In order to translate and be translated, low-diffusion languages often use strategies that differ from those used by widely spoked languages and therefore create particular challenges for translators. One such strategy is indirect translation. Since there are conflicting opinions about this practice within the translation community, it is unclear to what extent indirect translation is present in translator training. In order to shed some light on this issue, this article reports on an exploratory study that looked at mentions of indirect translation in the European Masters in Translation (EMT) competences, at references to indirect translation in the syllabi of EMT programs, at tasks to develop specific skills of indirect translation in mainstream training textbooks and at the responses to a survey addressed to translator trainers. Results suggest that indirect translation is overlooked at the institutional level (in the list of EMT competences, in the official EMT syllabi and in published textbooks) but still reaches future translators working with low-diffusion languages via in-class tasks developed by a significant part of surveyed trainers.
RESUMO Os falantes interagem através dos recursos linguísticos ao seu dispor para produzir significados ao nível da compreensão do mundo que os rodeia e dos restantes falantes (EGGINS, [1994] 2004, p. 11). O falante conhece, então, um código para cada situação comunicativa e adequa as suas seleções estilísticas ao contexto em que as produz. Neste enquadramento, este artigo exploratório investiga a linguagem tabu do ponto de vista das variáveis do contexto situacional, como propostas por Halliday (1978, [1985] 2014). Segue, por um lado, uma abordagem teórica onde propõe o cruzamento das variáveis do registro com os conceitos de uso marcado e não marcado (HYMES, 1974); e, por outro, aplica esta proposta num corpus escolhido para o efeito. Os resultados, de ordem quantitativa, demonstram o predomínio do uso não marcado da linguagem tabu no corpus.
The translation of taboo words has attracted scholars’ interest in studying it in the audiovisual context over the last decades. The surge of research on this predominant form of translation in everyday life has brought to light the communicative, pragmatic, and semiotic aspects as well as the technical constraints for subtitling taboo words. Previous research has primarily taken a quantitative method, discussed issues that justify their results, and suggested possible outcomes from a potential receiver’s point of view. While contributing to existing related literature, this paper argues that there is a need for a thorough, detailed examination of translation options in subtitling taboo words. The paper presents a three-layered typology of methods, strategies, and techniques, which provides a comprehensive description of audiovisual translators’ options. Following a bottom-up/top-down approach, the proposed typography is then put to the test in a corpus-based case study comprising six movies and their professional subtitles broadcast on Portuguese televisions.
Within Audiovisual Translation Studies, many studies have been dedicated to the subtitling of taboo words. Most of this research has been restricted to quantitative and qualitative data about translation strategies, with comparably less attention given to translation norms. As norms cannot be directly observed, their investigation raises methodological challenges for empirical studies. This paper proposes a model for the investigation of translation norms by triangulating data on observed regularities in the English to Portuguese subtitling of taboo words in a corpus of movies broadcast on Portuguese FTA (free-to-air, open-signal) television between 2001 and 2015, with questionnaire data on subtitlers’ attitudes towards the subtitling of taboo words on television. The results enable the identification of the most frequent subtitling strategies, their possible motivations, and the relevance of two contextual variables (time period and channel typology). Using the results, a (potential) norm regarding the subtitling of taboo words in Portugal is formulated. However, some of the data, both textual and extratextual, raise the question of whether there is also a competing norm at play.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.