Dubbing Friends: differences between English and Italian

7 1 In motion pictures, an intertitle is a piece of filmed and printed text edited into the photographed action at different CH AP T E R 1 Audi ovi sual tr ansl ati on and dubbi ng 1.1 What i s audi ovi sual tr ansl ati on? B e fore ta lking a bout the spe c ific type of a udiovisua l tra nsla tion, it is e sse ntia l to disc uss a nd de fine wha t tra nsla tion is. E ve ry e xpe rt pre se nts his/he r own de finition of tra nsla tion, e ve n though e a c h one of the m a ims a t e xpla ining the sa me c onc e pt. For e xa mple , Nida a nd T a be r (1974: 12) a ffirm tha t “ tra nsla ting c onsists in re produc ing in the re c e ptor la ngua ge the c lose st na tura l e quiva le nt of the sourc e -la ngua ge me ssa ge , first in te rms of me a ning a nd se c ondly in te rms of style ” , while Ne wma rk (1988: 5) sta te s tha t “ tra nsla tion is re nde ring the me a ning of a te xt into a nothe r la ngua ge in the wa y the a uthor inte nde d the te xt” . T he re fore , tra nsla tion c a n be de fine d a s a proc e ss a c c omplishe d by the tra nsla tor, who turns the sourc e te xt into a ta rge t te xt, tha t is, the fina l produc t c re a te d in a nothe r la ngua ge . In his work On Linguistic A spe c ts of Translation (1959, 2000), the linguist R oma n Ja kobson ide ntifie s a nd distinguishe s be twe e n thre e type s of tra nsla tion: 1. Intra lingua l tra nsla tion, whic h is within one la ngua ge , a nd ma y involve pa ra phra se or re wording. 2. Inte rlingua l tra nsla tion, tha t is, tra nsla tion be twe e n two diffe re nt la ngua ge s. 3. Inte rse miotic tra nsla tion, tha t is the tra nsla tion of the ve rba l sign by a non- ve rba l sign (music , ima ge , e tc .). For e xa mple , whe n T c ha ikovsky c ompose d the R ome o and J ulie t music a l, he pe rforme d a n inte rse miotic tra nsla tion: he tra nsfe rre d Sha ke spe a re ’s pla y from the linguistic c ode into a music a l c ode . Audiovisua l tra nsla tion (AVT ) is a spe c ific bra nc h of tra nsla tion tha t indic a te s the tra nsfe r from one la ngua ge to a nothe r of the ve rba l e le me nts fe a ture d in a udiovisua l works a nd produc ts. It is a va st ge nre tha t c omprise s va rious moda litie s for sc re e n tra nsla tion: the se ra nge from the most fa milia r, suc h a s dubbing a nd subtitling, to voic e - ove r, a udio de sc ription for blind pe ople , a nd subtitling for the de a f a nd ha rd of he a ring. Howe ve r, the first form of AVT tha t we know a re inte rtitle s. 1