A Study on Revision Processes in Subtitling

Authors

  • Vedrana Čemerin Dujmić (University of Zadar/University of Applied Sciences Velika Gorica, CROATIA) University of Applied Sciences Velika Gorica

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14456/nvts.2023.23

Keywords:

audiovisual translation, subtitling, revision, revision process, revision quality

Abstract

Issues related to subtitle quality have an important role in Translation Studies. However, studies that deal with people responsible for audiovisual translation quality assurance and the way in which they perform their tasks remain rare. This study aims to explore subtitle revision procedures and metacognitive processes of subtitle revisers, utilizing translation process research methodology in an experimental setting. Taking into account its research design, the study combines three areas of Translation Studies: Audiovisual Translation, Translation Quality Assessment and Translation Process Research. The research was performed in three phases. In order to gain insight into environmental factors influencing revisers' tasks and the overall conditions in the Croatian AVT market, the first phase included an online questionnaire survey conducted among professional subtitle revisers. The next phase involved a pilot study used as the foundation for the main experiment. Both the pilot study and the main study were conducted in person and were followed by qualitative data analysis and data triangulation. Data collection methods used included screen recording and retrospective interviews. Subsequently, the data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Research results indicate the importance of the metacognitive aspects of subtitle revision and provide insight into the practical application of revisers' metacognition. Overall research results indicate several thematic areas. First, subtitle revision is not always an integral part of the quality assurance system, which makes it a somewhat precarious activity. The roles of translators, proofreaders, and revisers are often not clearly delineated. The clients often give more importance to technical as opposed to terminological aspects of the subtitles, which has also been demonstrated by the results of the pilot study and the main study, whose participants first focused their attention on resolving technical issues, followed by language and text problems. Participants of all three phases of the research demonstrated highly developed interpersonal competences and the compentence related to the use of external resources, as well as unified concepts of translation quality. Participants in the pilot study and the main experimental study indicated that the revision process is non-linear, which means that they often moved from one subtitle segment to others and back. Considering their metacognitive skills, the questionnaire survey participants recognized the importance of problem recognition and the need to pair it with suitable method and manner of its resolution. The participants of the pilot study and the main study were able to relate specific acts done during the revision task with specific arguments why they introduced individual changes and how they selected their solutions. These results indicate developed metacognitive regulation and metacognitive bundling among our research participants. Although the participants of the main study sometimes expressed uncretainty about the accuracy of their grammar changes, they introduced standard language solutions, which also indicates a certain level of internalized working practice. Therefore, the results of the pilot study and the main experiment point to the conclusion that metacognitive processes rely on declarative and process knowledge stored in revisers' mind, whose unconscious retrieval and processing support the conscious process of revision.

Downloads

Published

2023-11-28

Issue

Section

Abstracts of PhD Theses

Similar Articles

1-10 of 387

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.