Beyond monolingualism: a descriptive and multimodal methodology for the dubbing of polyglot films
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Date
25/11/2015Author
Sanz Ortega, Elena
Metadata
Abstract
The days of English as the hegemonic language of cinema are slowly disappearing.
Nowadays, filmmakers from different film industries are gradually embracing a multilingual
shoot where languages coexist and play a key role within a film’s diegesis. This polyglot
reality has brought up interesting questions and issues for the discipline of Translation
Studies, where translation has been traditionally understood more in terms of going from one
source language into one target language. Within the field of Audiovisual Translation (AVT),
studies have concentrated on films where the presence of foreign languages is either sporadic
or secondary and, as such, foreign languages have been mostly relegated to purely linguistic
approaches. Interestingly, films in which foreign languages constantly reoccur or have a
primary function have been hitherto widely disregarded, despite presenting the most complex
scenario. Similarly, although researchers increasingly stress the relevance of film language on
translational solutions, multimodal approaches to multilingualism in films remain scant.
In light of this, this thesis designs a descriptive and multimodal methodology to investigate
the issue of multilingualism at every stage of the dubbing process and to explore the effect of
dubbing on both the plot and characterisation of polyglot films. This methodology is further
complemented by para-textual information and semi-structured interviews to obtain a global
perspective of the translation of the multilingual aspect. To this end, this thesis examines four
polyglot films in which it is difficult to determine a predominant language. By investigating
those with recurring use of languages, this project accounts for the most complex films in
terms of language quantity and interplay to transcend textual restrictions and incorporate
further issues surrounding translation as both process and product.
This examination of original polyglot films brings to light the relevance of intermediate
translations for the dubbing process as these are the foundations of the ‘rough’ translation on
which the whole process relies. In turn, the macrostructure analysis unveils the use of a
plethora of AVT modalities when dealing with foreign languages. Similarly, it suggests that
decisions at this level depend on a complex interplay of factors of diverse natures such as
filmmakers’ requests, screening habits, financial means, and film features. At the micro-textual
level, a thorough list of translation techniques is compiled and their application is
measured in relation to the influence of signifying codes. Additionally, a close linguistic
examination of dialogue reveals a tendency towards standardisation, although certain nuances
are sometimes enforced by character synchrony or added optionally to minor characters.
Throughout these analyses, it becomes evident that all dubbing agents manipulate some
aspects of multilingualism. Ultimately, this study suggests that dubbing affects polyglot films
by hiding certain linguistic connotations and by providing different information to domestic
and target audiences.