Killing two birds with one stone: translation of the unseen and offcamera speech and sounds in english movies subtitled into persian

In this study, attempts have been made to elucidate how unseen and off-camera utterances and sound effects have been treated in Persian subtitles of three English movies to reach all sorts of viewers including the hearing impaired. In order to compare the above-mentioned elements with their Persian equivalents, a set of guidelines suggested by CMP (Captioned Media Program, 2004) was modified to suit the purpose of the study since they cover both translational and technical properties of subtitling. Altogether, 45 cases of unseen and off-camera speech and sounds where identified, comprising 17 instances of off-camera sounds and 28 cases of off-camera speech. After analyzing the data, it was revealed that the unseen and off-camera sounds have been totally ignored and the cases of unseen and off-camera speech were translated the same as any ordinary part of the films, i.e. on-screen parts. Finally, having applied the guidelines to the ignored and mistranslated elements, the researchers tried to specify the guidelines which should have been used by subtitlers, and proposed some appropriate alternatives which would satisfy both the hearers and the hearing impaired.

Audiovisual Translation (AVT) ,

Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard-of- Hearing (SDH) ,

Off-camera ,

Translation Guidelines ,

Interlingual Subtitling ,