Subtitling and dubbing - translating Disney's Frozen
In this lecture, we will reflect on two examples of constrained translations – subtitling and dubbing – in the context of Disney's Frozen. We will first examine how subtitles are created, with particular attention to the temporal and spatial constraints translators have to work with. We will then turn to dubbing and discuss its main principles (isochrony and lip sync) and pay attention to voice casting across a range of different languages for the characters Elsa and Anna. The severe constraints under which translators work – either for subtitling or dubbing – mean that the characters may come across slightly differently in different languages.