Jan-Louis Kruger

Audio narration: re–narrativising film

Abstract Audiovisual texts rely on their polysemiotic nature to create audiovisual narrative. For audiences who do not have access to any one of the semiotic codes, the very essence of the narrative is compromised. The nature of these texts has changed to such an extent that they have to be re-narrativised. Within that part of the field of audiovisual translation (AVT) that aims at providing access to audiovisual texts to viewers excluded from the visual codes, audio narration (AN) is discussed as a mode that seeks to provide access through an integrated, independent narrative. This mode is suggested as an alternative to the established mode of audio description (AD), both modes being found on a descriptive–narrative continuum. The article begins by investigating the problems posed to AN by the iconicity of narrative film. It is then shown how focalisation in film manifests in a number of filmic markers that have to be substituted by linguistic markers derived from written narrative in an audio narration that is integrated with the remaining iconic codes of the soundtrack. Finally, the argument is illustrated by means of a discussion of the opening sequences of Everything is illuminated (Liev Schreiber, 2005).

Making meaning in AVT: eye tracking and viewer construction of narrative

The reception of film with a view to audiovisual translation (AVT) is a field that has been receiving more attention in the last few years. This shows a move away from product-oriented research. Nevertheless, methodologies for using eye tracking in this regard have not been established. This article presents an attempt to correlate eye-tracking data, collected from participants viewing Wallace Chafes 1975 Pear Film, with viewer constructions of the narrative. As such, the article provides a different angle to the extensive Pear Tree Project. The findings of the experiment would seem to suggest that visually peripheral elements that play a covert, top-down role in the narrative (i.e. with a higher degree of narrative salience) gain particular narrative importance when competing with the more overt, bottom-up aspects of the narrative (with an equally high narrative salience, as well as a high visual salience).

The effects of text editing and subtitle presentation rate on the comprehension and reading patterns of interlingual and intralingual subtitles among deaf, hard of hearing and hearing viewers

In this paper we examine the influence of text editing (edited vs. verbatim subtitles) and subtitle presentation rates (12 vs. 15 characters per second) on the comprehension and reading patterns of interlingual and intralingual subtitles among a group of 44 deaf, 33 hard of hearing and 60 hearing Polish adult subjects. The results of the eyetracking study show no benefit of editing down the text of subtitles, particularly in the case of intralingual subtitling and deaf viewers. Verbatim subtitles displayed with the higher presentation rate yielded slightly better comprehension results, were skipped less often, and resulted in more effective reading patterns. Deaf and hard of hearing participants had lower comprehension than hearing people; they also had a higher number of fixations per subtitle and were found to dwell on subtitles longer than the hearing.

Cognition and reception

The Handbook of Translation and Cognition is a pioneering, state-of-the-art investigation of cognitive approaches to translation and interpreting studies (TIS). • Offers timely and cutting-edge coverage of the most important theoretical frameworks and methodological innovations • Contains original contributions from a global group of leading researchers from 18 countries • Explores topics related to translator and workplace characteristics including machine translation, creativity, ergonomic perspectives, and cognitive effort, and competence, training, and interpreting such as multimodal processing, neurocognitive optimization, processoriented pedagogies, and conceptual change • Maps out future directions for cognition and translation studies, as well as areas in need of more research within this dynamic field

Original Language Subtitles: Their Effects on the Native and Foreign Viewer

Se estudia el impacto de los subtitulos en el mismo idioma de la narrativa audiovisual segun el idioma del receptor (nativo o extranjero). Estudiantes de dos universidades australianas y una espanola fueron asignados al azar a uno de dos grupos experimentales en los que se veia un drama con la banda sonora original en ingles con subtitulos en esa misma lengua (n=81) o sin subtitulos (n=92). La muestra incluia un grupo control de hablantes nativos de ingles, ademas de grupos de hablantes nativos de chino mandarin, coreano y espanol con ingles como lengua extranjera. Como medidas post-hoc, los participantes reportaron, mediante escalas Likert, su percepcion de presencia, transporte, realismo percibido, identificacion con los personajes y disfrute. Los resultados muestran que los subtitulos no reducen las medidas de inmersion. Ademas, que los subtitulos producen mayores puntuaciones de transporte, identificacion con los personajes y percepcion de realismo, cuya varianza se explica, esencialmente, por la primera lengua de los receptores y sus habitos de visionado. Asimismo, los resultados senalan que ni a la presencia y ni al disfrute les afectan la condicion experimental o el idioma del receptor. Finalmente, muestran que el transporte es la medida mas reveladora de la inmersion porque produce las correlaciones mas fuertes y consistentes, aparte de ser un predictor significativo del disfrute de los espectadores.

Putting the audience in the picture: Mise-en-shot and psychological immersion in audio described film

Audio description (AD) often emphasises the visual elements of a film rather than the way these elements are presented. However, what is seen and the way it is shown are equally important for creating meaning in film. The term mise-en-shot refers to the way in which visual aspects are shown to the audience. In order to determine whether the stylistic elements of film created by means of mise-en-shot could influence the reception of audio described film, the article investigates the effect of the presence or absence in the AD of these elements on the immersion of a sighted audience into the fictional world. Immersion is measured by means of sub-scales on character identification as well as transportation. In order to measure the effect of stylistic elements, the self-reported immersion of one group of sighted participants who sees a scene with the original soundtrack is compared to that of another sighted group who only hears the audio-described soundtrack of the scene. The findings suggest that although t...

The translation of narrative fiction: impostulating the narrative origo

Abstract This article presents an approach to the translation of narrative fiction that draws on the interpretive dimensions of some ‘postclassical’ variants of narratology. This approach is primarily built on two related concepts that are introduced here in an attempt to obviate the need for the identification of a range of textual agents, and that may enable the translator of narrative fiction to arrive at a more informed interpretation of the source text. These terms are ‘narrative impostulation’ and ‘narrative origo’ (the first an interpretive and presentational activity shared by author and reader as well as translator as reader/author, and the second a deictic and orientational position and vortex that represents the centre from which and into which the narrative originates). In introducing these terms, the article suggests an approach to the way in which a narrative text comes to (a second) life (in translation), and the way in which the reader gains access to the fictional world and also interprets and participates in the construction or presentation of that world, also in terms of focalisation. This approach to the translation of narrative fiction is then illustrated by means of examples from the South African novelist, A. B. Brinks self-translated/rewritten novel Imaginings of sand (IS)/Sandkastele (SK) to show how subtle shifts in focalisation have the potential to change the way in which the narrator and narrative as a whole are conceptualised.1

Pear Stories and Audio Description: Language, Perception and Cognition across Cultures

In the mid-1970s, professor Wallace Chafe, a specialist in Native American languages at the University of California, Berkeley, set up an experiment to test the reception of a visual story in different languages. He designed a very simple film (the Pear Film) to elicit stories (the so-called ‘pear stories’) from speakers around the world. The idea was to compare how representatives of different cultures and languages talk about universal experiences: a man picking pears, a boy stealing a basket of the pears, then riding a bicycle before colliding with a stone and falling down, and some boys helping him to gather the pears and helping him back on his bike. Some 30 years later, under the umbrella of the European project DTV4ALL, academics in many countries from the field of Audiovisual Translation decided to use the Pear Film to check whether relevant cross-linguistic and cross-cultural differences related to film reception are insignificant enough to enable the development of common European audio description (AD) guidelines. The project was called the Pear Tree Project (PTP) and results related to the project are presented in this special issue. Some of the articles deal directly with the project, whereas others take the film as starting point but extend beyond the project itself in the context of the theory and practice of audio description. In the opening article, Iwona Mazur and Agnieszka Chmiel report on the PTP. In the article, the authors present the project’s rationale, design, participants, and findings, which are based on the comparative lexical, narrative, and discursive analyses of written narratives produced by representatives of various countries. In the final part of the article, the authors point to methodological limitations of the study, but conclude that, despite the limitations and huge variation in the obtained results, we could assume that development of common European AD guidelines should be possible, provided such guidelines take into account the cross-cultural differences in narrative production and the preferences of blind audiences in the respective countries. Christopher Taylor and Giovanni Mauro’s article is an extension of the original PTP analysis presented in the opening article. The authors use the original PTP data and subject it to further geo-statistical and linguistic analyses. In the first part of the article they present a number of mapograms, which are very effective visualisations of the obtained PTP data. The second part of the paper is linguistically oriented: the PTP texts are treated as a small corpus, which is subjected to a number of analyses related to systemic-functional grammar, including theme-rheme progression, information flow, clause-type choice, and appraisal. The authors then link the findings of the geo-statistical analysis with those obtained in the linguistic one, and draw conclusions as to possible applications of the findings to audio description practice in the countries concerned. The overall conclusion in line with that of Mazur and Perspectives: Studies in Translatology Vol. 20, No. 1, March 2012, 1 3

Assessing Quality in Human- and Machine-Generated Subtitles and Captions

The depth, breadth, and complexity of audiovisual translation (AVT) are growing at a rapid rate. AVT is becoming increasingly merged with language technologies, including computer-assisted translation tools, machine translation, automated subtitling and captioning software, and automatic speech recognition systems. An essential component in this exciting and challenging technological development of current and future applications of AVT is the definition and assessment of quality in a way that is transparent, reliable, consistent, meaningful to all stakeholders, and readily applicable to the growing diversity of AVT. This chapter first provides a critical overview of current and future issues in the assessment of quality in human and machine-generated subtitling and captioning. It builds upon a range of contemporary industry sources and moves into cutting-edge research on the processing and reception of AVT products across a variety of media and languages. We then move to discuss the impact of new media and technologies on best practice, policy, and research. Lastly, we identify numerous challenges and potential solutions for all stakeholders in order to encourage dialogue between disciplines with the aim of articulating and answering questions of quality in AVT in an evolving technological landscape.

Electroencephalographic beta coherence as an objective measure of psychological immersion in film

All audiovisual translation (AVT) modes mediate the audiovisual text for the audience. For audiences excluded from all or part of a visual or an auditory channel, this has significant implications in terms of comprehension and enjoyment. With subtitling (SDH in particular), we want the audiences to have the same quality of access to the characters and worlds that is afforded the hearing audience. Likewise, with AD, we want the audiences to have an equivalent experience to that afforded sighted audiences. Since the degree to which an audience becomes immersed in the story world plays an important role in this quality of access and enjoyment, it would be useful to find ways to measure immersion reliably. In this article we present a discussion on the measurement of immersion in subtitled film using a triangulation of offline and online measures. In particular, electroencephalography (EEG) as an online measure holds a lot of potential in AVT research. We present the results of a pilot study in which EEG beta coherence between the prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices is used as an indication of the degree to which an audience surrenders itself to the story world and experience the characters and events imaginatively in an immersed state. Our findings indicate that EEG beta coherence could be a valuable tool for measuring the fluctuating states of immersion in film in the presence of subtitles, but also potentially in the context of AD. Electroencephalographic beta coherence as an objective measure of psychological immersion in film