Abstract
It is natural that a fairly young discipline such as AVT should embrace the cultural turn in translation studies as a vantage standpoint and look at problems of language and culture as closely intertwined. The cultural turn in audiovisual translation has meant going beyond the study of translation patterns normally found in descriptive research (Chaume, An overview of audiovisual translation: Four methodological turns in a mature discipline. Journal of Audiovisual Translation, 1(1), 40–63, 2018). This chapter will offer insights on three loci of culture in translation: cultural references, always a fruitful area of research, but one which contains areas deserving of further investigation; intralinguistic culture clashes, that is those potentially conflicting encounters which involve individuals from different cultures sharing the same language and finally, allusions in film and TV dialogue to what we often understand as ‘culture’ proper, that is high-end or low-brow products of art, literature, music and so on, which constitute a special problem but also a special opportunity for translators.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
For a detailed overview of cultural references, from the earliest definitions by Finkel (1962) and Vlahov and Florin (1969), please see Ranzato 2016. Among the most recent and most in-depth studies in AVT, see Pedersen (2005 and 2011). Díaz Cintas and Remael (2007: 202–207) also proposed influential and widely quoted taxonomies.
- 2.
- 3.
The name of the protagonist was changed to Mike in the Italian version, for no apparent reason other than its being a more familiar name or perhaps easier to pronounce for dubbers.
References
Bassnett, S., & Lefevere, A. (Eds.). (1990). Translation, History and Culture. London: Pinter.
Badstübner-Kizik, C. (2017). Multilingualism in the Movies. Languages in Films Revisited. In M. Deckert (Ed.), Audiovisual Translation: Research and Use (pp. 233–254). Bern: Peter Lang.
Beseghi, M. (2017). Multilingual Films in Translation: A Sociolinguistic and Intercultural Study of Diasporic Films. Bern: Peter Lang.
Burke, P. (2007). Cultures of Translation in Early Modern Europe. In P. Burke & R. Po-Chia Hsia (Eds.), Cultural Translation in Early Modern Europe (pp. 7–38). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chaume, F. (2004). Film Studies and Translation Studies: Two Disciplines at Stake in Audiovisual Translation. Meta, 49(1), 12–24.
Chaume, F. (2018). An Overview of Audiovisual Translation: Four Methodological Turns in a Mature Discipline. Journal of Audiovisual Translation, 1(1), 40–63.
Corrius, M., & Zabalbeascoa, P. (2011). Language Variation in Source Texts and Their Translations: The Case of L3 Films in Translation. Target, 23(1), 113–130.
de Higes-Andino, I. (2014). The Translation of Multilingual Films: Modes, Strategies, Constraints and Manipulation in the Spanish Translations of It’s a Free World. … Linguistica Antverpiensia. New Series: Themes in Translation Studies, 13, 211–231.
Delabastita, D., & Grutman, R. (2005). Introduction. Fictional Representations of Multilingualism and Translation. Linguistica Antverpiensia. New Series: Themes in Translation Studies, 4, 11–35.
Díaz Cintas, J., & Remael, A. (2007). Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling. Manchester: St Jerome.
Dickens, C. (1861/2003). Great Expectations. London: Penguin.
Dore, M. (2019). Multilingual Humour in Audiovisual Translation. Modern Family Dubbed in Italian. The European Journal of Humour Research, 7(1), 52–70.
Federici, F. M. (2017). AVT in the Media: Emergencies Through Conflicting Words and Contradictory Translations. In M. Deckert (Ed.), Audiovisual Translation: Research and Use (pp. 67–100). Bern: Peter Lang.
Finkel, A. M. (1962). Ob avtoperevode. TKP, 1, 104–125.
Kaskenviita, R. (1991). Alluusiot Asterix-sarjan kulttuurisidonnaisena käännösongelmana. Sananjalka, 33, 77–92.
Katan, D. (2011). Culture. In M. Baker & G. Saldanha (Eds.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (pp. 70–73). London and New York: Routledge.
Keesing, R. M. (1985). Conventional Metaphors and Anthropological Metaphysics: The Problematic of Cultural Translation. Journal of Anthropological Research, 41(2), 201–217.
Kozloff, S. (2000). Overhearing Film Dialogue. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Leppihalme, R. (1994). Culture Bumps: On the Translation of Allusions. Helsinki: Helsinki University.
Leppihalme, R. (1997). Culture Bumps: An Empirical Approach to the Translation of Allusions. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Leppihalme, R. (2001). Translation Strategies for Realia. In P. Kukkonen & R. Hartama-Heinonen (Eds.), Mission, Vision, Strategies, and Values (pp. 139–148). Helsinki: Helsinki University Press.
Leppihalme, R. (2011). Realia. In Y. Gambier & L. van Doorslaer (Eds.), Handbook of Translation Studies (pp. 126–130). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Licari, A., & Galassi, G. G. (1994). Problemi di doppiaggio nei film di Eric Rohmer. In R. Baccolini, R. M. Bollettieri Bosinelli, & L. Gavioli (Eds.), Il doppiaggio: trasposizioni linguistiche e culturali (pp. 157–167). Bologna: Clueb.
Maitland, S. (2017). What Is Cultural Translation? London: Bloomsbury.
Matamala, A., & Ortiz-Boix, C. (2016). Accessibility and Multilingualism: An Exploratory Study on the Machine Translation of Audio Descriptions. Trans, 20, 11–24.
Monti, S. (2016). Reconstructing, Reinterpreting, Renarrating Code-Switching in the Italian Dubbed Version of British and American Multilingual Films. Altre modernità, Special Issue, J. Díaz Cintas, I. Parini & I. Ranzato (Eds.), Ideological Manipulation in Audiovisual Translation, 68–91.
Pedersen, J. (2005). How Is Culture Rendered in Subtitles? MuTra 2005—Challenges of Multidimensional Translation: Conference Proceedings. Retrieved from www.euroconferences.info/proceedings/2005_Proceedings/2005_Pedersen_Jan.pdf.
Pedersen, J. (2011). Subtitling Norms for Television. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Pérez-González, L. (2019). The Routledge Handbook of Audiovisual Translation. London and New York: Routledge.
Ranzato, I. (2011). Translating Woody Allen into Italian: Creativity in Dubbing. JoSTrans, 15, 121–141.
Ranzato, I. (2016). Translating Culture Specific References on Television: The Case of Dubbing. London and New York: Routledge.
Ranzato, I. (2018). The British Upper Classes: Phonological Fact and Screen Fiction. In I. Ranzato & S. Zanotti (Eds.), Linguistic and Cultural Representation in Audiovisual Translation (pp. 204–227). London and New York: Routledge.
Ranzato, I. (2019). Talking Proper vs. Talking with an Accent: The Sociolinguistic Divide in Original and Translated Audiovisual Dialogue. Multilingua, 38(5), Special Issue, M.-N. Guillot, M. Pavesi & L. Desilla (Eds.), Audiovisual Translation as Intercultural Mediation, 547–562.
Sanderson, J. D. (2005). Transferring Woody Allen’s New York: Translation Strategies and the Polysystem. In M. Sidiropoulou (Ed.), Identity and Difference: Translation Shaping Culture (pp. 79–106). Bern: Peter Lang.
Sapir, E. (1949/1985). Selected Writings in Language, Culture, and Personality. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Snell-Hornby, M. (1990). Linguistic Transcoding or Cultural Transfer? A Critique of Translation Theory in Germany. In S. Bassnett & A. Lefevere (Eds.), Translation, History and Culture (pp. 79–86). London: Pinter.
Sturge, K. (2011). Cultural Translation. In M. Baker & G. Saldanha (Eds.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (pp. 67–70). London and New York: Routledge.
Toury, G. (1995). Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Vlahov, S., & Florin, S. (1969). Neperovodimoe v perevode. Realii. Masterstvo perevoda, 6, 432–456.
Williams, T. (1947/2009). A Streetcar Named Desire. London: Penguin.
Zabalbeascoa, P., & Voellmer, E. (2014). Accounting for Multilingual Films in Translation Studies: Intratextual Translations in Dubbing. In D. Abend-David (Ed.), Media and Translation: An Interdisciplinary Approach (pp. 25–52). New York: Bloomsbury.
Films and TV
Big Bang Theory (2007–2019). C. Lorre & B. Prady, USA.
The Bold and the Beautiful (1987). W.J. Bell & L.P. Bell, USA.
Coronation Street (1960-in production). T. Warren, UK.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000–2015). A.E. Zuiker, USA.
Deadpool (2016). T. Miller, USA.
Doctor Who (1963–1989; 2005-in production). S. Newman, C.E. Webber & D. Wilson, UK.
EastEnders (1985-in production). J. Smith & T. Holland, UK.
Family Guy (1999-in production). S. MacFarlane, USA.
Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006). T. Hill, USA.
Gray’s Anatomy (2005-in production). S. Rhimes, USA.
Laura (1944). O. Preminger, USA.
Law & Order (1990–2010). D. Wolf, USA.
Mad Men (2007–2015). M. Weiner. USA.
Modern Family (2009–2019). C. Lloyd & S. Levitan, USA.
Le sens de la fête (2017). O. Nakache & E. Toledano, France.
The Simpsons (1987-in production). M. Groening, USA.
Sleeper (1973). W. Allen, USA.
South Park (1997-in production). T. Parker & M. Stone, USA.
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). E. Kazan, USA.
Transformers—The Last Knight (2017). M. Bay, USA.
Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972). B. Bertolucci, Italy, France.
The Watch (2012). A. Schaffer, USA.
Will & Grace (1998–2006). D. Kohan & M. Mutchnick, USA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ranzato, I. (2020). The Problem with Culture. In: Bogucki, Ł., Deckert, M. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42105-2_31
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42105-2_31
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-42104-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-42105-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)