When I was a teenager, my mother―a translator―got a job subtitling films for a dubbing company in Argentina that was owned by the parents of one of my classmates. I remember her working at home with VHSs, rewinding them a million times, typing up her subtitles on a green Olivetti typewriter, and then sending the […]
On the Audiovisual Radar
How a Text Translator Can Become a Subtitler Presenter: Deborah Wexler Subject: Subtitling Where: CTTIC Summary: Deborah explored the differences between text translation and subtitling, subtitle formatting, the ins and outs of managing time and space constraints and how a text translator can begin training themselves in subtitling. https://www.cttic.org/ Oralidad, divino tesoro Presenters: Alberto […]
Snap, Crackle, and Pop Culture: References from Both Sides of the Pond
by Mara Campbell and Britta Noack Welcome to our brand new column, where we will strive to shed light on cultural references from the US and the UK. Films and shows are riddled with snippets of life that often influence the way we should translate innocent-looking dialogue, and, since translators are usually native speakers of […]
What Makes a Great KNP?
by Mara Campbell “Glossary”, “consistency sheet”, “term base,” or “key names and phrases” (KNP). It has been called many names by different companies over the years, but its usefulness is uncontested. Put simply, it is a list of terms that are repeated throughout a show, film, or saga, and their approved translations into different […]
Localize the Planet
by Mara Campbell and Sebastián Arias Audiovisual translation is full of challenges. Conveying meaning, nuance, intention, and things unsaid is not just “replacing words in the source language with their equivalent in the target”. But some projects stand out. Case in point: The History of Swear Words, a series that premiered on Netflix in January […]
Linguistic Influencers? The Audiovisual Division’s Instagram Lives
by Daniela Costa A couple of months ago, the Audiovisual Division launched a series of Instagram Lives where we chat with talented audiovisual translators. September: The Founding of the ATA AVD with Deborah Wexler, Ana Lis Salotti, Ana Gabriela Gonzalez Meade, and Mara Campbell We kicked-off on September 26 with an interview with the founders […]
A Whole Different Level of Localization
by Mara Campbell You probably heard of or watched the Norwegian show Norsemen (Vikingane) or the Welsh show Hinterland (Y Gwyll). One a comedy and the other a noir police procedural, they do not seem to have much in common, except for the cold, humid weather they depict. Apart from the English versions available on […]
Writing interpretation: an overview on a fascinating AV discipline
by Mara Campbell Last June, the Media for All 8 conference took place at the University of Stockholm. It was two days packed with 15 minute talks on many different subjects regarding audiovisual translation. One very interesting feature at the conference was the speech-to-text (STT) interpretation services provided. STT is basically a live transcription of […]
Forced Narratives? Forced Audiences!
By Mara Campbell and Sebastián Arias Sometimes it takes us ages to realize that we have been doing something inefficiently for a long time and nobody said a thing (probably because they didn’t notice). Generally, we can’t even establish the exact moment it started happening or who began doing it differently. My colleague and co-author […]
ATA 60 Recap: Audiovisual Accessibility: What Translators Need to Know
By Gabriela Ortiz This article is a summary of the presentation at the ATA Conference in Palm Springs and, as the title suggests, it is an introduction to audiovisual accessibility. It is arranged as a series of questions and answers to walk you through this field. Why should we care about accessibility? Two notions are […]
New Technologies in AVT and Why Translators Need to Adapt to Survive
by Mara Campbell Not so many years ago, we were able to successfully manage life and work with only landlines, snail mail, and fax machines. But today, our world is dominated by a myriad of accessible and affordable technologies, and we can all agree there are benefits. Technology in everyday life helps us save time, […]
Automatic Speech Recognition Softwares: Will they replace audiovisual translators in the near future? (Part 1)
By Mara Campbell Let me start with a straight answer to the titular question so that you can continue reading with a light heart: No! Now that we can all breathe easily, I will elaborate. You might be familiar with the concept of Speech Recognition Software (SRS) if you use Siri, Alexa, or Google Now. […]
Automatic Speech Recognition Softwares: Will they replace audiovisual translators in the near future? (Part 2)
by Mara Campbell Since writing the first part of my article, I have been busy testing new automatic speech recognition (ASR) tools and comparing results. I have to admit that some softwares are quite impressive and could be considered a very helpful tool for subtitlers and captioners. Again, my test clip was from the comedy […]
Looking forward to Media for All 8!
by Mara Campbell In just a few days, Stockholm will be swarming with audiovisual professionals from all areas who will be attending the Media for All 8 conference at the Institute for Interpreting and Translation Studies at the Department of Swedish Language and Multilingualism at the main campus of Stockholm University. The Media for All […]
