Mediaforall

Culture-bound aspects in audiovisual translation: Subtitling animated films

The present work aims to describe some of the issues involved in the intercultural transfer of films. It focuses on the translation of culture-bound references within the theoretical framework of Translation Studies (Venuti, Katan) as a conceptual approach traditionally used to discuss the strategies and techniques applied when translating cultural elements. This paper suggests a theoretical challenge by proposing a more pragmatic approach to the study of cultural transfer in audiovisual translation (AVT). We will examine translation techniques used in French films subtitled into English, German and Spanish. More particularly, we will catalogue some of the most frequently adopted translation techniques used for the translation of culture-bound references and we will investigate whether subtitling is respectful of ‘cultural difference’ or hides cultural diversity.

Isabel CÓMITRE NARVÁEZ
University of Malaga, Spain
comitre@uma.es

María-José VARELA SALINAS
Presenter, University of Malaga, Spain
mjvs@uma.es

Isabel CÓMITRE NARVÁEZ is an assistant professor at the University of Malaga (Spain). She has been teaching Translation of Specialised Texts and French Language and Culture for fifteen years. Her current research interests include audiovisual translation, advertising and films, and cultural aspects of translation in the framework of translation teaching. Since 2000, she has held seminars on “Investigation in audiovisual and multimedia translation” at the University of Malaga. In 2008, she published “Audiovisual translation and advertising: Translation strategies and techniques”. She is a member of the research group “Specialised Discourses: Research, Training and New Technologies” (HUM855).

María-José VARELA SALINAS is a senior lecturer in Translation and Interpreting at the University of Malaga (Spain). She has been teaching Translation of Specialised Texts and German Language for ten years. Her major research interests focus on the fields of legal translation, terminology and terminography, new technologies and translation, as well as the pedagogical framework of translation teaching. She has held several seminars on these topics at several German universities. She has also been collaborating for four years with the Master for Specialised Translation and Interpreting organised by the University of Seville (Spain). She is head of the research group “Specialised Discourses: Research, Training and New Technologies” (HUM855).