Translating Foreign Languages and Non-Native Varieties of English in Animated Films

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore how foreign languages (i.e., languages other than English) and non-native varieties of English are used in Anglo-American animated films and to investigate the strategies adopted in Italian dubbing to deal with such multilingual features. The paper combines insights into professional practice with a close examination of a specific case study. The film Despicable Me 2 (dir. Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, Illumination Entertainment, 2013) has been chosen for analysis since it displays more than one language and several language varieties (British English, American English and foreign-accented English). The film also exploits visual and verbal stereotypes which enhance the comedic elements of the film. This multiplicity of voices and identities through language variety represents a challenge for audiovisual translators. By analysing the representation of characters and drawing on personal communication with Italian dubbing practitioners, the article aims to unveil how linguistic variation, multilingualism and diversity are dealt with in dubbing. The article will show that, although general trends may be identified as far as foreign languages and non-native varieties are concerned, the solutions offered by dubbing professionals often depend on a variety of factors and agents.

Peculiarities of Translating English Audiovisual Text: A Didactic Aspect

“…The interest in audiovisual translation rises concerning an increase in cinematic productions in the global entertainment market. Lately, attempts have been made to classify the types of audiovisual translation and disclose the advantages and disadvantages of subtitling and dubbing techniques (Borghetti & Lertola, 2014;Iaia, 2015;Chen, 2019;Minutella, 2020;Raffa, 2022). Over the past decade, most research in the field has emphasized that audiovisual translation is "quintessentially interdisciplinary" (Zanotti & Ranzato, 2019, p. 173).…”

An analysis of dubbesse in the Polish rendition of The Queen’s Corgie (2019), the animated movie, with special focus on analysability/ compositionality parameter of wordplay

“…Audiovisual translation (AVT) has been attracting an ever-growing academic interest, evidenced in a recent surge of publications pertaining to the field (e.g. Bogucki 2004;Garcarz 2006Garcarz , 2007Chaume 2012Chaume , 2013Chaume , 2019Lozano 2017;Parini 2019;Minutella 2021;Huber, Kairis 2021, among others). While AVT encompasses "dubbing, subtitling, surtitling, respeaking, audiosubtitling, voice-over, simultaneous interpreting at film festivals, free-commentary and goblin translation, subtitling for the deaf and the hard of hearing, audiodescription, fansubbing and fandubbing" (Chaume 2013: 105), the pervading types of AVT are subtitling, voice-over, and dubbing, the latter being commonplace practice in the translation of animated films targeted mostly at children.…”