Our partnership with Associazione RestART allowed us to delve into the the movie world. Firstly, let’s start by debunking a myth: subtitling and dialogue adapting are not the same as translating. In fact, while it’s true that both these jobs sometimes require translation work, the skills involved in these jobs are different.

As you’ll see down below, the skills required to subtitlers and dialogue adapters embrace a lot more scopes: not only should one have a deep understanding of another culture both from a linguistic and a cultural standpoint, but should also have technical knowledge.

For example, they should be able to use the right software, symbols or adaptation techniques and to follow guidelines in order to meet the needs of the target audience, while combining these specific skills to translation skills and tools (glossaries, CAT Tools etc.).

What skills does
Dialogue Adaptation require? 

● Attention to contexts
and nuances 

● Ability to read and
interpret images, dialogues and body language 

● Ability to understand
implicit meanings and allusions 

● Creativity and
revision abilities 

● Knowledge of language
registers and socio-linguistic aspects of the target language 

● Knowledge of movie
writing techniques, AVT techniques and lexicon 

●Knowledge of
symbols, standard layout and types of files that are required in an adaptation
project 

● Knowledge of the
dubbing process and of post-production work 

● Knowledge of the
needs and characteristics of the target audience 

● Knowledge of acting
and prosody in the target language 

What skills does
Subtitling/Subtitling for the Deaf require? 

● Knowledge of the
official subtitling guidelines 

● Awareness of the
average reading time 

● Ability to
summarise and rework texts and information 

● Knowledge of the
socio-linguistic aspects of both the source and the target languages 

● Knowledge of
standard subtitling techniques and guidelines 

● Ability to use
subtitling softwares 

● Linguistic and film
interpretation skills 

● Knowledge of
specific symbols and techniques used in subtitling for the Deaf and
Hard-of-hearing 

● Ability to read and
interpret movie scenes 

What skills does
Audio Description require? 

● Ability to select and
summarise relevant information 

● Knowledge of the
target audience’s needs and characteristics 

● Knowledge of the
movie projection context 

● Knowledge of the
narrating voice’s reading time 

Last but definitely not least, both a good subtitler and a dialogue adapter cannot work without creativity, an ability that helps “[producing] original and unusual ideas, or to make something new or imaginative”, as per the Cambridge Dictionary, in order to meet the needs of the audience while maintaining the spirit of the original product.