FILM TRANSLATION ISSUES AND SPECIALIZED FIELD TECHNIQUES

Abstract

A new area of art and translation is film translation, which is a type of mass multimedia translation. Film culture, and particularly film, has been recognized as one of the key cultural expressions in contemporary society within the international communication. Beyond the realm of art, it has permeated society and had a significant impact on the development of people's values, language, and way of life. This paper attempts to classify some practicable principles and requirements that account for successful film translation and can be used to direct the practice of film translation which is not an easy task as most people think of. Some guidelines are proposed bearing in mind the characteristics of film translation (dubbing and subtitling) in comparison to general translation. Bearing in mind that it also refers to the process of translation where the process of harmonising the meaning and expression in a source language with the meaning of target language is of huge significance, Theory of Translation is also briefly discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of both film translation techniques, i.e. dubbing and subtitling, are described as the preference of prevailing one of them over the other in a typical genre is also mentioned. Some advice and guidelines are provided before delving headfirst into the challenging task of producing a correct translation of a film for a voiceover, it is important to become familiar with the translation techniques, translation as a procedure and processes required for the project.