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How to reinforce the translation sector
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THE QUALITY OF AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION SHOULD BE MONITORED AND TRANSLATORS’ POOR WORKING CONDITIONS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED Audiovisual translators face many of the same challenges as literary translators. However, a general reduction in quality is an issue which is more specific to audiovisual translation. The film and audiovisual sector, out of respect for the creators and the audience, needs to start a debate on the quality of subtitles. The following aspects should be taken into account:
a shared set of ‘basic rules’ should be developed for the audiovisual creative sector, applicable to individual EU countries and international players/platforms operating within the EU, setting a quality (57) and working conditions framework that would substantially improve the audiovisual translation ecosystem;
there should be no hierarchy and no difference in rates between subtitling for blockbuster films and subtitling for ‘mundane’ streaming shows – highquality audiovisual translation should be a requirement for all European audiovisual productions, including heritage films;
with streaming services preparing to apply for EU subsidies/grants, high-quality, wellpaid subtitling should be a necessary criterion for granting funds;
professional translators must play a crucial role in any application of crowdsourcing or AI to audiovisual translation – AI translation / MT should not be used only for the purpose of cost-cutting, at the expense of quality;
audiovisual translators’ intellectual property rights should be properly recognised and implemented on an equal basis in all EU
member countries, including authors’ rights and fair remuneration of such rights, in accordance with national and international legislations and treaties, and in all aspects of audiovisual translation, from the translation of screenplays to the subtitling, dubbing and voice-over translation of finished works.
Specificities of translating for the theatre sector The first specificity of this profession lies in the delicate and distinctive artistic and technical nature of its practice. The exercise of performing plays in the original language, accompanied by surtitles, aims to facilitate the circulation of works and to attract a wider audience, while preserving the profound singularity or cultural authenticity of the original. Surtitling in the performing arts sector strives to respect the integrity of both the dramatic poem and the performance. It preserves the intimacy between the actors’ performance and the language of the culture in which they express themselves, while allowing the audience to understand what is being shown on the stage. To this extent, it remains strongly connected to the promotion of multilingualism. Translating for theatre remains a delicate operation from a technical point of view and requires a specific approach. It is not sufficient to translate the text and then create surtitles; it also necessary for someone to display the surtitles at the right time. The uncertainty of stage performances and line delivery timing forbids the use of software. ‘Toppers’ and ‘topping’ are therefore essential in ensuring that a play’s surtitling is well timed. A second specificity is that surtitling for theatre is expensive, and in this regard it differs from cinema subtitling. Preparing the surtitling for a live performance takes much longer than the performance itself, and requires considerable effort, as surtitling must be rehearsed to ensure
57 A number of national associations representing audiovisual translators have drawn up quality guidelines for subtitling and/or dubbing, which could be used as a basis for these rules (http://avteurope.eu/what-is-av-translation/standards/)
