Title
Raiders of the best translation. Information management in audiovisual translation
Conference name
9th International conference Media for all
City
Country
Spain
Modalities
Date
27/01/2021-29/01/2021
Abstract
Audiovisual texts may address a wide variety of topics. This is the reason why audiovisual translators must be experienced in managing information in order to find the best translation. Spanish undergraduate students usually have a compulsory course on documentation during their first year at university. The basic skills on information management and critical analysis of resources which are acquired there should help them during their whole training and future work. Therefore, this transversal translation competence is often taken for granted during the specialised training. For example, most courses on audiovisual translation are dedicated to learning the conventions, standards and norms of different modes, and do not pay so much attention to documentation (Matamala, 2008).
With the focus on dubbing, voice over and subtitling, the aim of this research is to describe the reality of audiovisual translators. Ideally translators have time to search for the best translation, but how often does the translation brief limit the time devoted to documentation? May it affect the quality of translations? Is there a difference on how translators manage information due to their experience? Do translators use recurrent information resources?
This paper will present the results of an anonymous questionnaire to 46 professionals in Spain, who were inquired about the average time available for documentation in a translation brief. They were also asked about the elements of audiovisual texts which require more documentation. Results show how translators agree on the genres and translation problems which most commonly oblige them to struggle when looking for the right term.
Because professionals may not always have the answer, they were also asked about the resources they most frequently use. Even though it is confirmed that Internet is their main source to find reliable information, checking with experts is sometimes a must. This presentation will conclude with some useful documentation resources, which will be discussed following Matamala’s classification (2005, 2019).
With the focus on dubbing, voice over and subtitling, the aim of this research is to describe the reality of audiovisual translators. Ideally translators have time to search for the best translation, but how often does the translation brief limit the time devoted to documentation? May it affect the quality of translations? Is there a difference on how translators manage information due to their experience? Do translators use recurrent information resources?
This paper will present the results of an anonymous questionnaire to 46 professionals in Spain, who were inquired about the average time available for documentation in a translation brief. They were also asked about the elements of audiovisual texts which require more documentation. Results show how translators agree on the genres and translation problems which most commonly oblige them to struggle when looking for the right term.
Because professionals may not always have the answer, they were also asked about the resources they most frequently use. Even though it is confirmed that Internet is their main source to find reliable information, checking with experts is sometimes a must. This presentation will conclude with some useful documentation resources, which will be discussed following Matamala’s classification (2005, 2019).