{"id":911,"date":"2020-01-29T18:40:17","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T18:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/AVD\/?p=911"},"modified":"2020-01-29T18:40:17","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T18:40:17","slug":"ata-60-recap-roma-intralinguistic-conflicts-in-essence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/AVD\/ata-60-recap-roma-intralinguistic-conflicts-in-essence\/","title":{"rendered":"ATA 60 Recap: Roma: Intralinguistic conflicts &#8211; In Essence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Luz G\u00f3mez<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Interest in this in presentation arose when a variety of media sources focused on the linguistic and cultural angles of the Iberian subtitles in Alfonso Cuaron\u2019s film Roma, and their subsequent infamy. Although a non-Spanish speaker might consider this matter superficial, it\u2019s an excellent example of how two variants of a language differ (and clash) when it comes to audiovisual translation.<\/p>\n<p>Latin American audiovisual translations are created only for foreign language films. In Spain, however, translations are created for Latin American films (e.g., from Mexico, Peru, Argentina and more). Despite what one might think, it is common for Spanish clients to subtitle a Latin American film with Castilian Spanish, and Roma was the latest and most scandalous example.<\/p>\n<p>The controversy was such that its director demanded Netflix remove the subtitles (something that is not even done in poorly subtitled films).<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, much of the outrage was directed at the translator, who was simply fulfilling a job, and the media heavily reported on this incident.\u00b9<\/p>\n<p>To fully understand the decision to change the Mexican-based Spanish, one must understand the secondary goal of making Roma more identifiable with Spanish viewers. The client achieved this objective by adding Castilian Spanish subtitles, clearly contrasting with the oral statements of the film\u2019s characters.<\/p>\n<p>While one may think that Spanish is spoken the same way in all Hispanic countries, each Spanish-speaking culture has a variety of migratory and indigenous influences.<\/p>\n<p>Here were the more important dialogue changes that caused commotion in the translation community, and therefore the media:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One major shift was the use of <em>vosotros<\/em> (only used in Spain), instead of the common second person plural <em>ustedes<\/em> from Latin America. Although the Spanish understand and sometimes use the latter, the translator changed it to sympathize with the Spanish audience, complying with the client\u2019s request. It\u2019s important to note that once the subject is changed, the verb morphology changes too, so much of phrase is affected.\u00b2<\/li>\n<li>Another change involved the beloved calques (adopted English words) in the Mexican Spanish. Common practice in France and the U.S., Mexico and Latin America have adopted foreign words from their immigrants or power relationships. In the Iberian subtitles, these anglicisms were removed and replaced by Spanish words, because they make sentences sound unnatural, whereas for Mexicans, foreignisms are an echo to their conflictive past and their blended present.\u00b3<\/li>\n<li>Likewise, Mexican colloquialisms, informal but true samples of oral expressions, were either changed for Spanish versions or simplified. The problem with this lay in the change of registry. Cleodegaria \u201cCleo\u201d is a Mixtec woman that is forced to adapt to her surroundings. She\u2019s an indigenous woman with a poor background, a Mixtec speaker, with little or no education, and a powerless servant. Once the registry of her dialogue is modified, the subtitles give her a formal and fluid speech, instead of the choppiness and informality of her poor Spanish.<\/li>\n<li>Adding to all of this, cultural icons were also modified. For instance: The youngest child in the family is requesting \u201cGansitos\u201d \u2074 (a chocolate covered Twinkie); this was changed to \u201cGanchitos\u201d (cheez doodles), a<br \/>\nsalty treat. Either the translator confused the name or chose to avoid using a cultural equivalent (Pantera Rosa or Tigret\u00f3n) to prevent copyright issues, but only the translator knows the reason for this change.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In short, the Iberian Spanish subtitles should considered localization, and not a mere translation, as it\u2019s commonly perceived. At first glance, these subtitles might seem harmless, but on a whole, they change everything, and there is a potential risk of altering the film\u2019s message.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, in order to translate an audiovisual product, one must break down all the layers of the movie. A film is a guide to understanding people\u2019s culture and past. This comes from the director\u2019s vision, the movie\u2019s identity, cultural icons, time period, and its language, both visual and auditory.<\/p>\n<p>Roma is a good example of how translation works and how it can vary. Therefore, one can compare translation to a clock\u2019s gear, fitting together so everything works well. This intralinguistic conflict can teach translators that altering one or more aspects in the text for any reason can jeopardize the text\u2019s purpose.<\/p>\n<p>A better option would have been transcribing the film\u2019s dialogue in the subtitles as they were or using close captions (CC).<\/p>\n<p>Both countries definitely have different views on translating. On the one hand, both Spanish speaking variants prefer to use their own unique linguistic identities in an audiovisual product, Spain applies it to all imported films, regardless if it comes from another Hispanic country.<\/p>\n<p>Clearly, Spanish clients want to adapt the dialogue to make as acceptable as possible for Spanish viewers. In this case, Roma\u2019s Iberian re-translation searched for syntax and concepts suitable for its public.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the translator\u2019s hard work, the Iberian subtitles were looked down by fellow colleagues, so much so that the translator was harassed on social media.<\/p>\n<p>Roma\u2019s subtitles represent two perspectives on oral and written communication (mainly Spain\u2019s), despite the fact they speak the same language. They reflect these distinctions when subtitling or dubbing audiovisual material.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, it\u2019s best to accept and appreciate the differences in each one because they are reflections of both nations\u2019 remarkable societies, and of course, a reflection of their translators.<\/p>\n<p><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00b9 Europa Press y Efe, \u201cTras queja de Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n, Netflix cambia los subt\u00edtulos de \u201cRoma\u201d en espa\u00f1ol\u201d, El Espectador (January 10th, 2019), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elespectador.com\/entretenimiento\/cine\/tras-queja-de-alfonso-cuaron-netflixcambia-los-subtitulos-de-roma-en-espanolarticulo-833285\">https:\/\/www.elespectador.com\/entretenimiento\/cine\/tras-queja-de-alfonso-cuaron-netflixcambia-los-subtitulos-de-roma-en-espanolarticulo-833285<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00b2 \u201c \u2018Roma\u2019 una pel\u00edcula en espa\u00f1ol subtitulada en espa\u00f1ol\u201d, El Pa\u00eds (January 9th 2019), <a href=\"https:\/\/elpais.com\/cultura\/2019\/01\/08\/actualidad\/1546979782_501950.html\">https:\/\/elpais.com\/cultura\/2019\/01\/08\/actualidad\/1546979782_501950.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00b3 \u201c \u2018Roma\u2019: Las 5 traducciones m\u00e1s \u201crid\u00edculas\u201d de los subt\u00edtulos al espa\u00f1ol del film,\u201d El comercio (January 9th, 2019),<br \/>\nhttps:\/\/elcomercio.pe\/tvmas\/hollywood\/romaalfonso-cuaron-subtitulos-traduccionesridiculas-espanol-filme-espana-mexiconoticia-596034-noticia\/<\/p>\n<p>\u2074 Ibid.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h5>Luz G\u00f3mez Fern\u00e1ndez is an English-Spanish translator. She graduated in 2016 with a Masters in Audiovisual and Literary translation, where she specialized in dubbing, subtitling and all literary genres. Her international background has given her the opportunity to work with clients from both United States and Europe. She\u2019s a current member of AGIT (Asociaci\u00f3n Guatemalteca de Traductores e Int\u00e9rpretes). She has given other lectures in her home country, for AGIT and high school students. Contact: l.gomez@galleontranslations.com<\/h5>\n<hr \/>\n<h6 class=\"has-small-font-size\">Published in <em>Deep Focus<\/em>, Issue 5, December, 2019<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Luz G\u00f3mez Interest in this in presentation arose when a variety of media sources focused on the linguistic and cultural angles of the Iberian subtitles in Alfonso Cuaron\u2019s film Roma, and their subsequent infamy. Although a non-Spanish speaker might consider this matter superficial, it\u2019s an excellent example of how two variants of a language [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[195,12],"tags":[22,69,88,20,199,211,38],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/AVD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/AVD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/AVD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/AVD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/AVD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/AVD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":912,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/AVD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911\/revisions\/912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/AVD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/AVD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/AVD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}