10 The Linguist Vol/59 No/2 2020
ciol.org.uk
FEATURES
W
ith the success of on-demand
platforms such as Netflix and
Amazon Prime, audiovisual
translation (AVT) is gaining more and more
visibility. Big companies that plan to release
their shows on a global scale have to pay
attention to the quality of the translations
and to the working conditions of their
translators. However, translating for these
big platforms covers only a portion of the
AVT market.
That market is different today than it was
just a few years ago, thanks largely to online
streaming. The simultaneous release of a
show in different languages and regions
requires a well-organised structure that
includes the work of translators from the
beginning of the process, and this is
obtainable only with an adequate budget.
In an ideal world, audiovisual translators
in both subtitling and dubbing would
receive a script in the source language
accompanied by reference material, the
video footage, time codes and the 'bible',
which includes details such as the plots of
previous seasons, relevant events that
might be referred to in future episodes,
and terminology.
It is best if the same translator works on an
entire show, as this guarantees consistency
and limits the time spent researching the
bible. Once a translation is sent off, it
should ideally be reviewed by several
departments before a final version is
approved. No mistakes should pass through
these multiple checks, especially when
dealing with big productions.
So how does the reality of the situation
compare? Things clearly do not always go
according to plan and mistakes can be
glaring. A Spanish subtitle for a Game of
Thrones character with a Geordie accent
went viral because the translator failed to
detect the sentence as English, rendering it
phonetically instead: 'She can't see us'
became 'Sicansíos'. This is not an isolated
Could poor working conditions be responsible for audiovisual
As some linguists in Italy resort to industrial action, Jessica
When subtitles go w
VIEWER CONFUSION
Audiences faced with nonsensical subtitles
may never know what the characters
are saying in the original version
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