Quality is in the eye of the stakeholders: what do professional subtitlers and viewers think about subtitling?

Agnieszka Szarkowska,Jorge Díaz Cintas,Olivia Gerber-Morón

doi:10.1007/s10209-020-00739-2

Agnieszka Szarkowska, Jorge Díaz Cintas + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-020-00739-2

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Abstract

Quality is a rather slippery concept, and its assessment in subtitling can be a challenging task, as its appreciation can easily vary depending on the different stakeholders involved in the production and reception of subtitles. In this paper, we evaluate quality indicators in subtitling as perceived by professional subtitlers and viewers. After exploring the various subtitle parameters that can have an impact on the quality of the end product (such as line breaks, synchronisation, display rates), we present the results of two qualitative studies conducted with professional subtitlers and subtitle viewers with different audiovisual backgrounds. The results yield some similarities and discrepancies, particularly in the way in which the strategy of condensation is perceived by the two groups, and they also help delineate the subtitle parameters that should be taken into consideration in order to improve the creative process as well as the reception of subtitles.

Highlights

In today’s digital society, audiovisual productions and subtitling are ubiquitous
Intralingual subtitling consists of a written rendition of spoken dialogues in the same language, for instance the English subtitles of an Englishlanguage programme; it has traditionally been classified under the umbrella of audiovisual media accessibility (MA) as the vast majority of intralingual subtitling is produced with deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers in mind
A central, frequently recurring theme reported by many subtitlers, those from Scandinavian countries, was the idea that good subtitles are ‘invisible’, with one of the respondents resorting to the following trope: ‘A good subtitle is like a pair of glasses

Summary

Introduction

In today’s digital society, audiovisual productions and subtitling are ubiquitous. Subtitling is valuable for audiences who are unfamiliar with the language of the original audio track, but is appreciated by viewers who are deaf. Hard-of-hearing or who require assistive services to be able to access audiovisual content. Intralingual subtitling consists of a written rendition of spoken dialogues in the same language, for instance the English subtitles of an Englishlanguage programme; it has traditionally been classified under the umbrella of audiovisual media accessibility (MA) as the vast majority of intralingual subtitling is produced with deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers in mind. Interlingual subtitling, on the other hand, is produced mainly with hearing audiences in mind, and it is not typically included under the umbrella of media accessibility, rather under that of audiovisual translation (AVT)

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