Audiovisual translation in a global context

Today’s exposure to and interaction with audiovisual content is far greater now than ever before, and this has obvious repercussions for audiovisual translation (AVT), both as a professional practice and as an academic discipline. A recent report by Ofcom (2014), the independent communications regulator in the UK, revealed that UK adults spend an average of eight hours and 41 minutes using media or communications every day, and that approximately half of that time is spent watching audiovisual content. Of course, audiovisual practices differ across the globe. Whereas a large proportion of the audiovisual content consumed in the UK and other English-speaking countries involves AVT in the form of audio description for the blind and the partially sighted or subtitling for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing (SDH), the situation is rather different in other countries where, owing to the need to make foreign programmes available to local audiences, interlingual AVT modes are more frequent. However, some trends seem not to recognize boundaries and could even be deemed to be universal. Far-reaching technological developments and new forms of communication have given consumers and audiences a great deal of power and autonomy, enabling them to decide and influence decisions related to the translation of audiovisual content.