Ressenyes

Index de les obres ressenyades: Adriana SERBAN ; Anna MATAMALA ; Jean-Marc LAVAUR (eds.). Audiovisual Translation in Close-up: Practical and Theoretical Approache

Training future describers : a practice report from an audio description classroom.

Over the past few years, we have been observing an exponential growth in audio description (AD). This has resulted in a growing need for trained AD professionals and, consequently, for AD training. While the ADLAB PRO project helped define the professional profile of the audio describer and produced a range of training materials, there is still considerable room for other AD training approaches to be shared with a view to inspiring AD trainers when creating their courses . Thus, this practice report presents selected exercises that I have been developing since 2009, when I first started teaching AD both at university and outside academia (e.g., during dedicated courses for broadcasters, NGOs and cultural institutions), presenting their learning outcomes and framing them within the ADLAB PRO framework of competencies for professional audio describers. All the activities offered in this article are based on my professional experience as an academic teacher and researcher and also as a professional describer and accessibility manager who oversees the entire AD production process: from negotiating with clients through production (scripting, proofs, recording, quality control) to product delivery and onsite assistance

Accessibility Mainstreaming and Beyond – Senior Citizens as Secondary Users of Audio Subtitles in Cinemas

Audiovisual accessibility is traditionally seen as a means of providing access for people with sensory impairments, be it sight or hearing loss (Orero, 2004). Recently, a much broader perspective opened as some also see it as a way of providing linguistic accessibility (Díaz Cintas, 2005; Orero & Matamala, 2007) or even as services that cater for the specific needs of people who "cannot, or cannot properly, access the audiovisual content in its original form" (Greco, 2016: 23). This article fits squarely into this trend as it reports on a survey-based study set out to find out preferences regarding linguistic accessibility in the cinema among unimpaired senior citizens in Poland. On the whole, 40 people aged 60 or more took part in the study. Results show that senior citizens are more likely to choose voice-over and dubbing over subtitling. This could be because the majority of participants declared that they experience discomfort or difficulties when reading subtitles. As a result, they are willing to use a mobile app that would enable them to listen to audio subtitles in the cinemas

Accessibility Mainstreaming and Beyond – Senior Citizens as Secondary Users of Audio Subtitles in Cinemas

Audiovisual accessibility is traditionally seen as a means of providing access for people with sensory impairments, be it sight or hearing loss (Orero, 2004). Recently, a much broader perspective opened as some also see it as a way of providing linguistic accessibility (Díaz Cintas, 2005; Orero & Matamala, 2007) or even as services that cater for the specific needs of people who "cannot, or cannot properly, access the audiovisual content in its original form" (Greco, 2016: 23). This article fits squarely into this trend as it reports on a survey-based study set out to find out preferences regarding linguistic accessibility in the cinema among unimpaired senior citizens in Poland. On the whole, 40 people aged 60 or more took part in the study. Results show that senior citizens are more likely to choose voice-over and dubbing over subtitling. This could be because the majority of participants declared that they experience discomfort or difficulties when reading subtitles. As a result, they are willing to use a mobile app that would enable them to listen to audio subtitles in the cinemas

Audio describing foreign films

This article presents the main challenges of audio describing foreign films: synchronising the translation of foreign language dialogue with audio description, identifying speakers, describing culture-bound elements, and dealing with intertextuality. The findings are discussed with a reference to an explorative study carried out among Polish viewers with visual impairments. The solutions proposed in this article include the name insertion strategy, audio introductions and a number of strategies to deal with culture-specific items in audio description, such as explicitation, naming, generalisation, specification, retention. The results of the study also demonstrate the feasibility of adopting the Translation Studies toolkit to the benefit of audio description

Audio description for films in Poland : history, present state and future prospects

Rapid developments in the field of media accessibility for people with sensory impairments can be seen in numerous countries all around the world. Poland is one such country where accessibility services, such as audio description (AD), are becoming part of the audiovisual landscape and start attracting the interest of many, both in the industry and in research circles. This paper sets out to provide a detailed snapshot of the current situation in Poland with regard to the accessibility of films for persons with vision loss. We start with presenting a brief historical outline of the AD for films in Poland and then move on to discuss its present state. Special attention is given to challenges that need to be faced to mainstream accessibility. The data discussed in this article was obtained through literature review, desk research and personal contact with different actors of the AD provision chain in Poland. The results show that although AD is developing rapidly in Poland, it must face challenges in five main areas: (1) delivery and infrastructure; (2) distribution; (3) legislation; (4) communication, cooperation and coordination, and (5) financing

Module 6. Unit 5. Crowdsourcing and online collaboration

Unit 5 deals with collaborative processes of AD production

Module 6. Unit 7. Accessible productions

Unit 7 defines the concept of accessible production and the role of AD