehension they should have and only two second-year pupils passed the test satisfactorily. This low level of reading comprehension would explain why, although the participants can probably read some isolated words, they were unable to get a good understanding of the story. The results of the reading speed test followed the same trend. Given that according to the reading speed test first-year primary pupils should be able to read a text at a speed of 40 wpm and second-year pupils at 62 wpm, the levels of reading speed obtained, as can be observed in Table 1, do not

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correspond to the required level for each year. As in the previous case, not a single first-year primary pupil reached the average number of words per minute they were expected to be able to read, and only one of the secondyear pupils reached the required speed satisfactorily, while another reached the level corresponding to a first-year pupil. As the TV subtitles used in the study required a minimum reading speed of 96 wpm, only one second-year participant was able to attain this reading speed. Table 1: Reading comprehension and reading speed results Participant Grade 1 2 3 4 5 6

1st 1st 1st 2nd 2nd 2nd

Reading Comprehension Level 0 0 0 2nd 0 2nd

Reading Speed Level 0 0 0 2nd 0 1st

14 wpm 24 wpm 18 wpm 99 wpm 19 wpm 51 wpm

4.2 Interpretation of the Shin-Chan cartoon with TV subtitles The oral explanations given after watching the Shin-Chan cartoon with TV subtitles were analysed, taking into account the presence or omission of each of the sequences in the narrative story. Figure 1 shows the results: Figure 1: Sequences included in oral explanations by deaf children when viewing the Shin-Chan cartoon with TV subtitles 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Int r o d uct io n

I nt ent io n

C o nf lict

Emo t io nal r esp o nse

C o nseq uence

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As can be observed, the introduction to the story, which is where the characters are introduced, is the only sequence included by all of the participants. The intention, which describes the characters’ action plans, is one of the most important sequences of any story; in this clip, the characters want to go to the forest to catch insects. In the specific case of the Shin-Chan story, this information can be obtained not only from verbal information (oral or written in the subtitles) but it can also be deduced from visual information since the characters can be seen on screen with insect nets hanging from their shoulders. Nevertheless, none of the deaf primary school children in the first study used either of these sources of information to explain what they had seen in the clip. The fact that insect nets are not an item with which the participants are familiar may have influenced these results. The conflict of the story, i.e. Shin-Chan eating all of the honey brought to attract the insects, was difficult for these deaf pupils to understand as it involved understanding verbal content by means of either auditory discrimination or reading the subtitles. The general tendency of the participants was to describe the action without mentioning its consequences. Oftentimes, the conflict raises a series of internal reactions in the characters (feelings, thoughts and emotions) which are basically manifested through facial and bodily expressions as well as through the intonation of verbal utterances. These cues can be easily inferred primarily from the picture and auditory discrimination; however, as can be observed in Figure 1, the deaf participants paid little attention to the characters’ emotional states. The final consequence of the story, i.e. that the children were not able to catch insects because they had no honey, is another of the sequences which the pupils found difficult to understand, perhaps because in the Shin-Chan story the information is only conveyed verbally. To sum up, it is clear that the results show the deaf participants’ difficulties understanding the cartoons, even if subtitles are shown. Arguably, the simultaneity of information coming from both verbal and visual stimuli overly diversifies their attention on the screen, making it difficult for them to understand the story.

4.3 New criteria for subtitling cartoons The results of the first study clearly demonstrated that subtitling does not automatically guarantee total understanding of the message. Given this situation, new captioning criteria should be introduced which would take into account deaf children’s reading skills and the need to combine

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pictures and language for effective reception of the television message. Specifically, the recommendations, based on these results, are the following: a) The average reading speed of the subtitles must be lowered. Given that the participants in the study are at the early stages of learning how to read and write, and that reading is not yet automatic for them, certain contents should be prioritised over others, as explained in section (d) below. b) It is important not to change the linguistic complexity of the verbal content (Power and Leigh 2000); hence, the reduction of words in the subtitles should not compromise the morphosyntactic structure of the original sentences. c) Whenever possible, subtitles ought to be kept on screen for as long as possible in order to give viewers more time to read them. d) The sequences with oral information that cannot be deduced from the pictures should be subtitled with the least of reductions in order to preserve the storyline. In the Shin-Chan clip, for example, we saw that the intention, the conflict and the end of the story have to be subtitled. In contrast, when the pictures are explicit enough, such as in the emotional states of the characters, subtitles can afford to be heavily reduced as the viewers can interpret the story via the pictures.

SECOND STUDY 4.4 Reading comprehension and reading speed The results of the participants in the second study in both tests are shown in Table 2: Table 2: Reading comprehension and reading speed results Participant

Grade

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 3rd

Reading Comprehension Level 2nd 1st 1st 2nd 2nd 1st 2nd

Reading Speed Level 4th 0 1st 1st 1st 1st 2nd

109 wpm 38 wpm 42 wpm 41 wpm 61 wpm 51 wpm 75 wpm

How Useful Are Television Subtitles in Helping Deaf Children? 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

3rd 3rd 4th 4th 4th 4th 4th 4th 4th

1st 1st 1st 3rd 2nd 3rd 3rd 2nd 4th

0 1st 0 3rd 1st 2nd 4th 1st 0

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37 wpm 43 wpm 10 wpm 94 wpm 54 wpm 74 wpm 127 wpm 50 wpm 26 wpm

Regarding the results of the reading comprehension test, four deaf children achieved the reading comprehension level corresponding to their age. The remaining participants were at lower levels: seven were one grade lower and five were two grades lower than the grade that actually corresponded to their age group. The results of the reading speed test were equally unsatisfactory: only two children had a reading speed that matched what is expected of them in terms of the grade they are in. Precisely, these two subjects are the only ones who can read the subtitles at the speed required for the original version of the Shin-Chan television cartoon (96 wpm). The new subtitles of the Shin-Chan cartoon reduced the subtitling speed to 53 wpm, which is lower than the reading speed expected by second graders, but despite this drop in the number of words, the results of the test indicated that only seven participants from the sample benefitted from this approach and could read the subtitles in full.

4.5 Understanding of the Shin-Chan cartoon with the new subtitles The aforementioned subtitling criteria enabled us to drop from 96 to 53 wpm, an average reading speed that matches the level at which the participants in the second study should be able to read. Following the same approach as in the previous study, we analysed the absence or presence of each of the sequences in the Shin-Chan story based on the participants’ oral explanations after watching the video. The results are shown in Figure 2:

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Figure 2: Sequences included in oral explanations by deaf children when viewing the Shin-Chan cartoon with the new subtitles 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Introduction

Intention

Conflict

Emotional response Consequence

Regarding the understanding of the cartoon, the new subtitles designed to be easier to read and to leave time to also “‘read” the pictures did indeed improve some of the participants’ understanding of all the sequences in the clip. As can be seen in Figure 2, the intention of the characters which triggers the conflict in the story, two sequences with heavy verbal content that do not rely on the images, were included in the oral explanations by nine and eight participants, respectively. The final consequence of the story, however, remained difficult for the participants to interpret. One of the most significant results is the high number of references to the characters’ emotional responses, which the participants had virtually ignored in the preceding study. Eliminating the subtitles to focus attention on the pictures when the characters cried, or reducing the subtitles substantially when annoyance was clearly portrayed, as seen in Figure 3, most likely fostered the inclusion of the characters’ feelings and emotions into the participants’ oral discourse:

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Figure 3: Screenshots from Shin-Chan

5. Discussion First of all, we want to highlight that the sample of these two studies is not broad enough to generalise the results, although it is clear that both TV subtitles and the proposed new subtitles need to be improved. The two studies have allowed us to reflect on how subtitles are presented on screen and how they can affect deaf children’s understanding of the programmes. The first general conclusion that can be gleaned from both studies is that if done verbatim, subtitles are not an effective aid to deaf children. Two fundamental reasons converge and stand out: the reading comprehension levels and the reading speed of primary school-aged deaf children are insufficient to rise to the challenge of reading subtitles that appear on screen too fast, since this young viewers have not yet gained mastery of reading skills. The proposal to reduce the subtitles so that the deaf children can have more time for reading the text and for “reading” the pictures has proven to facilitate deaf children’s access to meaning. However, the creation of these new subtitles is no easy job for professional subtitlers since it means having to reflect on programme content prior to subtitling in order to determine which verbal content needs to be worked on and which verbal content can be guessed from the pictures and therefore does not require full subtitling. In any event, it is clear that deaf children are not yet ready to receive so many verbal and visual stimuli at the same time because their attention stops at various points in the clip where they search for meaning, and their overall comprehension of the message is affected in a negative way. In this sense, we have begun an experimental study which aims to undertake a

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controlled exploration of the children’s eye movements as they watch the images and subtitles on screen. The results could contribute to clarifying the amount of time deaf children spend looking at subtitles and the amount they spend looking at the pictures. The schools where deaf children are mainstreamed can also contribute to improving their reading of the subtitles and their comprehension of subtitled television programmes. In this vein, we would like to suggest two complementary lines of education which would be useful to all students. The first is including the use of television subtitles in the process of learning how to read so that deaf students get used to subtitles and these in turn become a common learning resource at schools. Along these lines, it would be worthwhile to reflect on the differences that set apart reading a text written on paper and one written on screen, where the words appear and disappear dynamically, beyond the readers control. It is clear that children, and especially deaf children, need to be trained in this kind of reading since it will become a daily routine when watching television and, from a research perspective, their screen-reading-competence needs to be investigated. Finally, the other educational challenge is learning how to “read the pictures” so that deaf children can make the most of the information provided by the various semiotic channels that make up the audiovisual programme.

Note 1. This study has been carried out thanks to the grants awarded to the authors by the Consell Audiovisual de Catalunya (CAC).

References AENOR. 2003. UNE 153010: Subtitulado para personas sordas y personas con discapacidad auditiva. Subtitulado a través del teletexto. Asensio, Mikel. 1989. Los procesos de lectura en los deficientes auditivos. PhD thesis. Madrid: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Cambra, Cristina, Aurora Leal and Nuria Silvestre. 2010. “Graphical representations of a television series: a study with deaf and hearing adolescents”. The Spanish Journal of Psychology 13(2): 763-74. Cambra, Cristina, Nuria Silvestre and Aurora Leal. 2009. “Comprehension of television messages by deaf students at various stages of education”. American Annals of the Deaf 153(5): 425-34. Cambra, Cristina, Nuria Silvestre and Aurora Leal. 2008. “Función de la subtitulación y la interpretación de la imagen en la comprensión de los

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mensajes televisivos: la comprensión de una serie por parte de los adolescentes sordos”. Cultura y Educación 20(1): 81-93. Canals, Ramón. 1989. Proves psicopedagògiques d’aprenentatges instrumentals. Barcelona: Onda. Conrad, Robert. 1979. The Deaf Schoolchild: Language and Cognitive Function. London: Harper and Row. Díaz Cintas, Jorge. 2007. “Por una preparación de calidad en accesibilidad audiovisual”. Trans. Revsita de Traductología 11: 45-59. Di Francesca, Sal. 1972. Academic Achievement Test Results of a National Testing Prosramme for Hearing-impaired Students. Washington, DC: Gallaudet College. Fagan, Mary and David Pisoni. 2009. “Hearing experience and receptive vocabulary development in deaf children with cochlear implants”. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 15(2): 149-61. Fung, Pan-Chung, Bonni Wing-Yin Chow and Catherine McBride-Chang. 2005. “The impact of a dialogic reading program on deaf and hard-ofhearing kindergarten and early primary school–aged students in Hong Kong”. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 10(1): 82-95. Geers, Ann. 2003. “Predictors of reading skill development in children with early cochlear implantation”. Ear & Hearing 24: 59-68. Jelinek, Margaret and Dorothy Jackson. 2001. “Television literacy: comprehension of program content using closed captions for the deaf”. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 6(1): 43-53. Jensema, Carl. 1998. “Viewer reaction to different television captioning speeds”. American Annals of the Deaf 143(4): 318-24. Jensema, Carl, Sameh El Sharkawy, Ramalinga.Sarma Danturthi.Robert Burch and David Hsu. 2000. “Eye movement patterns of captioned television viewers”. American Annals of the Deaf 145(5): 275-85. Kirkland, C.Eric. 1999. “Evaluation of captioning features to inform development of digital television captioning capabilities”. American Annals of the Deaf 144(3): 250-60. Luetke-Stahlman, Barbara. 1998. Language Issues in Deaf Education. Hillsboro: Butte Publications. Luetke-Stahlman, Barbara, and Diane Corcoran Nielsen. 2003. “The contribution of phonological awareness and receptive and expressive English to the reading ability of deaf students with varying degrees of exposure to accurate English”. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 8(4): 464-84. Muller, Tia. 2011. “Constructing quality in subtitling for the D/deaf and hard of hearing with audience reception”. Paper presented at 4th International Conference Media for All, London, 27-30 June.

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Paul, Peter. 2001. Language and Deafness. 3rd edition, San Diego: Singular Thomson Learning. Power, David and Greg Leigh. 2000. “Principles and practices of literacy development for deaf learners: a historical overview”. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 5(1): 3-8. Quigley, Stephen Patrick and Peter Paul. 1984. Language and Deafness. San Diego: College-Hill Press. Tyler, Michael. D., Caroline Jones, Leonid Grebennikov, Greg Leigh, William Noble and Denis Burnhams. 2009. “Effect of caption rate on the comprehension of educational television programmes by deaf school students”. Deafness and Education International 11(3): 152-62. Valero, Jesús and Antonio Villalba. 2004. “Resultados de los avances tecnológicos en la atención al niño sordo”, in FIAPAS (ed.) Manual básico de formación especializada sobre discapacidad auditiva. Madrid: FIAPAS, 121-38. Williams, Cheri. 2004. “Emergent literacy of deaf children”. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 9(4): 352-65. Zárate, Soledad. 2008. “Subtiling for deaf children on British television”. The Sign Language Translator and Interpreter 2(1): 15-34.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN OPERA (SUR)TITLES FOR THE DEAF AND THE HARD-OF-HEARING SARAH EARDLEY-WEAVER QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY, BELFAST, UK

Abstract Media accessibility for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing is a mounting concern in a society which rates social inclusion increasingly highly, as also reflected in UK and European legislation. The numbers of deaf and hard-of-hearing people worldwide are rising as more people are living into old age, and the requirements of this growing minority group are gradually becoming more recognised within various audiovisual media such as television, film and opera which share numerous transferable concepts of access. Indeed, opera is becoming an increasingly accessible art form for a diverse audience including the deaf and the hard-ofhearing. Surtitles play an important role in this path towards inclusiveness, but for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing they only provide restricted access to the various aspects of opera. In this paper some of the limits for a deaf and hard-of-hearing audience of current conventional surtitling practices in the UK will be examined within the context of specific Opera North, English National Opera and Royal Opera House productions. Furthermore, possibilities for adapting surtitles in order to render them more accessible to the deaf and the hard-of-hearing will be explored, with some comparison with both current and potential practices in subtitling for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing in film and television.

1. Introduction Surtitles have largely paved the way in the path towards opera accessibility for all, progressing alongside legislation such as the “Disability Discrimination Act 2005” (Great Britain Parliament 2005), amending the 1995 Act, and the European “Audiovisual Media Services Directive” (European Parliament 2010), renaming and amending the 1989 “Television Without Frontiers” directive. Surtitles emerged thanks to technological advances in order to respond to a “reception need” (Mateo

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2008: 136) as viewers developed an increasing desire to understand the text of the opera, and they continue to allow wider audiences to enjoy access to this multisemiotic art form. Whilst causing substantial controversy when introduced to opera houses in the 1980s (Burton 2009: 58-62, Low 2002: 97-98,109), surtitles have had a significant impact on the expectations of the audience towards opera accessibility and led to the development of further opera translation services for audiences with differing visual and hearing ability (Orero and Matamala 2007: 264-5, Burton 2009: 62). As audience attitudes towards surtitles and approaches to viewing opera have changed (Mateo 2007: 178, Burton 2009: 61), the types of translation provided by surtitles have evolved to include both interlingual and intralingual transfer. In this paper the next possible phase in this diversification to incorporate intersemiotic translation will be explored, focusing on the translator’s role in the reception of opera by a deaf and hard-of-hearing (henceforth DH) audience. Firstly, some of the restrictions of conventional surtitling practices in the UK for the DH will be discussed, considering the notion of access to the opera experience as a whole. Issues such as the portrayal of repeated words or phrases, additional audio aspects including sound effects and musical elements, language variation and character identification will be explored. The positioning of the titles and modes of delivery will also be investigated, taking into account the challenge of accommodating the varying requirements of both the hearing and the DH audience. Secondly, bearing in mind the aforementioned issues, possible methods to render surtitles more accessible to the DH will be examined, focusing in particular on the representation of audio elements which provoke an audience response, such as humorous aspects. Comparisons will be made throughout with subtitles for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing (henceforth SDH) in film and television, and with the methods adopted by the UK registered charity, Stagetext, “which provides captioning and live speechto-text services to theatres and other arts venues to make their activities accessible to people who are deaf, deafened or hard-of-hearing” (Stagetext, n.d.) Stagetext’s services differ from current standard surtitling facilities offered in UK opera houses which are not targeted specifically at the DH and are mostly provided by in-house surtitlers (Palmer 2012; Mateo 2007: 172-173). This paper will concentrate on live performance of opera but will also provide some comment on the transferability of the access concepts to other contexts and media. Finally, the overall feasibility of providing opera titles which are specifically targeted at the DH will be considered, and the question of resistance to such a development will be raised.

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2. Terminology Before starting this investigation proper, it is important to briefly clarify a terminological issue. At present, within the context of live opera, it is most common to use the term “surtitles” referring to translated text “displayed above the stage” (Burton 2009: 58). However, in this paper, for the purpose of terminological consistency, from now on, the term “titles” will be used as an umbrella term to denote all titles displayed during a live performance, irrespective of their positioning, because at present, titles shown in opera houses take a number of forms and can be displayed in different positions around the stage as well as on separate individual screens (Freddi and Luraghi 2011: 55). At Nottingham Theatre Royal, for example, the titles for Opera North’s productions are sometimes shown on screens at the sides of the stage, as seen in Picture 1:

Picture 1: Side titles screen during a performance of Opera North’s production of Carmen (24 May 2011), with sign language interpreter Mary Connell. Photo courtesy of Opera North

At the Royal Opera House (ROH) in Covent Garden and other international venues, such as the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where the seatback system was first introduced in 1994 (Palmer 2012: 21), in addition to the main titles screen, seatback screens display the opera titles. The issues surrounding the positioning of titles screens in relation to the stage and other visual

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elements (such as a sign language interpreter) will be raised later in this paper, considering the varying requirements of different audience members.

3. Limits of current standard opera titles Opera titles in their current standard form in the UK can fulfil a similar function for some DH patrons to that for hearing audiences by assisting access to the text of the opera. Although primarily addressed to hearing audiences, titles, both as interlingual and intralingual translation, can to some extent be a useful resource for some DH audience members in terms of comprehension of the language, the plot and other linguistic elements. However, there are some characteristics of conventional opera titles which are not suited to the DH and which can hinder “the full reception of the opera” by these patrons (Orero and Matamala 2007: 274). For some DH patrons whose first or preferred language is sign language, reading titles can be a difficult and tiring experience, and therefore their use is limited. Indeed, whilst titles are a valuable provision, they do not address all the needs of the entire DH community in order to allow as comprehensive access as possible to the complete opera experience. Although only a relatively small proportion, estimated at 50,000 people, of the total number of more than ten million people in the UK affected by hearing loss, use British Sign Language as their first or preferred language (Action on Hearing Loss, n.d.), the provision of an alternative translation service, in the form of sign interpreted performances, is vital to ensure opera accessibility for all. For this group of the deaf community, having to read titles in order to be able to access the opera text may detract from their enjoyment of the experience or even prevent access if they have reading difficulties. In addition, sign language interpreters often convey paralinguistic elements, such as providing a feel for the rhythm and mood of the music in their bodily movements, by swaying to the beat for example, which is not communicated in conventional opera titles. This lack of communication of paralinguistic elements in opera titles in their current standard format is one of their main limitations in terms of access. DH patrons who are not sign language users rely on the titles for access to the audio aspects of the opera, but as standard opera titles are not specifically targeted at the DH, they arguably do not provide sufficient access to the audio aspects of the opera experience as a whole for this group. SDH for film and television, as Díaz Cintas and Anderman (2009: 5) summarise, “incorporate all paralinguistic information that contributes to the development of the plot or to the creation of atmosphere, which a

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deaf person cannot access from the soundtrack e.g. a telephone ringing, laughter, applause, a knock on the door, and the like”. However, in opera at present, titles do not include such details, and are reserved for communicating the text of the opera whether as an interlingual or intralingual translation. Similarly to films, the paralinguistic elements in opera include, amongst others, sound effects and musical features. Additionally in a live opera performance, audio elements of the opera experience as a whole, such as auditorium announcements, might also require consideration.

3.1 Auditorium announcements At present in the UK, standard opera titles rarely indicate auditorium announcements such as safety instructions, or pre-show and interval notices. Although some of this information may be included in the programme, DH patrons may not have independent access to audio communications conveying these details and last-minute messages. For example, at the English National Opera (ENO) performance of Don Giovanni on 17 November 2010, a spoken announcement was made from the stage before the start of the performance informing that the actress designated in the programme as playing the part of Donna Elvira was not able to perform at the last minute and naming her replacement. This information would not have been received by most DH spectators, especially those seated too far from the stage to be able to lip-read, as it was not included in the titles or any other visual format. Although not crucial to the understanding or enjoyment of the opera, the lack of communication of these details in standard opera titles can be frustrating and demeaning for the DH, who may be dissuaded from attending opera because they feel excluded from the opera experience as a whole.

3.2 Sound effects For DH opera patrons, the lack of indication in opera titles of sound effects, especially those which are not accompanied by visual action implying a sound, may not only detract from their enjoyment of sharing the entire opera experience concurrently with other hearing audience members, but it may also impair their comprehension of the opera, as some sounds, for example an offstage gunshot, may be crucial to the plot. It is important to consider sound effects produced by paralinguistic elements, linguistic features or a combination of both, such as sung words, because if not replicated in the titles, their impact may be lost on DH

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patrons. For instance, in Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, in the duet between Papagena and Papageno, these two characters repeatedly exchange the syllable “Pa”, stuttering and resembling bird calls. In current standard titles the “Pa...Pa...Pa” and so on is generally not indicated because for a hearing audience this could be distracting. However, for DH patrons, the effect produced by the sound could be lost if not translated visually in the titles. It has also been argued that for hearing audiences in some cases titles go against the composer’s or librettist’s intentions because certain words or musical compositions have been chosen for their phonic effect rather than their meaning and therefore the words are not supposed to be heard. For example, David Syrus, Head of Music Staff at the ROH has stated, with reference to the storm scenes in Britten’s Billy Budd, written and sung in English, that “the words are not intended to be heard and that it is the alliterative sounds they make that create the required atmosphere rather than the meaning of the words” (Palmer 2012: 29). However, although this might apply for most hearing audience members, for DH patrons who cannot hear the effect produced by the audio aspects, the visual representation of the words in the titles may be vital to their reception of the composer’s intended impact. Interestingly, this may also be the case for some hearing audience members who are essentially “deaf” to certain audio aspects because they are seated in an area of the theatre where acoustics are poor, or in other circumstances because the sung language of the opera is not their mothertongue, as highlighted by Palmer (2012: 29) in an argument for intralingual titles. Other factors which may reduce audio access to the words for both hearing and hard-of-hearing patrons, whether or not in synchrony with the composer’s or librettist’s intentions, may also need to be compensated for in the titles in order to communicate important details of the plot or to create the desired acoustic impact. These factors include inaudibility of words sung in particularly high or low registers or in certain parts of a singer’s range where articulation is reduced or during passages with loud orchestral accompaniment. This issue highlights the complexity of the translator’s task in making translation decisions affected by compositional intentions that are open to many interpretations and in responding to altered audience expectations. It might be suggested that current audiences tend to expect more comprehensive access to the various aspects of the opera than previously and wish “to understand the verbal text at the same time as they receive the music” (Mateo 2008: 137) as well as the other semiotic stimuli which engage the various channels of communication. Indeed, this inclination and greater desire in the audience

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to comprehend the text, one of the reasons for which opera titles were originally invented (Desblache 2008: 163), has arguably been encouraged by the introduction of this mode of translation, as audiences have become accustomed to understanding more whilst also simultaneously receiving the various audio and onstage visual aspects of the opera. Therefore, the lack of communication in conventional opera titles of audio aspects which are inaccessible to certain audience members, whether deaf, hard-ofhearing or hearing, may become an increasingly limiting aspect. Furthermore, as “our traditional media are giving way to a completely different generation of multimedial gadgets” (Neves 2008: 139) and, in general, there is increased exposure to a more multisemiotic environment, raised expectations from all members of the public for multisemiotic, inclusive and interactive modes of entertainment may demand a different approach to opera accessibility which includes all, rather than providing special access to certain patrons with specific requirements.

3.3 Language variation Another audio linguistic element which is rarely indicated in standard opera titles, and whose portrayal in the titles could also arguably be of benefit to hearing as well as DH audiences, is language variation. This issue is more significant in modern opera or modern adaptations of classic opera where both dialectal, defined as variety “according to the user”, and diatypic, defined as variety “according to the use” (Halliday 1978: 35, 110), varieties may be used for effect. For instance, certain characters in an opera, such as Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, might sing or speak with a different social dialect for purposes of characterisation, or differing geographical dialects might be adopted in sung translations to indicate the origins of the characters as well as for comic effect. For example, in Opera North’s production of Léhar’s operetta The Merry Widow, performed 16 October 2010 – 4 March 2011 and sung in English translation, the French characters assumed a comical French accent, dropping the letter “h” off the beginnings of words and pronouncing “th” as “z” in an exaggerated manner. Currently in opera titles, rather than reflecting language varieties such as these, standardised versions in written form are generally used. The tendency in opera titles to employ methods of standardisation or neutralisation is also present in subtitles for film or television as most subtitling guidelines state that standard language must be used (Taylor 2006: 39) due in part to their “regimented written form” (Díaz Cintas and Remael 2007: 185). However, in film and television subtitling, as Mason (2001: 21) notes, this trend seems to be changing and techniques,

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especially in SDH, are becoming more flexible, marking language variation with the use of brackets, colour-coding or italics, as advocated by Bartoll (2006: 5). For example, in the film Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis (2008) directed by Dany Boon, the French SDH indicate the Southern French accent of a Provençal uncle character by the use of brackets, “(Accent du Sud)”. In the English subtitles, another technique of adapting “the spelling of the target language” (Díaz Cintas and Remael 2007: 194) is used to convey the distinctive accent of the Ch’tis regiolect in order to replicate its comic function replacing “s” with “sh”. These techniques compensate for the loss of meaning incurred as a result of the fact that the non-French speaking audience is essentially “deaf” to the difference in pronunciation. Although language variation is less common in opera than in film, for a DH audience, and perhaps also for hearing patrons in some cases, it is important to consider conveying these nuances in the titles, particularly as the use of a certain language variety in opera is most likely to be deliberate and therefore to have a specific diegetic function. Another example of language variation in opera which may be used to create an impact on the audience is “emotionally charged language” (Díaz Cintas and Remael 2007: 195). Given that the emotional impact of linguistic elements, such as obscene language, differs according to the mode of delivery, this is a delicate issue in the transfer from spoken or sung lyrics to written titles, especially within the context of a live performance. In standard titles, Burton (2009: 65) gives the advice “slang, expletives and colourful language should be treated with care”, suggesting neutral alternatives are sometimes preferable. However, for the DH, it might be considered necessary to include the sung or spoken expletives in full in the titles, however shocking they might be, especially if the opera is sung in the vernacular, so that these patrons receive as similar as possible an impact as the hearing audience. Interestingly, in the ROH performances (17 February – 4 March 2011) of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Anna Nicole, sung in English, due to the large quantity of obscene language in the libretto, the production staff discussed whether titles should only be displayed on the seatback screens and not on the main screen in order to avoid undue offence (personal communication from Judi Palmer). In the end, titles, including all the obscenities as sung, were shown on the main screen as well as the individual smaller screens, although in their television broadcast the BBC used asterisks for certain words.

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3.4 Repetition, space and time constraints The topic of repetition in opera titles also deserves some attention as it can be a point of contention for DH audiences. It is interesting to note that repeats and paralinguistic information which are not normally indicated in titles are often communicated in opera sign language interpreting. For example, when interviewed on 21 November 2011, Wendy Ebsworth, sign language interpreter at the ROH amongst other venues, said that she always shows repetition stating “if there is someone singing, I’m signing” (personal communication). However, DH patrons who are not sign language users rely primarily on the titles for information on audio features of the opera, including repeats. In UK opera houses, repeats are usually omitted following an overall aim of unobtrusiveness (Burton 2009: 62-63, Palmer 2012: 32) which, as Palmer (2012: 32) highlights, is “in contrast to the current style used extensively on the continent, whereby everything is titled”. For hearing audiences this extra text might be considered distracting, but omissions can be frustrating and confusing for the DH who may feel as if they are missing out on something, as they can see an actor singing but no titles to explain this. Furthermore, repeated phrases may also be used for phonic effect, which the DH may not be able to receive unless indicated in the titles. The space constraints on currently available opera house titles screens often determine reductions in words in the form of condensation or omissions. It would seem that the typical number of characters per caption is increasing as Low (2002: 103) states a “maximum of 2 lines per title and 32 characters per line”, whereas Palmer (2012: 21) writes more recently that surtitles “consist of one or two lines (no more), with a maximum of 33-39 characters per line”. Some opera companies, such as Opera North, use side screens which display the titles over a greater number of lines but with fewer words per line, as shown in Picture 1. Nevertheless, whether spread over 2 lines or 5 lines, the number of characters per caption still leaves little room for repeats or the inclusion of additional verbal paralinguistic information. The limited time frame in which each title can be displayed, dictated by each individual performance and music, can also prove a constraint; an issue which along with the varying reading speeds of different audience members, including the hearing and DH, requires further research. The amount of time that a title can be displayed and its reception by different patrons may also be affected by the positioning of the titles. For instance, if the titles are placed in a position which requires less head and/or eye movement from the stage to the titles screen and vice versa, it might be

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argued that the title could be displayed for fractionally longer in order to allow more time to communicate the additional details for the DH. For example, the titles on the seatback screens in the orchestra stalls area at the Gran Teatre del Liceu are placed at the bottom of seats of the row in front and are therefore relatively low in comparison to the stage. This positioning may allow a shorter time frame to display the titles than on the new individual titles screens in the stalls circle at the ROH, which hang down from the upper level so that they are just above the line of view to the stage. However, this topic requires further research to establish the feasibility of longer titles, and the responses of differing audiences, for example in relation to preferences regarding vertical or horizontal head or eye movements from the stage to the titles screens. For DH audiences, it is also important to consider the positioning of the titles in relation to the sign language interpreter, as some patrons may like to refer to both. This issue again highlights the challenge of providing for audiences with differing requirements and raises the question of possible solutions which accommodate varying audiences.

4. Possible methods to increase the accessibility of opera titles Given the space restrictions of current titles screens and possible disparities between the reception of titles by hearing and DH patrons, the idea of separate provision for the DH of titles on seatback screens or other localised screens with space for extra details such as repeats and paralinguistic information might be most appropriate. However, it might also be argued that this kind of segregation goes against a notion of inclusiveness. For example, open captioning available for all audience members to see and aimed specifically for use in live performances is promoted by Stagetext, who provide captioning with information about sound effects, character names, and auditorium announcements amongst other details as well as at times references to the music. This is because open captioning “raises people’s awareness of hearing loss, makes the production more accessible to everyone, and fosters inclusiveness” and means that “hearing and non-hearing people can sit together and enjoy the performance together” (Shaw 2003: 16). Open captions may be positioned on, below, above or beside the stage or indeed in the most appropriate place for each production. Alternatively, closed captions may also be presented to individual patrons via seat-back screens, hand-held screens and even special glasses (Shaw 2003: 14). Both of these methods of delivery are used by Stagetext, and in the recent past captioning of this

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kind has been employed in the world of opera by ENO, English Touring Opera, The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and Wales Millennium Centre amongst others (Weaver 2010: 4). However, at present Stagetext captioning or any titles targeted specifically at the DH are rarely used in opera. This may be due to the more established tradition of surtitles in opera or because of the method in Stagetext captioning of providing access to the full text. This verbatim technique may have to be adapted especially for opera sung in a language unfamiliar to the audience, although in this case there may be an argument for offering verbatim captions in the original language of the opera alongside a translated version. This would provide the audience with access to the original language and the opportunity to engage directly with the singing on stage. However, it might be argued that this would be too obtrusive and distracting and cause information overload in addition to technical complications. Further research is required in this area to find out audience preferences. A solution, currently under investigation, is the Universal Access System, on Android or iPhone (Oncins et al. 2013), which might achieve inclusiveness in some respects in that it would allow users of titles specifically targeted at the DH to sit anywhere in the theatre and to enjoy a shared experience. In order to promote the fundamental inclusiveness notion of sharing the experience with other audience members, it is particularly important to consider including in the titles indications of audio aspects which provoke an audience response; for example, indicating any aural linguistic humour so that the DH have access to this humour, albeit through a different semiotic channel. For instance, in a performance of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the ROH on 21 November 2011, in Act II the character Dr Bartolo sang to his ward Rosina adding extra syllables to her name for comic effect, as is the tradition, singing “Rosininowina”. This provoked a laugh in the audience but as the titles simply read “Rosina”, for DH patrons this aural linguistic humour might have been missed. It might therefore be suggested to consider representing this aural humour in a visual format in opera titles for the DH so that the titles might actually read “Rosininowina”. Linguistic peculiarities such as this might seem awkward in written form and they tend to be standardised or “normalised” (Freddi and Luraghi 2011: 72). However, in order to recreate the effect of the audio aspect for DH patrons, the opera translator may like to consider counteracting the “levelling effect of the mode-shift and in particular the way in which features of speech which are in anyway non-standard tend to be eliminated” (Hatim and Mason 1997: 79). This method of adapting the spelling is already used in some subtitles in film and television, as

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discussed previously with reference to the film Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis. Other practices used in SDH in film and television such as the use of brackets, italics and colour-coding may also provide a concise and accessible option for opera titles for the DH. They may also help the translator to avoid omissions caused by constraints of space and pace, and serve as a compensatory technique for loss of either linguistic or semiotic meaning incurred due to the mode-shift from oral to written. However, it is also important to consider the effect of these techniques on the audience, because the use of bracketed text to provide a kind of translator’s note may aid comprehension but it could also detract from the impact on the spectator due to a distancing effect or text overload (Civera and Orero 2010: 155-157). Although valuable reception studies into several of these subtitling techniques have been conducted (Matamala and Orero 2010), and in opera an audience reception pilot project addressing some of the aforementioned titling issues was carried out in May 2011 in collaboration with Opera North at performances of Bizet’s Carmen with titles and sign language interpreting (Eardley-Weaver, forthcoming), further research into audience response is required. In opera titles targeted at the DH, it might also be considered appropriate to include information in the titles about musical elements, at least those which provoke an emotional reaction in the audience, so that the DH can share this experience with the hearing patrons. For example, in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Act II when Don Basilio has been tricked into thinking he is ill, he sings sono giallo come un morto? [I am pale as a corpse?], with a comical, dramatic drop in pitch during this passage to sing an unusually low note that often provokes a laugh in the audience. Without indication in the titles or any other visual representation, this humour may be lost on DH patrons and arguably some kind of symbol should be used in the titles. Interestingly, this drop in pitch was communicated by the sign language interpreter at the ROH performance of this opera on 21 November 2011. Use of icons, such as a generic picture of a gun placed in brackets to indicate a single gunshot offstage, might be an option in opera titles for this target audience and indeed all patrons, perhaps requiring a brief glossary of devices used for the audience. This may also help to overcome the problem of too much text and not enough space on display screens, as well as issues of time constraints and reading speeds. This method could also be advantageously applied for different media (Civera and Orero 2010: 156-157) and may be of benefit to hearing spectators in certain contexts by optimising reading speed and thus reducing distraction from onstage action. Other visual features which can convey audio details and

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create emotional effect via text display—e.g. speed and mode of text delivery, moving text and word layout—may also provide a succinct and effective method of communication. In addition to linguistic choices, it may also be possible to use these techniques, for example through rhythmic delivery of text, to appeal to the tactile sense which can be an important aspect in the DH’s reception of music. In technical terms, icons and some typographical effects are a feasible option as many screens, such as those installed at the ROH, can display both verbal and non-verbal content in high definition, although the potential distractive element of such features may provoke resistance. Given that it is chiefly the visual channel which is engaged in opera translation techniques for the DH, it is inevitable that the audience’s focus will at times be diverted away from the visual aspects of the opera. It might be argued that the use of symbols in titles, conveying concepts more concisely than words, in conjunction with methods such as positioning of the screen and other aforementioned techniques, could in fact limit this diversion for all audiences. However, although some studies have been conducted into the notion of conveying linguistic or musical audio effects via titles for the DH, through use of poetic devices, symbols and other semiotic means (Neves 2010, Matamala and Orero 2010), further research is required, especially in opera.

5. Concluding remarks In today’s rapidly developing digital age and increasingly sociallyaware society, in which general exposure to multimedia environments and expectations of inclusive, multisemiotic experiences are mounting, opera titles are called upon to evolve further in order to overcome current limitations and to respond to the requirements of all audiences including the DH. Although titles originally faced considerable resistance, with some critics publicly denouncing them (Burton 2009: 61), they are now an established access tool for hearing audiences and are provided in most opera houses for all performances including those sung in the vernacular, because audiences expect to be able to access and understand the text of the opera whilst enjoying its visual and other semiotic aspects. For the DH, titles are a particularly important facility to provide access to the audio elements of the opera, although current standard titles only fulfil this function to a certain extent due to a lack of communication of sound effects, musical features, repeats, language variation and other linguistic or paralinguistic details. Although the DH remain a minority group, numbers of people with a hearing loss are increasingas “the number of people with prebyscusis [age-related hearing loss] is growing at the rate of aging

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societies and will account for significantnumbers in aging continents such as Europe or America” (Neves 2005: 79). Adaptation of titles is therefore a necessary consideration to ensure complete opera access to this target audience. It could also benefit hearing patrons by providing access to acoustic subtleties such as verbal humour otherwise lost through lack of comprehension of the words, whether due to the language barrier or the inaudibility of words, thus revealing a whole new level of multisensory experience of opera for all audiences. The challenge in adapting titles to accommodate the varying needs of the hearing and DH, which incorporates a diverse group with differing degrees and types of hearing loss, is to reconcile the notions of providing for specific requirements and including all. The first step in the progression from accessibility to inclusion may be to produce opera titles which are specifically aimed at DH patrons on individual screens and focus particularly on conveying acoustic effect, which seems a feasible option considering current advancements in technology. A viable solution in the near future may be the development of opera titles which incorporate details of audio aspects in such a way to be offered to all audiences, as open titles including an interactive element which allows individual choices. Indeed, in view of changing audience attitudes towards titles and the potential advantage to hearing patrons of adapted titles, this open access approach may gradually achieve universal appeal. Whilst any change will initially face resistance from traditionalists, just as interlingual and then intralingual opera titles have, and financial considerations might prove a barrier, the altered expectations of audiences who are now accustomed to responding to multiple semiotic stimuli and the promotion of awareness of access issues will surely contribute to breaking down these barriers. Just as some insights into these modifications may come from techniques used in film and television SDH, new access techniques developed in opera titles may also conversely inspire innovative access concepts which can be transferable to other audiovisual media, thus acting as a further driving force for greater media accessibility for all.

References Action on Hearing Loss. N.d. “Hearing matters”. www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/supporting-you/policy-research-andinfluencing/research/hearing-matters.aspx Bartoll, Eduard. 2006. “Subtitling multilingual films” in MuTra 2006 – Audiovisual Translation Scenarios: Conference Proceedings.

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www.euroconferences.info/proceedings/2006_Proceedings/2006_Barto ll_Eduard.pdf Burton, Jonathan. 2009. “The art and craft of opera surtitling”, in Jorge Díaz Cintas and Gunilla Anderman (eds) Audiovisual Translation: Language Transfer on Screen. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 5870. Civera, Clara and Pilar Orero. 2010. “Introducing icons in subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing: optimising reception”, in Anna Matamala and Pilar Orero (eds) Listening to Subtitles: Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing. Bern: Peter Lang, 149-62. Desblache, Lucile. 2008. “Music to my ears, but words to my eyes. Text, opera and their audiences” Linguistica Antverpiensia New Series 6: 155-70. Díaz Cintas, Jorge and Aline Remael. 2007. Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling. Manchester: St. Jerome. Díaz Cintas, and Gunilla Anderman (eds). 2009. Audiovisual Translation: Language Transfer on Screen. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Eardley-Weaver, Sarah. (Forthcoming) “Breaking down sensory barriers: Opera accessibility for audiences with differing visual and hearing ability”, in Núria Santamaria (ed.) La frontera i seves relacions amb les Arts Escèniques a Europa: Proceedings of the 1st GRAE International Conference on the Border and its Relationship to the Performing Arts in Europe. Lleida: Punctum. European Parliament, Council. 2010. “Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010/13/EU”, European Parliament. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:3201 0L0013:EN:NOT Freddi, Maria and Silvia Luraghi. 2011. “Titling for the opera house”, in Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin, Marie Biscio, Máire Áine Ní Mhainnín (eds) Audiovisual Translation Subtitles and Subtitling: Theory and Practice, Bern: Peter Lang. 55-85. Great Britain Parliament. 2005. “Disability Discrimination Act 2005: Chapter 13”, The Stationery Office. www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/13 Halliday, Michael Alexander Kirkwood. 1978. Language as a Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning. London: Edward Arnold. Hatim, Basil and Ian Mason. 1997. The Translator as Communicator. London: Routledge. Low, Peter. 2002. “Surtitles for opera: A specialised translating task”. Babel 48(2): 97-110.

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Mason, Ian. 2001. “Coherence in subtitling: The negotiation of face”, in Frederic Chaume and Rosa Agost (eds) La traducción en los medios audiovisuales, Castelló: University Jaume I, 19-32. Matamala, Anna and Pilar Orero (eds). 2010. Listening to Subtitles: Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing. Bern: Peter Lang. Mateo, Marta. 2007. “Reception, text and context in the study of opera surtitles”, in Yves Gambier, Miriam Shlesinger and Radegundis Stolze (eds) Doubts and Directions in Translation Studies. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 169-82. —. 2008. “Surtitling today: New uses, attitudes and developments”. Linguistica Antverpiensia New Series 6: 135-54. Neves, Josélia. 2005. Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing. PhD thesis. University of Surrey Roehampton. http://roehampton.openrepository.com/roehampton/bitstream/10142/12 580/1/neves%20audiovisual.pdf —. 2008. “10 fallacies about subtitling for the d/Deaf and the hard-ofhearing”. The Journal of Specialised Translation 10: 128-43. —. 2010. “Music to my eyes... Conveying music in subtitling for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing”, in Lukasz Bogucki and Krzysztof Kredens (eds) Perspectives on Audiovisual Translation. Bern: Peter Lang, 12346. Oncins, EsteĒla, Óscar Lopes, Pilar Orero, and Javier Serrano (2013). “All together now: A multi-language and multi-system mobile application to make live performing arts accessible”. The Journal of Specialised Translation 20: 147-64. www.jostrans.org/issue20/art_oncins.pdf. Orero, Pilar and Anna Matamala. 2007. “Accessible opera: Overcoming linguistic and sensorial barriers”. Perspectives. Studies in Translatology 15(4): 262-78. Palmer, Judi (2012). “Surtitling opera: A surtitler’s perspective on making and breaking the rules”, in Helen Julia Minors (ed.) Music, Text and Translation. London: Bloomsbury, 21-34. Shaw, Phyllida (ed.). 2003. A Good Practice Guide to Open Captioning. Wembley: Stagetext. Stagetext. N.d.”About Stagetext”, www.stagetext.org/about-stagetext Taylor, Christopher. 2006. “The translation of regional variety in the films of Ken Loach”, in Nigel Armstrong and Federico M. Federici (eds) Translating Voices, Translating Regions. Rome: Aracne, 37-52. Weaver, Sarah. 2010. “Opening doors to opera: The strategies, challenges and general role of the translator”. InTralinea 12: 1-8.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN MUSEUM ACCESSIBILITY THROUGH TRANSLATION: A CORPUS STUDY OF PICTORIAL AUDIO DESCRIPTION CATALINA JIMÉNEZ HURTADO UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA, SPAIN

AND SILVIA SOLER GALLEGO UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA, SPAIN

Abstract In this paper, museums are defined as interactive and multimodal communicative events and it is argued that they have to widen their scope of action and acknowledge that the accessible exhibition event should be a focus of study for linguists, educators, translators, interpreters, sociologists, and mediators. These experts, in their respective fields, need to work together towards the shared goal of making the museum an interactive social agent with multiple functions that will ultimately lead to inclusion and universal accessibility. Audiovisual translation can help museography attain this objective. After discussing a set of theoretical premises based on the analysis of multimodal discourse and proposing that such texts shoud be made accessible for different groups of receivers, the paper then suggests a theoretical framework for the analysis of museums and museum exhibitions. This framework is applied to a corpus of museum audio descriptions of the same artworks, in which the local grammars of two textual subtypes are compared: the pictorial audio descriptions for the visually impaired and the audio guides for visitors with normal vision.

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1. Introduction Today’s information society has afforded us the possibility of witnessing the different ways in which texts have evolved over time. Computers now provide a comprehensive overview of the wide range of text types that have arisen in recent decades and can, in turn, be used to examine their structure. Even more importantly, these texts are the doors that give access to knowledge, although the sheer quantity of textual data available is in itself a problem since information is worthless unless users can process it in an appropriate manner. Mechanisms are thus needed in order to facilitate knowledge acquisition by all members of the general public, whatever their physical and cognitive capabilities. The third World Summit on the Knowledge Society held in 2010 was an international effort to promote dialogue regarding the ways in which knowledge society can create a better world for all. However, the wellintentioned goals proposed at this conference are still to be achieved and one of the main objectives specified, “to look at the impact and prospects of information technology and the knowledge-based era it is creating on key facets of living, working, learning, innovating, and collaborating in today’s hyper-complex world” (www.open-knowledge-society.org/summit .htm), is still far from being a reality. The efforts made in this direction have been insufficient to make information society synonymous with the concept of access to knowledge for all. In this chapter, we explain an approach for museum accessibility based on translation and interpreting, disciplines that can provide theoretical, practical, and empirical premises. In this way, important cultural objects such as museums can contribute to the creation of a truly universal knowledge society.

2. Accessibility and audiovisual translation Accessibility is a relative contextual notion, frequently appearing in politically-correct discourses, which should be used in restrictive contexts and always followed by a location that designates the place where knowledge is made accessible: e.g. accessibility in museums. The way to transform an information society into an inclusive knowledge society for everyone is a great challenge for institutions and researchers, and accessibility is a primary means to that reach that end. Translators and translation researchers are cultural mediators, professional communicators, and above all, specialists in adapting spoken and written source texts into target languages and cultures, aimed at

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specific groups. The production of texts that fit seamlessly into other linguistic and cultural environments is one of the basic tasks of professional translators. Among others, this includes the talent to gauge the abilities, expectations, and social and cognitive characteristics of the potential receivers with a view to adapting the text to the new context and readership. This is essential when it comes to producing accessible texts, especially if they are multimodal. (Audiovisual) translation scholars must be able to innovate and take full advantage of new translation insights and approaches without preconceptions or prejudices, which is also true in the case of accessibility matters. More recently, translation scholars and researchers have been cooperating with museums and curators in an attempt to make exhibitions accessible in the broadest sense of the word. Table 1 summarises the various accessibility practices that are available and the contexts in which they are carried out: Table 1. Classification of modalities and situational contexts of accesible translation and interpreting Audio description (AD) Modalities

Subtitling for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing (SDH) Sign language interpreting (SLI) Textual adaptation

Accessible translation & interpreting

Respeaking Visual arts (painting, sculpture, installation, film) Performing arts (theatre, opera, dance, music) Source text genre

Audiovisual programmes Architecture Natural site Video games

Accessibility thanks to translation and interpreting should be classified in terms of different source text genres. These genres can be made accessible by using AD, SDH, SLI, textual adaptation, and respeaking in different settings (auditorium, concert hall, theatre, museum, art gallery, natural park, historical site) and for various media (TV, mobile multimedia devices, DVD, web). The following section explores the concept and definition of exhibition, a new text genre found mainly in the context of museums.

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3. Museums as communicative events Although museologists differ in their conceptions of what a museum should be, most of them seem to agree that museums are institutions for the dissemination of knowledge and culture in the broadest sense. Valdés Sagües (2008: 2) argues that the two fundamental pillars of any museum are their collection of works and society at large, and any activity carried out by the museum should aim at making the collection understandable to society. The concept of museum has evolved considerably since the 1960s. This dramatic evolution has been widely discussed in the field of Museum Studies, within the paradigm of New Museology and, more recently, within that of Crticial Museology (Barrett 2011), which proposes that museums need to establish a dialogue with its visitors and avoid using narrative perspectives that imposed one type of interest or another (Lorente Lorente 2003). Many museologists conceive this evolution as a process that has democratised museums, which are no longer perceived as mere repositories of valuable objects that are studied by experts and visited by the upper levels of society. Museums have now become places for social and cultural encounter and interaction, highly interactive. This new vision of museums regards them as having capabilities and functions similar to those of text senders interested in making their text understood by a new group of receivers. This “new” museum is one at the service of society and of all the cultural groups that compose it, and takes into account their specific needs, abilities, interests, and values. It is a museum open to all members of the general public. This social dimension is what makes museums go beyond exclusively scientific expectations and grants them new functions specifically related to the contextualisation of messages. Currently, there are three crucial factors that condition the functions of museums and their activity: (a) documentation as a tool for contextualised research in the museum itself and for social diffusion; (b) research applied to the specific knowledge of the museum context; and (c) dissemination understood as the informal education of the public, which is enjoyable, easy, and in consonance with the interests and previous knowledge of museum visitors (Caballero Zoreda 1988). Consequently, it is vital for museums to know the characteristics of their visitors with a view to meeting their expectations and desires. Museum communication is invariably multidisciplinary (different types of expositions, subject matter, types of museums); multimodal (audio texts, videotapes, audiovisual texts, static images, different types of objects

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on exhibit with diverse morphology and structure); often multilingual, and, above all, multifunctional since it can entertain, teach, interpret, and exhibit. Accordingly, museums can now be considered interactive and multimodal communicative events.

4. Achieving museum accessibility From the preceding sections, it is evident that museums have a purpose that defines them and gives them their identity, i.e. to communicate and translate scientific or artistic discourse into an expository text. Communication spaces in translation must be treated as texts in context. For this purpose, their analysis should be based on the sociocognitive theory of context (van Dijk 2008, 2009), which asserts that a variation in context entails a corresponding variation in the text, genre, text type, and text function. According to Bateman et al. (2004: 148): “Particular changes in context, for example variation along an interpersonal dimension of a more or less formal situation, or variation along a textual dimension of more spoken or more written, give rise to particular systematically conditioned changes in the language that occurs”. These tools of sociocognitive analysis can also be useful to study museum visitors and to discover their expectations when they visit exhibitions. On the other hand, cognitive studies based on contextual models help scholars understand how receivers access the information activated in texts. The analysis of expository discourse can follow the topdown model, namely, to study the cognitive, social, and cultural context that conditions it. As highlighted by van Dijk (2008: 111), the basic function of a context is to “enable and constrain the production and comprehension of text and talk […] and conversely how such discourse dimensions may in turn influence the context models of participants, that is, their interpretation of the ongoing communicative event”. In this sense, a museum exhibition is a multimodal discourse that can be divided into the following levels: (a) macrotextual (the exhibition as a text genre); and (b) microtextual (the objects in the exhibition as conceptual objects and the relations between them). These two levels are, in turn, linked to a cognitive and situational context represented in the various museum types: science museums, art museums, archaeological museums, etc. Nonetheless, these sociocognitive theories of context and their relation with discourse are not sufficient to explain how texts operate, how they are processed, how information is inferred from reading them, and what the existing relation between image, text, and access to knowledge is. These

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theories should therefore be enriched by a pragmatic analysis, which includes the following: a. Speech act theory that considers museum functions as speech acts that comply with felicity conditions. For example, the museum wishes to teach (speech act 1) by entertaining (speech act 2). b. Strategies of courtesy and the cooperation principle, which are the source of discourse patterns and formulas which help the exhibition and its exhibits to transmit a certain public image to the receivers. They enable texts that translate the discourse of the exhibition to be more economically processed, depending on the cognitive abilities of each receiver. c. Access to knowledge through the specification of new and given information, which along with argumentation theory and rhetoric of discourse (Ducrot 1982) explain the content of explanatory texts as conceptual objects immersed in relations of relevance and inference. These relations offer the means necessary to understand the macrostructure or museum exhibitions as a thematic development in which a sequence of new and given information is presented to the viewer. This reflects the logic of the position of museum objects in a given space and the spatiotemporal logic of the resulting access to knowledge offered to visitors. Once the cognitive contexts are analysed from a discourse-pragmatic perspective (top-down), it is necessary to verify the results by performing the analysis in the opposite direction (bottom-up). This bottom-up analysis involves the specification of a local text grammar. It is based on the premise that one of the most salient aspects of the mind is the conceptualisation of experience, and linguistic knowledge is the codification and reflection of conceptual structure (Croft and Cruse 2004). This study is based on the analysis of lexical units and their projection in the text as well as on their interrelation within the text and in the same semantic domain. As shall be seen in the practical demonstration, this is one of the key aspects of the study, which includes the following: Lexical semantic analysis a. Analysis of the cognitive areas involved in the lexical networks in order to discover the nature and area of experience activated (Faber and Mairal Usón 1999). b. Analysis of the lexical structure of the text that explains the degree of prototypicality of the knowledge representation (Rosch 1973,

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c.

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1975). In this way, the results include data about the intended rereceiver group and the text genre. These are the basic parameters of our analysis of the representation of general knowledge (Jiménez Hurtado 2007) as well as expert knowledge (Faber 2011). Syntactic projection of lexemes and their semantic roles, which are indicative of the perspective from which an event is portrayed, namely, if it has an agent, cause, goal, and result.

The outcome of this bottom-up analysis is a local grammar, i.e. the functional description of a set of lexical patterns that represent a function within the context of a certain text type. Such grammar provides sets of recurrent lexical patterns, which, besides being semantically and syntactically homogeneous, also have the same communicative function. According to Hunston and Sinclair (2000: 77): “The items described by local grammars [are] small (but not insignificant) sub-languages, and sublanguage descriptions [are] extended local grammars”. These authors analyse the concept of evaluation in different types of texts and the semantic and syntactic patterns associated with it. They show that there is a recurrent pattern related to the speech action of evaluation. For example, in English, the structure it + verb + adjective group + clause is a pattern that expresses some type of evaluation such as in the sentence: It seemed important to trust her judgement. Therefore, the resulting patterns are linguistic patterns used in a text type to describe an event (occurrence, state, process, quality, or relation). Traboulsi et al. (2004: 3) regard them as grammar rules that are applicable to specialised situations: “Local grammars are rules that govern the simultaneous choice of a set of words used in a specialist context. For example, sentences/clauses used for telling time and dates are one of such simultaneous choice of words”. The following section gives a comparative analysis of the local grammars of two textual subtypes, produced for the same artworks, that share the common function of making the museum and its exhibitions accessible to different types of visitors: pictorial audio descriptions for the visually impaired and audio guides for visitors with normal vision.

5. Corpus description and methodology This study aims to describe the textual variation of pictorial audio description in museums as regards the contextual category of participants in communication (van Dijk 2008). Specifically, we study whether the

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physical and cognitive abilities of visually impaired receivers influence the production of the AD text. To do this, we compiled a corpus of the transcriptions of twenty-two AD texts for the visually impaired, from the Visual Descriptions programme of the New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), which we named MOVD (MoMA Visual Descriptions) corpus. We compared this corpus with another one, named MOAP (MoMA Audio Program) corpus, made up of transcriptions of the audio guide for adult visitors with normal vision, of the museum’s Audio Program for the same exhibits. These texts are available on the museum’s website (www.moma.org). The ADs have been developed by professional audiodescribers, whereas the audio guides were created with the help of the museum director and the curators and are therefore commentaries or interpretations made by experts. Table 2 displays the general statistics of both corpora, extracted with the WordList function of the WordSmith Tools 5.0 program: Table 2. General statistics of the corpora MOVD

MOAP

Tokens (running words) in text

10,367

8,958

Types (distinct words)

1,923

1,900

Type/token ratio (TTR)

19.1

21.47

This contrastive analysis is possible because these two text types are similar insomuch as they both share the same communicative function, topic, and space of communication, but their intended receivers are different. We therefore believe that the comparative analysis of certain text elements might lead us to distinguish differences or deviations in the discourse-grammatical characteristics of the texts under scrutiny. Our methodology combines a top-down and bottom-up approach, thus uniting processes of inductive and deductive reasoning. We begin by analysing the extratextual communicative context and then study the intratextual level of both text types. The methodology used is based on the proposal made by López Rodríguez (2002) for the analysis of the conceptual activation of verbs in rhetorical sections of abstracts of scientific articles.

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6. Analysis and results AD is a type of intersemiotic translation, from nonverbal visual language to spoken language. In pictorial AD, the source text is the artwork and the target text is the AD; the audio description may be considered to be a translation of the work of art. Both the AD and the audio guide share a macrofunction of information and instruction, characteristic of the macrocontext of the museum as a communicative event, which aims to disseminate knowledge and aid social integration by performing inclusive practices. The analysis of the communicative context of AD and, more specifically, of the receiver characteristics, allows us to conclude that the predominant communicative function in this text genre is informative, as its intention is to translate a visual-nonverbal discourse into a verbal-oral one so that people with varying visual capacities can access the meaning of the original. The receiver is the most relevant contextual category and therefore we believe that it must exert an influence on the translation process and on the linguistic characteristics of the resulting product: the AD text. At the same time we carry out a manual exploratory analysis of the MOVD corpus and verify that all the texts present a similar discourse structure. They start with a brief introduction identifying the artwork and the artist—including details such as the date of creation, material and dimensions—, followed by a descriptive sequence of the artwork. And finally, there is an expository-narrative sequence, which familiarises the receiver with the historical, social and cultural context of the artwork, the artist’s biography, and the creative process and interpretation of the artwork. The most extensive and relevant sequence is the verbal description of the visual artwork, where the audiodescriber details its iconic, aesthetic, and technical aspects. After analysing the communicative context of the texts included in the corpora, we analysed their intratextual level using WordSmith Tools 5.0. To facilitate this analysis, we first carried out the grammatical tagging (Part Of Speech, POS tagging) of the corpus with the CLAWS (Constituent Likelihood Automatic Word-tagging System) program. For the purposes of this study we have used the CLAWS5 tagset.1

6.1. Frequency lists and concordance lines of verbs If we assume that the meaning of a sentence as well as a text is structured around the verb, then any analysis which aims to describe the

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characteristics of a text type must begin with a study of this category. We therefore decided to begin our study of pictorial AD by analysing the verbs used in the corpus. Frequency lists of both corpora were drawn up with the WordList function of the WordSmith Tools program, which gave us a list of keywords in the two text types. Next, we extracted the most representative verbs, with a frequency • 0.04%, and used the Concord function to extract concordance lines of these verb forms and other inflections of the same verbs in order to complete the frequency lists. The frequency lists also allowed us to distinguish between homonyms and eliminate those that were not relevant to the analysis and might have distorted the results. Thanks to this process of disambiguation we were able to ascertain those cases in which the verbs to be, to do and to have were auxiliaries, and to confirm that certain words (form, look, paint, work, cut or rest) were used as nouns and not verbs. In this manner, the concordance lines and frequency lists of the verbs were filtered and corrected. Table 3 displays the data obtained in this first stage of analysis: Table 3. Most representative verbs of the MOAP and MOVD corpora MOVD (audio description) Verb Freq. % be 2.89 paint 0.34 look 0.21 stand 0.15 seem 0.14 fill 0.13 listen 0.12 face 0.12 sit 0.11 hang 0.11 see 0.11 appear 0.1 run 0.1 wear 0.1 outline 0.08 show 0.08 form 0.07 rest 0.07

MOAP (audio guide) Verb Freq. % be 3.32 look 0.43 have 0.36 make 0.35 see 0.34 paint 0.23 think 0.2 say 0.19 come 0.15 become 0.14 give 0.13 work 0.12 use 0.11 know 0.1 call 0.08 acquire 0.08 go 0.07 do 0.07

Museum Accessibility through Translation cut convey

0.06 0.04

decide begin identify read want realize struggle try

287 0.07 0.07 0,06 0.06 0.06 0.05 0.04 0.04

This analysis allowed us to observe which are the standard verbs used in the corpus of pictorial ADs for visually impaired people as opposed to those used in the audio guide for people with normal vision for the same artworks.

6.2. Semantic classification of verbs The next step in our analysis was to determine the cognitive areas or categories that were activated in both types of discourse through the verbs. For this, we grouped the most representative verbs of both corpora according to Faber and Mairal Usón’s (1999) classification of lexical domains of the primary lexicon of verbs in the English language. It consists of the following thirteen categories: EXISTENCE, CONTACT, SENTIMENT, LIGHT, MOVEMENT, CHANGE, SPEECH, POSSESSION, POSITION, PERCEPTION, COGNITION, ACTION, and SOUND. After categorising the verbs, all lexemes belonging to the same category were grouped together. Table 4 displays the cognitive categories activated by the most representative verbs in each corpus, along with the frequency of each category in relation to the total number of words in the corpus: Table 4. Conceptual activation of the verbs in the MOAP and MOVD corpora MOVD (audio description) Cognitive category Freq. %

MOAP (audio guide) Cognitive category Freq. %

EXISTENCE

2.89

EXISTENCE

3.32

ACTION

0.9

PERCEPTION

0.77

PERCEPTION

0.7

ACTION

0.74

POSITION

0.39

COGNITION

0.55

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MOVEM MENT

0.22

POSSESSION N

0.44

MOVEMENT T

0.22

CHANGE

0.21

SPEECH

0.19

SENTIMENT T

0.06

In orderr to carry out o a comparative analyssis of the co onceptual activation of verbs in thee MOAP and MOVD corppora, we calcu ulated the frequency oof each cateegory in relaation to the rest of the activated categories w within the set of the most representative r e verbs in eacch corpus. Graph 1 shoows the conceeptual activity y and frequenncy of verbs in n the AD corpus, wheereas Graph 2 shows the co onceptual acttivity and freq quency of verbs in the audio guide corpus: c Graph 1. Connceptual activatiion of verbs in the MOVD corrpus

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Graph 2. Connceptual activatiion of verbs in audio guide

As we ccan observe, the t EXISTEN NCE, PERCEP PTION, ACTION, and MOVEMEN NT categoriess are activated d in both subccorpora with a similar frequency. T The most activvated cognitiv ve category in the verb list in i the AD corpus is EXISTENCE E (56%), folllowed by A ACTION (18 8%) and PERCEPTIO ON (14%), whhilst in the au udio guide corrpus the categ gories that show the hhighest frequeencies are EX XISTENCE (551%), PERCEPTION, (12%) and A ACTION (11% %). The rest of o categories show a differrence and while the fourth most activated caategory in thhe MOVD corpus c is POSITION, in the MOAP M corpuss it is the conceptual area of COGNITIO ON. A significcant finding is the fact thaat a greater number n of cognitive caategories are activated in the t MOAP coorpus – nine, with the addition off POSSESSIO ON, MOVEM MENT, CHA ANGE, SPEE ECH, and SENTIMEN NT –, as oppossed to five in the t MOVD coorpus. The EX XISTENCE, PERCEPTION N, ACTION N, and MOV VEMENT categories aare related to the t description n of the elem ments that consstitute the visual messaage. In a prevvious analysiss of the macro rostructure of both text types used in our corpuus, it was fo ound that botth contain deescriptive sequences (related to the visual artwork), a andd narrative-eexpository sequences (rrelated to thee artist and th he context of the artwork creation). Nevertheless, a clear diffe ference is evid dent regardingg the importan nce of one

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or the other sequence between the AD and the audio guide corpora: if the descriptive sequences are of primary importance in the AD, they are equal to or less important than the narrative-expository sequences in the audio guide. This is due to the fact that the principal communicative function in AD and, therefore, its communicative intention is to provide visually impaired people with access to the meaning of the artwork by translating the images to an oral discourse. The fourth most activated category, POSITION, relates to the description of the visual elements that constitute the artwork. In this sense, the description of the artwork does not play a fundamental role in the audio guide for people with normal vision, as its receivers generally do not have sensory limitations when accessing the message. Here, description relinquishes its primary role in favour of the interpretation of the artwork. The valued sender’s opinion, which is substantiated by the audio guide creator’s expertise in the area in question, gives him or her the authority to evaluate or judge the artwork. This is directly related to the cognitive categories of COGNITION, SPEECH, and SENTIMENT, which are activated in the audio guide corpus. These three categories are associated with subjectivity and the personification of the visual artwork as the sender of the visual message, as opposed to objectivity in the POSITION category, which defines a physical location in space equally perceived by all receivers of the artwork.

6.2.1. The category of COGNITION The audio guide is produced by the museum director and curators with a double purpose: to educate visitors (informative function) and to propound their personal interpretation of the artwork (persuasive function). This is the reason why COGNITION is the fourth most activated category in this type of text, resorting to verbs such as think, know, decide, identify, read, and realise. As can be seen in the concordance lines in Table 5, there were a total of fifteen uses of the verb think and in eight of them it was preceded by the personal pronoun of the first person singular (I think), which indicates that it is an opinion expressed by the sender; three were impersonal (is thought, one might think) and one referred to the artist (Jackson thought).

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Table 5. Cooncordance lines of the verrb think in th he MOAP corrpus

6.2.2. The ccategory of POSITION P As notedd previously, the POSITIO ON category iss especially reelevant in the AD corppus, where thee three most siignificant verbbs denoting po osition, in order of freequency, are: stand, face and hang. An analysis of the t words and expressiions that appeear to the left and right of tthe verb stand d in Table 6 shows how w important thhe indication of o placement iis in this corpu us: he MOVD corrpus Table 6. Cooncordance lines of the verrb stand in th

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This cognitive category is especially relevant in the context of AD for visually impaired persons, since their sensory limitation does not allow them to visually explore the space and its comprising elements. Indeed, the guidelines on AD in general, and for visual arts in particular, emphasise the importance of describing the space and position or location of the described elements with respect to each other and with respect to the receiver (Salzhauer and Sobol 2003: 230). The POSITION of the visual elements in the space and how they relate to each other constitutes the composition of the visual message; it is, therefore, the syntax of the message. Composition has been defined as the most important element in visual communication and it holds the key to interpreting the meaning of the images: The process of composition is the most crucial step in visual problem solving. The results of the compositional decisions set the purpose and meaning of the visual statement and carry strong implications for what the viewer receives. It is at this vital stage in the creative process that the visual communicator has the strongest control of the work and the greatest opportunity to express the total mood the work is intended to convey. (Dondis 1973: 20)

However, the syntactic or composing criteria of visual language are hardly as established as those of verbal language. They are based on the principles of human perception and although much work has been carried out on their study and comprehension, there remains much that is still unknown: There are no absolute rules, but there is a great deal of understanding of what will occur in terms of meaning if we make certain arrangements of the parts toward organizing and orchestrating the visual means. Many of the guidelines for understanding the meaning in visual form, the syntactical potential of structure in visual literacy, stem from the investigation of the process of human perception. (ibid.)

Given the importance of composition in visual communication and its special relevance in the production and comprehension of pictorial AD, we deem it necessary to delve deeper into the study of how this dimension of the visual message is transmitted to the visually impaired receiver. We have, therefore, widened our study to include words belonging to other lexical categories from the corpus that define the space and the layout of its comprising elements: nouns, adjectives, and adverbs.

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6.3. Concordance lines of nouns, adjectives, and adverbs of the category POSITION We used the Concord program in WordSmith Tools to extract concordance lines from our pictorial AD corpus, using the following tags of the CLAWS5 tagset: NN* (Nouns), AJ* (Adjectives), and AV* (Adverbs). From these concordances, we obtained a set of semanticallyrelated adverbs, nouns, and adjectives in reference to the composition of the visual message. In other words, these lexemes specifically refer to the space of an artwork and the position of the elements within it. In the same way as in the analysis of verbs, the concordance lines also allow to distinguish between homonyms, facilitating disambiguation. Tables 7 and 8 show the nouns, adjectives, and adverbs belonging to the category of POSITION in works of art, in the two corpora: Table 7. Lexemes referring to spacial POSITION in the MOVD and MOAP corpora MOVD (audio description) Noun: areas, back, background, base, bottom, center, corner, corners, edge, edges, floor, floors, foreground, frame, front, ground, half, horizon, inside, ledge, left, middle, parts, portion, position, profile, quarters, quadrant, region, right, section, segments, side, sides, space, surface, top, verticals. Adjective: bottom, close, closest, far, front, front-facing, horizontal, left, leftmost, lower, near, overlapping, perpendicular, right, sparse, sparser, speckled, top, upper, upright, upside down, uppermost, vertical. Adverb: above, below, behind, beneath, centrally, diagonally, down, far, farther, forward, here, out, outwards, up, upwards, vertically.

Table 8. Lexemes referring to spacial POSITION in the MOAP corpus MOAP (audio guide) Noun: boundary, center, corner, corner, edge, edges, end, foreground, frame, front, horizon, left, location, place, position, right, space, surface. Adjective: close, far, far-off, horizontal, left, lower, right, rotated, top, upper. Adverb: down, here, out, right, up.

Generally speaking, AD texts in our corpus make use of more lexical items belonging to the categories of visual composition and spatial position than the general museum audio guides for people with normal vision. The lexemes regarded as most representative of AD texts were those on the initial frequency list, with a frequency • 0.04%. We then checked the concordance lines again with a view to disambiguating

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homonyms and further refining the statistical data. The results are shown in Table 9: Table 9. Most representative nouns, adjectives, and adverbs designating POSITION in the MOVD corpus Word right

Freq. % 0.64

Word floor

Freq. % 0.08

left

0.62

profile

0.08

top

0.35

front

0.07

edge

0.29

up

0.06

center

0.23

back

0.06

corner

0.19

foreground

0.06

behind

0.18

middle

0.06

bottom

0.18

forward

0.05

side

0.18

ground

0.05

down

0.16

horizon

0.05

below

0.14

space

0.05

base

0.12

horizontal

0.04

half

0.10

inside

0.04

upper

0.09

vertically

0.04

background

0.08

These data are even more meaningful when they are compared with those obtained from the corpus analysis of the audio guide for people with normal vision. Compared to the 29 semantically-related nouns, adjectives, and adverbs in the category of POSITION (frequency • 0.04%) in the MOVD corpus, only eight lexemes were found in the MOAP corpus (Table 10), with a significantly lower frequency than in the AD corpus: Table 10. Most representative nouns, adjectives, and adverbs designating POSITION in the MOAP corpus Word left right up above center far

Freq. % 0.14 0.09 0.07 0.07 0.06 0.06

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0.06 0.05

If these results are related to the communicative context of the two text types analysed, it is possible to formulate hypotheses as to the differences found. As previously mentioned, the spatial organisation of pictorial elements is one of the most important factors in the composition and comprehension of visual messages in general. Therefore, it seems logical that spatial description, the position of visual elements, and their spatial relations should be highly relevant in the intersemiotic translation of a visual message to a verbal text that occurs in the AD process. This seems to indicate that when audiodescribers analyse the nature of their receivers, they presuppose that visual composition and spatial position are both crucial for the understanding of the work of art. This assumption with regards to the cognitive context of visually impaired people could explain the salience of the lexemes in our corpus that belong to these categories. We are aware that the results showed in this chapter need to be verified in larger corpora. Nevertheless, they are a valuable first step towards designing a viable methodology for the study of museum AD. The elaboration of a local grammar for all text types requires a detailed corpusbased study of the lexical and syntactic projection of semantic categories activated in texts. Based on data from running text, such an analysis can explain the characteristics that both text types share as well as those in which they differ from a functional perspective. It goes without saying that this type of study must be carried out within the framework of a communicative context with a view to verifying if a variation in one contextual category will modify the text type. An initial attempt in this direction is the explanation given in this article about the relationship between the activiation of the category of POSITION in the AD corpus and the specific sensory characteristics of the intended receivers. In addition, it is necessary to analyse and explain not only the activation of certain semantic categories, but also the reasons why other categories are not activated. Other important factors are the semantic and pragmatic relationship that can be established between the categories activated throughout the texts. Only in this way is it possible to construct the lexical chains that are activated in a given text type, and which constitute a snapshot of the cognitive paths taken by the text sender when s/he produces a text as well as by the receivers during the text decoding process.

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7. Conclusions According to Archer (2005), museums undoubtedly maintain key functions inherited from their history as a public institution and their role to enlighten and educate citizens: perhaps it’s not new roles you should be looking for, but trying to find new ways in which your old role is respected and loved again, if indeed that role is defined by your desire to stimulate curiosity and thence to encourage action, through examples from the past and adventures into the future. If you could manage just that, a new admiration for detail, complexity and subtlety in a current climate that so often denies us those things, then I believe you would be making an immense contribution to the way our societies will be in the future.

Museologists agree that museum departments of communication and dissemination should encourage greater initiative, creativity, and development. After having spent centuries collecting and cataloguing objects, museums should now pay more attention to making these contents accessible for all visitors. They have to widen their scope of action and recognise that accessible exhibition events should be a focus of study for linguists, educators, translators, interpreters, sociologists, and mediators, among others. All these experts need to join forces in an attempt to make the museum an interactive social agent with multiple functions, which will ultimately lead to inclusion and universal accessibility. Audiovisual translation can help museography attain some of these objectives. However, first it must build up a set of theoretical premises based on the analysis of multimodal discourse with the ultimate aim of making texts accessible for different groups of receivers. The time has come to elaborate an innovative theoretical framework for the analysis of multimodal communication that can be applied in the study of museums and understands museum exhibitions as truly interactive (multilingual) and multimodal communicative events.

Notes 1. CLAWS is an online grammatical tagging tool developed by UCREL (University Centre for Computer Corpus Research on Language) in Lancaster University. The limited version can be accessed online: http://ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/claws/trial.html.

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References Archer, Robyn. 2005. “The dying words of Gertrude Stein”. Paper presented at the National Museums Conference, Sydney, May. Barrett, Jennifer. 2011. Museums and the Public Sphere. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Bateman, John, Judy Delin and Renate Henschel. 2004. “Multimodality and empirism. Preparing a corpus-based approach to the study of multimodal meaning-making”, in Eija Ventola, Cassily Charles, and Martin Kaltenbacher (eds) Perspectives on Multimodality. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 65-87. Bednarek, Monika. 2007. “Local grammar and register variation: explorations in broadsheet and tabloid newspaper discourse”. Empirical Language Research 1. http://ejournals.org.uk/ELR/article/2007/1 Butler, Christopher. 2004. “Corpus studies and functional linguistic theories”. Functions of Language 11: 147-86. Caballero Zoreda, Luis 1988. “Teoría general del museo: sus funciones”. Boletín de la Anabad 38: 455-83. Croft, William and D. Alan Cruse. 2004. Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dondis, Donis. A. 1973. A Primer of Visual Literacy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. van Dijk, Teun A. 2008. Discourse and Context: A Socio-cognitive Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. —. 2009. Society and Discourse. How Context Controls Text and Talk. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ducrot, Oswald. 1982. Decir o no decir. Barcelona: Anagrama. Faber, Pamela. 2011. “The dynamics of specialized knowledge representation: simulational reconstruction or the perception–action interface”. Terminology 17(1): 9-29. Faber, Pamela, and Ricardo Mairal Usón. 1999. Constructing a Lexicon of English Verbs. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Hunston, Susan and John Sinclair. 2000. “A local grammar of evaluation”, in S. Hunston and G. Thompson (eds) Evaluation in Text. Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 74-101. Jiménez Hurtado, Catalina. 2007. “De imágenes a palabras. La audiodescripción como una nueva modalidad de traducción y de representación del conocimiento” in Gerd Wotjak (ed.) Quo vadis Translatology? Ein halbes Jahrhundert universitäre Ausbildung von

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Dolmetschern und Übersetzern in Leipzig. Berlin: Frank & Timme, 143-59. López Rodríguez, Clara Inés. 2002. “Extracción de información conceptual, textual y retórica en terminología: la distribución de verbos en los resúmenes de artículos experimentales” in Pamela Faber and Catalina Jiménez (eds) Investigar en terminología. Granada: Comares, 167-95. Lorente Lorente, Jesús Pedro. 2006. “Nuevas tendencias en teoría museológica: a vueltas con la museología crítica”. Museos 2: 24-33. www.mcu.es/museos/docs/MC/MES/Rev02/Rev02_JesusPedro_Lorente.pdf Rosch, Elenor 1973. “Natural categories”. Cognitive Psychology 4(3): 328–50. —. 1975. “Cognitive representation of semantic categories”. Journal of Experimental Psychology 104(3): 192-233. Salzhauer Axel, Elisabeth and Nina Sobol Levent (eds). 2003. Art beyond Sight: A Resource Guide to Art, Creativity, and Visual Impairment. New York: AFB Press. Traboulsi, Hayssam, David Cheng, and Khurshid Ahmad. 2004. “Text corpora, local grammars and prediction”. Proceedings of the 4th International Language Resources and Evaluation Conference, Lisbon, 749-52. www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~rpnlpir/proceedings/lrec-2004/pdf/464.pdf Valdés Sagües, Carmen. 2008. “La difusión, una función del museo”. Museos 8: 64-75. www.mcu.es/museos/docs/MC/MES/Rev04/Desde_Difusion_funcion_ museo_C_Valdes.pdf

CONTRIBUTORS

Veronica Bonsignori holds a PhD in English Linguistics and carries out her research at the Department of English Studies of the University of Pisa. Her research interests are in the fields of pragmatics, especially the study of spoken English and tag questions, sociolinguistics, the varieties of English, and audiovisual translation. She has published various articles on audiovisual translation in national and international collections. Silvia Bruti, PhD in English from the University of Pisa, is Associate Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Pisa. She is currently Director of Studies of the Master in Modern EuroAmerican Languages and Literatures. Her research interests include topics such as text-linguistics, discourse analysis, (historical) pragmatics, corpus linguistics, translation and language teaching. She has published widely in these areas and contributed to national and international conferences. She is the (co-)editor of several collections of essays, on reformulation and paraphrase, on lexicography and translation, on translation, and on recent developments in audiovisual translation research in Europe. She has recently investigated issues such as the translation of compliments, conversational routines and terms of address in subtitling and dubbing. Annamaria Caimi is Associate Professor of English in the Faculty of Political Science at Pavia University, Italy, where she teaches English through content-based instruction. She has done research in English for specific purposes (ESP) teaching methodology and has published ESP teaching materials. Her research interests lie on word formation, syntax, discourse analysis, and pragmatics. Her current work concerns the role of audiovisual translation and the use of subtitles in language learning. She edited the volume Cinema: Paradiso delle Lingue: I sottotitoli nell’apprendimento linguistico (Bulzoni, Roma, 2002) and is currently coediting a volume on Subtitles and Language Learning. Cristina Cambra, psychologist and speech therapist, received her PhD from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in 1994. She is a Lecturer in the Department of Educational Psychology of the UAB where she teaches subjects on deafness and communication disorders. She is a member of the research Centre d'Estudis i de Recerca Psicoeducativa

300

Contributors

sobre Sordesa i d'Altres Dificultats Comunicatives (GISTAL), based at the UAB and focused on deafness. Her current research deals with the comprehension of subtitled television programmes by deaf people. Carmen Camus-Camus is Senior Lecturer at the University of Cantabria, Spain, where she teaches ESP at the Medical Faculty and ELT Methodology at the Teacher Training Faculty. She has an MA and a PhD in Translation Studies. Her doctoral research focused on the incidence of Franco’s censorship in the translations into Spanish of USA Westerns, both in narrative and film. She is a member of the research group Translation, Contrastive Linguistics and Specialized Languages at the University of Cantabria and she also forms part of the interuniversity research team TRACE (Translation Censored) working on translation and censorship during Franco’s dictatorship. She is currently working on a funded project on the censorship of gender in scientific translations during the Franco regime. Alice Casarini is a PhD student in audiovisual translation at the University of Bologna in Forlì, Italy. Her research focuses on the perception of American adolescent culture through the dubbing and fansubbing of television series aimed at teenagers (1990-2010), on the evolution of the Italian audience, and on the impact of the new media on television production and consumption. She holds a BA in Foreign Languages and Literatures (2005), an MA in European Languages and Philologies (2007) and an MA in Screen Translation (2008), all of which from the University of Bologna. She has also studied at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, the University of Paris VII, Brown University, and Imperial College London. She is a professional translator specialising in videogame localisation, which she researches as a side project. Giovanna Di Pietro holds a PhD in Translation Studies from the University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Italy, on the translation of verbal and nonverbal humour in dubbed situation comedies. Her main research interests focus on audiovisual translation, dubbing, subtitling, humour studies, film studies, nonverbal communication, multimodal analysis, music translation, and ELT. She works as a teacher and a translator. Jorge Díaz Cintas is Reader in Translation and the director of the Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS) at University College London. He is the author of numerous articles, special issues and books on audiovisual translation, including Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling (with Aline

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Remael, 2007), The Manipulation of Audiovisual Translation (special issue of Meta, 2012), and New Insights into Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility (co-edited, 2010). He is one of the directors of the European Association for Studies in Screen Translation and since 2010 has been the Chief Editor of the Peter Lang series New Trends in Translation Studies. He is a member of the international research group TransMedia and a board member of LIND-Web. Sarah Eardley-Weaver is a Lecturer in Translation and Interpreting at Queen’s University, Belfast. Prior to this, her academic career as a PhD researcher and part-time lecturer was at Durham University. Her main research interests are audiovisual translation and media accessibility, especially subjects relating to performing arts and disability. Her publications include articles in journals like InTralinea and Translation and Interpreting Studies. She has set up an international research group PAN-ART (Performing Arts Now: Audience Reception and Translation) and is a member of the “Translating Music” network. She also has experience working as a freelance translator and within an international translation company, specializing in French, Italian and German into English. Claire Ellender, PhD, has previously worked as an in-house translator in Paris and as a consultant course author for The Open University, England. She is currently Maître de Conférences in Translation at the Université de Lille III in France, where she contributes to a range of theoretical and practical courses on the Master’s in Specialised Translation. Her principal research interests are audiovisual and literary translation. Recent publications include a number of articles which explore the subtitling of accent, dialect and linguistic variety in French and English films. Claire is also author of the book Preserving Polyphonies: Translating the Writings of Claude Sarraute (2013, Peter Lang). María Pilar González Vera graduated from the University of Central Lancashire and the University of Zaragoza with a degree in English Philology, followed by a doctorate on the dubbing of humour and cultural aspects in some DreamWork’s animated films. She currently teaches in the Master in Translation and in the Faculty of Education of the University of Zaragoza, Spain. Her research interests include AVT and translation of children’s literature. She is particularly interested in the translation of cultural references, humour and in the role of translation in the transmission of stereotypes. She has spent research stays at Imperial

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Contributors

College London and presented papers at international conferences in Berlin, Brussels, Forlì, and Krakow. She has publised in journals like ANILIJ, Íkala, JoSTrans, and Sendebar. Taniya Gupta is a PhD scholar at the University of Granada, where she is researching audiovisual translation in the context of Indian cinema and culture. She is a professional translator and has actively participated in theatre groups, both in India and in Spain. She has also conducted several workshops on subtitling, Indian cinema and culture studies at various Spanish universities. Her research interests include audiovisual translation, culture studies and visual semiotics. She is the current Secretary of the Spanish Association for Interdisciplinary India Studies (AEEII). Catalina Jiménez Hurtado is Professor of Translation and Interpreting in the Department of Translation and Interpreting at the University of Granada, Spain. Her main research area lies in the field of accessible audiovisual translation and translator training. Her research interests also include linguistics applied to translation, with a special focus on terminology. She is the Head Researcher of the Andalusian research group HUM 770 Aula de investigacion del texto multimedia as well as of the following research projects: TRACCE (SEJ2006-01829/PSIC), AMATRA (P07-SEJ-2660) and PRA2 (FFI2010-16142). Aurora Leal, Professor in Psychology, received her PhD from the Universitat de Barcelona. She was a member of the Institut Municipal d’Investigació en Psicologia Aplicada a la Educació (IMIPAE), a Research Institute in Psychology and Education, which pioneered in Spain the constructivist research focused on school learning and general education. She has worked at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona since 1975. She specialises in ways of symbolization (e.g. image, drawing, and language) and her current research is on gender and different social and affective relations. Nathalie Mälzer-Semlinger read Film and Theatre Studies and Comparative Literature at Freie Universität Berlin and Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris. Having completed her PhD with a thesis on The Transfer of French Literature to Germany between 1871 and 1933, she now is a Lecturer at Universität Hildesheim, Germany, where she has developed an MA on audiovisual translation. Her research interests include audiovisual translation, dialogue and orality, transmedial narratology, and literary translation. She has translated more than 30 novels and non-fiction books

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from French into German for which she has obtained many grants and was awarded the Stefan-George-Prize. Cristina Mariotti is Assistant Professor of English in the Faculty of Political Science at Pavia University, Italy. Her research interests include interaction strategies in second-language acquisition, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), and English as a medium of instruction in internationalisation programmes. She is the author of the volume Interaction Strategies in English-medium Instruction (FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2007). At present, she is doing research on the use of subtitled audiovisual materials in learning contexts and is co-editing the volume Subtitles and Language Learning. Vincenza Minutella holds a PhD in Translation Studies from the University of Warwick, UK. She is a Researcher in English Language and Translation at the University of Turin, Italy. She has conducted research in theatre translation, film adaptation, Shakespeare translation, and audiovisual translation. Her current research focuses on audiovisual translation of multilingual films and of films for a young audience, on the translation of humour as well as on the use of computerised corpora in Translation Studies. She is the author of several articles on translation and the book Translating for Dubbing from English into Italian (2009). Josélia Neves holds a degree in Modern Languages and Literatures, a Masters in English Studies, a PhD in Translation Studies with a thesis on Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, and a Post-Doc in Inclusive Museums. She is now teaching at the Translation and Interpreting Institute of Hamad bin Khalifa University, in Qatar, after leaving a long career at the Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Portugal. In the last ten years she has been guest lecturer in MA and PhD programmes in various universities in Portugal, Italy, Spain, Belgium, UK, Brazil and African Portuguese Speaking countries. She has worked as a subtitler for over 15 years and has been teaching AVT since 1997. She has carried out a number of projects with television broadcasters, DVD producers, museums and education providers for the provision of inclusive communication solutions for sensory impaired people. She has carried out a number of action research projects using audiovisual translation to provide linguistic and sensory accessibility to books, television, cinema, DVD, eLearning/web environments, educational contexts, cultural venues and live events such as concerts, theatre, and dance.

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Contributors

Carlos de Pablos-Ortega has a BA in English Philology from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and an MA and PhD in Applied Linguistics from Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, Madrid. He combines his research in pragmatics with audiovisual translation. He is the Head of the Spanish Department at the University of East Anglia, UK, where he lectures in Spanish Language and Linguistics, Specialised Translation and Technological Tools for Subtitling and Dubbing. He is also a visiting Lecturer for the MA on Applied Linguistics at Universidad Antonio de Nebrija. He has published articles in international journals such as the Journal of Pragmatics and Pragmatics. His forthcoming publication is a book for the teaching of pragmatics in Spanish entitled Seamos pragmáticos: introducción a la pragmática española (2014). Irene Ranzato is a researcher in English language and translation at Sapienza University of Rome, where she teaches audiovisual translation at BA and MA levels. She has a PhD in Translation from Imperial College London and has written extensively on themes related to audiovisual translation, censorship and manipulation in dubbing, culture specific references, and the translation of regional and social varieties. She is also interested in film and television studies and in theory of adaptation. She has written books on Tom Stoppard and audiovisual translation. Núria Silvestre, Professor in Psychology, graduated from the Universitat de Barcelona, did graduate work at the Institut de Psychologie in Paris, and received her PhD from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). She is the founder of the Centre Psicopedagògic per a l'Educació del Deficient Sensorial (Centre for the Education of Sensory-impaired Students), in Barcelona, which pioneered the mainstreaming of deaf and blind children in regular classrooms in Spain. She is the director of the Centre d'Estudis i de Recerca Psicoeducativa sobre Sordesa i d'Altres Dificultats Comunicatives (GISTAL) at the UAB, a research centre focused on deafness. She has over 90 publications in the area of deafness. Silvia Soler Gallego has a BA in Translation and Interpreting from the University of Granada, a Diploma in Commercial and Economic Chinese from the University of International Business and Economics of Beijing, an MA in Translation and Interpreting from the University of Granada, and a PhD from the University of Córdoba on audio description at museums. She is a member of the research group HUM 770 Aula de investigacion del texto multimedia and takes part in the research projects

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AMATRA (P07-SEJ-2660) and PRA2 (FFI2010-16142). She has also participated in the research project TRACCE (SEJ2006-01829/PSIC).

INDEX

accent(s), 30, 48, 66, 151, 164, 177, 267, 268, 301 accessibility, 2, 6, 45, 175, 212, 249, 261, 262, 264, 267, 270, 274, 275, 277, 278, 279, 281, 296, 301, 303 adaptation(s), 16, 66, 73, 91, 120, 141, 157, 163, 165, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 177, 179, 244, 267, 279, 303, 304 Aixelá, F., 71, 85 Almodóvar, Pedro, 5, 190, 192, 193, 199, 202, 203 America’s Got Talent., 215 American Idol, 215 anime, 174 Apu Trilogy, 4, 69, 70, 71 Asensio, M., 246, 258 audience perception, 5, 190 audio description (AD), 6, 7, 241, 277, 279, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 304 Baumgarten, N., 90, 119, 121 Bégaudeau, Françios, 5, 176, 177, 179, 180, 184, 185, 186, 188, 189 Bergeron, B., 125 Berman, A., 46, 48, 65, 66, 67 Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis, 4, 46, 47, 49, 65, 66, 268, 272 blind, 205, 304 Bridget Jones’s Diary, 30 Bring it On, 214 broadcaster(s), 173, 210, 303 Buffy The Vampire Slayer, 215 Burger, H., 176, 188 Burton, J., 262, 263, 268, 269, 273, 275 Canals, R., 250, 259

caption(s), 201, 247, 259, 260, 269, 270, 271 Carini, S., 213, 214, 227, 228 Carroll, M, 184 cartoon(s), 6, 154, 155, 157, 244, 245, 250, 251, 252, 253, 255, 256 censorship, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 23, 25, 26, 174, 300, 304, See manipulation channel(s), 71, 87, 88, 177, 178, 179, 182, 201, 211, 226, 231, 234, 238, 239, 246, 258, 266, 271 acoustic, 77, 88, 90, 93 audio, 74, 75, 177, 178, 182, 233 visual, 88, 119, 178, 233, 273 Chaume, F., 74, 75, 80, 81, 85, 88, 90, 120, 121, 276 Chiaro, D., 89, 90, 121, 124, 138, 139, 142, 143, 144, 154, 156, 157, 168, 190, 191, 202, 212, 227 children, 6, 83, 123, 136, 138, 140, 142, 144, 148, 152, 155, 156, 157, 168, 172, 174, 191, 193, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 301, 304 cinema, 5, 8, 12, 19, 69, 70, 78, 85, 121, 176, 193, 211, 215, 302, 303 coherence, 89, 119, 160, 251 cohesion, 88, 89, 112, 161 condensation, 269 Conrad, R., 140, 158, 246, 259 convention(s), 20, 41, 44, 91 Corcoran Nielsen, D., 246, 259 crowdsourcing, 229 Crowe, Russel, 135

Taking Stock of Audiovisual Translation cultural reference(s), 4, 69, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 78, 79, 82, 84, 125, 134, 138, 140, 141, 142, 143, 151, 153, 155, 173, 175, 301 Dalton-Puffer, C., 231, 242 deaf, 6, 73, 220, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 251, 252, 253, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 264, 265, 266, 268, 275, 276, 279, 300, 303, 304, See subtitling for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing, See hard-ofhearing (HoH) Delabastita, D, 74, 125, 138, 139, 142, 143, 144, 157, 158, 201, 202 Di Carlo, E., 156 Di Francesca, S., 246, 259 dialect(al), 4, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 55, 59, 60, 61, 63, 65, 66, 67, 151, 161, 162, 164, 167, 173, 175, 178, 267, 301, See idiolect(al), See sociolect(al) Díaz Cintas, J., 1, 48, 59, 65, 66, 67, 90, 121, 122, 124, 138, 141, 142, 143, 157, 175, 193, 202, 210, 218, 228, 231, 234, 242, 243, 247, 259, 264, 267, 268, 275, 300 discourse, 48, 66, 67, 118, 157, 174, 178, 180, 184, 188, 220, 238, 242, 247, 251, 256, 277, 281, 282, 284, 285, 287, 290, 296, 297, 299 Disney, 123, 125, 139, 154, 155, 166 distributor(s), 13, 22, 141 documentary(ies), 136, 177, 179, 237 Donkey Kong, 213 DreamWorks, 123, 125 dubbing, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 25, 28, 29, 34, 36, 37, 38, 43, 44, 67, 73, 84, 85, 87, 88, 89, 90, 92, 107, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 139, 140, 141, 159, 160,

307

163, 173, 175, 178, 179, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 191, 202, 209, 211, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221,223, 224, 225, 226, 231, 241, 299, 300, 301, 303, 304 Duel in the Sun, 3, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 25 editing, 83, 88, 91, 250, 299, 303 editor(s), 11, 299, 301 Eisenstein, E., 231, 242 Entre les murs, 5, 176, 179, 189 equivalence, 47, 51, 62, 82, 142, 143, 152 European Union (EU), 232, 233, 235, 237, 239, 275 expletive(s), 51, 93, 268, See swear word(s), See taboo explicitation, 72, 76, 99, 108, 118, 119, 221, 223 fansub(s), 209, 211, 212, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 223, 224, 225, 226, 300 Flor de mi secreto, La, 5, 190, 193 foreign language learning (FLL), 235, 240, 241, 243 Funny Girl, 215 Gambier, Y., 74, 157, 276 Glee, 5, 209, 211, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 226, 227, 229 Gottlieb, H., 73, 85, 143, 157, 211, 212, 228 Gran Teatre del Liceu, 263, 270 Grasso, A., 209, 212, 228 Hannah Montana, 215 hard-of-hearing (HoH), 6, 73, 244, 246, 259, 261, 262, 266, 267, 275, 276, 279, See deaf, See subtitling for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing High School Musical, 215 Hooligans, 30 How I Met Your Mother, 87, 90, 92, 93, 95, 99, 100, 101, 107, 108, 111, 112, 116

308 Hulstijn, J., 232, 242 humour, 4, 46, 47, 53, 66, 87, 89, 90, 91, 92, 99, 100, 101, 108, 112, 116, 117, 119, 120, 121, 123, 124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 130, 132, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 155, 156, 157, 158, 166, 191, 271, 272, 274, 300, 301, 303, See joke(s) idiolect(al), 33, 159, 160, 164, 166, 167, 169, 173, See dialect(al), See sociolect(al) In Her Shoes, 30 insert(s), 17, 18, 23, 74 interpreter(s), 260, 263, 264, 269, 270, 272, 277, 296 interpreting, 13, 191, 192, 269, 272, 278, 279, 292, 301, 302, 303, 304 intersemiotic, 7, 73, 74, 262, 284, 295, See semiotic, See polysemiotic intonation, 77, 82, 98, 101, 108, 120, 177, 181, 191, 195, 197, 198, 200, 253 irony, 89, 109, 118, 134, 142, 143, 191, 215 Jenkins, H., 212, 213, 228 Jenson, V., 125, 140 joke(s), 89, 93, 117, 121, 123, 124, 125, 130, 136, 138, 142, 143, 144, 158, See humour Karaoke Revolution, 216 Katims, M., 46, 49, 53, 54, 55, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66 kinesic(s), 69, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96, 97, 101, 102, 104, 105, 106, 108, 109, 112, 113, 118, 120, 122, 191 Koch, P., 178, 188 L’ultimo bacio, 31 La nostra vita, 31 La prima cosa bella, 31, 41 Legend of Zelda, The, 213

Index Leppihalme, R., 71, 72, 77, 80, 81, 83, 84, 85, 143, 157, 212 Letterman, R., 125 Lezioni di cioccolato, 30, 31 Little Big Planet, 213 Little Mermaid, The, 123, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 137, 138 localisation, 300 Lost, 202, 226, 229 Love Actually, 30 Luetke-Stahlman, B., 246, 259 Ma che colpa abbiamo noi, 31 manipulation, 25, 26, 74, 91, 141, 157, 301, 304, See censorship Manuale d’amore 2 (Capitoli successivi), 31 Mariotti, C., 6, 230, 231, 232, 240, 243, 303 Matamala, A., 44, 175, 262, 264, 272, 273, 275, 276 Match Point, 30, 41 Mateo, M., 261, 262, 266, 276 Mean Girls, 214 MegaVideo, 210 Merrin, W., 213, 228 metalinguistic, 124, 178, 236 Metropolitan Opera, 263 Muñoz Sánchez, P., 218, 228 music, 30, 73, 75, 78, 79, 88, 91, 112, 113, 114, 115, 150, 152, 178, 201, 214, 215, 216, 225, 227, 244, 264, 266, 269, 271, 273, 275, 276, 279, 300, 301, See song(s) Music and Lyrics, 30 Napster, 210 narration, 90, 95 narrative, 9, 11, 12, 72, 78, 83, 84, 90, 91, 122, 164, 178, 179, 183, 185, 188, 215, 218, 244, 250, 251, 252, 280, 285, 289, 300 Nedergaard-Larsen, B., 72, 85 Nida, E., 47, 51, 67 Nintendo, 211, 216 noise(s), 171, 181, 182

Taking Stock of Audiovisual Translation norm(s), 10, 12, 13, 14, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 160, 202, 246, 247 Nottingham Theatre Royal, 263 Oesterreicher, W., 178, 188 Oggi Sposi, 30, 31 omission(s), 73, 77, 78, 80, 82, 108, 144, 155, 176, 221, 222, 223, 252 Orero, P., 45, 262, 264, 272, 273, 275, 276 Palmer, J., 262, 263, 266, 268, 269, 276 paralinguistic, 5, 6, 77, 89, 90, 93, 99, 101, 107, 117, 118, 119, 120, 177, 182, 191, 264, 265, 269, 270, 273 Pascua, I., 125, 137, 139 Paul, P., 246 Pedersen, J., 72, 76, 85, 169, 174, 212, 220, 223, 224, 228 Pinto, D., 201, 202 polysemiotic, 74, See semiotic, See intersemiotic polysystem, 10, 26 Pooley, T., 48, 68 Poyatos, F., 77, 85, 86, 89, 90, 120, 122, 139 pragmatics, 202, 299, 304 pun(s), 66, 122, 141, 142, 143, 146, 147, 148 quality, 3, 5, 28, 118, 123, 141, 156, 157, 177, 194, 211, 212, 219, 226, 227, 228, 247, 259, 283 Questione di cuore, 31 Quigley, S.P., 246, 260 Ranzato, I., 5, 117, 122, 159, 169, 173, 174, 175, 212, 223, 228, 304 Ray, Satyajit, 4, 69, 70, 75, 85, 86 reading speed(s), 218, 219, 245, 249, 250, 251, 252, 254, 255, 257, 269, 272 reduction, 227, 254 redundancy, 99, 119

309

register(s), 29, 50, 60, 61, 63, 65, 141, 145, 164, 182, 184, 187, 188, 266, 297 relevance, 84, 90, 100, 282, 292 Remael, A., 45, 48, 59, 65, 66, 67, 142, 143, 157, 177, 191, 203, 234, 242, 267, 268, 275, 301 Rent, 215 revoicing, 190, 241 rewriting, 10, 65, 152, 156 Rey-Jouvin, B., 125, 139 Ritchie, G., 124, 139 Rocky Horror Picture Show, The, 215 Royal Opera House (ROH), 263 Sanderson, JD., 88, 122, 242 Scrubs, 215 semiotic(s), 6, 67, 69, 73, 74, 80, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 95, 100, 107, 108, 112, 116, 117, 119, 176, 177, 178, 201, 258, 266, 271, 272, 273, 274, 302, See polysemiotic, See intersemiotic Sex and the City – The Movie, 30 Shark Tale, 123, 125, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138 Shin-Chan, 244, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257 Shrek, 5, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158 sign(s), 3, 4, 23, 69, 74, 80, 81, 88, 89, 93, 112, 116, 160, 191, 201, 216, 233, 263, 264, 269, 270, 272 Simpson, Jessica, 135 sitcom(s), 4, 87, 89, 90, 91, 163 Skins, 5, 159, 162, 163, 164, 166, 171, 172, 173, 174 slang, 29, 159, 162, 164, 166, 167, 171, 172, 181, 182, 187, 216, 268 Sliding Doors, 30 sociolect(al), 167

310 song(s), 70, 71, 78, 79, 91, 99, 112, 144, 148, 150, 151, 152, 158, 209, 215, 216, 218, 219 sound effect(s), 6, 73, 88, 91, 201, 262, 265, 270, 273 Sound of Music, The, 215 soundtrack(s), 4, 48, 58, 75, 190, 191, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 216, 231, 235, 237, 238, 265 speech act(s), 4, 28, 30, 178, 282 Stewart, Rod, 135 subtitle(s) / subtitling, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 17, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 55, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 69, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 84, 85, 121, 135, 157, 174, 176, 178, 179, 182, 183, 184, 186, 187, 188, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 217, 218, 219, 225, 226, 227, 228, 230, 231, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 261, 262, 267, 268, 271, 272, 274, 275, 276, 279, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304 for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing (SDH), 7, 73, 246, 262, 264, 268, 272, 274, 279 interlingual, 69, 234 intralingual, 230, 233, 235, 236, 240, 242 Super Mario Bros, 213

Index surtitles, 6, 261, 262, 263, 269, 271, 275, 276 swearword(s), 148, 166, See taboo, See expletive(s) synchronisation / symchrony / sync, 92, 114, 247 taboo, 148, 193 television (TV), 5, 6, 67, 85, 87, 90, 108, 155, 157, 158, 162, 163, 173, 175, 191, 193, 202, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 217, 218, 225, 226, 227, 228, 231, 234, 235, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 254, 255, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 264, 267, 268, 271, 272, 274, 279, 300, 303, 304 The Devil Wears Prada, 30 The Hollywood Reporter, 216 training, 300, 302 Turner, Tina, 134 Tutta la vita davanti, 31, 41 Vairano, F., 156 Valero, J., 132, 139, 246, 260 Vandaele, J., 120, 122, 123, 124, 139, 142, 156, 158 Venuti, L., 7, 47, 50, 67, 68 Villalba, A., 246, 260 voiceover, 183 Wicked, 215 Williams, C., 246, 260 Wode, H., 232, 243 Zabalbeascoa, P., 74, 88, 89, 90, 122, 124, 138, 139, 142, 143, 156, 158 Zaccone, E., 213, 216, 229