B EN J A M I N S ■ T Reception R Studies and A Audiovisual N Translation S L edited by Elena Di Giovanni A Yves Gambier T I O L I B R A R Y N ■ Reception Studies and Audiovisual Translation Benjamins Translation Library (BTL) issn 0929-7316 The Benjamins Translation Library (BTL) aims to stimulate research and training in Translation & Interpreting Studies – taken very broadly to encompass the many different forms and manifestations of translational phenomena, among them cultural translation, localization, adaptation, literary translation, specialized translation, audiovisual translation, audio-description, transcreation, transediting, conference interpreting, and interpreting in community settings in the spoken and signed modalities. For an overview of all books published in this series, please see www.benjamins.com/catalog/btl General Editor Honorary Editors Roberto A. Valdeón Yves Gambier University of Oviedo University of Turku & Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University Associate Editor Gideon Toury† Franz Pöchhacker Tel Aviv University University of Vienna Advisory Board Cecilia Alvstad Christopher D. Mellinger University of Oslo University of North Carolina at Charlotte Georges L. Bastin Jan Pedersen University of Montreal Stockholm University Dirk Delabastita Luc van Doorslaer University of Namur University of Tartu & KU Leuven Daniel Gile África Vidal Université Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle University of Salamanca Krisztina Károly Meifang Zhang Eötvös Lorand University University of Macau Volume 141 Reception Studies and Audiovisual Translation Edited by Elena Di Giovanni and Yves Gambier Reception Studies and Audiovisual Translation Edited by Elena Di Giovanni University of Macerata Yves Gambier University of Turku & Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam / Philadelphia TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of 8 the American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984. doi 10.1075/btl.141 Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from Library of Congress. isbn 978 90 272 0093 8 (Hb) isbn 978 90 272 6393 3 (e-book) © 2018 – John Benjamins B.V. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publisher. John Benjamins Publishing Company · https://benjamins.com Table of contents Introduction vii Elena Di Giovanni and Yves Gambier Part I. Defining reception studies Media audiences and reception studies 3 Annette Hill Film, cinema and reception studies: Revisiting research on audience’s filmic and cinematic experiences 21 Daniel Biltereyst and Philippe Meers Translation studies, audiovisual translation and reception 43 Yves Gambier Part II. Methodology in reception studies and audiovisual translation Multi-method research: Reception in context 69 Tiina Tuominen Triangulation of online and offline measures of processing and reception in AVT 91 Jan-Louis Kruger and Stephen Doherty Discourse analysis, pragmatics, multimodal analysis 111 Roberto A. Valdeón Historical approaches to AVT reception: Methods, issues and perspectives 133 Serenella Zanotti Part III. AVT modalities and reception studies Dubbing, perception and reception 159 Elena Di Giovanni Reception studies in audiovisual translation – interlingual subtitling 179 Kristijan Nikolić vi Reception Studies and Audiovisual Translation Reception studies in live and pre-recorded subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing 199 Pablo Romero-Fresco Audio description and reception-centred research 225 Elena Di Giovanni Part IV. Hybrid media and new audiences Media interpreting: From user expectations to audience comprehension 253 Franz Pöchhacker Reception studies in game localisation: Taking stock 277 Carme Mangiron On the reception of mobile content: New challenges in audiovisual translation research 297 Alberto Fernández-Costales New audiences, international distribution, and translation 321 David Orrego-Carmona Bio-notes 343 Filmography 349 Subject index 351 Introduction Elena Di Giovanni and Yves Gambier Audiences in a changing audiovisual landscape Audiences have always held a prominent position in debates – theoretical, method- ological, pragmatic – related to texts and their enjoyment. This has been especially true of texts conceived for specific readership, such as drama plays, children’s books, advertising material, tourist brochures and, more recently, audiovisual products. From issues of comprehension to appreciation, critique and taste, and from the age of Cicero – a Roman politician and lawyer and a famous orator and prose stylist (106 BC–43 BC), to the days of social media and viral content, audiences have been truly pivotal. However, studies on audience reception in relation to translation, especially within the realm of media, have only recently started to develop on a regular basis. Audiences are, in themselves, indeed difficult to define, let alone identify: as all chapters in this volume show, audiences can be seen as many different entities and observed from several standpoints. More precisely, media audiences often cannot be seen at all, as consumption of media texts very frequently happens in private settings that can hardly be handled for research purposes. The definition and the study of audiences are thus influenced by several fac- tors, including modes of consumption, fast-changing technology 1 (soliciting more and more our attention), ever-shifting viewing habits (associated with cultural attitudes, expectations, values, assumptions, empathy), small to huge audience composition, etc. Changes in modes of consumption and technology have led, over slightly more than a decade, to an unforeseen surge in agency and interactivity on the part of audiences. Having generally been passive spectators, whose reaction to, and re- ception of, media content often remained on a small-scale level, today viewers can express their opinions on social media in a matter of seconds, and thus determine the success or failure of a film, TV product, web series, etc. Moreover, the advent of on-demand television and online streaming services, for instance, has radically 1. The technology impacts as well the different settings where we can watch AV products: cin- ema theatre, computer, TV, DVD, mobile device/smart phone, theatre, museum, etc. doi 10.1075/btl.141.01gio © 2018 John Benjamins Publishing Company viii Elena Di Giovanni and Yves Gambier changed the mode and time of media consumption and has steadily placed agency and creativity in the hands of users. Today, media content can be created, shared, modified, customized and, of course, it can also be translated. Individuals or entire communities of fans have increasingly engaged in volunteer forms of audiovisual translation which have also changed the face of audiovisual translation (AVT) prac- tice, for example by fostering the use of online, collective platforms for translation production. Volunteer, fan translation has also affected the market in different de- grees across the five continents, occasionally coming to compete with professional services. Thus, the empowerment of end users, in all its forms, has shaken and stirred the very notion of audience, with an increasing difficulty in marking the boundary between media and translation producers and consumers. If we look specifically at media accessibility for the sensory impaired, an in- creased attention on the part of the scholarly community worldwide, along with the frequent involvement of the end users (audiences) in the making, reviewing and disseminating of accessible media texts, has led to more widespread awareness, increased dissemination and the opening up of access services to all, towards true inclusion. A dynamic research field: Audiovisual translation (AVT) For a better understanding of the place and the challenges related to AVT, let us draw a map of the development of AVT over the last three decades. Reception here falls under “accessibility”, assumed here in its broad meaning, i.e. aiming at all kinds of audiences and not only people who experience disabilities. Accessibility allows anybody to achieve specific goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specific context of use, and allows communication to go beyond any social, cog- nitive, age, gender divide and mental, sensory, physical impairment. Few explanations are now needed: 1. “Products” refers to publications focusing on “problems” (humour, swear- words, terms of address, discourse markers, language register, cultural items, etc.) and/or “constraints” (impact of the oral code, genres, space and time con- straints, etc.) 2. “Process” includes studies on strategies, norms, conventions, the translator’s voice, technical constraints, from script writing to dialogue, interplay visual/ sound/verbal, etc. Introduction ix AVT Language policy Descriptive studies Accessibility Applied research (According to modes intra-/inter lingual) Reception Fan amateurs AVT Multilingualism Perception History Censorship Broadcasting Quality Distribution Language of limited (TV, cinema, DVD, diffusion Net, mobile devices) Language minority Products (1) Process (2) Technology Training Effects Status (4) Profile Multimedia translation (3) Basic Continuing (websites, videogames) Training Education 3. “Technology” in AVT has changed and is changing the AV landscape: many research projects deal now with automation and its impacts on productivity and quality, on working conditions, fees, ethics, copyrights, etc. but also on digitization and transformations in production, distribution, broadcasting, etc. 4. Under “effects”, we refer to studies on reading skills, reading habits, language learning, stereotypes, etc. The four different subfields in the figure imply certain types of research approaches and/or tools. Thus Language policy can offer historical, political, economic, com- mercial perspectives while Descriptive studies means linguistic, pragmatic, narra- tological, cognitive, multimodal, imagological perspectives and also case studies. With Accessibility, we have e.a. socio-cultural, ethnographic perspectives. And Applied Research means technical, professional, legal, educational perspectives. Now, if we consider the practice of audiovisual translation, the past decade has brought about incredible changes besides those mentioned above: the total digi- talization of working materials, to mention but one, has led to tighter deadlines, increased precision, new competences. New modes of consumption for translated media, along with end users’ empowerment as has been outlined above, have also led to variations in the distribution of AVT techniques worldwide, for example by