Audiovisual Translation Overview

Study Notes

AVT is a highly prolific area of research in Translation Studies, if not the most prolific.
AVT has existed since the early 20th century.
It wasn't until the 1990s that AVT gained more academic attention with the advent of digitization.
Academic perception of AVT traditionally fell short of "true translation" due to spatial and temporal limitations.
Scholars initially preferred to describe the process as adaptation.
Jakobson identified three types of translation: intralingual, interlingual, and intersemiotic.
Reiss established text typology for translators, categorizing texts into three groups: content-focused, form-focused, and appeal-focused.
Audiomedial texts are categorized by their dependence on non-linguistic elements (technical media) and graphic, acoustic, and visual expression.

Multimedial texts commonly use both sight and sound for communication, examples include film and television.
Multimodal texts combine verbal and nonverbal modalities for complex expression.
Multisemiotic texts use different graphic systems.
Audiomedial texts rely on the human voice and not the printed word, examples include operas, songs, radio/television scripts.
Interactive software, video games, and virtual reality are reshaping the landscape of AVT.
Cybersubtitles, as found on the internet, subsume various types of subtitles.
Fansubs, guerrilla subtitles, and altruist subtitles are different types of cybersubtitles.

Revoicing: Substituting the original dialogue soundtrack with a newly recorded soundtrack.
Timed text: Converting the original dialogue sound into written text (e.g., subtitles/subtitles).
Interpreting: Translating speech (live). This is often simultaneous or consecutive.
Voiceover: Overlaying a translated voice onto the original audio.
Narration: Replacing original dialogue with a new audio track for better comprehension (often non-fiction).
Dubbing: Replacing the original dialogue with a new recording in the target language, while visually matching lip movements.

AD provides a verbal description of essential visual elements for visually impaired viewers.

Various types of subtitling exist, categorized by language (interlingual or intralingual), preparation time (pre-prepared or live), and display method (block, pop-up, scroll).
Intralingual (same language) subtitles are often used for karaoke or sing-along purposes.
Interlingual subtitling represents translation between languages.
Subtitling for people with hearing impairments (SDH) is a common type.