Factors influencing the choice of screen translation method

Factors influencing the choice of screen translation method

While it is true that there is good reason to distinguish between dubbing countries (e.g. France, Germany, Spain) and subtitling countries (e.g. Belgium, Denmark, Sweden) in terms of their traditional preferred screen translation practice, the decision to either dub or subtitle specific audiovi- sual material is usually taken after consideration of a number of different factors, of which a country's dominant tradition is only one. Certainly, as we have seen, larger, wealthier countries have tended to dub, while smaller ones have opted more often for subtitles. But if we look more closely, it becomes clear that the situation is really rather complex and continually evolving. This point is well illustrated by Karamitroglou's (2000) ground- breaking study of the subtleties of the Greek audiovisual translation land- scape.

Nowadays, local custom balanced by new trends, available budget and time, programme genre, the status of the source and target languages (e.g. world, major, minority languages) and the power relations existing between them, may all be factors that affect to differing degrees the deci-

sion to opt for dubbing or subtitling. In Ireland, for instance, a minority speaks the minority language, Irish, while most have the world language, English, as their mother tongue. Thus when English language programmes are translated they are generally dubbed, rather than subtitled, into Irish, so as to keep the minority language medium of Irish language broadcasting monolingual. But Irish language programmes translated into English are subtitled because the lower cost associated with subtitling is a more impor-

A Companion to Translation Studies

tant factor for the English-speaking audience than the avoidance of a bilin- gual broadcast.

Target audience profile plays, or certainly should play, a significant role in the process of selecting the most appropriate translation method. Rele- vant here are such factors as the age, sex, educational background and social class of the audience (O'Connell, 1998). Since the formulation of

Skopos theory (Reji g & Vermeer, 1984), which emphasises the function of the translation in the target culture, the purpose of the translation has been considered a very important factor in translation theory. In the case of screen translation for television, such issues as the broadcaster's primary purpose are highly relevant to the decision to dub or to subtitle. Programmes that are intended primarily for entertainment, education, propaganda or some other purpose will be better served by one or other method (Karamitroglou, 2000). In these days of commercial channels vying for viewers, if the priority is to reach the largest possible audience, dubbing will probably be the chosen method, budget allowing.

Subtitling is often preferred by more educated audiences, especially if they have some knowledge of the source culture and language. The deci- sion to use this translation method can prove a double-edged sword, however, as some members of the audience may be in a position to spot poor translation decisions. This problem is becoming compounded through globalisation, as the recent case of the Japanese subtitled version of The Lord of the Rings shows.

One of the consequences of the global village is that a considerable number of Japanese people are well-informed fans of the novels of the British author Tolkien. A second is that it is commercially important to release foreign language versions of blockbuster films as quickly as possible. A third is that ordinary cinema-goers can reach huge numbers of others to exchange ideas and voice their criticisms via the very democratic medium of the Internet and thus, ultimately, exert considerable pressure on the film industry. So it came to pass that the The Lord of the Rings distributors in Japan allotted only one week to a leading subtitler to prepare a Japanese version. Expert fans were horrified by some of her translation decisions, which revealed a lack of familiarity with both the original and translated versions of the literary works on which the film was based. Using the Internet, fans exchanged criticisms and alternative suggestions and built up a strong lobby for better quality screen translation. A petition with 1300 signatures was sent to the film distributor and ultimately to Peter Jackson, the director. The result has been that the film industry has learnt the lesson that more time plus expert subject knowledge input is necessary for some

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cult films to pass muster, when subtitled, in these days of globalisation (O'Hagan, 2003).

Subtitling as constrained translation

As shown above, the ultimate constraint on subtitling arises from the fact that it is an overt form of translation (Gottlieb, 1992), i.e. it can be

evaluated by those who know the source language of the voicetrack. Time and space are further constraints. As regards time, people speak more quickly than they can read so most language needs to be summarised in subtitles. Space constraints arise because there is room for only about 30 or

40 characters/spaces across a screen, and also because of the technical constraints posed by a maximum limit of two to three lines of text across the bottom of a screen.