An attempt to learn more about audiovisual translation, TIL has teamed with the Italian women based start-up Associazione Restart.

What is AVT?  

There are different
types of Audiovisual Translation (AVT, which is the translation of audiovisual
and multimedia products) such as subtitling and adaptation for dubbing. 

– Dialogue
Adaptation for dubbing: 

Broadly speaking,
dialogue adaptation is one of the techniques that enable us to “translate a
movie”. Dialogue adaptation consists in creating a script in the language we
are translating into, which will later be used by actors during the dubbing
phase. You can adapt an audiovisual product in lip-sync (commonly used
in the dialogue adaptation of movies, TV series, soap operas and short movies)
or in simil-sync (commonly used in the dialogue adaptation of reality
TV, docu-style series and entertainment products). The main differences between
the two are that, while lip-sync needs synchronisation of lip movements,
gestures and speech rhythm, in simil-sync-adapted products, the original audio
can still be heard, albeit very low, under the dubbed dialogue; moreover, the
latter does not require lip sync synchronisation but pauses and rhythm have to
be respected. Usually, the original dialogues are characterised by spontaneity,
abundance of repetitions, false starts, etc. Not to forget there’s also a third
dialogue adaptation technique, known as voice over,that is
usually used in the adaptation of documentaries, TV advertisements and video
presentations. It is characterised by a linear and well-structured narration,
similar to the one used in a written text; the narrating voice overlaps the
video. 

–
Subtitling: 

In this
audiovisual translation technique one or more lines of text from onscreen
dialogues are displayed at the bottom of the screen. Subtitling can be either interlinguistic,
meaning that the language of the subtitles is different from the one used in
the original product, or intralinguistic, meaning that the subtitles are
written in the same language as the original product. One type of
intralinguistic subtitling is Subtitling for the Deaf/Hard-of-hearing (also
known as SDH) because it can be used in any audiovisual product in order to
make the dialogue clear and understandable even with no sound. Unlike standard
subtitling,SDHrequires a range of different techniques such as
the use of symbols and sometimes even colours in order to set the characters
apart or to clarify where a voice comes from. This kind of accessible
subtitling also requires the indication of every other sound and/or noise that
is key to the comprehension of its context. 

Subtitling
can help you reach a broader audience in different ways: interlinguistic
subtitling enables people of different countries to understand the same product
and interlinguistic subtitling makes the product more accessible for everyone
and understandable even with no sound on. That is why, subtitling is commonly
used both in videos and advertisements published on social media platforms and
as a teaching tool, in particular in foreign language teaching. 

– Audio
Description: 

Audiovisual
and multimedia products can also be audio described as to allow people with
blindness and individuals with visual impairments to enjoy it. Audio
description consists in describing the key visual elements that help the
audience gain a better understanding of the movie/audiovisual product and of
what is happening on screen, e.g., places, movements, physical features of the
characters, clothes and so on. These descriptions are placed into
already-present pauses in a film/audiovisual product, hence respecting the
audible dialogues.