MET workshops

Audiovisual translation: a skills-based introduction to an interdiscipline

The workshop aims to introduce participants to audiovisual translation (AVT). An overview of the main features of the best-known modes (i.e. subtitling, dubbing and audio description) will be provided, with a critical analysis of the guidelines and best practices outlined by AVT researchers and professionals. By the end of the workshop, participants will have a deeper understanding of the multi-faceted nature of AVT, the complexity of multimodal texts, the role played by technology, the interaction between AVT and media accessibility services, and the main skills required to work in this booming field.

         Facilitator:  Ralph Pacinotti

Purpose: To help participants gain a deeper understanding of AVT, with special emphasis on subtitling, and gauge whether they might be interested in pursuing a specialization in this field.

Description: The workshop will begin with an overview of multimodality, namely how a variety of codes work in unison to create meaning in an audiovisual text. Participants will then learn how this complexity implies a set of constraints as well as resources for audiovisual translators and the skills needed to master the whole translation/adaptation process. Participants will learn which of these skills are part and parcel of AVT as a  whole, and which ones are specific to certain modes. Special emphasis will be placed on subtitling, with a focus on the main strategies outlined by Gottlieb.¹ Participants will then have a chance to practise the skills outlined in the introduction through an exercise using subtitling freeware.

Participant profile: The workshop will be of interest to language professionals who are new to AVT and wish to approach it from a skills-based perspective to find out if they might be interested in learning more and specializing in the field. The subtitling freeware used in the workshop is a web-based program and therefore suitable for all operating systems. It supports 85 languages, from Albanian to Zulu, and also has the option to work on intralingual subtitling (English-English, for example).

Outcome: Skills participants will develop include multimodal text analysis, different forms of intra- or interlingual adaptation, elements of intersemiotic translation, and basic AVT-related IT skills.

Preparation: Participants will need their laptops and headphones for this workshop. A week before the event they will receive an email with further information about the software they will be using during the exercise. 

About the facilitator: Ralph Pacinotti holds an MA in Translation Studies. An (Audiovisual) Translation trainer at the University Institute for Translation and Interpreting Studies Carlo Bo in Bologna, he was involved in the EU-funded ADLAB and ADLAB Pro projects and has led seminars about AVT, especially audio description, at university level since 2018. He also gave a presentation at the International Conference on Audio Visual Translation—Intermedia 2019. His research interests include AVT history, audio description, and the didactics of AVT.

¹ Gottlieb, H. (1992). Subtitling – a new university discipline. In Teaching Translation and Interpreting: Training, Talent and Experience. Papers from the First Language International Conference, Elsinore, Denmark, 31 May-2 June 1991 (pp.161-70). John Benjamins Publishing Company.