Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto
Mestrado em Tradução e Serviços Linguísticos
MULTIMEDIA TRANSLATION
ENGLISH - PORTUGUESE
SPRING SEMESTER 2010
Wed. 17:30-19:30 – Room 204
Teacher:
Elena Zagar Galvão
elenazagar@gmail.com
Webpage: web.letras.up.pt/egalvao
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
Text on screen (Cintaz/Remael, 66)
In the film About a Boy
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0276751/)
the following notice appears on a supermarket
door:
SPAT
Single Parents
Alone Together
Fridays at 2 p.m.
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
It is spotted by the protagonist and eternal
bachelor Will, who has just done his
shopping and is wondering about the best
way to meet single mums. There is no
interference from music or dialogue.
1. What would you subtitle if you were
allowed one subtitle of 34 characters and
spaces?
2. Can you find an acronym to replace SPAT
in Portuguese?
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
Text on screen (Cintaz/Remael, 66)
The following text appears as a neon sign in
Taxi Driver
(http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=taxi+d
river&x=11&y=1)
The sign is above the entrance of a sex club in
a sleazy Manhattan nightlife
neighbourhood. As the protagonist
approaches and enters, we see the sign
above the door.
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
SHOW & TELL
Live Show
XX-rated movies
1.
2.
Would you translate the sign?
If so, what would you translate and how,
in a 27-character subtitle (including
spaces)
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
The Vulnerability of Subtitling
Ex. 3.6.8 p. 67
DVD>Chapter 3>
Exercises>Exercise3.6.8>Sunbathing)
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
Technical Considerations
(Chapter 4 in Días Cintas, Remael)
You read:
 Code of Good Subtitling Practice (Ivarsson
and Carroll, 1998) approved by ESIST
 A proposed set of Subtitling Standards in
Europe
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
Discuss
1. Do you think it is positive or even
desirable to have a set of guidelines
that can be applied internationally? Or
is it rather negative because it ignores
and suppresses national preferences?
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
Discuss
2. Could some standardization be
reached at national level? At
international level? Who should be in
charge of it? How could it be reached?
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
Discuss
3. In the list offered by Ivarsson and
Carroll, is there any recommendation
that, in your opinion, may interfere
unnecessarily with national subtitling
practice?
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
In the initial section Subtitle
Spotting and Translation:
4. Comment on points 8 and 9
5. What do you think about points 11 and
13?
6. Do you agree with point 12? Why?
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
In the initial section Subtitle
Spotting and Translation:
7. Can you think of any situation in which
recommendation n.20 could not be
implemented?
8. What value does recommendation n.25
have?
9. Would you propose any other
recommendation?
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
Now compare the ESIST Code with the Set of
Subtitling Standards in Europe
(Karamitroglou, 1998)
Which do you think is most appropriate?
Why?
Can this set of standards be seen as
complementary to the ESIST Code?
Karamitroglou speaks about Europe. Can this
limitation be justified? Could this set of
standards also be applied in other countries
and to other languages?
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
Spatial Dimension
Maximum number of lines and position on
the screen
 Font type and number of characters per line
 One-liners and two-liners
 Centred and left-aligned

FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
In typography, serifs are non-structural details on the ends of
some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. A font that
has serifs is called a serif font (or seriffed font). A font without
serifs is called sans-serif, from the French sans="without".
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
Temporal Dimension
Spotting and duration of subtitles
 Synchronization
 Multiple voices
 Shot changes
 Delay function between subtitles
 One or two lines?
 Timecodes

FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
Temporal Dimension
Reading time
 Six-second rule
 DVD reading speed

FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
For next Wednesday
Read Chapter 2 and 3
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão