Processes and collaboration in French subtitling: a translator-centred analysis of two production contexts

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dc.check.date2025-09-30
dc.contributor.advisorSilvester, Hannah
dc.contributor.advisorNoonan, Mary
dc.contributor.authorCaseres, Sevitaen
dc.contributor.funderIrish Research Council
dc.contributor.funderUniversity College Cork
dc.date.accessioned2024-06-18T11:17:16Z
dc.date.available2024-06-18T11:17:16Z
dc.date.issued2024en
dc.date.submitted2024
dc.description.abstractThis thesis investigates the roles, tasks, and interactions of subtitlers in two distinct French subtitling contexts: fansubbing and industry subtitling. Audiovisual translation (AVT) has traditionally been analysed from a product-oriented perspective (Beuchert, 2017), while this thesis takes a sociological approach. Adopting a Translator Studies paradigm (Chesterman, 2009), this research project explores processes and collaboration in English-French subtitling production, placing emphasis on the concepts of community and production networks. The primary research question explores how the translators’ processes, practices, and collaboration patterns compare between fansubbing and industry subtitling. This research is based on two different datasets from two case studies. The first provides a comprehensive examination of fansubbing, non-professional collaborative translation performed by fans in online communities, utilising covert netnography – a form of online ethnography – in a French fansubbing community. The second case study focuses on industry subtitling, involving seven subtitlers in the French AVT industry working for cinema and Video on Demand (VOD) platforms. Employing a human-centred approach, this study includes introductory and retrospective semi-structured interviews as well as non-participant observations of each subtitler’s workday. The investigation uncovers the translators’ workflows and interactions within their production networks by examining collaboration with fellow translators and other agents – an aspect rarely explored in AVT research. This approach enables a comparative examination of subtitling processes. It identifies three primary workflows within the fansubbing community, and outlines the individual subtitling habits and processes of industry subtitlers, differentiating between two distinct production and distribution workflows in the French industry. The study also delves into the intricacies of collaboration in subtitling practices, shedding light on cooperation, communication methods, challenges, and the evolution of both environments over time. The findings of the first case study allow for the categorisation of four collaboration areas within the fansubbing community. In the second case study, three collaboration areas emerge within industry subtitling processes. The analysis extends to the translators’ community collaboration in each distinct context, both within the fansubbing community and within ATAA (Association des Traducteurs/Adaptateurs de l’Audiovisuel), the French association for audiovisual translators. While the benefits of community collaboration are evident in the case of fansubbing, in the industry, the increased vulnerability of subtitlers’ working conditions coupled with the lack of recognition for their pivotal role in the cultural industry, emphasises the essential need for a deeper understanding of the current social dynamics governing the subtitling profession. This understanding is crucial to address challenges to effective collaboration, which in turn can impact working conditions and, ultimately, subtitle quality (Abdallah, 2011). This leads to an innovative comparative thematic analysis of these aspects between both environments, providing a contemporary perspective on subtitling practices in two different production contexts. The study contributes to awareness of an overlooked profession and encourages learning from different types of translators, fostering a more comprehensive understanding of the intricacies of subtitling in varied settings.en
dc.description.statusNot peer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationCaseres, S. 2024. Processes and collaboration in French subtitling: a translator-centred analysis of two production contexts. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.
dc.identifier.endpage246
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/16024
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity College Corken
dc.relation.projectIrish Research Council (Grant Number GOIPG/2021/1732)
dc.relation.projectUniversity College Cork (Department of French)
dc.rights© 2024, Sevita Caseresen
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectTranslation studies
dc.subjectAudiovisual translation
dc.subjectSubtitling
dc.subjectCollaboration
dc.subjectFansubbing
dc.titleProcesses and collaboration in French subtitling: a translator-centred analysis of two production contexts
dc.typeDoctoral thesisen
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen
dc.type.qualificationnamePhD - Doctor of Philosophyen
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