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An Empirical and Descriptive Study of the Translation Method for Dubbing and Subtitling is the title of a doctoral thesis submitted in November 2006. This research project developed a theoretical framework where the notion of translation method was defined in terms of a graphical and parametrical representation as a function of three parameters: constraints active in audiovisual translation, translation norms and translation techniques. The object of study consisted of several independent American films shown in Spain, in dubbed and subtitled versions, in the period between 2001 and 2004. Both the preliminary and the translation phases of the translation process were taken into account in the scope of work. Empirical data were gathered through interviews with the translators of the films for the preliminary phase of the translation process; the compilation of almost 500 micro textual samples of the two translated versions provided the empirical data for the translation phase itself. The results and conclusions of the study were obtained by using rigorous statistical tools, which showed the similarities and differences between the translation methods for both the dubbed and the subtitled versions.

This article presents a new tool which has been developed in order to make reading speed calculations, and whose results are expressed by means of the two parameters most used in the field: CPS (characters per second) and WPM (words per minute). Topics such as the suitability of each one of the parameters versus the other, the potential correlation which may exist among them, as well as their behavior across different languages are open to discussion in the very limited available bibliography on the subject.<p>It seems that part of this confusion has spread over to commercial subtitling programs, most of which present values for either one or both parameters to the final user. It has been confirmed that different subtitling software programs calculate different reading speed values (both in CPS and WPM) for the same set of subtitles. Due to this, a very simple software application which calculates values for CPS and WPM is presented. It has been willingly designed to make no assumptions, but simply to count characters and to make very straightforward time algebra with the subtitle in and out times. The new tool allows for empirical and quantitative research of large series of subtitles at a time, and it may also play an important role in the classroom environment.<p>

RESUMENEste artículo presenta resultados de velocidades de lectura de subtítulos en lengua alemana y castellana de tres películas norteamericanas. Dichos resultados se encuentran expresados en los dos parámetros de mayor utilización en este campo: CPS (caracteres por segundo) y WPM ("words per minute", o palabras por minuto, en inglés), y se han obtenido por medio de una aplicación diseñada a tal efecto por el autor y otros investigadores. El estudio (empí-rico y cuantitativo) surge con el objetivo de intentar demostrar que el primero de los dos parámetros mencionados (CPS) es más útil para expresar la velocidad de lectura de subtítu-los, ya que debe ser independiente de la lengua. Se parte de la hipótesis de que el número de palabras que aparecerán en los subtítulos alemanes será menor, dada la mayor longitud (en términos generales) de las palabras en dicha lengua.Palabras clave: subtitulación, velocidad de lectura, caracteres por segundo (CPS), palabras por minuto (WPM), películas americanas.German and Spanish subtitle reading speeds for American films: a case study ABSTRACTThis article presents results of German and Spanish subtitle reading speeds for three American films. Those results are expressed in the two most common parameters in this particular field: CPS (characters per second) and WPM (Words per minute), and they have been obtained by means of a software application designed to do so by the author and other researchers. This empirical and quantitative study has as an objective to try to prove that the former of the two above mentioned parameters (CPS) is more suited to express subtitle reading speed, since it should be language-independent. An initial hypothesis is formulated: the number of words in German subtitles should be lower, given the fact that German words are (in general terms) longer.