Even though our media screens have become smaller, they contain vastly more audiovisual content, and translations thereof, than was the case only a few decades ago. This chapter gives a historical overview of the development of film and TV, and shows how audiovisual translation has developed alongside with this content. The second part of the chapter presents the various forms of audiovisual translation that are available these days, both of the preproduction kind (like remakes and TV formats) and postproduction kinds (like dubbing, subtitling and voice-over), as well as various forms of media accessibility (like audio description and subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing) for people with disabilities. For each presented mode of audiovisual translation and media accessibility, areas of research are also presented. All this is illustrated with examples from the popular Disney Christmas programme “From All of Us to All of You”.

Machine translation is now making serious inroads into the field of interlingual subtitling. This has been made possible by the use of template files and higher reading speeds. As we move into this new phase in the development of the subtitling process, the phase of machine-translated and postedited subtitles, it is highly pertinent to look at marks that this new process leaves on the subtitled product, i.e., the subtitles themselves. We conducted a diachronic study of subtitles before and after machine translation was part of the process. We did this by comparing a corpus of Swedish subtitles of Anglophone TV programmes produced after machine translation was introduced to a corpus of subtitles from before that period. We also took data from studies of earlier processes into account. When assessed using existing guidelines and the FAR model, the post-edited subtitles produced in the 2020s were found to be faster, more oral, less cohesive, less complete and with less meticulous punctation and line-breaks than those produced in the 2010s. They were also of significantly lower quality in all areas investigated. Based on these results, we suggest that more research and development is needed to raise quality levels, and to make professional subtitlers augmented translators.

The discussion addresses a host of issues pertaining to various intersections between creativity and translation. Embracing the inevitable vagueness of the concepts, the speakers outline several clusters of topics, including the unpredictability of translation success (Susan Bassnett), critique of instrumentalism in translation (Lawrence Venuti) and the definition of the notion of creative subtitles (Jan Pedersen). The speakers also take positions on such complex and sometimes inherently contradictory issues as functional approaches to translation, source and target text, translation process, the pros and cons of new technologies in current translation practice and the lack of a true transdisciplinary dialogue felt in today’ s translation studies. The last point hints at a problem the discipline has been facing for a while: although the field has (for the most part) been incorporating inspiration from other research areas, disciplines for which translation is crucial (as a means of acquiring research corpora, disseminating results, etc.) still tend to overlook the translational character of their work. “Translation and creativity in the 21st century” springs from a roundtable that took place at Translation, Interpreting and Culture 2: Rehumanising Translation Studies (TIC 2) conference held on 22–24 September 2021 in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. TIC 2 was the second in the series of translation and interpreting studies conferences organized by scholars and professionals affiliated with several Slovak and European institutions. The 2021 organizational team was managed by Associate Professor Martin Djovčoš (Matej Bel University).

Norms for audiovisual translation (AVT) regulate the ways in which AVT is carried out. These norms develop over time in response to developments in society and technology, and vary in strength from idiosyncrasies to rules. Norms can be either explicit and codified, as those found in guidelines and textbooks, or implicit and based on translation practice. Descriptive research is carried out in order to uncover the latter kind of norms. Guidelines are used to introduce newcomers to AVT, as reference works, and as standards for quality assessment. Currently, a new global prescriptive set of norms are challenging old local norms, while at the same time, traditional norms are challenged by experimental and cognitive research into what viewers really prefer.

This special issue contains a peer-reviewed selection of paperspresented atMedia for All8: Complex understandings, a conferencewhich took place in Stockholm in 2019. This introduction links the 15articles included in this special issue to the conference theme, which isalso the theme of this volume:complex understandings. The ultimateaim of the research presentedhere is to throw light on the various andcomplex perspectives, processes, views and agents involved inaudiovisual translation and media accessibility. This introductory articlehighlights the main points of the different papers, and it also organisesthe contributions according to the various perspectives they take:product-based studies, process-based studies, training-based studies,user-based studies and policy-based studies. Overall, this volume offersa thorough overview of state-of-the-art researchin audiovisualtranslation and media accessibility.

Fansubs (subtitles made by fans for fans) have become a global practice, and it is by now a fairly well-described phenomenon, particularly for fansubs of Japanese anime. However, for Sweden, which has a long and strong tradition of prosubs (commissioned professional subtitles), there have hardly been any studies of this increasingly prolific phenomenon. This paper seeks to remedy this situation by investigating 16 subtitled versions of ten english-language films. The analysis uses the FAR model of quality assessment and also investigates other aspects, such as creativity. The results show that there is great variety between the various fansubbed versions. On average, Swedish fansubs are found to be of lower quality, less adhering to norms and also more abusively faithful than prosubs. Moreover, the fansubs in this study are hardly creative at all. This could be due to fansubbing being a rather marginal phenomenon in Sweden, the land of subtitling.

Experimental studies on AVT have grown incrementally over the past decade. This growing body of research has explored several aspects of AVT reception and production using behavioural measures such as eye tracking, as well as venturing into physiological measures such as electroencephalography (EEG), galvanic skin response, and heart rate. As a novel approach to the field of AVT, the experimental approach has borrowed heavily from other fields with established experimental traditions, such as psycholinguistics, psychology, and cognitive science. However, these methodologies are often not implemented with the same rigour as in the disciplines from which they were taken, making for highly eclectic and, at times, inconsistent practices. The absence of a common framework and best practice for experimental research in AVT poses significant risk in addition to the potential reputational damage. Some of the most important risks are: the duplication of efforts, studies that cannot be replicated due to a lack of methodological standardisation and rigour, and findings that are, at best, impossible to generalise from and, at worst, invalid. Given the growing body of work in AVT taking a quasi-experimental approach, it is time to consolidate our position and establish a common framework in order to ensure the integrity of our endeavours. This chapter analyses problems and discusses solutions specifically related to the multidisciplinary nature of experimental AVT research. In so doing, it aims to set the course for future experimental research in AVT, in order to gain credibility in the wider scientific community and contributes new insights to the fields from which AVT has been borrowing. Its conclusion lays out the foundation for a common core of measures and norms to regulate research in the growing field of AVT.

Like other translation norms, interlingual subtitling norms for television evolve over time, influenced by technology, mediascape development and other trends. Originating in cinema subtitling norms, TV subtitling norms began to develop at national public service broadcasters. Later, norms became international with the rise of the DVD and the proliferation of commercial TV in Europe. These days, the most influential force driving subtitling norms is arguably the global video on demand (VOD) providers. This paper investigates the subtitling guidelines of VOD giant Netflix, in search of the question: How local are interlingual subtitling norms for streamed television? The results show that there is little variation in the initial guidelines, but that they are continually becoming more varied, as they are localized using input from users.