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Theory of Audiovisual Translation

Code: 43771 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
4315982 Audiovisual Translation OB 0

Contact

Name:
Anna Maria Matamala Ripoll
Email:
anna.matamala@uab.cat

Teachers

Estel-La Oncins Noguer

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

No prerequisites.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The objectives of this course are that students:

1)    become familiar with the main theoretical models developed within Audiovisual Translation Studies;

2)    become aware of the role and impact of audiovisual translation on the human rights framework;

3)    know the relationship between audiovisual translation and media accessibility;

4)    become familiar with the history of audiovisual translation and with its main transfer modes and genres;

5)    are able to easily use the basic concepts in the field;

6)    deepen their understanding of concepts related to language variation and their application to audiovisual translation, with special emphasis on the concepts of oral/written language and register;

7)    are able to discuss the terminological challenges in different types of audiovisual texts (fictional and non-fictional);

8)    are able to discuss the translation of cultural references in various types of audiovisual transfer modes and know the main research in the field;

9)    are able to identify the discursive and linguistic forms representing dissident sexualities/LGTB identities and are able to identify the intersection of gender inequality with other inequality axes;

10)    are able to categorise the different strategies implemented in the translation of humour in audiovisual content, and

11)  know the main recent research lines in audiovisual translation, with emphasis on technological, cognitive and reception studies

Moreover, the objectives of this module are that students:

a) understand the meaning-making mechanisms in scripts through examples from the cinema but applicable to other audiovisual narratives, 

b) understand the basic mechanisms, structures and concepts of audiovisual narratives and scriptwriting, and

c) understand the main challenges posedby audiovisual narratives to translators.

 


Competences

  • Apply specific methodologies, techniques, and norms and standards to generate innovative and competitive proposals in professional practice and in research in the field of audiovisual translation and accessibility.
  • Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
  • Critically analyse the structural and thematic aspects of cinema screenplays.
  • Design, organise and execute projects related to this field of study, working alone or in a unidisciplinary or multidisciplinary team, displaying a critical sense and creativity, and the ability to analyse, synthesise and interpret information.
  • Discern the different modes and textual genres of audiovisual translation and media accessibility and their characteristics.
  • Express ideas from a logical perspective.
  • Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
  • Recognise the translation problems specific to the different modes of audiovisual products and use the knowledge acquired to solve them.
  • Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
  • Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
  2. Conduct research into an area of audiovisual translation and media accessibility.
  3. Design, organise and execute projects related to this field of study, working alone or in a unidisciplinary or multidisciplinary team, displaying a critical sense and creativity, and the ability to analyse, synthesise and interpret information.
  4. Discern the different text types present in audiovisual products.
  5. Express ideas from a scientific perspective.
  6. Identify the different registers and languages specific to film genres.
  7. Identify the humour, the cultural references and the linguistic variety of the original texts and justify the options chosen for an appropriate translation.
  8. Identify the principal characteristics of the different modes of audiovisual translation and media accessibility.
  9. Identify the principal lines of research in the field of audiovisual translation and media accessibility.
  10. Identify the priorities and restrictions of the different modes of audiovisual translation and accessibility
  11. Identify the structure and the thematic and linguistic elements that make up the cinema screenplay.
  12. Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
  13. Recognise the elements of linguistic variation and apply them to the different modes of audiovisual translation.
  14. Recognise the principal theoretical models of audiovisual translation.
  15. Show familiarity with the notion of oral/written discourse applied to audiovisual texts.
  16. Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
  17. Solve theoretical and practical problems in one of the areas of audiovisual translation and media accessibility.
  18. Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.

Content

Audiovisual Translation Theory

  • Introduction to audiovisual translation.
  • Audiovisual translation, media accessibility and human rights.
  • Short history of audiovisual translation.
  • The audiovisual text: definition and translation.
  • Modalities and genres in audiovisual translation.
  • Theoretical models of analysis in audiovisual translation.
  • Linguistic aspects.
  • Terminological aspects.
  • Humour in audiovisual translation.
  • Cultural aspects in audiovisual translation.
  • Gender in audiovisual translation.
  • Ideology in audiovisual translation.
  • Technology.
  • Reception and cognition. 

Cinema

  • Film language and mise-en-scène.
  • The script: structure, mechanisms and typology.
  • New audiovisual narratives.

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures and problem-solving classes 38 1.52 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
Type: Supervised      
Activities supervised by the lecturer 26 1.04 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
Type: Autonomous      
Student's self-work 86 3.44 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

Active methodologies with different types of activities are used.

Moodle tools are also used.

Possible methodologies:

  • Translation tasks.
  • Translation project tasks.
  • Problem-solving tasks.
  • Individual and group presentations.
  • Debates (face-to-face or in fora).
  • Cooperative learning techniques.

Training activities are organised in three blocks, depending on the required level of autonomy from students:

- Activities directed by a lecturer.

- Activities supervised to different extents by a lecturer.

- Autonomous activities: students organise their time and effort autonomously, either individually or in group. 

 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Essay (AVT Theory) 40 0 0 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
Essay (Cinema) 30 0 0 1, 3, 5, 6, 11, 12, 16, 18
Participation (AVT Theory) 8 0 0 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
Participation (cinema) 4 0 0 1, 3, 5, 6, 11, 12, 16, 18
Presentations (AVT Theory) 18 0 0 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

The above information on assessment, assessment activities and their weighting is merely a guide. The lecturer will provide full information when teaching begins.

Continuous assessment

Students must provide evidence of their progress by completing various tasks and tests. These activities are detailed in the table.

Review

The lecturer will communicate the mark for each evaluation activity to the student and will also communicate a review procedure and date.

When publishing final marks prior to recording them on students' transcripts, the module coordinator will communicate a global revision procedure and date. 

Missed/failed assessment activities

Students may retake assessment activities they have failed or compensate for any they have missed, provided that those they have actually performed account for a minimum of 66.6% (two thirds) of the subject's final mark and that they have a weighted average mark of at least 3.5. 

The student must request to retake assessment by contacting the module coordinator by email (anna.matamala@uab.cat) within a three-day period from the revision date.

The re-assessment in this module is made up of the following activities:

  • Presentations (AVT Theory): oral presentation of an article following the lecturer's instructions.
  • Participation (AVT Theory): written contributions on a topic indicated by the lecturer.
  • Essay (AVT Theory): essay with the same characteristics but based on a different audiovisual content.
  • Participation (Cinema): contribution with similar characteristics, according to the instructions provided by the lecturer.
  • Essay (cinema): written essay with the same characteristics but based on a different audiovisual content.

Please check each specific guide for more information.

The lecturer will provide more thorough instructions and will set deadlines when specifying the re-assessment mechanisms. 

In case of retaking, maximum grade will be 5 (Pass).

 

Classification as "not assessable"

In the event of the assessment activities a student has performed accounting for just 25% or less of the module's final mark, their work will be classified as "not assessable" on their transcript. 

Misconduct in assessment activities

Students who engage in misconduct (plagiarism, copying, personation, etc.) in an assessment activity will receive a mark of “0” for the activity in question. In the case of misconduct in more than one assessment activity, the students involved will be given a final mark of “0” for the module.

Students may not retake assessment activities in which they are found to have engaged in misconduct.  

Students are encouraged to check UAB instructions on plagiarism (http://blogs.uab.cat/dretsautor/category/plagi/) and the Guia explicativa sobre com citar per evitar el plagi by UAB, available on the same website. 

Single assessment

This module may be assessed under the single assessment system in accordance with the terms established in the academic regulations of the UAB and the assessment criteria of the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting. 

Students must make an online request within the period established by the faculty and send a copy to the lecturer responsible for the module, for the record.

The MA coordinator will publish the date of the single assessment.

On the day of the single assessment, teaching staff will ask the student for identification, which should be presented as a valid identification document with a recent photograph (student card, DNI/NIE or passport). 

Single assessment activities

The final grade for the subject will be calculated according to the following percentages:

  • Oral exam (film language), 30%
  • Oral exam (audiovisual translation theory), 40%
  • Individual essay (audiovisual translation theory), 30%

The module coordinator will provide more information about the individual essay to the students who are assessed under the single assessment system.

Single assessment grade revision

When publishing the single assessment grades, the module coordinator will publish a global revision procedure and date.

Single assessment retake procedures

Retake procedures for the module are the same as those for continual assessment. See the section above in this Study Guide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Bibliography

Teoria de la traducció

Bogucki, Lukasz (2016) Areas and methods of audiovisual translation research. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. 

Bogucki, Lukasz; Deckert, Mikolaj (eds) (2020) The Palgrave handbook of audiovisual translation and media accessibility. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Chaume, Frederic (2004) Cine y traducciónMadrid: Cátedra. 

Chaume, Frederic (2004) Film Studies and Translation Studies: Two Disciplines at Stake in Audiovisual Translation. Meta 49:1, 12-24. 

Díaz-Cintas, Jorge; Orero, Pilar; Remael, Aline (2007) Media for AllAmsterdam: Rodopi.

Díaz-Cintas, Jorge; Matamala, Anna; Neves, Joselia (2010) New Insights into Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessiblity. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

Díaz-Cintas, Jorge; Nikolic, Kristjan (2018) Fast-forwarding with audiovisual translation. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Díaz-Cintas, Jorge; Remael, Aline (2021) Subtitling. Concepts and Practices. Routledge.

Martínez-Pleguezuelos, Antonio Jesús (2018) Traducción e identidad sexual: reescrituras audiovisuales desde la teoría queer. Granada: Comares. 

Matamala, Anna (2019). Accessibilitat i traducció audiovisual. Vic: Eumo.

Matamala, Anna; Orero,Pilar (eds) (2016) Researching audio description. New approaches. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Pérez-González, Luis (ed) (2018) The Routledge Handbook of Audiovisual Translation. London/New York: Routledge.

Remael, Aline; Orero, Pilar; Carroll, Mary (2012) Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility at the Crossroads. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

Romero-Fresco, Pablo (2019) Accessible filmmaking. London/New York: Routledge.

Film language

Douglas, Pamela,Writing the TV Drama Series, Michael Wiese.

Field, Syd, Screenplay. The Foundations of Screenwriting, 1982.

Halligan, Fionnuala, The Art of Move Storyboards: Visualising the Action of the World's Greatest Films, 2015.

Harmetz, Aljean, The Making of Casablanca. Bogart, Bergmanand World War II, 2002.

McKee, Robert, Story. Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting, 1998.

Parker, Philip, The Art and Science of Screenwriting, 1998.

Schatz, Thomas, The Genius of the System. Hollywood Film-Making in the Studio Era, 1988.

Steven Aschen, Edward, The Filmmaker's Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age, 2012 (5a. ed.).

Tobias, Ronald B., 20 Master Plots (And How to Build Them), 1993.

Vogler, Christopher, The Writer’s Journey. Mythic structure For Writers, Michael Wiese.

 

 


Software

No specific software will be used.


Language list

Information on the teaching languages can be checked on the CONTENTS section of the guide.