1. Lesson Six
Subtitling

2. Jakobson
Intralingual
Interlingual
Intersemiotic

3. Diagonal translation

4. 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)

5. Intertitles
Two years later Frankenstein had discovered the mystery of life.
Tiger – the bully of the jungle …. cruel ….bloodthirsty.
+ letters, signs, etc.

6. Intertitles 2 UNCLE TOM’S 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”

7. Subtitles over the years
photographed on cards and then together with film;
photo of whole film;
‘clichés’ printed on film;
laser – vaporises emulsion at correct point;
computer with time code.

8. Technical aspects 1 Script (but often transcription) translation
adaptation
composition
(translate all ‘written’ elements)

9. 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)

10. Technical aspects 3 SPOTTING – where to insert the subtitles. in cue
out cue
spotting list.

11. 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)

12. Technical aspects 5 DIMENSIONS width 2/3 of screen – centred
height 15% of screen
characters per line (28-38 on TV)
(max. 68 or two lines of 20 ‘m’.)

13. 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.

14. 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’.

15. Technical aspects 8 GAP BETWEEN TITLES 3-8 frames or ¼ 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).

16. 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.

17. Technical aspects 9a (from CARO DIARIO)
“Non sapeva niente: come poteva immaginarsi
che il giorno dopo per lui sarebbe cambiata la
vita?”
He didn’t know his life would
change the next day
He didn’t know
his life would change the next day

18. 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)

19. 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

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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. That’s right. Movies in different languages. He liked to watch those. He had an appreciation for things that other people didn’t care much about.

23. Video Echo

24. Video Echo sub

25. Gottlieb on Subtitling
Prepared communication
using written language
acting as an additive
and synchronous semiotic channel
as part of a transient
And polysemiotic text

26. Subtitles/spontaneous conversation
Prepared not prepared
Written spoken
Additive original
Synchronous extempore
Transient ongoing
Polysemiotic multimodal

27. 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’.

28. Additive
Verbal material is added to the original maintaining the source language discourse.
Intralingual/Interlingual

29. 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.

30. Synchronous
The original film and the translated dialogue are presented simultaneously, not even like simultaneous interpreting, where there are dangers.

31. Polymedial Multimodal
At least two parallel channels are used to convey the total message of the original.

32. The Gottlieb Strategies
TRANSFER
EXPANSION
CONDENSATION
DECIMATION
DELETION
PARAPHRASE
IMITATION
TRANSCRIPTION
DISLOCATION
RESIGNATION

33. Transfer Complete translation Not word-for-word. Hi, honey.
Ciao, dolcezza.

34. Expansion
Give extra information, for example in the case of culture bound terms.
eg. ‘In the Name of the Father’: I.R.A.

35. Condensation Say the same thing in a shorter way, If only I could…
Magari…

36. Decimation Remove completely a part of the discourse.
Si ma guardi cos’ha combinato, guardi che casino, porca puttana…
But look at this bloody mess
(from ‘La Bionda’ di S. Rubini)

37. Deletion Remove entire text. Would you like a cigarette?

38. Cf. sign language for the deaf
Ultimo confronto stasera di questa coppa dei campioni della politica in cinque giornate che si è 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.

39. Paraphrase Say the same thing in a different way.
For example ‘Kramer versus Kramer’
Ebbets Field….
monopattini…

40. Imitation Repeat verbatim. For example, names, quotes, etc.
Janes Bond, Fifth Avenue, “c’est la vie”.

41. Transcription Copy any speech defects, etc. ‘A fish called Wanda’
They don’t sh..sh..sh..
Non c..c..c..

42. Dislocation
Shift from say song to prose.

43. Resignation Defeated by culture bound reference. For example ‘Friends’
… a big foam finger.
… una birra gigantesca.

44. 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;

45. Transfer ‘Caro Diario’
D’estate a Roma i cinema sono tutti chiusi.
Summer in Rome, the cinemas are all closed.

46. Expansion ‘Caro Diario’
caseina di capra, groviera. gorgonzola…
goat’s cheese, Swiss cheese, gorgonzola…

47. Condensation ‘Caro Diario’
Ora è tutto cambiato, ora è tutto veramente cambiato.
Everything has really changed.

48. Decimation ‘Caro Diario’
Agenti di borsa, deputati, assessori, giormalisti,…
Brokers, congressmen, journalists,…

49. Deletion ‘Caro Diario’
Te lo dico io perché. Perché odio gente … come te!
I hate people like you!

50. Paraphrase ‘Caro Diario’
Ormai ha paura di rimettermi in gioco.
I’m afraid to re-think my life.

51. Imitation ‘Caro Diario’
Quam juvat – quant’è bello!
Quam juvat – how beautiful!

52. Transcription ‘Caro Diario’
Ca-pi-sci quel-lo che ti dico?
Un-der-stand what I’m say-ing?

53. Resignation ‘Caro Diario’
Garibaldi qui ci ha fatto la resistenza.
Garibaldi fought here.

54. Moretti monologue: Italian
D’estate a Roma, i cinema sono tutti chiusi.
Oppure ci sono …
film dell’orrore come “Henry”.
Oppure qualche film italiano.
Ormai ho paura di rimettermi in gioco..
Sono un vigliacco.
Ma cosa è successo in tutti questi anni? Ditemelo voi.
Ti si stanno imbiancando le tempie.
Incominciano a pesare le sconfitte..

55. Moretti monologue: English
Summer in Rome, the cinemas are closed (T)
All you can see is … (P)
horror films like “Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer” (E)
Or some Italian films (T)
I’m afraid to re-think my life (P)
I’m a coward (T)
What happened. Tell me? (D)
Your temples are turning white. (T)
The weight of defeat. (C)

56. ENGLISH
No. subtitles %
transfer
661
66.3%
condensation
165
16.5%
decimation 45
4.5%
paraphrase 35
3.5%
deletion
imitation 33
3.3%
transcription 11
1.1%
expansion 9
0.9%
resignation 3
0.3%
dislocation 1
0.1%
TOTAL
997
100%

57. SPANISH
No. subtitles %
transfer
950
80.7
condensation 96
8.2
imitation 40
3.4
decimation 27
2.3
paraphrase 23 2
transcription 15
deletion 13
1.1
expansion 5
0.4

58. A Stranger among us (1992)
Transfer 79%
Condensation 7%
Imitation 5%

59. La vita è bella – scena dell’interpretazione

60. Video Posto sub max

61. Video Posto sub min

62. 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

63. Subtitles for teaching
lexico-grammar items
registers
genres
conversation analysis
translation

64. Other languages Intralingual subtitling Interlingual subtitling
English-English
Italian-Italian
Gaelic-Gaelic?
Interlingual subtitling
English-Italian and vice versa
English-Galician Portuguese and vice versa

65. Database Create database of subtitled genres:
car adverts (drinks adverts)
domestic soap scenes
nature documentaries
‘rows’
etc.

66. Relational database Relate subtitled text to other semiotic modalities
gesture
music
camera angle/position
etc.