Documentaries: Voice-over Translation Algorithm

Filatova Ekaterina Alekseevna ORCID: 0009-0009-5879-4871 PhD in Philology Associate Professor; Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Linguistics ; National Research University 'MPEI' 111250, Russia, Moscow, Krasnokazarmennaya str., 14, p. 1 ekafilatova@mail.ru

Introduction

Currently, issues related to the optimization and improvement of the quality of translation of audiovisual works are paramount in the theory and practice of translation both abroad ^{[16, 20]} and in Russia ^{[9, p.33]}. This circumstance is due to the fact that a huge amount of foreign content is offered to the attention of the Russian-speaking population every day. There is an oversaturation of the domestic media space with a large number of videos, interviews, news programs, feature films, the quality of translation of which is extremely low. Documentaries are no exception.

Commenting on the current situation in the domestic cinema, Sapozhnikov says that often recipients are unable to understand the meaning of the film, which is "a consequence of incompetent translation" ^[11]. The viewer everywhere encounters poor-quality translation of films, which, in turn, makes a negative impression on translation companies in general and the work of translators in particular.

Main results

In recent years, voice-over translation has gained significant importance in the television industry. This type of translation has gained popularity due to the large amount of foreign content that enters the Russian market. This includes foreign television programs, various conferences, summits, interviews, briefings, advertisements, TV series, reality shows, feature films and documentaries. Broadcasting of all these programs and films on Russian television is impossible without adapting this material to the Russian-speaking population.

In order for the broadcast to be available to the recipient, voice-over translation is used. The reasons why this particular type of translation is used vary.

Firstly, voice-over translation is less costly financially, since there is no need to find dubbing actors and the time-consuming process of duplicating speech.

Secondly, with voiceover, there is no need to prepare translated text for lipsink, which greatly helps to save time. Moreover, it should be noted some more advantages, which are pointed out by M. S. Snetkova, "voice-over translation ... makes it possible to preserve the original sound, is easy for the viewer to perceive and provides relative freedom for translation in the choice of language means" ^{[13, p.25]}.

When translating for voiceover, according to A.V. Kozulyaev, the so-called visual syntax should be taken into account, which involves frequent changes of plans, installation and the speed of information delivery to the audience ^{[4, p. 376]}.

It is this type of translation – voice–over translation - that is very successfully used to decode sounding speech from a foreign language into Russian. Given the importance of voice-over translation in Russian cinema, we chose to study the voice-over translation of documentaries.

This article is devoted to the analysis of the process of voice-over translation of a documentary film, identifying some patterns when working on audiovisual translation that help optimize this type of translation. The analysis of translations of audiovisual documentary texts gives reason to believe that the continuum of the process of translating documentaries is disrupted due to the incorrect sequence of stages of translation. In this article, we propose an algorithm by which audiovisual translators will be able to optimize the process of voice-over translation of documentaries and significantly improve the quality of the translation of documentaries.

First of all, it is necessary to find out what a voiceover translation is and what its features are. Usually, during voiceover, the translated phrase is superimposed on the original one with a delay of 1-2 seconds, while the sound of the original track is muted. The main difficulty that a translator faces when performing voice–over translation is "stacking" replicas in the target language and synchronizing them with replicas in the source language. Since we are talking about audiovisual translation, namely, its variety – voiceover translation, it is impossible to omit those features that this type possesses by nature.

According to A. V. Kozulyaev, audiovisual translation is "the creation of a new polysemantic unity in the recipient language on the basis of the unity existing in the source language, and in such a way that the new polysemantic unity becomes an element of the culture of the recipient language and is not alien to it" ^{[6, p.13]}.

Taking this definition of audiovisual translation as a starting point, we analyzed the translations of documentaries and came to the following conclusions regarding the optimization of voice-over translation of documentaries. The algorithm of work on the translation of documentary films, as we believe, should consist of four stages. Let's list them:

1. Stage of pre-translation analysis of the documentary;

2. the stage of working with the linguistic component of the audiovisual text;

3. stage of work with the psycho-emotional component of the audiovisual text;

4. The stage of audiovisual synchronization.

Thus, we can talk about the algorithm of actions, the general translation strategy, which is proposed to be followed by an audiovisual translator in the process of working on the translation of a documentary film.

Let's consider in detail each of the above stages of the algorithm, their components and the difficulties that an audiovisual translator may face.

Stage 1 – pre-translation analysis

It often happens that translators ignore this stage of working with a documentary. This is due to the fact that audiovisual translators work in conditions of tight time frames, which are put forward by cinematographic studios, therefore it is often impossible to carry out this stage – pre–translation analysis. However, it is worth mentioning the steps that we believe a translator should take before starting to translate a film.

First, one of the basic rules of practicing translators is to watch the entire film that is to be translated. The main purpose of the preview of the documentary is to perceive the audiovisual product holistically, to understand the main intention of the filmmaker, the semantic and emotional load that the film carries to create the same effect for the recipient of the film in Russian.

According to E. D. Malenova, the basis of audiovisual translation should be a communicative and functional approach, which involves the implementation of translation in accordance with the communicative situation ^{[8, p.104]}. We agree with this approach, since the correct perception of the film by the translator and awareness of the main idea of the director will enable the translator to create a translation that would have the same effect on the recipient in the host country as on the viewer in whose language the film was shot.

Let's also say that the detection of the final recipient plays an important role, that is, to whom this documentary is addressed: whether it is popular science for a wide range of viewers or filmed for professional specialists in a particular field of science. Many factors will depend on the recipient: the style of presentation, the language component, the emotional load that the translator must take into account when creating an audiovisual text in the target language.

Secondly, in the process of watching the film, the translator develops an understanding of what reference literature may be needed: all kinds of encyclopedic, explanatory, terminological dictionaries, both bilingual and monolingual. It is also important to watch analog films on similar topics to facilitate further work with the terminological apparatus in the scientific field of this documentary. Moreover, already in the process of watching the film, the translator develops a strategy for translating the film. By the translation strategy, we mean the general algorithm of actions that the translator will carry out in the process of translating an audiovisual work, taking into account the components of the pre-translation analysis.

Stage 2 – translation of the linguistic component of the audiovisual text

Based on the data that the translator received during the initial viewing of the documentary, he then performs the translation himself. According to L. S. Barkhudarov, translation is an interlanguage transformation or transformation of a text in one language into a text in the target language ^{[1, p.38]}. This stage involves identifying difficulties with the verbal component of the film. In other words, in addition to the terms already mentioned, the so-called equivalent vocabulary may occur in the text. Thus, according to A. O. Ivanov, non-equivalent vocabulary includes realities, terms, individual neologisms, semantic lacunae, words of broad semantics, foreign language inclusions, abbreviations, interjections, onomatopoeia, associative lacunae, proper names, addresses ^[3]. Here it is worth paying attention to the fact that an audiovisual text is a special type of text that is limited to video and timing, i.e. a certain period of time allotted for uttering a replica, therefore, a translation commentary, which is often used to explain a certain phenomenon in artistic translation, is applied to realities or lacunae that occur in documentaries, is not possible due to timekeeping limitations.

In addition to the non-equivalent vocabulary when translating documentaries, the translator encounters phraseological expressions, figurative cliches, and intertext, which also causes a number of difficulties when transferring from the original language to the target language.

According to documentary filmmaker Michael Rabiger, a "good" voiceover text consists of an active voice, simple words, not boring phrases and conciseness ^{[10, p.411]}. However, the question arises how to achieve such a text in translation.

In this regard, it is quite obvious that it is impossible to transcode the text from the source language into the translation language and achieve the requirements that are put forward by specialists in the field of documentary films without the use of translation transformations. The most common classification is V. N. Komissarov, which includes lexical, grammatical and lexico-grammatical transformations ^{[7, p.189]}.

However, it is worth paying attention to the features of voice-over translation: the translator performs a written translation of the original installation sheets for dubbing. Accordingly, while decoding the text, the translator should remember that the translated text must then be voiced, which, in turn, imposes a number of restrictions dictated by the nature of the audiovisual text. It is significant that an increase in the volume of a replica in a translated language does not contribute to the creation of a high-quality voiceover translation, since long replicas will have to be significantly reduced when laying and voicing phrases. In this regard, it is worth referring to the concept of "pseudo-emptiness". According to A. V. Kozulyaev, sounding speech should be natural and seem spontaneous, although such an effect is achieved through "a carefully thought-out and complex written translation process" ^{[5, p.95]}.

Proper use of transformations and consideration of the specific features of the audiovisual text of the documentary will help to create a high-quality translation of the documentary. Let us turn to the article by R. M. Shamilov and V. V. Sdobnikov, where the authors say that the adequacy of translation lies in observing the principle of "compliance of translation with the purpose for which it is carried out." In other words, the translation that can be designated as "user-friendly" can be called qualitative ^{[15, p. 174]}. We agree with the main points in this article. In our case, the main purpose of the documentary is to convey to the viewer information in a particular field of science. Documentaries are often of a popular science nature, so the information received by the viewer must be presented in an interesting way to attract and retain attention.

Stage 3 - work with the psycho-emotional component of the audiovisual text

Working with the psycho-emotional component of the audiovisual text of a documentary involves analyzing the emotional background of the documentary. Foreign experts say that directors set a certain trajectory, which assumes the emotional experiences of the audience. It is possible to achieve an emotional impact on the audience by using various cinematic means ^[18].

Today, a common thesis is that documentaries literally have the ability to influence the emotions of various social groups, but the impact may differ depending on the cultural aspect of a particular society ^[19]. In addition, as Frederic Chaume notes, at present it is society, or rather, the viewer, who forms a request for one or another type of audiovisual products, which should also be taken into account ^{[17, p.57]}.

Despite the fact that currently the niche of the domestic market, which is devoted to documentaries, mainly implies popular science films, that is, films for the general public, newsreels and investigative films are also presented to the audience, but in smaller volumes. It is quite obvious that the psycho-emotional component in different types of documentaries will be significantly different. An important aspect is the type of narrative. If we talk about a documentary in which the presenter is present, then the level of emotionality that is inherent in this kind of documentary is quite high. This situation is due to the fact that the presenter is a participant in the expedition, often his own investigation, so the emotions that the presenter feels during the filming are pronounced. Here, attention should be paid to non-verbal body language, which should also be taken into account when translating and creating an audio track in the target language. We are talking about the kinetic code, which is present in documentaries with the participation of people ^{[14, p.145]}.

Interviews with invited guests can also be shown in the film, namely: witnesses of certain events, participants of the expedition, researchers in this field of science, representatives of companies, writers and other reputable experts in the research field.

And here, too, it is worth highlighting two types of interviews: with the participation of the presenter and the respondent in the conversation process and interviews where invited guests, specialists answer pre-posed questions without the participation of the presenter. Such features should also be taken into account when building a translation strategy and preserving the psychoemotional background of the interview, whether the offscreen narrative is the story of the presenter who appears in the frame.

However, if we are talking about offscreen narration, then, most likely, the psycho-emotional background of such a narrative will be "even", since the communicative situation in such documentaries does not imply a high level of involvement of the announcer in the filming process. His task is to voice the video sequence, therefore, the psycho–emotional background is calm.

All of the above aspects must be perceived and interpreted correctly by the translator when watching the film at the pre–translation stage, and then, while working directly on the translation of the film and at the final stage - audiovisual synchronization, that is, creating an audio track in the target language, these aspects must be taken into account. An audiovisual work with a distorted emotional message obviously cannot produce the psychoemotional effect on the recipient that the film director intended.

Experts believe that a high-quality voice-over translation is expressed in the naturalness of the sound of the text "while maintaining the fidelity of the original" ^{[12, p.85]}.

In this regard, it should be said that all the components of intonation – stress, melody, tempo, timbre, pauses – must be recreated in voiceover translation during dubbing.

Stage 4 – audio-visual synchronization

Audio-visual synchronization is the final stage of the algorithm for working on voice-over translation, since it is at this stage that the video track, the original audio track and the track with the transcoded text are synchronized.

First, it should be said that an important aspect is the synchronization of the visual series with the audio series. The lack of in-phase of these tracks is not acceptable, since the recipient may have a dissonance in the perception of the overall picture on the screen. In this regard, the translator should seek integrity in the reception. The delay in the sound of replicas in relation to the video sequence is not acceptable, since the integrity of perception at the auditory and visual levels is violated. In addition, as mentioned earlier, it is necessary to track the kinetic code, which involves synchronizing gestures, facial expressions of actors and sounding cues.

Secondly, it is necessary to synchronize the sound of two tracks: in the source language and the target language, the lag time of the latter should be 1-2 seconds, as we said earlier. The delay of the replicas in the translation language is also unacceptable, since the planned narrative in the documentary may be disrupted.

The quality of voice-over translation of documentaries depends on many parameters, among which the professionalism of the voice actors and the coincidence of the timbre of the voice occupy not the least place ^{[2, p. 274]}.

Conclusions

In conclusion, we can draw the following conclusion: following the above algorithm of actions, the translator will be able to create a high-quality translation of the documentary. However, it is worth saying that the translator will still have to "maneuver" and find a rational balance between the three components of the audiovisual text of the documentary: linguistic, psycho-emotional and audiovisual, bearing in mind the main purpose of translating the documentary – to convey cognitive information to the recipient in an entertaining and fascinating way. It is this kind of translation that we can call the word "user–friendly" mentioned earlier in the article.