Lesson Six
Subtitling
Jakobson
Intralingual
Interlingual
Intersemiotic
Diagonal translation
Subtitles
Jan Ivarrson Subtitling for the Media
1992
Henrik Gottlieb Subtitling, a new
university discipline 1991, etc.
Irene Kovacic (Llubiana)
Yves Gambier (Turku)
Jorge Diaz (Roehampton)
Pilar Orero (Barcelona)
Intertitles
Two years later Frankenstein had
discovered the mystery of life.
Tiger the bully of the jungle . cruel
.bloodthirsty.
+ letters, signs, etc.
Intertitles 2
UNCLE TOMS CABIN 1927
Across two states George Harris, ever on
the trail of Lemul Proctor, the buyer of Little
Harry.
Moonlight bathing the old Kentucky home in
radiance romance in the winged and
perfumed breezes of the night.
Dunno whar dey is, Missy Liza
Subtitles over the years
photographed on cards and then
together with film;
photo of whole film;
clichs printed on film;
laser vaporises emulsion at correct
point;
computer with time code.
Technical aspects 1
Script (but often transcription)
translation
adaptation
composition
(translate all written elements)
Technical aspects 2
Ideally there should be notes on the film
itself,
the characters, the original story, the
cultural
references, etc. but there never is!!!
(Minchinton)
Technical aspects 3
SPOTTING where to insert the subtitles.
in cue
out cue
spotting list.
Technical aspects 4
BACKGROUND
white titles on dark background
bottom of screen where there is least
light and least action
except in snow scenes, etc. (black box)
Technical aspects 5
DIMENSIONS
width 2/3 of screen centred
height 15% of screen
characters 32-40 per line (28-38 on TV)
(max. 68 or two lines of 20 m.)
Technical aspects 6
LINES
1 or 2 lines
2 lines avoids flash effect; generally
better to have two one-liners together
than two separate titles.
Technical aspects 7
TIME
Film characters speak quicker than the
average reader but what is the average
reader???
As it is necessary to also take in the visuals,
etc., one line should remain on screen for at
least
FOUR seconds, and two lines for 6-8 seconds.
Otherwise there is a danger of re-reading.
Technical aspects 8
GAP BETWEEN TITLES
3-8 frames or second.
Viewers need a fraction of a second to
identify speaker (fixation pause).
Must not overlap scene change or shot
change. Otherwise viewer reads title again
(overlapping effect).
Technical aspects 9
SEGMENTATION
Units must be syntactically and semantically
complete.
Never separate articles & nouns; prepositions
& nouns, conjunctions & clauses, pronouns &
verbs, compund verbs, adjectives & nouns,
etc.
Technical aspects 9a
(from CARO DIARIO)
Non sapeva niente: come poteva immaginarsi
che il giorno dopo per lui sarebbe cambiata la
vita?
He didnt know his life would
change the next day
He didnt know
his life would change the next day
Technical aspects 10
DIALOGUE
Character One
- Character Two
-
Hello, how are you?
- None the better for seeing you!
- (second part appears before it is spoken)
-
Technical aspects 11
PUNCTUATION
Every language has a different prosody (rhythm of text,
emphasis, irony, etc.)
Fullstop to end title.
Dots for hesitation, interruption
Exclamation and Question marks.
Underlining.
Italics voice off, flashback, etc.
Capitals for signs, posters, etc.
Brackets (in arabic) or for deaf (train passing)
# songs eg. #tralala
Readability
The quality that makes possible the
recognition of the information content of
material when it is represented by
alphanumeric characters in meaningful
groupings, such as words, sentences or
continuous text.
Fixation
During reading our eyes do not move
smoothly across the page they make
a series of jumps
between the jumps the eyes remain
relatively still, for about a quarter of a
second, in what is referred to as a
fixation.
Public view
(from Too Close to Home : L.Barclay)
A. And he loved movies. But not the ones
everyone else liked. He liked the ones with
the words at the bottom.
B. Subtitles.
A. Thats right. Movies in different languages.
He liked to watch those. He had an
appreciation for things that other people didnt
care much about.
Video Echo
Video Echo sub
Gottlieb on Subtitling
Prepared communication
using written language
acting as an additive
and synchronous semiotic channel
as part of a transient
And polysemiotic text
Subtitles/spontaneous
conversation
Prepared
not prepared
Written
spoken
Additive
original
Synchronous
extempore
Transient
ongoing
Polysemiotic
multimodal
Written
As such, subtitling differs from all other
types of screen translation.
Loss: reducing a language to writing.
Gain: introduction of extraneous
features that are not part of spoken
discourse. Cf. Pro rata.
Additive
Verbal material is added to the original
maintaining the source language
discourse.
Intralingual/Interlingual
Immediate
All discourse is presented in a flowing
manner, beyond the control of the
viewer.
This is changing with the introduction of
video, DVD, repetition in 24-hour TV
news programmes, interactive TV
(press your red SKY button), etc.
Synchronous
The original film and the translated
dialogue are presented simultaneously,
not even like simultaneous interpreting,
where there are dangers.
Polymedial
Multimodal
At least two parallel channels are used
to convey the total message of the
original.
The Gottlieb Strategies
TRANSFER
EXPANSION
CONDENSATION
DECIMATION
DELETION
PARAPHRASE
IMITATION
TRANSCRIPTION
DISLOCATION
RESIGNATION
Transfer
Complete translation
Not word-for-word.
Hi, honey.
Ciao, dolcezza.
Expansion
Give extra information, for example in
the case of culture bound terms.
eg. In the Name of the Father: I.R.A.
Condensation
Say the same thing in a shorter way,
If only I could
Magari
Decimation
Remove completely a part of the discourse.
Si ma guardi cosha combinato, guardi che
casino, porca puttana
But look at this bloody mess
(from La Bionda di S. Rubini)
Deletion
Remove entire text.
Would you like a cigarette?
---------------------------------
Cf. sign language for the
deaf
Ultimo confronto stasera di questa coppa dei
campioni della politica in cinque giornate che
si disputata nelle ultime settimane su RAI
uno e partita di ritorno tra Silvio Berlusconi e
Romano Prodi.
Stasera, su RAI uno, ultimo dibattito politico
della campagna elettorale tra Silvio
Berlusconi e Romano Prodi.
Paraphrase
Say the same thing in a different way.
For example Kramer versus Kramer
Ebbets Field.
monopattini
Imitation
Repeat verbatim.
For example, names, quotes, etc.
Janes Bond, Fifth Avenue, cest la vie.
Transcription
Copy any speech defects, etc.
A fish called Wanda
They dont sh..sh..sh..
Non c..c..c..
Dislocation
Shift from say song to prose.
Resignation
Defeated by culture bound reference.
For example Friends
a big foam finger.
una birra gigantesca.
Strategies
Expansion: expanded expression, adequate
rendering;
Paraphrase: altered expression, adequate rendering;
Transfer: full expression, adequate rendering;
Imitation: identical expression, equivalent rendering;
Transcription: anomolous expression, adequate
rendering;
Dislocation: different expression, adjusted content;
Condensation: condensed expression, concise
rendering;
Decimation: abridged expression, reduced content;
Deletion: omitted expression, no verbal content;
Resignation: differing expression, distorted content;
Transfer Caro Diario
Destate a Roma i cinema sono tutti
chiusi.
Summer in Rome, the cinemas are all
closed.
Expansion Caro Diario
caseina di capra, groviera.
gorgonzola
goats cheese, Swiss cheese,
gorgonzola
Condensation Caro
Diario
Ora tutto cambiato, ora tutto
veramente cambiato.
Everything has really changed.
Decimation Caro Diario
Agenti di borsa, deputati, assessori,
giormalisti,
Brokers, congressmen, journalists,
Deletion Caro Diario
Te lo dico io perch. Perch odio gente
come te!
I hate people like you!
Paraphrase Caro Diario
Ormai ha paura di rimettermi in gioco.
Im afraid to re-think my life.
Imitation Caro Diario
Quam juvat quant bello!
Quam juvat how beautiful!
Transcription Caro
Diario
Ca-pi-sci quel-lo che ti dico?
Un-der-stand what Im say-ing?
Resignation Caro Diario
Garibaldi qui ci ha fatto la resistenza.
Garibaldi fought here.
Moretti monologue:
Italian
Destate a Roma, i cinema sono tutti chiusi.
Oppure ci sono
film dellorrore come Henry.
Oppure qualche film italiano.
Ormai ho paura di rimettermi in gioco..
Sono un vigliacco.
Ma cosa successo in tutti questi anni? Ditemelo voi.
Ti si stanno imbiancando le tempie.
Incominciano a pesare le sconfitte..
Moretti monologue:
English
Summer in Rome, the cinemas are closed.
All you can see is
(P)
horror films like Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer
Or some Italian films.
(T)
Im afraid to re-think my life.
(P)
Im a coward.
(T)
What happened. Tell me?
(D)
Your temples are turning white.
(T)
The weight of defeat.
(C)
(T)
(E)
ENGLISH
transfer
No.
subtitles
661
condensation
165
16.5%
decimation
45
4.5%
paraphrase
35
3.5%
deletion
35
3.5%
imitation
33
3.3%
transcription
11
1.1%
expansion
0.9%
resignation
0.3%
dislocation
0.1%
TOTAL
997
100%
66.3%
SPANISH
No.
subtitles
transfer
condensatio
n
imitation
decimation
paraphrase
transcription
deletion
expansion
950
96
40
27
23
15
13
5
80.7
8.2
3.4
2.3
2
2.3
1.1
0.4
A Stranger among us
(1992)
Transfer
79%
Condensation 7%
Imitation 5%
La vita bella scena
dellinterpretazione
Video Posto sub max
Video Posto sub min
Subtitling for what?
Subtitling of different film types
documentary, soap opera, film
Subtitling from filmese
to filmese
to natural
Subtitling for
didactic purposes
entertainment purposes
Subtitles for teaching
lexico-grammar items
registers
genres
conversation analysis
translation
Other languages
Intralingual subtitling
English-English
Italian-Italian
Gaelic-Gaelic?
Interlingual subtitling
English-Italian and vice versa
English-Galician Portuguese and vice
versa
Database
Create database of subtitled genres:
car adverts (drinks adverts)
domestic soap scenes
nature documentaries
rows
etc.
Relational database
Relate subtitled text to other semiotic
modalities
gesture
music
camera angle/position
etc.
