Babel Translation and Mass Communication: film and tv translation

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Translation and mass-

communication: Film and T.V.

translation as evidence of

cultural dynamics

Article in Babel December 1988

DOI: 10.1075/babel.35.4.02del

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Dirk Delabastita

University of Namur

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Translation and mass-communication:film and T.V. translation as evidence of cultural dynamics

Dirk Delabastita

0. Introduction

0.1. The social sciences have often tended to select their subjects for study on thebasis of their high prestige according to the norms of the culture in which theyfunction, or even according to the value system of the cultural paradigm withinwhich the scholars themselves operate. That is one of the underlying reasons why,for example, the scholarly study of popular culture has had such a slow start orwhy, for that matter, translation has so long been the Cinderella of linguistic and

literary studies. Accordingly, it is hardly surprising that phenomena such as translation in mass communication have so far been ignored almost completely, however much the quantitative importance of these phenomena is in evidence, andhowever much they may be assumed to play a crucial role in the linguistic, artistic,ideological, etc. organisation of our modern societies.

In recent years, however, it has begun to dawn on an ever growing number ofscholars that an a priori selective approach towards culture often contributes tothe consolidation of certain cultural tendencies, rather than to an adequateanalysis. In the field of literary studies, for instance, this insight has found expression in the claim that the student of literature can hope to understand the structureand the evolution of literature and its relation to other linguistic and culturalforms of expression only if he agrees to adopt much more comprehensive schemesof analysis than were ever used before. Thus topics like translation, popular literature, children's literature, epigonic writing, non-literary discourse, criticism, theacademic study of literature itself, literary institutions, and so forth, have becomeno less a part of his research domain than the traditional canonized works. In factthe very mechanisms through which canonization does or does not occur have

become the central object of historical scrutiny. From such a point of view, translations turn out to be key texts allowing the scholar to detect the tensions andevolutionary tendencies within literatures and cultures and the mechanismsobtaining between different cultural systems.

In this context I cannot further enlarge upon these developments in literary

Babel35:4 (1989), 193218. DOI 10.1075/babel.35.4.02delISSN 05219744 / E-ISSN 15699668 Fdration Internationale des Traducteurs (FIT) Revue Babel


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194 Dirk Delabastita

studies; for more information the reader is referred to Even-Zohar & Toury 1981,Hermans 1985, Lambert 1980, etc. I would merely point out the fact that the

hypotheses proposed by these and other scholars have not yet realized theirdescriptive potential outside the domain of literature as fully as seems possible.The present paper, then, aims at showing that the historical-descriptive, struc-tural-semiotic, systemic schemes that have been alluded to in the previous linesprovide the scholar with the tools to carry out research into mass communicationtranslation in a more adequate manner than was previously imaginable. I willfocus on two specific forms of mass communication film and T.V. whilestressing that similar investigations into translation with other forms of mass communication such as the press, advertising, popular music, etc., can and should be

set up as well. Obviously, I am not claiming that the subtitling and dubbing offilms and T.V. programmes have never been seriously studied before; my bibliography, which is far from complete, testifies to the contrary. However, it appearsthat the few translation scholars, sociologists, psychologists, film experts and technicians who have so far dealt with our topic have only considered certain aspectsof the problem and ignored others, depending on their particular line of approachor practical needs. In addition, the importance of a few particular questions hasapparently been recognized by virtually none of them. This paper, therefore,seeks to offer a. systematic outline of the whole field of the problem. It is not a

report on extensive previous or ongoing research but it is to be seen as anorganized inventory of questions and hypotheses that should direct any futureresearch. I have structured this paper after the tripartite model of translationalrelationships developed by Gideon Toury (Competence Norms Performance), since I believe that it provides us with the distinctions necessary for our

purpose. For further reading on this model see Toury 1980. By way of introduction, the following schematic characterisation of Toury's theses will perhaps besufficient.

Toury challenges the formerly predominant opinion that it is the task of trans

lation studies to devise "optimal" methods of translation. The discipline shouldaim at describing actual translation practices (that is to say, empirical phenomena)rather than developing ideal definitions (that the actual facts do not fail to fallshort of). It is accepted that there are many possible ways of translating a text(theoretical level of competence). In particular cultural situations, however, onewill often observe certain regular patterns of behaviour (empirical level of performance). This allows the scholar to assume an intermediate level of norms whichdenote particular types of translational behaviour as more or less desirable (levelof required relationships between S.T.s and T.T.s). The translation scholar is not

supposed to identify with any specific norm-governed concept of translation.Rather, Toury insists on the usefulness of interpreting the variety of historical

practices in terms of the "systemic" or functional needs of the receiving language,literature and culture. The methodological observation of translation performance


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Translation and mass communication 195

and the reconstruction of translation norms should be in continual interplay withthe development of the competence component.

0.2. Before I start on the actual analysis, some preliminary terminological notesare called for. Firstly, for the sake of verbal economy I will use the term "film" ina very general sense, so that it also includes T. V. programmes of all kinds. Whenever any of these distinctions are relevant to my argument, they will, of course, bemade explicit.

Secondly, the term "translation" will equally be used in an unusually broadsense, albeit for conceptual rather than for practical reasons. I will take "filmtranslation" to stand for the wholeset of operations that is to say, including cer

tain operations on the level of non-verbal signs that accompany and make possible the transfer of a film from a source culture A into a target culture B. It isassumed that the processes of interlingual recoding ("translation" in the traditional sense) that mostly characterize such an intercultural transfer cannot beexplained if they are isolated from the whole bundle of relations between the original and the translated film. The rationale behind this terminological usage shouldbecome clear in the further course of this paper and it will be given some extrathought in my concluding section.

Thirdly, the notions "translation" (translator, etc.), "source film" and "target

film" require additional clarification in view of certain peculiarities relating to theproduction and distribution of films. It is a well-known fact that films are not justproduced for the home market but rather for a wide international market. Onecan hardly say that, e.g., an American film is originally produced for the American film audiences and subsequently translated or made suitable for export. Thechain of events which brings a film from an American studio into a Belgian or aJapanese cinema is rather involved and it is sometimes very hard to distinguishbetween production phenomena (level of text) and reception phenomena (level ofmetatext). In this context it will be remembered that techniques such as subtitling

and dubbing (cf. play-back, postsynchronisation) are also very common in theproduction of "original" films (and that they have even led to several avant-gardistexperimentations). In the Hollywood era certain production houses even had theirown local branches in Europe which had to finish the film in accordance with thenative language and taste, as well as with the censorship regulations locally inforce! Therefore, the term "translator" in this paper is a shorthand term to indicate all the instances involved in carrying out the various operations between anytwo stages in the cross-cultural distribution of a film. Thus, many selections anddecisions have been made before the film reaches the team responsible for its

actual linguistic adaptation (translation in the narrow sense) and they may still bemade afterwards. These facts, however, in no way invalidate our interpretation ofthe functional dimension (section 3) of these various processes of translation.However, they certainly do imply the need to carry out a careful "text study" in


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order to find out what shifts took place at what stage, before any precise hypotheses can be ventured concerning the reasons for the various shifts. Incidentally, it

should be noted that the scholar of translation sometimes has to reckon with similar complex filiations between source and target texts in the case of "ordinary"translation as well (older texts, strategies of large publishing houses, etc.).

1. Competence: possible relationships

1.1. On the level of translational competence I will have to consider a number ofquestions that relate to the theoretical translation potential of films. I should firstof all attempt to establish the entire set of possible relationships between a

"source" film and a "target" film. What are the various possible ways in which afilm can be translated? In answering this question, I should of course attempt toavoid being swayed by any normative considerations. The researcher cannotafford, for instance, to ignore those modes of translation which happen to be "unacceptable" according to his own set of norms. In fact, such "illegitimate" translation strategies may well be acceptable in different cultural situations and it istherefore reasonable to expect that the competence model should be able to "generate" them.

This issue of the possible modes of film translation is greatly complicated by

the peculiar semiotic nature of the film sign. Before the problem of film translation methods can be tackled, it should therefore be established what sort of a"text" a film is. At this point we realize the need to consult the experts in filmsemiotics. It is a well-known fact that film establishes a multi-channel and multi-code type of communication. As opposed to radio communication or communication through books, for instance, film communication takes place through twochannels rather than one: both the visual channel (light waves) and the acousticchannel (air vibrations) are simultaneously utilized. An exception might perhapshave to be made here for silent movies, even though piano players or orchestrasoften provided a musical accompaniment to the film projection. In addition, somefilms have made use of other channels as well consider the use of the olfactorychannel in the so-called smell-o-vision movies of the 1950's, or of the tactile channel in Earthquake (1974) but these remain fairly isolated examples and we arenot guilty of serious oversimplification if we omit them.

The acoustic and the visual channels are the means by which the film messagereaches its audience. They should not be confused with thecodes that are used toproduce the film's actual meaning. There is in fact a multitude of codes that givesshape to any film as a meaningful sign and that enables its spectators to makesense of it. The following list contains some of the major sign systems of whichfilm producers and consumers avail themselves;

- the verbal code (which is actually an aggregate of various linguistic and paralin-guistic subcodes: think of the various geographical, temporal, stylistic and social


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dialects of a language, etc.);

- literary codes and theatrical codes (conventions of plot construction, models for

dialogues, acquaintance with narrative strategies, with argumentationtechniques and with literary genres and motives, etc.);

- proxemic codes, kinesic codes, vestimentary codes, make-up codes, politeness

codes, moral codes, and so forth (enabling us among other things to understand

and assess the non-verbal behaviour of the characters);

- the cinematic code (rules and conventions of the cinema; its techniques, genres,

etc.).

Signs from these codes may be combined in a whole range of ways to form the

"macro-sign" of the film as a whole. In this important respect film is very similar

to theatre. The theatrical performance is not, as Keir Elam puts it, "a single-level

led and homogeneous series of signs or signals that emerges, but rather a weave of

radically differentiated modes of expression, each governed by its own selection

and combination rules" (Elam 1980:44).

1.2. A film constitutes a complex sign, in a way not unlike the theatrical perfor

mance sign. From a different perspective, however, film communication and

theatre communication show an important difference which has a direct bearing

on the translation potential of a film as opposed to the translation potential of

drama texts/theatre texts. The explanation of this difference will take us directly

into the heart of the problem of film translation.

One of the major semiotic differences between a theatre performance and a

film projection is the fact that the latter confronts the audience with a complex

sign, the material structure of which was almost entirely determined beforehand,

whereas in the former case the performance sign is on each occasion being mate

rially constituted in the very process of the performance. Any theatre perfor

mance is a one-off event and no second performance will be exactly like it in its

materially identifiable constituents. A film performance, on the other hand, is

perfectly reproducible in material terms. Of course, as Mukaovsk reminds us,

one and the same materially fixed "artefact" can lead to the construction of differ

ent "aesthetic objects" hence my insistence on the "material" character of the

shifts in the ensuing scheme but that point is not relevant to the present discus

sion. Nor does the existence of certain imperfect reproductions compare the

output of a cheap portable T.V. set with what is possible in a modern cinema

fundamentally detract from my basic argument. It is precisely by virtue of this fea

ture of material reproducibility that film is commonly regarded as a phenomenon

of mass-communication: through mechanical reproduction it is in principle acces

sible to a large and not previously delimited group of people, irrespective of local

barriers. One may be inclined to admit that this differentiation between theatre

and film is of a gradual rather than of a binary nature. The example of silent

movies accompanied by "live" music, for instance, is clearly an intermediate case
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224927548_The_Semiotics_of_Theatre_and_Drama?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-27025957-7bf7-4ac1-b46d-566bb4acd510&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzIzMzU3ODczMztBUzozMDk4NzMwODkxNTUwNzJAMTQ1MDg5MDkwOTM4Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224927548_The_Semiotics_of_Theatre_and_Drama?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-27025957-7bf7-4ac1-b46d-566bb4acd510&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzIzMzU3ODczMztBUzozMDk4NzMwODkxNTUwNzJAMTQ1MDg5MDkwOTM4Ng==


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and, more generally, one should certainly not ignore the semiotic relevance of theidiosyncratic conditions of each film projection, nor the fact that modern theatre

makes frequent use of mass communication repeatables such as sound-tapes orfilm fragments, etc.

But in general terms the distinction holds well, and it has major consequencesfor the translational afterlife of films as opposed to less "fixed" forms of performing arts. The main implication is of course that any translation of a film will begoverned by a number of constraints that pertain to the conditions of its materialtransmission. Early French translators/producers of Shakespeare's Othello, forinstance, could replace Desdemona's handkerchief with a crucifix, not only

because the classicist theatrical code and the contemporary codes of behaviour

would not allow one to show publicly a handkerchief on the stage in a serious play but also because the flexible nature of theatrical communication made it possible for them to carry out the change in the first place. On the other hand, whenever the modern translator of cinema or T. V. is facing a particular linguistic, cultural or aesthetic code-incompatibility between the source system and the targetsystem, his range of possible action will necessarily be restricted by the much morestringent technical constraints of the film medium. In other words, if one wants tostudy the possible modes of transfer of film signs from a source set of codes to atarget set of codes, one might do well to take into account from the outset the

material parameters within which any such translation process is necessarily effectuated. In the remaining part of subsection 1.2, then, I would like to present ascheme of possible modes of film translation which is accordingly based on themain distinction to be made with regard to the material or technical transmissionof film signs, that is to say, the distinction between the sound channel and the vision channel.

Of course, our scheme will have to include a number of other distinctions aswell. For one, it should be realized that the distinction "acoustic channel/visualchannel" cannot be linked up directly to the distinction "verbal signs/non-verbal

signs" as if the two distinctions were parallel. In most films the visual channel isused to transmit verbal signs as well. Examples are framing devices such as thetitle, the "THE END" indication, or the credit titles; in addition, letters, news

papers or other documents may be visually presented for perusal; and more generally the images of a film are often well-stocked with graphic representations of linguistic signs such as in road signs, place names, advertisements and so forth. Conversely, the acoustic channel can also transmit other than verbal signs, music and

background noises being the most obvious examples. These facts should make uswary of confusing the translation of a film's dialogues with the translation of "all

the verbal signs" contained in the film; but this issue will be taken up in section 4.At present the distinction between verbal and non-verbal signs will be used toinsert an extra differentiation into our initial distinction between the visual channel and the acoustic channel. As a result the following four categories areobtained:


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a. visual presentation - verbal signsb. visual presentation - non-verbal signs

c. acoustic presentation - verbal signsd. acoustic presentation - non-verbal signs

Reality tends to be less clear-cut than such divisions may suggest but in generalthis categorization of film signs will be workable. The distinctions between a and

b and between c and d respectively are, moreover, upheld by certain technical features. Dubbing firms, for instance, are often provided with a separate so-called"international tape", which contains all the acoustically transmitted signs of theoriginal film except for the spoken dialogues.

The four categories that have just been distinguished constitute one axis ofmy film translation scheme, namely the axis specifying the type of film signs uponwhich the various translation procedures will be performed. The second axis willspecify exactly what types of operations are involved. This second set of distinctions is in fact readily available to us, as it was provided many centuries ago by theancient rhetoricians. It comprises: repetitio (the sign is formally reproduced in anidentical manner),adiectio(the sign is reproduced with a certain addition),detractio (the reproduction is incomplete, it implies a reduction), transmutatio (the com-

transmission

(channel)

typeofsign(code)

transmission

(channel)

typeofsign(code)

repetitio adiectio detractio substitutio transmutatio

VISuAL

ACOUSTIC

verbal signsVISuAL

ACOUSTIC

non-verbalsigns

VISuAL

ACOUSTIC

verbal signs

VISuAL

ACOUSTIC

non-verbalsigns

Fig. 1. Scheme of potential translational relationships between a source film and atargetfilm


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ponents of the sign are repeated in a somewhat different internal order, therebeing an alteration of the sign's textual relations) and substitutio (the sign is

replaced with an altogether different sign). The combination of our two axes yieldsthe following scheme: see fig. 1. It will be commented upon in subsection 1.3.

1.3. What matters is not the scheme as such, but rather the concepts that liebehind it. Basically, my scheme aims at encompassing more than the two possibilities which are traditionally identified with film translation, i.e. dubbing andsubtitling. In order to avoid certain terminological difficulties cf. the practical

problem that our metalanguage does not provide a convenient label for eachspecific transformation I have preferred to leave all the boxes in my scheme

blank. In fact, the scheme contains, inter alia, the following options:- acoustic verbal signs x substitutio = dubbing: the source film signs are repro

duced but without the acoustic verbal signs, which are replaced by target language acoustic verbal signs; see also subsection 1.4.1;

- visual verbal signs x adiectio = subtitling: the target film macrosign is an exactcopy of the source film sign apart from the addition of new visual verbal signs;see, however, also the latter part of subsection 1.4.2;

- deletio: visual and/or acoustic, and verbal and/or non-verbal signs have beendeleted (cuts);

- repetitio: the film is reproduced unchanged with all its original material features(linguistically, this is a case of 'non-translation');

- transmutatio: the various signs of the source film are reproduced identically, butin a different order and formation;

- adiectio: new images, dialogues or sounds have been introduced;- acoustic signs x repetitio: the issue of a soundtrack which (mostly) contains the

musical parts of the film's acoustic signs.

Again, it should be clear that this list is only selective and that the scheme

could account for more options than those I have just outlined. Let us now consider three further remarks that are crucial for a correct interpretation of my basiccompetence scheme.

1. The translation procedures specified by the scheme do not necessarily refer tofilms as complete units, but may also be applied to shorter segments. Therefore,from the perspective of the film as a whole, they can and mostly will be combinedin various ways. Example one: the title, the theme song and the credits can becopied directly (repetitio), whereas the dialogues in the narrative itself may bereplaced by a synchronized text. Example two: a source film sign in which two lan

guages A and B are used may be translated in such a way that spoken text in language A is dubbed, whereas spoken text in language B is translated by means ofsubtitles. Example three: the first and the last words of, say, the account of a witness in a news report may be copied directly (repetitio), whereas the main and cen-


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tral part of his speech is replaced by a dubbing commentator's translation. In thismanner numerous combinations are possible. Moreover, certain forms of simul

taneous combination have to be included. In example three, for instance, thevoice of the source language speaker may still be faintly audible in the

background. Example four: dubbing and subtitling may be combined, for instancefor the benefit of viewers who are hard of hearing. In this context certain technicalinnovations such as Teletext and stereo television should be mentioned becausethey allow the viewer autonomously to make a selection from and/or to combinedifferent modes of film translation at will.

2. A film is an organized whole or "text", the various component signs of whichenter into complex sets of relations. By the same token, any translational operation that is performed on a single source film sequence affects the whole of thetext structure, and imposes a set of constraints on the translator where othersequences have to be translated. Example one: a scene that has been cut (bothsound and vision) may confront the translator with the need to make useelsewhere of certain other reductions or additions in order to safeguard charactercoherence, plot coherence, etc. Example two: the adoption of a strategy that isrepetitive throughout (non-translation) might imply the need to insert an introductory addition in order to facilitate comprehension. Of course, the translatormay prefer to neglect these constraints to a certain degree the same holds goodfor the constraints that will be discussed in section 1.4 but that is dependent onhis norms. Example three: on account of the general principle of deixis (see, e.g.,Elam 1980:26-27, 72-74, 139-148), by means of which the language is rooted in thefilmic action, the non-verbal, visual elements of the film may impose certain constraints on the rendering of the verbal parts.

3. It is important to note that the scheme is of a purely "quantitative" nature inthat it only indicates the patterns of sign-type redistribution that the translatorimposes on his source film. It specifies, for instance, that a dub version of a film

substitutes target language spoken verbal signs for source language spoken verbalsigns,but it does not include any statement regarding the precise linguistic, stylistic, etc. relationships between both sets of verbal signs. Similarly, our schemedescribes subtitling as the addition of visual verbal signs to the integrally repeatedsource film without in any way qualifying the actual relationships that may obtain

between the source verbal text and the subtitled text. Yet this issue is obviouslyof enormous importance. We have to conclude, then, that our scheme is only afirst step towards the development of a competence model and that each of the

possible modes of translation that it contains should be further analysed so as to

provide further specifications. In doing so the researcher will obviously have tocombine his knowledge of the specific technical and semiotic constraints that eachmode involves with what he knows about translation processes in general. Thevarious descriptive categories that the discipline of translation studies has devel-


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oped will thus prove indispensable for his purpose; think of categories such as'exotisation' versus 'naturalisation' of sociocultural references, expressive amplifi

cation or expressive reduction, shifts of register, formal types of equivalence, andso forth. In my second section, which will deal with translation norms, I will giveexamples of the way in which these additional categories can be relevant.

The previous paragraphs have attempted to outline ways in which the question of the potential relationships between films and translated films may profita

bly be tackled. Clearly, the scholar who aspires to build up a theory of film translation is facing an up-hill task. However, even a provisional model such as the onesketched above will enable the scholar to deal with the empirical reality of filmtranslation, i.e., with translation norms and translation performance, in a more

efficient manner than would be feasible with static definitions and partialapproaches. Even in this early state of its development our competence model

performs the crucial function of constantly reminding the scholar that no possibilities should be excluded on the basis of normative a priori considerations.Moreover, there is no doubt that our competence scheme is capable of furtherrefinement through the confrontation with actual translation reality.

1.4. I will now conclude this section on the competence component with somebrief notes on two specific modes of film translation, namely dubbing and subtitl

ing. Some crucial features of both have been stipulated above: they have beendefined through their position in our diagram, and in subsection 1.3 it was pointedout that they should be studied in the context of the film sign as a whole and thatthe precise formulation of the target dialogues forms an additional problem to beinvestigated by the translation scholar. I will now consider some further particular

points.

1.4.1. Dubbing. The technical procedures of dubbing (or "synchronisation") havebeen fairly well described in various publications; see, for instance, Delmas 1978,

Hesse-Quack 1978: Chapter 3, and so forth. Caill 1967 gives a short historicalsurvey of the technique. It emerges that the dubbing process is very much a matterof teamwork. It evolves in various stages (including the phonetic analysis of theoriginal dialogues, the production of the target language text, verification tests,the recording of the new dialogue, the mixing of the sound tape) which are veryconsiderably interrelated. Inevitably, the cost of a synchronized version is ratherhigh. The production chain often includes a number of interventions by the filmdistribution companies. The latter actually commission the translation and veryoften it is they who basically determine the concept of the final product; in those

cases the synchronisation firms merely execute a well-defined order.The replacement of acoustic verbal signs with translated acoustic verbal signsis in varying degrees subject to an important semiotic constraint. Because speaking characters in a modern film are conventionally supposed to constitute iconicsigns the audience expects the characters in the film to produce spoken language


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like people in real life; that is to say, they insist on a greater or lesser degree ofsynchrony of visual articulatory movements on the one hand and audible sound

production on the other. Accordingly, the audience will be disturbed by anydegree of disharmony between these two elements. It is important not to restrictthis problem of synchrony to the movements of the actors' lips only. Sometimesthe whole body of the actor is involved; think of the opposite gestures that peoplein different cultures may make to accompany the words for "yes" or "no". Theseaspects of the film translation problem are probably the ones focussed upon mostintensely so far (see especially Fodor 1976); the scholars in this field can rely ona certain tradition of research in "visual phonetics" which has developed in thecontext of logopaedics (cf. techniques of lip reading). Very frequently the prob

lem of dialogue dubbing or even the problem of film translation in general! is in fact reduced to the problem of synchrony. The use of the term "synchronization" as a synonym for dubbing is a case in point. Such opinions, however, have to

be dismissed as oversimplifications, for several reasons. Firstly, the stringency ofthe constraint of synchrony is dependent on the type of film shot in each individualscene to be translated. Close-up shots of the character speaking may impose heavydemands on the translation team. In this way, the giant close-up view of OrsonWelles' lips pronouncing the word "rosebud" at the beginning of Citizen Kane(1941) is an unusually problematic example. On the other hand, in many scenes

the character who speaks is not even within view. The angle and the distance ofthe camera and the general visibility conditions are important factors here. So isthe narrative structure of the film; the use of an off-screen narrator in the originalfilm, for instance, drastically simplifies matters from the point of view of synchronisation. Secondly, the stringency of the constraint of synchrony in film translation ultimately depends on a semiotic convention of "realism" and it is, therefore, a norm-governed concept: see section 2. To the extent that the constraint ofsynchrony effectively does govern the translator's behaviour, it will naturallyimpose strong restrictions on the degree of semantic and syntactic equivalence

between source film dialogue and target film dialogue.

1.4.2. Subtitling. The technical aspects of film subtitling have also beenadequately described; see, for instance, Baker et al. 1984 or Warlop et al. 1986.From the technical point of view a distinction has to be made between subtitle

production for T.V. and for cinema film. New, computer-controlled systems haverecently been worked out for T.V. subtitling. In any case subtitling usually involves few people and it is considerably cheaper than producing a dubbed version.

An important problem with subtitling derives from the fact that the film

dialogues are usually delivered at a faster speed than a translation that is renderedgraphically on the screen can keep up with; consequently, a certain compressionor reduction of the text seems to be unavoidable. This constraint is in fact boundup with certain semiotic conventions, since we know from experience that writtencommunication in general tends to proceed faster than spoken communication


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rather than slower! A first convention relates to the amount of visual verbal signsthat is allowed to "displace" original non-verbal visual signs. Mostly a maximum

of some 60 or 70 characters is accepted, which are distributed over one or twolines to be introduced at the bottom of the screen. When this maximum number ofcharacters is adhered to, and double subtitles have to be provided (i.e., bilingualtitles), the translators will have to make do with even less space. A second convention pertains to the presentation time of each subtitle. Presentation time should belong enough to allow for what is believed to be an adequate understanding by non

professional readers; moreover, presentation time can be arranged so as to matchmaximally the stretch of speaking time in order to help the viewer in allotting each

phrase to the correct personage.

The field of experimental psychology is in an excellent position to test theeffect of the two last-named factors on the cognitive perception of film readers/viewers. Similar empirical tests (involving an eye-movement registrationapparatus) are being undertaken, for instance, under the direction of Prof. Gryd'Ydewalle in the laboratory of experimental psychology of the K.U. Leuven. Inthis context, however, two things should be borne in mind. Firstly, the receptionof subtitled films cannot be entirely explained by quantitative factors, such as theamount of graphic characters on the screen or the length of presentation time. Wemay assume that it is equally governed by certain "qualitative" factors such as the

linguistic/stylistic/cultural translation policy followed. Secondly, if it can be established within certain qualitative parameters that particular quantitative pro

portions yield better results in terms of audience comprehension, this should notbe taken as a warrant to abandon our non-exclusive approach in favour of a searchfor the "best methods" of film translation. Such a practical orientation is of course

perfectly legitimate that is the least one can say but it does not fit easilywithin our particular descriptive framework. The constraint of the limited textspace is also ultimately a norm-governed one; see section 2. To the extent that itis effectively observed by the translator, it gives rise to a major problem of selec

tion, the central question being what source dialogue material has to be transferred and what information (stylistic-linguistic information, elements regarding plotor character, cultural references, etc.) can be deleted. This deletion problem isconnected with another problem to be solved by the subtitler, namely the asymmetry of spoken language and written language. Is it necessary, or indeed possi

ble, to render the informative value of suprasegmental phonetic features such asintonation, etc. in writing? What is to be done about dialects, colloquial vocabulary, taboo language, elliptic syntax, non-grammatical utterances, or defectivespeech? These are questions which deserve much further research. In the last

paragraph of this section on subtitles, however, I must return to an issue of a moregeneral semiotic purport.

Like any translation, the subtitles constitute a "metatext", i.e. a text referringto another text. Their actual semiotic status is dependent upon a set of culturalconventions. If these are operative the subtitles will be accepted as not affecting


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the original unity of sound and vision, and they will be regarded as if they were an"invisible" addition to the original film. Their unobtrusiveness might become evi

dent, for instance, by testing the hypothesis that a joke which the viewer reads inthe subtitles before it has been completed by the speaker is "really" fired off onlywhen its actual speaker has entirely fulfilled his joking speech act. It is on the basisof similar conventions that one can classify subtitles as an instance of mere "addition". For those who do not share these conventions, the status of subtitles assupplementary and subsidiary "glosses" will be much less evident, and thesuperimposition of the subtitles on to the original unity of sound and vision willrather be felt to impinge on its (artistic) integrity. Experimental psychology has ofcourse provided ample empirical evidence which would seem to corroborate such

an attitude by its demonstration of the relatively high visual and cognitive effortthat the reading of subtitles involves. Moreover, even in the purely "material"terms of our scheme above, the classification of subtitles as a "visual addition ofverbal signs" is not at all universally valid. If one takes into account the fact thatthe visual verbal signs of the subtitles are very often introduced within the visualframe of the original film rather than underneath it, subtitling necessarily involvesthe suppression or displacement of a certain amount of the original visual information. This "mutilation" of the original image is precisely what the opponents ofsubtitling object to. In many if not in most cases, then, from the material point of

view subtitles actually constitute a case of substitution (visual non-verbal information is replaced by visual verbal information). A case of translation which is highlyrelevant in this respect can only be mentioned very briefly, since it involves aseries of additional problems: certain T.V. stations optionally provide "subtitles"in the sign-language of the deaf-mute. These are of a visual and non-graphicnature, and they often occupy an entire corner of the screen.

2. Norms: required relationships

2.1. Film translations can potentially be made in various ways. The translation offilm, then, constitutes a typical situation where one can expect norms to guide theselection of actual behaviour in each specific historical set of circumstances. As aresult of such norms the different possible modes of translation will not all be "infree variation", as some of them will in the given conditions implicitly or explicitly

be judged as "bet ter" solutions than the others. Accordingly, the effect of normscan be deduced from particular regularities of behaviour, which means in thiscase, from the systematic occurrence or non-occurrence of specific strategies intranslation. Norms may also find a more "direct" expression in metatexts on the

practice of film translation, such as in prescriptive statements but also in scholarlydiscussions of the subject. An example of the former would be Helene Reid's article (1978), whose significant title is "Sub-titling, the intelligent solution"; anexample of the latter is contained in Fodor's (1976:9) unqualified claim that "the


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chief requirements of a satisfactory synchronization involve a faithful and artisticrendering of the original dialogue, an approximately perfect unification of the

replacing sounds with the visible lip movements, and bringing the style of deliveryin the new version into optimal artistic harmony with the style of acting". As YannLardeau (1982: 68) puts it, "les problmes de traduction de cinma conduisentinvitablement a une rflexion sur le doublage, avec ce qui semble sa consquenceoblige, l'nonciation d'un jugement de valeur, pour ou contre". It is a significantfact that Lardeau himself turns out to be unable to avoid the normative pitfallafter having correctly detected it.

In the present section I will provisionally show at what various levels normsmay be active and can be analysed in film translation. In doing so I am mapping

out the contours of a still virgin area of research. There is, of course, no pointin looking for one single norm which supposedly governs "the" translation offilms in general. Rather does it appear that we have to attempt to identify a com

plex interactive group of related norms. The reconstruction of these norms canstart with a study of the metatexts (critical and scholarly reflection at variousmoments) but it will finally have to be based on the systematic observation ofactual translation behaviour. By studying whole series of phenomena (i.e. on the

basis of non-selective corpora) the researcher will discover both consistencies andvariations of behaviour. The former will lead him to the formulation of the rele

vant norms. The latter may be interpreted in various ways: the norm may be weakand allow of certain deviations (bordering on "free variation"); the norm mayhave been disregarded in spite of its stringent character (in which case the deviation is likely to be condemned); there may be a hesitation that is indicative of theadvent of a new, alternative norm. Perhaps the researcher simply has to look fora deeper underlying explanation (cases of "bound variation").

2.2. The checklist of questions with which the researcher has to approach theempirical facts is predictably very elaborate. For the sake of clarity I will split it up

into two parts. The first part is of a purely descriptive nature and it is geared to theidentification of the translation type of each individual film translation belongingto the corpus. It follows from the structure of Toury's tripartite model Competence Norm Performance that the questions in the first list can be theoretically deduced from the distinctions that we have put forward in our passages onthe competence component. I will only briefly enumerate the most important

points and outline the relevance of some of the questions.

Some general questions

- What target language has been selected by the translators? Example: the targetsociety may be multilingual; some of its languages may be culturally peripheral.

- If the target language has different major geographical variants, which one hasbeen selected? Example: the option between a "Dutch" and a "Flemish" variantof Dutch, or between an Australian, British, American, or "mid-Atlantic" vari-


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ety of English; this question relates to the important hypothesis that linguisticusage on T.V. has a major modelling impact on the linguistic norms of a speech

community.- What technique is used by the translators in the various types of source text

scenes (titles, credit titles, off-screen narrator, dialogues, music, verbal text visually presented, etc.)? What is the dominant technique in the film as a whole?Example: Belgium and the Netherlands have generally a clear preference forsubtitling; France, Germany and Italy clearly opt for dubbed versions; still othercountries may be of an intermediate type.

- Are there any additions or any reductions? If so, what types of dialogues,scenes, etc., have been introduced or deleted? Example: the deletion of "un

necessary" descriptive or lyrical scenes, of sexually or politically provocativescenes, etc.

- Is more than one translation alternative being offered to the public? Examples:stereo T.V. allows a film to be broadcast both in the original and in a dubbedversion so that the viewer can choose either channel; teletext subtitles may betuned in to or may be left out; the commercial cinema circuit may offer films indubbed version whereas a smaller circuit for film-lovers projects original versions with or without subtitles.

- In what manner are the translations labelled as non-original texts or as

metatexts if at all?- Is it possible to identify any intermediary translation? Example: films made in

little-known languages may be translated via an intermediary version.- What are the translator's methods if two or more languages are used in the

source film?

As to dubbing specifically- To what extent have the translators made an attempt at synchrony of visible

body movements and audible speech? Examples: the account of an expert or a

witness in T.V. news broadcasts is often dubbed without any attempt at synchrony whatsoever; Cary (1985:70) makes mention of a Hamlet "remarkably"dubbed into French even though synchrony is not heeded; some German translators questioned by Hesse-Quack (1969:99) declare lip-synchrony to be an"anachronistic and unnecessary requirement".

- To what extent do the dubbing voices make an effort to "act" their dialogues ina manner maximally similar to the expressive qualities of the original spokentext? Examples: in certain East European countries entire programmes are dub

bed by one and the same actor, who performs both the male and the female

roles and who uses a neutral intonation throughout; in various West-Europeancountries the dubbing actors do perform their lines in an expressive manner, butin doing so they follow an acting code which is proper to the receiving film translation traditions rather than to the source film.


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As to subtitling specifically

- Are the subtitles in one language, or do the subtitlers offer a bilingual or double

translation? Example: in a bilingual area such as Belgium, the Basque region ofSpain, etc. double subtitles are not uncommon. If subtitling is bilingual, which isthe order of presentation (e.g., first line versus second line)?

- What are the maximal and the average number of characters in the subtitledtext? How long are presentation times?

- What type of source text information has been deleted, if any?- Has an attempt been made to connote the subtitles as "spoken language", or are

they in a standard "realistic" "literary" dialogue?

Some general qualitative aspects- Do syntax and style have a foreign ring?- What has happened to such prosodic features (verse, metre, etc.) as the original

may show?- What is the attitude towards loan words and foreign idioms and expressions?- Have foreign cultural elements been retained, naturalized, deleted?- How have taboo elements been dealt with?- What have the translators done with source film sequences where a polemical

stance is taken vis--vis the target culture? Example: Hesse-Quack (1969) disco

vered that German dubbing versions tend to discard allusions to Germany's "recent past"; sometimes, when Germans are being ridiculed in the original film,the joke is made to bear upon another nationality;

- Is it possible to detect the introduction of certain genre-markers, i.e. of conventional or even stereotyped elements that conform the target film to the audienceexpectations? In other words, is the target film a more outspokenly recognizabletoken of a target culture film genre than a more "faithful" reproduction wouldhave been? If so, what exactly were the translators models? Example: Hesse-Quack (1969) discovered that long foreign-cinema films are systematically trim

med by German dubbing firms so as to prevent them from exceeding a length of90 minutes, apparently because this length is part of their conception of a"proper" movie.

2.3. The above list of questions pertains to individual film translations. In ourexamples we have already implicitly suggested that certain patterns are likely tomanifest themselves if those questions are put for a whole series of texts, more

particularly if different target cultures are compared with each other. Our secondset of questions aims precisely at organising such systematic observations. If large-

scale application of our first set of questions yields a heterogeneous mass of data,the variables of which the second list consists will enable the scholar to detect thenormative mechanisms that have governed the production of the translations inhis corpus. Our second list of questions is meant to be as open and hypothetical as


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the first one; in fact, the researcher should not preclude the relevance of any newvariable, i.e., the possibility of a coherence hitherto undetected. Even so, the var

iables that are listed below are likely to supply a sound basis for his screening, astheir pertinence has been well established in the field of literary translation. Here,then, are the questions:

- What is the source language and culture? Example: it is not uncommon to translate verbal film signs that are spoken in a non-standard variety of the target language (e.g. dialect).

- What precisely is the target culture of the translation (linguistic borders and cultural borders do not necessarily coincide)? Example: a distinction might have to

be made between Dutch subtitles produced in/for Flanders, those produced in/for the Netherlands, and those produced for both; a similar question applies totranslations produced in British, American or Australian English.

- Does the target culture entertain frequent relations with the source culture?Does the latter enjoy a high prestige in the former, or does the source culturerank as a minor or uninteresting culture?

- What is the text type of the source film? Example: film types that mainly serveto communicate information ("facts") are often treated differently from text-types in which entertainment ("fiction") is the primary goal.

- As it is hard to define text types in an a-historical manner, it might be useful toreplace the previous question with this one: to which (historical) genre does thesource film belong? Example: documentary, interview, reportage, western, cartoon, video-clip, musical, soap opera, and so forth. At this level an importantdistinction between T.V. (-genres) and cinema (-genres) may arise. The broadquestion of genre comprises a number of further potentially relevant discriminations:

- Are we dealing with a genre in which the qualities of the vocal performance arebelieved to be an integral part of the whole artistic sign? Examples: filmed ver

sions of famous theatre performances, opera films, musicals.- Is a specific audience aimed at in terms of literacy? Example: films for children,elderly people, immigrants, films in the context of literacy campaigns; one of thefew T.V. programmes in the Low Countries where dubbing is systematically

practised is the children's programme Sesamstraat.- What is the cultural status of the genre? Example: soap operas as opposed to

films that are held in high artistic repute; in Flanders the BBC productions ofShakespeare's plays have not been subtitled by a member of the BRT translation pool but by one of the region's foremost Shakespeare translators (Willy

Courteaux).- Does the source film have a particular status within the genre to which itrelates? Example: many of W. Disney's films belong to the genre of the animated cartoon or of children's films, but on account of their special, canonical


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status within their genre they might well be given a different translation treatment.

- Does the genre to which the source film originally belongs exist in the receivingculture? Do the source film's (linguistic, stylistic, cultural, filmic) models find acounterpart in the target culture?

2.4. If the study of actual translation performance is guided by these and similarquestions, the scholar will gradually be enabled to formulate his hypotheses concerning the motivations behind the translator's behaviour. It will probably turnout that some of the norms relevant to the corpus under study have in fact nothingto do with translation as such or with film and T.V. as such. That would not be a

surprising conclusion since we accept that cultures are complexly structuredphenomena (or "systems"). The norms that will emerge can be expected torelate to:

- genre conceptions within the target film and T.V. system: what does a "good"soap opera, news report, etc., look like? What are the norms and current opinions regarding the relative value and function of the "image" vs. the "words" inthe artistic unity of films?

- the structure of the target literary polysystem: what are the literary categoriesand models by means of which the target culture organises its experiences?

- the linguistic organisation of the target culture: what varieties, registers, stylesdoes the target language have at its disposal? How do the spoken and writtenlanguage relate to each other? What are the attitudes towards neighbouring languages (openness vs. purism), and what foreign-language teaching policies are

being followed?- what is the openness of the target culture with regard to other cultures? what

relations does it have with various other cultures: dominance, subordination,competition, non-relations? what is the international prestige of the target culture? is it a stable system or is it in a period of rapid change?

- in connection with the previous questions: what is the dominant conception oftranslations in other fields such as literary translation, Bible translation, technical translation, and so forth?

It is our basic hypothesis that at least some of these variables have an effectin the empirical reality of film translation. Of course, in assessing the extent ofthat effect, it is also necessary to take into account certain considerations such asthe cost of various translation procedures, the financial and technologicalresources of the target mass-media centres, and so forth. However, one may

assume that these practical constraints never have the final word since additionalfunds can always be provided and technological infrastructure can be createdwhenever it is felt to be culturally necessary that such measures be taken. Thusour orientation implies that the study of film translation and of any other form


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of translation is necessarily part of the larger project of the analysis of the"polysystem" of culture as a whole. This relatedness works both ways. On the one

hand, the study of translation contributes to an understanding of our cultures:their internal structures, their interrelations, their historical evolutions. On theother hand, the description of certain phenomena which are at first sight in no wayconnected with his research topic as such may still supply the student of film translation with insights that are central to his particular research. As a conclusion tothis section I will give a very selective list of some of these related themes. Thestudy of these items may not be thefirst concern of the scholar of film translation,

but it will be indispensable when it comes to reconstructing the norms governinghis corpus:

- Besides translated or "imported" films the total supply of films at a givenmoment also consists of newly produced films ("production") and of re-issuedolder material ("tradition") (see Lambert 1980). What are the relative quantitative proportions of production, tradition and import, both in general terms andaccording to the various genres?

- How do the previous questions have to be answered with respect to other cultural domains such as literature, theatre and the like?

- What are the principles guiding the transposition of books into films?

3. Performance: actual relationships

In point of fact, the domain of performance has been dealt with continuouslyin the previous sections since every real translation relationship between a sourcefilm and the target film should fall within the compass of our competence model(section 1), and since its actual occurrence can be explained by reference to a com

plex of target culture norms (section 2). In the present section, then, I proposeto proceed from theoretical and methodological matters to a somewhat morepragmatic approach, and to indicate a few domains where practical research can

start immediately. The optimal concrete modalities of future research projectscannot be discussed here, but at least one important requirement should be evident from the foregoing pages: an international orientation is quite indispensable.It would seem that a European country like Belgium offers optimal conditions forcarrying out and centralizing such research, in that it has a central geographicallocation and excellent cable-T.V. facilities. In the longer run world-wide satelliteconnections will probably further increase the accessibility of foreign stations forcomparative purposes.

In the following few lines I would like to suggest a few types of research which

might be expected to yield worthwhile results more or less immediately.

a. Inventories can be drawn up both nationally and internationally of the variouscompanies, institutions, television stations and all other bodies that concern themselves with the business of film translation. This work, which must include a sur-


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212 DirkDelabastita

vey of all the economic, commercial and organisational aspects of our problem(material infrastructure), will finally relate film translation to the entire structure

of mass media in a given culture and across the boundaries of individual cultures.b. Statistical repertoire studies can be made of the total supply of T. V. broadcasting during a certain period (say, an average week). Comparisons can be madebetween various stations, between various nations, etc. The parameters for statistical processing have been discussed in the second section above. They include:relations between import, production and tradition; distribution of translationtechniques, and so forth.

c. It should be fairly easy to make international comparisons of the different ver

sions of certain programmes which are distributed and translated into various cultures. Programmes such as the Eurovision Song Contest, international pressissues, major documentary series (Cosmos,etc.) and the various soap operas thatroam the world (Dallas,etc.) appear to be suitable subjects for such an analysis.

d. The fact that a large majority of films is based on written (literary) sources andthat translational activities are taking place in literary communication just as muchas in film communication will frequently offer excellent opportunities for interesting "square" comparisons involving: the written work both in the source languageand in the target language, and the film version both in the source language and

in the translated version. The following chart provides a simple representation ofthe complex relationships involved:

Fig. 2

It should not be hard to find examples which will fit this chart if one selects andsystematically compares examples that belong to different genres (literary genres,film genres), to different source and target cultures, to different stages in theevolution of a single target culture, etc., one is likely to find various significantconvergences and divergences. By the same token it is obvious that similar com

parisons will shed light on the dynamic relationships between the literary system

and the film system in the relevant cultures. Nowadays one finds many bookswhich are based on and posterior to popular T.V. series or films. Translations ofsuch films/books will also offer important evidence concerning the study of theserelationships.


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e. Tests could be devised for measuring the relationships between multilingualtelevision supply and the average proficiency level in foreign languages of certain

population groups. To what degree can we validly suppose that subtitling translation methods have a considerable didactic impact?

4. Further outlook

So far this paper has mainly consisted of theoretical and methodologicalpoints, and of hypotheses and questions. The appropriate way to round off suchan essay is, unavoidably, to stress the urgent need for further research to be carried out along the lines sketched out in the previous pages. In the present case this

means that a joint effort on the part of mass-communication experts, of translation scholars, of linguists, sociologists, sociolinguists, psychologists and others iscalled for and that I have to stress the fact that each of the scholars involvedshould realise the limited scope of his own contribution rather than claim thewhole of the research territory for his own particular branch. I hope to have established at least the rudiments of a framework within which any such partial , or preferably less partial, research project might proceed with a proper sense of perspective.

Finally, I would like to take up a question which was raised in the early sec

tions of this paper. To what extent is it advisable to make use of the term "translation" at all when dealing with the transfer of films from one linguistic/culturalcommunity to another? One cannot but be struck by the fact that the term "adaptation" is frequently suggested as an alternative to "translation" in the few scholarly and not-so-scholarly discussions of film translation that I have been able tocollect; there is an unmistakable hesitation among translators, critics and scholarsregarding the applicability of the term "translation". One might venture thehypothesis that this same hesitation is responsible for the fact that translationstudies of all disciplines have been rather reluctant to include film translation

among their subjects of study.Naturally the answer to this problem depends upon one's conception of what

a translation is. If translation is defined as a process of linguistic recoding thatshould aim at a maximal transfer of source text syntax and semantics into thetarget language, then clearly film translation is emphatically not a form of genuinetranslation. It is obvious at first sight that the empirical relationships betweensource films and target films can hardly be exhaustively described in terms of amaximally faithful linguistic recoding process:

- many verbal elements of the source film are not translated at all;- the constraints of synchrony (dubbing) and of text compression (subtitling) areoften felt to be so stringent that the source-text verbal signs which are effectivelytranslated fail to meet the usual criteria of syntactic or semantic faithfulness tothe original;


23/27


- more often than not the translation of the dialogues is accompanied by someother operation (mainly cutting) which sometimes even involves the need to

"tamper" with the source film dialogues to an even higher degree.It will be evident that none of these features is compatible with a strict, normativelinguistic definition of translation. Hence it could reasonably be argued that"adaptation" would be a better term for what we have so far discussed as "translations"; the latter term would accordingly be confined to indicating only thoseoperations which concern the replacement of source-film verbal material with"equivalent" target-language verbal material. However, such a distinction

between adaptation (the whole of the process) and translation (the verbal component of it) is open to criticism on various counts. Firstly, it is an arbitrary distinction which overlooks the interrelatedness of the various processes that link up asource film and a target film; it is impossible to understand the how and the whyof the narrowly verbal translational relationships between a source film and atarget film if they are viewed as isolated from the entire range of relationships.Secondly, to the extent that the term translation can be used to denote the final

product of the translation process, it will refer to the target film as a whole, andhence also to its "non-translated" and non-verbal parts. The third reason, however, is probably the most important one. In fact, it is not just film translation inthe wide sense I have adopted which fails to fit the static "ideal" linguistic definitions of translation. One can easily think of literally thousands of texts that weaccept as being "translations" and which also fail to come up to the normativedefinitions of translation.

Indeed, in most cases the translators of poetry, of plays, of novels, of touristbrochures, etc. , do not translate mere semantic and syntactic structures either.Rather do they translate texts into texts, and in that process a lot of things mayhappen which are quite similar to the manifold operations that occur in film translation and which defy any static definition: reductions, additions, stylistic orideological shifts, adaptation of sociocultural data, changes in the visual (graphic)presentation of the text, and so forth.

The conclusion seems to be that a narrow, normative definition of translationis in danger of being applicable only to very few, well-selected cases, and of beingunsuitable for a description of most actual facts. That is why I have rejected a minimal definition of translation and why I have opted for a highly flexible notion.However, there is admittedly another ambiguity that besets my use of theterm translation. If the preceding argument may seem acceptable from the conceptual point of view, one could legitimately raise a terminological objection to

the fact that the term in my usage can apply both to the object-level of the historical facts (translation as a norm-governed concept) and to the meta-level of scholarly description. It has to be acknowledged for instance, that certain operationscontained in my competence component such as the consistent application of"repetition" on all levels will hardly ever be covered by any historical definition


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Translation andmass communication 215

of translation. This problem, however, is of a terminological nature and if itshould proveto beawkward,it canfairly easilybesolvedby henceforth consider

ing "translation" to be a purely historical category and by deleting it altogetherfrom our scholarly metalanguage. On the latter level it could be replaced by aterm such as "transfer" or "transfer text", etc. In a way, this point allowsme toend this paperon anoptimistic note,bypointingoutthat suchadecision wouldinfact be in line with certainof the most promising tendencies within the disciplineof translation studies: "having once adopted a functional(istic) approach, wherebythe object is theory dependent, modern translation theory cannot escape transcending "borders". Just as the linguistic "borders" have been transcended, somust the literary onesbetranscended. Forthere areoccurrencesof atranslational

nature which call for a semiotics ofculture,and, in thecontextof thelatter, it isat least Even-Zohar's expressed belief that transfer/interference theory will nolonger be developed detached from translation theory" (Even-Zohar & Toury1981: X-XI).

About the author

Dirk Delabastita (1960)was aresearch assistantat thedepartmentofliterary studiesoftheKU

Leuven (withagrant from theBelgian National Fund forScientific Research) until 1988.He iscurrentlyateaching assistantat theDepartmentofEnglishofthe Facults Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix, Namur (Belgium).He is one of theco-editors of VanGorp's Lexicon vanLiteraire Termenand haswritten articlesandreviewsin thefield ofTranslation Studies.He isworkingon aPh.D. dissertationon theproblemofwordplay translation.Address: Kortrijksestraat 71,B3200 KESSEL-LO (Belgium)

NOTE

* This paper originates fromaseminar session heldin thecontextoftheEuropean InstituteforLiter-aryandCultural Studies(A joint programmeofthe UniversityofPennsylvaniaand theKatholieke Universiteit Leuven, 1987 edition)and assuchit is to alarge extenttheresultof acollective effort. Igratefully acknowledgemydebtstomany people, includingProf.Jos Lambert,Prof. Rik VanGorp,Prof.Theo Hermans,Dr. JanBaetens,Dr.DirkDeGeest,Dr.Lieven D'hulst,JanFlamend,andaboveallto Patrick Cattrysse.Ishould also liketothank Julian Rossforchecking my EnglishandJohan Nootens(BRT), who kindly providedmewith many useful references. Needlessto say allremaining defectsaremy own responsibility.

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Babel Translation and Mass Communication: film and tv translation