Lesson Six
Subtitling
Jakobson
Intralingual
 Interlingual


Intersemiotic
Diagonal translation
SL
SPEECH
Interpreting
TL
SL
WRITING
Translation
TL
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 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”
Subtitles over the years
1. photographed on cards and then
2.
3.
4.
5.
together with film;
photo of whole film;
‘clichés’ 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 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).
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 didn’t know his life would
change the next day
He didn’t 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. 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.
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
Written
Additive
Synchronous
Transient
Polysemiotic
not prepared
spoken
original
extempore
ongoing
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 cos’ha 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 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.
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, “c’est la vie”.
Transcription
Copy any speech defects, etc.
‘A fish called Wanda’
They don’t 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’
D’estate a Roma i cinema sono tutti
chiusi.
Summer in Rome, the cinemas are all
closed.
Expansion ‘Caro Diario’
caseina di capra, groviera.
gorgonzola…
goat’s cheese, Swiss cheese,
gorgonzola…
Condensation ‘Caro
Diario’
Ora è tutto cambiato, ora è 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 perché. Perché odio gente
… come te!
I hate people like you!
Paraphrase ‘Caro Diario’
Ormai ha paura di rimettermi in gioco.
I’m afraid to re-think my life.
Imitation ‘Caro Diario’
Quam juvat – quant’è bello!
Quam juvat – how beautiful!
Transcription ‘Caro
Diario’
Ca-pi-sci quel-lo che ti dico?
Un-der-stand what I’m say-ing?
Resignation ‘Caro Diario’
Garibaldi qui ci ha fatto la resistenza.
Garibaldi fought here.
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..
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)
ENGLISH
No. subtitles
%
transfer
661
66.3%
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
9
0.9%
resignation
3
0.3%
dislocation
1
0.1%
TOTAL
997
100%
SPANISH
transfer
condensation
imitation
decimation
paraphrase
transcription
deletion
expansion
No.
subtitles
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 è bella – scena
dell’interpretazione
expan
para
transfer
imitation
conden
decim
deletion
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.
