The increase in globalization has many effects on language, includes for language and culture in the world, such as films produced in English and subtitled for other languages. The rapid development in the field of technology has its effects on presenting more information on audiovisual format, such as CD, DVD, etc. which create interaction between language, culture and technology.
Among these forms of development is subtitled which has been the key for communication with a wider range of viewers than before. Gottlieb (2001, p. 124) states that ‘these DVDs provide options for either vertical (same language) subtitling of use to the hearing impaired or diagonal (different language) subtitling’.
Subtitling is a type of audiovisual translation that has its own rules and specifications. Thus, it is a translation that has restrictions and certain criteria which directly affect the final result. The subtitles should appear as the characters starts speaking and should disappear when they stop, so that they are synchronized with the audio. Also, the shot changes must be taken into account. In other words, the audiovisual language of TV program or films transferred with certain forms to understandable by target audiences whom they are not familiar with its source language.
There are many problems in the process of translation such as the different language system in the word levels, linguistics levels, and grammatical system. Therefore, in making subtitles there must be specific provisions that must be considered. Baker (1998) states that subtitling used in Europe since 1929 when he first talkies reached Europe. What is important is to give some theoretical clear definition of what is subtitling before going further in the challenges and strategies. Shuttleworth and Cowie (1997, p.161) define subtitling as ‘the process of providing synchronized captions for film and television dialogue’.
All types of translation have their own challenges. There are many rules which surround the subtitling process and it can be classified into tree main types (Technical, Cultural, and Linguistic) challenges.
Technical Challenges
In subtitling, the oral and written messages are received simultaneously, allowing for comparison between Source Text (ST) and Target Text (TT). Viewers who are familiar with the Source Language of an audiovisual text tend to notice some of the discrepancies between the target subtitles and the source dialogue and often criticize subtitlers for their inaccuracy. The classified consists of, The space (limited number of characters), Time (the time of shown the subtitle on screen), Spotting (the dialogue of the characters), Position on screen, and Font (the standard font type, size and colour).
Cultural Challenges
Cultural bound elements presents an extra challenge for the subtitlers. Culture is as important to subtitlers as it is to any type of writer. A good translation properly conveys the intended message and does not “feel” like a translation, because it has been adapted to the target audience.
Linguistic Challenges
Cintas and Remael (2010, p.190-96) shed the light on the linguistic challenges which face the subtitlers and state that the linguistic choice in subtitling is not random, in other words, characters in audiovisual programs or films convey certain effects through their grammar, syntax, lexicon, annotation, etc.
In making accurate subtitles, it is necessary to have guidance in translating from the Source Language (SL). Gottlieb’s strategies (1992) proposes types of subtitling strategies as follows:
- Expansion is used when the original text requires an explanation because of some cultural nuance not retrievable in the target language.
- Paraphrase is resorted to in cases where the phraseology of the original cannot be reconstructed in the same syntactic way in the target language.
- Transfer refers to the strategy of translating the source text completely and accurately.
Imitation maintains the same forms, typically with names of people and places. - Transcription is used in those cases where a term is unusual even in the source text, for example, the use of a third language or nonsense language.
- Dislocation is adopted when the original employs some sort of a special effect, e.g., a silly song in a cartoon film where the translation of the effect is more important than the content.
- Condensation would seem to be the typical strategy used, that is, the shortening of the text in the least obtrusive way possible.
- Decimation is an extreme form of condensation where perhaps for reasons of discourse speed, even potentially important elements are omitted.
- Deletion refers to the total elimination of parts of a text.
- Resignation describes the strategy adopted when no translation solution can be found and meaning is inevitably lost.
- The ideal final result is that the subtitles are synchronized with the audiovisual document, in such a way that it sounds natural and fluent, so much so that the spectator is almost unaware that they are reading and is absorbed in the image, the audio and the text.
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