Introduction to Translation and Interpreting Studies

5 Specialized Practices in Translation Settings

Miguel A. Jiménez-Crespo

Objectives

• Identify the main common features shared by specialized translation practices.
• Learn about audiovisual translation, including subtitling, dubbing, audiodescription, and voice-over.
• Learn about translation of song and notions such as singability and performability.
• Learn the differences between translation for stage and translation of drama.
• Learn about localization and localization studies.
• Learn about advertising and news translation.

5.1 Introduction

Technological advances have enabled the ever-increasing transnational movement of goods, services, and people across the globe. In this context, multimedia communication has become “ubiquitous in daily life” (Gambier and Gottlieb 2001, p. xi). The mediafication of our lives has been fueled by translation practices that continue to grow and diversify. From popular streaming video platforms to digital news outlets, from social networking apps to localized video games, translation practices have become a vital link in the global cycle of multimedia digital content production, distribution, and consumption. These are precisely the translation practices covered in this chapter. They are often grouped together because they are multimodal; they operate on source texts that combine multiple signifying means or modes (textual, aural, and visual movement); and they are marked by their modality, how the translation is performed, rather than translation ...