by Rosário Valadas Vieira In the 1960s, Portugal had only one TV channel, in black and white. Daily broadcasting was introduced on March 7, 1957, in the midst of the dictatorship. Back then, going to the movies or watching TV was the source of entertainment for adults and children alike. All foreign and national audiovisual […]
Mara’s YBR
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 […]
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 […]
Arabic Audio Description: Challenges and Possibilities
by Heba Safwat Alattar A Brief History of Arabic Audiovisual Translation Arabic audiovisual translation (AVT) appeared with the emergence of cinema in Egypt back in 1896. Early movies were accompanied by the voice of elmefahematy who would simultaneously interpret the intertitles of silent foreign movies and, later, foreign dialogues. The practice evolved to presenting the […]
Pivot Languages in Subtitling
by Dietlinde DuPlessis If you translate subtitles for streaming services into languages other than English, you most likely have received pivot-language assignments. If you are a native English speaker, you might have been asked to produce templates for pivot translations. If you are not familiar with the term pivot language, here is a short definition: […]
Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone: Translating Subtitles from Foreign Audio and an English Template
by Daniela Costa The growth of streaming isn’t surprising. From music and audiovisual content to podcasts, technology has helped these new platforms showcase original works. In recent years, there has been a surge in Netflix’s non-English materials. 50% of subscribers watch foreign-language shows when only 30% of viewers did so a couple of years ago¹. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Demand for Non-English Subtitlers Rocketing
By Kelly O’Donovan Subtitles were always a part of post-production, but the demand wasn’t so intense until recently. For the most part, subtitled movies and documentaries travelled to film festivals or were distributed abroad. However, in the last five years, global content streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime have exploded the subtitling scene. […]
Creative Reports for Localization Services
By Ayam Refaat In the subtitling and dubbing field, translators need extra background information to help perfect their translations. Prior to translation, Creative English Editors carry out specific tasks aimed at improving the localization of their client’s content. They create various reports to help translators from different cultures remain consistent in their translation. The reports […]
