Multimedia translation

Multimedia translation, also sometimes referred to as Audiovisual translation, is a specialized branch of translation which deals with the transfer of multimodal and multimedial texts into another language and/or culture. and which implies the use of a multimedia electronic system in the translation or in the transmission process.

Multimedia translation can be applied to various fields, including cinema, television, theatre, advertisement, audiovisual and mobile device communication.

Audiovisual text can be labeled as multimodal when produced and interpreted by applying a variety of semiotic resources or ‘modes’. When various modes, such as language, image, music, colour and perspective are combined together in different forms of media, with the major role attributed to the screen, audiovisual text can be described as multimedial.

An example of this, called multimodal transcription, is used in cinema. A film is broken down into frames, shots or phases. Every frame, shot or phase is analyzed, looking for all the semiotic modalities operating within each one.

The translation of multimedia creative works is a subject of academic research, a subtopic of translation studies. This interdisciplinary field draws from a wide range of theories, such as globalisation and post-globalisation theories, reception studies, relevance theory, social science and cultural studies, social psychology and deaf studies.

This kind of translation is strongly influenced, both in the form and in the substance of its creative process, by the process and type of device employed. Specific limits are imposed by digital graphics, and by timing and mode of use.

Dubbing, sometimes known as "lip-synchrony", involves both the translation and its synchronisation as well as dubbing the actors' and actresses' performance. Once considered the most comprehensive form of translation, dubbing follows the "timing, phrasing and lip movement of the original dialogue" as closely as possible. Although this mode is usually interlingual, there are some cases of intralingual dubbing, but it is not very common.

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