Title
Translating third languages (L3) in audiovisual transmedia texts. The Wolf, the Ring and the Iron Throne
Conference name
Media for All 8
City
Country
Sweden
Modalities
Date
19/06/2019
Abstract
Multilingualism has increased in audiovisual productions in the recent years. The notion of third language (L3) refers to a scope of phenomena ranging from any real or invented languages different from the source and target language of a text to the use of linguistic varieties in a significant, relevant way that can modify the final understanding of this text.
This paper presents the final results of a study focused on the presence and translation of L3 in audiovisual texts that belong to transmedia franchises. This choice is based on a double hypothesis. On the one hand, many successful transmedia projects evolve in open fantasy worlds where multilingualism is a means to portray their cultural variety. On the other, as in transmedia storytelling each medium is expected to make a distinctive and valuable contribution to the story, we assume that the presence and types of L3 will vary depending on the audiovisual media involved.
To undertake this analysis, we selected films, video games and TV series from three successful transmedia sagas (Song of Ice and Fire,The Lord of the Rings and The Witcher) to detect L3 instances in the original English versions of the audiovisual texts and describe how they were rendered in the Spanish versions across different media. The corpus was based on film and TV series conversations from the Trafilm research project database (www.trafilm.net) and was complemented with video game L3 instances, not included in the database.
The analysis focused on whether the L3 units are understandable and/or meaningful in the source and target texts or whether the aural and visual codes aid in L3 comprehension across different media. This paper will comment on the patterns and tendencies observed in the rendering of L3 types present in films, videogames and TV series.
This paper presents the final results of a study focused on the presence and translation of L3 in audiovisual texts that belong to transmedia franchises. This choice is based on a double hypothesis. On the one hand, many successful transmedia projects evolve in open fantasy worlds where multilingualism is a means to portray their cultural variety. On the other, as in transmedia storytelling each medium is expected to make a distinctive and valuable contribution to the story, we assume that the presence and types of L3 will vary depending on the audiovisual media involved.
To undertake this analysis, we selected films, video games and TV series from three successful transmedia sagas (Song of Ice and Fire,The Lord of the Rings and The Witcher) to detect L3 instances in the original English versions of the audiovisual texts and describe how they were rendered in the Spanish versions across different media. The corpus was based on film and TV series conversations from the Trafilm research project database (www.trafilm.net) and was complemented with video game L3 instances, not included in the database.
The analysis focused on whether the L3 units are understandable and/or meaningful in the source and target texts or whether the aural and visual codes aid in L3 comprehension across different media. This paper will comment on the patterns and tendencies observed in the rendering of L3 types present in films, videogames and TV series.