Audiovisual Translation Analysis

Some people prefer dubbing, or subtitling, or voice-overs. However, there is no best way to say which one of them is better. All three types of audiovisual translation have major translational or technical issues. Łukasz Bogucki states that “poorly recorded versions hinder comprehension” (Bogucki 2013, 36) because sometimes narrators can confuse viewers due to the fast speaking of the dialogues in films.

Additionally, the scholar argues that voice-overs are the least natural of the three main audiovisual translation methods because the voice narrators lack charisma and seem dull. In voice-overs, few seconds are cut in the start of a video and in the end, consequently, the target text is reduced due to the time limit (cf. Bogucki 2013, 36).

It depends not only on the translated words but also on the catchiness of the whole text. The difficulty of such texts in different languages lies in making sure that the song is clear, can be sung and has the same expressiveness as the source text. A lot depends on the position of a translator: if the emotion of the singer is more important, then translators should evaluate their place as a voice behind the curtain to let the notes be heard. H. J. Minors believes that the vocal music varies and it should be classified from logocentric songs to musicocentric songs (cf. Minors 2013, 72). Logocentric songs tend to focus less on the melody and more on the words whereas musicocentric songs tend to lean on the sound quality of the voice where words become not as important as the music. This is more likely to happen in the theatrical performance or in the musicals. Logocentric songs tend to be translated with a help of voice-over which interprets the words and not the music. A good translation should avoid abstruseness, long sentences and redundant rambling (Minors 2013, 74). In voice-over translation, a text usually does not resemble the original discourse. This happens when cultural dissimilarities and two different languages collide together. On the one hand, it is difficult to find the same idioms and explain the culture-specific items that the target country does not have.

There are a variety of methods to translate them but the translated work should keep the spirit and emotion of the original material. It is translators’ choice of strategy to take the role of a composer and a songwriter, also make the music and words cooperate in another language. Marianne Tråvén (cf. Gorlée et al. 2005, 107) in the book Song and Significance states that there are differences when arranging the same musical characteristics: some words depend on music, and others focus on the relationship between music and verbal text. Translators encounter a problem in a musical text when the melody becomes more important than the lyrics itself. Some composers specifically choose to make that kind of effect to the listener. It might not apply to voice-over as much as it does to the other two methods of audiovisual translation but the voice narrator should pay attention to the melody when it is needed. For example, translators should keep up with the tempo of a song and narration as close as possible. However, Tråvén suggests that in this case translators should omit some unimportant information and see what kind of translational strategies work the best to depict the composers and lyricists’ idea in the text (cf. Gorlée et al. 2005, 107). Translator given such a task, should structure the most important words or phrases in a discourse and change the semantic