Abstract
This paper discusses the emotions experienced by subtitlers who subtitle sensitive audiovisual material. “Sensitive audiovisual material” refers to audiovisual texts which deal with controversial and emotive topics, such as abuse, war, torture. This topic has remained under-researched in subtitling, despite having been sporadically explored in other fields of translation (Hubscher-Davidson, 2017; Rojo and Ramos Caro, 2016; Tabakowska, 2016).
 The data presented in this paper expand upon and complement the findings discussed in Perdikaki and Georgiou (2020) based on an online survey completed by 170 subtitlers. For the current paper, the data discussed come from an online focus group with three professional subtitlers and face-to-face interviews with one freelance subtitler as well as a team interview with two in-house quality control editors. Having confirmed in our previous study that many subtitlers are affected by the sensitive AV material they subtitle, this paper aims at a more nuanced exploration of how subtitlers regulate emotions elicited on-the-job, offering specific examples as well as emotion management techniques. Finally, the perspective of emotional responsiveness, depending on socio-economic contexts as well as the linguistic arsenal of the subtitler, is briefly discussed.
Highlights
The auspicious co-development of Translator Studies (Chesterman, 2009) and translation psychology (Bolaños-Medina, 2016, Bontempo & Napier, 2011) in the early 21st century has expanded the research agenda of Translation Studies
On the matter of whether subtitlers who work with sensitive audiovisual material are affected, the data collected, and in particular the interview conducted with the two in-house quality control (QC) editors, allowed for exploring further a seemingly controversial image coming out of our survey data
The findings of this study add depth and nuance to the survey findings (Perdikaki & Georgiou, 2020), which demonstrated that subtitlers are frequently affected emotionally when translating sensitive audiovisual material
Summary
The auspicious co-development of Translator Studies (Chesterman, 2009) and translation psychology (Bolaños-Medina, 2016, Bontempo & Napier, 2011) in the early 21st century has expanded the research agenda of Translation Studies. The issue of translation and emotion, its regulation, the impact of the source text (ST) and the translation process on translators, have received some attention recently (Hubscher-Davidson, 2017; Rojo & Ramos Caro, 2016). The emotional impact and on-the-job stress among professional interpreters have been frequently recorded (Hsieh & Nicodemus, 2015; Doherty, MacIntyre & Wyne, 2010; Tryuk, 2016). Despite Hubscher-Davidson’s observation (2017) that translation often is or has the potential to become an emotion-eliciting and impactful event for the translator 119–120), there is very little research regarding the experiences of subtitlers and the impact of a potentially emotionally challenging subtitling process. The current study addresses this gap in literature by asking subtitlers to share their emotionally impactful experiences while subtitling
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
