{"id":331,"date":"2014-09-08T20:32:37","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T20:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/PLD\/?p=331"},"modified":"2017-08-30T20:33:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-30T20:33:00","slug":"learning-about-line-breaks-at-the-54th-ata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/PLD\/2014\/09\/08\/learning-about-line-breaks-at-the-54th-ata\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning About Line Breaks at the 54th ATA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2013 Juliana Mendon\u00e7a (PLD member) \u2013<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The 54th<\/sup>\u00a0ATA Annual Conference was my first after becoming a freelance translator. The San Antonio location is close to me in Texas, so I could not miss the opportunity to attend. I must say that it was worth it, and I am looking forward to the 55th\u00a0<\/sup>ATA in Chicago.<\/p>\n

One of the highlights was the opportunity to meet PLD members and participate in some of the sessions they presented, sharing their experiences, their knowledge and accomplishments in several areas of translation and interpretation. In one of these sessions, our colleague and PLD Assistant Administrator, Bianca Bold, presented on Line Breaks, drawing from her extensive work with subtitling for audiovisual materials. Despite my limited experience in this area, the presentation offered great insights on individual perception and attention to detail, all of which are integral parts of any project we might undertake in our translation\/interpretation careers.<\/p>\n

Bianca started the presentation showing us a few pictures and asking how many of us found them greatly disturbing, somewhat disturbing or mildly disturbing. Take a look for yourself. How do you feel?<\/p>\n

\"line_breaks\"<\/p>\n

<\/span>As seen in these images, line breaks have the power to really catch our attention, and this is especially true in short and visually appealing texts displayed in banners, web sites, slides, billboards, buttons, apps, subtitling, etc. These were the types of texts Bianca focused on in her presentation, i.e. texts that we must read quickly and that are part of an audiovisual media, texts whose reading pace is dictated by their audiovisual context and not by the reader him\/herself.<\/p>\n

For texts with such a visual impact, content is only one part of the equation. In reality, the content might be perfect, but if an issue \u2013 such as an incorrect line break \u2013 is present, we might see it differently.<\/p>\n

In all, line breaks can be seen as a small part of a whole that might become significant if not positioned correctly. They might even change the meaning or the perception of the audience, compromising the message being transmitted. Check out the video\u00a0Translators are a Waste of Space<\/a>\u00a0that Bianca shared with us to see how a combination of a very creative mind and line breaks positioned with precision could create a masterpiece.<\/p>\n

Going more specifically into the technical aspects of adding line breaks, Bianca presented several best practices. These guidelines fall into three main categories amongst which we need to achieve balance, depending on the characteristics of the text and on the impact it should create:<\/p>\n