GlobEng
Verona 14th -16th February 2008
“Dubbing into English – an alternative translation
strategy”
Chris Taylor
University of Trieste
Spoken Language
The primacy of speech and an awareness of the
properties of spoken discourse was long ignored, even
by linguists (see Halliday, 1987).
Scriptwriters of films and TV series were (and are)
presumably even less aware of ‘the properties of spoken
discourse’; hence the existence of what is variously
called the language of film, filmese, etc.
And translators of film language are then presented with
a ‘false text’.
Film Language
The language (and grammar) of film is a
scripted construct created by writers,
altered by directors and actors, in the
creation of an “artificially produced
situation” (APS)
Experiments
Past experiments in Trieste have
investigated the comparative use of
discourse markers, hedges, tag questions,
vague language, parataxis, etc.
More recent work has turned to other
features such as lexical density.
Robin Hood 1938
Friar Tuck:
Robin Hood:
Friar Tuck:
Robin Hood:
Robber and thief! Give me
back my mutton joint!... I’m
a girdled friar and vowed to
poverty.
If this is poverty, I’ll be glad
to share it with you.
Give me back my mutton joint!...
Not so close, my thunderous
one!
Lexical density
• Lexical words
• Total words
• Ratio
19
43
1:2.2
These figures show similarity with written
texts.
Dawson’s Creek
Screw pity. I love you. I love you Jack. I
love that you’re the bravest person I
know… the kindest. I love that no matter
what you do, your life is gonna stand out.
I want to stand out with you… and your
daughter.
Lexical Density
• Lexical words
• Total words
• Ratio
Cf. Robin Hood
19
45
1:3c
Film texts
There is in fact a co-existence of
• written language features (complete
sentences, high lexical density, lower
grammatical intricacy, etc.
• spoken discourse (self-correction,
hesitation, repetition, frequent use of
linkage items such as discourse markers,
overlapping speech, etc.
Translation
In translation, all this becomes ever
more apparent.
Translation of Dawson’s Creek.
• Given the original’s admittedly stated
intention of not aiming at authentic
dialogue, the dubbed version on Italian
television, follows suit … only more so.
Translation of previous passage
• Al diavolo la compassione! Io ti amo. Ti amo,
Jack. Ti amo perché sei la persona più
corraggiosa che conosca… la più gentile. Ti amo
perché qualunque cosa tu faccia, la tua vita sarà
speciale, e io voglio esserlo con te.. e tua figlia.
• (very theatrical, too high a register – eg. use of
subjunctive - and pays no heed to semi-vulgar
language and substandard ‘gonna’, etc.)
‘Dawson’s Creek’ in Italian
• According to Zandegù:
The language can be given the label
ZERO ORALITY
referring to the reduction in variation at a
stylistic, sociocultural and dialectal level.
So…
• film language is different from spontaneous
spoken language … though it often attempts to
recreate it with varying degrees of success …
• … and the language of translation has been
shown to have its own specificities
(normalisation, explicitation, simplification, etc.)
and to accentuate a number of the features
associated with film language.
Furthermore
• Brunetta (1977) explains that original
(Italian) film texts already use a simplified,
normalised and levelled language.
• For example when based on a book, story,
etc. word order is usually normalised eg.
‘sempre li guardavo/li guardavo sempre’;
‘si chiama essa’/’essa si chiama’
• Cf. Antonioni, Visconti
So where does this leave us with
regard to translating films into
English?
• Well, very few films and television
programmes are translated into English,
due to the predominance of English
language products in the media.
Subtitling
• But those few films that are translated are
generally SUBTITLED.
• This is regarded as a good thing by
language students, language enthusiasts,
film buffs, the deaf and indeed by the
general public, who are not used to any
other form of film translation.
So … Dubbing into English?
England is not a dubbing country
cf. Germany, Italy, Spain, France?
BUT
Ladri di biciclette 1948
The dubbed version contains:
factual errors
false characterisation
total normalisation
stereotyping
Errors
tanto me to faccio accompagnà da lui a
Porta Portese, noi rimaniamo qui damo
una guardata ancora
Anto, go with him to Porta Portese, might
have better luck
False characterisation …
Alfredo the thief’s mother is aggressive
and will stop at nothing to protect her
criminal offspring.
In the dubbed version she is the classic
‘mamma italiana’.
… and stereotyping
Mamma:
ma che vo’ sto gran
farabutto? Alfre’ vie’ su!!
Mamma:
Oh mio Dio! What’s he
doing, Alfredo, what’s he
doing?
New project
(Trieste/Forlì/Leeds/Durham)
• Survey to test British (and American)
attitudes to dubbing.
• It has always been assumed that British
audiences would not take to dubbing.
• But it has never been investigated, let
alone proved.
Trieste dubbing project
• Students had to produce subtitled and
dubbed versions of ‘Il Commissario
Montalbano’ and ‘Prime Suspect’
• In the case of ‘Montalbano’, no dubbed
version had yet been attempted.
Montalbano
• Culture-bound problems – Sicilian variety
Stephen Sartirelli, author of the English
translations of the Camilleri novels,
explained that he just made it as colloquial
as possible. But he had more room for
manoeuvre – explanations, footnotes, etc.
Student versions
In the students’ dubbed versions we find
syntactic and lexical intervention.
• Syntax - simple, elided, repeated and use
of phatic devices.
• Lexis - colourful, colloquial, idiomatic,
metaphorical, slang, taboo.
However …
… the skill lies in calibrating these features
to the individual characters. For example,
the lawyer uses a high, formal register but
also grammatically incorrect sentences
apparently typical of the South
Non-linguistic constraints
• Commissario = Superintendent (cf.
translation into Italian of Detective
Superintendent Tennison in Prime Suspect
as Commissario Tennison.
• BUT in the books the term had always
been translated as ‘Inspector’ and so he
had to remain Inspector Montalbano (cf.
Inspector Morse, etc.)
Intonation
Anna: Ma mi sembrava importante.
Anna: But maybe it’s important, isn’t it?
• Two reasons
• the frequency and naturalness of question tags
•
in English (cf. use in similar series through
parallel texts):
from the intonation of the speaker it is clear that
she aimed to involve Montalbano.
Character quirks
• Lawyer Palillo says:
Peccato che questa persona senza occhiali non
riesca a distinguere una gemma da una patata.
(he wants to say ‘he can’t see very well’).
Pity, isn’t it? ..this person without glasses can’t
separate the wheat from the chaff.
To leave and not leave
Nicolò: Mi sono imparato a fare la scaccia coi broccoli.
Nicolò: I’ve learnt a new recipe: scaccia coi broccoli.
(Sicilian food is an important ‘character’ in the
Montalbano series, so leave it, adding ‘a new recipe’)
The incorrect ‘mi sono imparato’ is normalised as the
person speaking is an educated journalist. Regionalisms
are more frequent across all classes in Italy.
Comparative grammar
• … va a passeggiare il cane
• … when walking his dog
The verb ‘passeggiare’ is intransitive in
Italian, but ironically the literal translation
is correct in English. There is no point in
forcing the issue.
Lip synch and timing
Giacomo: Io, non ho ucciso mio fratello!
Giacomo: Me, I didn’t kill my brother
(length of enunciation and lip synchronisation)
Montalbano: Perchè?
Montalbano: What happened?
• (translating with ‘Why?’ has only one lip movement.
‘What happened?’ respects the alternation open/half
closed – open/half closed.
Lip synchronisation
Mi sembra davvero improbabile.
That’s very unlikely.
fra cinque minuti
five minutes
Line length and delivery speed
• Non voleva essere di peso alla famiglia
• He didn’t want to be a burden.
• L’ho accompagnato adesso in prigione a
Vigata.
• I have just taken him to prison.
Coordination with visual
• Il signor La Russa questa notte si è spogliato nudo, si è
applicato ai polsi e alle caviglie questi, la fascia grande
se l’è legata al petto, ha indossato la cuffia, si è coperto
il corpo, con la maschera il viso. Sembra tutta roba che
si è fabbricato lui cu’ santa pacienza.
• Mister La Russa, last night, stripped himself naked,
applied these things on his wrists and ankles, tied the
large strap to his chest, put on the cap, covered his
body, and his face with the mask. It seemed like he
made all the stuff himself with saintly patience.
General considerations
1. Lip synch helps anchor stess patterns,
etc. but imposes modifications;
2. Greater timing synch gives impression
that actors are speaking English, Italian or
whatever, but there is enforced loss of
some details;
3. Coordination with the visual can impose
strained syntax.
So if dubbing into English takes
off…
• we are going to be dealing with a use of
language that is different from any
hitherto studied in terms of information
structure, cohesion, transitivity patterns,
lexical choice, register, etc.
• So be it.