MULTILINGUALISM IN AUDIOVISUAL TEXTS FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING AUDIENCE

Abstract

http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/sm-2017-0016

A great variety of original audiovisual (AV) texts such as films, televisionseries, teletext, videogames, live performances may include more than one language as anoutcome of the director’s initial intension. The producers of the AV texts tend to portrayspecific cultural aspects with different linguistic variations, which are also related toparticular stylistic, pragmatic or discursive functions. In certain cases, translators of such AVtexts face serious challenges. One of the thorny problems arises with the adaptation of themultilingual AV texts to the deaf and hard of hearing audience. Different strategies andmethods of employing the multilingual AV texts for the needs of the deaf and hard ofhearing audience have been adopted in various countries; however, nowadays Lithuania hasonly taken its first steps in developing a unified system of working out translating andsubtitling strategies of the AV texts in general. This article aims at discovering professionaltranslation and subtitling practices along with the norms, criteria and strategies of thisspecific translation activity in Lithuania and abroad. Firstly, the existing overseas reality ofthe translation and subtitling of multilingual AV texts is described and afterwards thetendencies within the Lithuanian adaptations of AV texts are discussed.