Dubbing – Giving the Audience the Ultimate Sound Experience Dubbing is a post-production process in which sounds such as dialogue or other sound effects from a motion picture are perfected or added. The aim: to offer the audience an exceptional audiovisual illusion. Perfect dubbing allows the listener to perceive the sounds as natural, rather than recorded over through a post-production dubbing process. So, how does one achieve perfect dubbing? Let’s find out! Original-Language Dubbing Although for most people ‘dubbing’ means the foreign-language adaptation of a movie, there are two other types of dubbing that are commonly used but often go unnoticed: dialogue replacement and Foley. Dialogue replacement is necessary for many movies because the on-set audio recording is often unsuitable for the final version. There are many reasons why this might be. First of all, the set is often placed in unnatural environments or even a studio where the recording of voices does not sound the same way as it would in the actual environment where the scene is supposed to take place. Plus, undesirable noises can result from filming equipment, weather, traffic and other uncontrollable factors. Also, the microphones might not be placed close enough to the actors, e.g. in a long shot. So, in order for the audience to hear the dialogue clearly and to eliminate distracting noises as well as improve the sound quality in general, the actors come back to a studio to record their own voices again, in synchronization with the scene. Sometimes, this even allows for changing of lines. In some cases, this has also been done to improve or replace singing voices...
Breakfast is the most important meal around the world Around the world, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It should cover at least 20% of your daily food intake. As a matter of fact, this is essential in order to give you sufficient energy to start the day. But breakfast is not just about food and calories. In every part of the world, it is an occasion to spend time with your beloved ones and it is also a matter of culture and tradition. The bad habit of skipping breakfast Skipping breakfast is like trying to start your car without gas: it will never get going. The same happens for the human body when you skip meals and your system misses essential nutrients. In fact, skipping breakfast creates a sort of vicious circle. First of all, it causes an uncontrollable hunger mid-morning. This leads to an excessive intake of calories for what should be just a simple snack. Secondly, this huge snack can cause a lack of appetite at lunch time. Not being hungry will make you eat a small portion, low in calories and nutrients. Thirdly, all these unbalanced meals lead you to overeating for dinner and negatively impact your sleep. Consequently, this chain reaction generates a very unhealthy lifestyle. Different habits, different places, different food So, what should a person eat for breakfast? Meals, even breakfast, are strictly dependent on personal taste and culture, which explains why they are so different around the world. It is common to consider coffee, milk or tea and eggs, pastries and fruit as food suitable for breakfast. However,...
Subtitles – helpful or distracting? In the worlds of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, audiovisual aids are indispensable and so is subtitling. Even though the North American film industry is the third largest film industry worldwide, Canadians and other English-speaking populations would be missing out on some great movies and TV series if subtitles were not available. However, the quality and the use of multilingual subtitles are often subject to polarizing discussions. Statements such as: “Subtitles only serve to distract the viewer!” and “Subtitles don’t even reflect what the actor is actually saying!” are not unusual. On the other hand, multilingual subtitles open up a whole new world for people who speak different languages. But what requirements are to be considered when subtitling, and what makes ‘good’ subtitles? Let’s dive into how subtitles are created! Types of Subtitles First, what are subtitles exactly? A subtitle is text displayed on screen. It is usually positioned at the top or bottom of the screen and serves to make a movie more accessible and more understandable. The purpose of the subtitle can vary, i.e. depending on the audience it is for. Thus, there are different types of subtitles. One purpose for subtitles is to provide an understandable version for the deaf or hard of hearing. In that case, the subtitling process does not include a translation. It is mostly the rendering of a spoken dialogue into written form in the same language or the rendering of non-verbal sounds into text form, as in Closed Captioning or Descriptive Text. Another reason for subtitles is to make written text in a picture understandable to...
A demanding profession Interpreters face many challenges every day and their profession is full of subtleties. The situations in which they are enrolled are unpredictable and they must be very reactive to improvisation and last-minute assignments. But they also must deal with internal and external elements which affect their work. Even if interpreting is a fabulous job, all of this makes it quite stressful. Like everyone, there are things interpreters hate and dread. We all know how hard it must be for them to stay focused for long periods of time, process information very quickly, convey translated speech whilst the speaker is still speaking, think on their feet, be quick in making decisions, and show intense memory skills. But do we know all their fears and challenges? Keep reading to discover what interpreters must face. Interpreting in public By choosing interpreting rather than translation, interpreters know they might have to practice public speaking. So, if you only think of interpreters working in secluded interpreting booths or on the phone, then think again. Sometimes, interpreters must appear in plain sight in front of large crowds. Conference interpreters, for example, can work in many different environments. Some of these include press briefings, depositions, and seminars. Another field of interpretation and probably one of the most important is politics: an interpreter is necessary in high-level meetings between the governments of two countries. However they also take part in entertainment events such as beauty pageants or the Oscars. Whatever the situation, when having to speak in public, interpreters might feel very unsafe. Rendering speeches as faithfully and idiomatically as possible in front of...
What does over-the-phone interpreting consist of? Over-the-phone interpreting (OPI), sometimes called “phone translation”, is a specific language-related and real-time service. It consists of connecting at least two speakers over the phone who do not share a common language. An interpreter is also on the phone – so there are at least three lines connected – and plays the role of a messenger. S/he renders the original speech into the appropriate language so that speakers can understand each other easily. This service modality differs from other interpretation mechanisms as it does not occur face-to-face. OPI is increasingly in demand as in-person services can be very expensive and linguistic diversity isst countries. How does it work? It starts with a client – a corporation or an individual for example – who needs a multilingual service for instant communication with someone else. The client contacts an agency which provides telephone interpretation services and provides basic information including the languages at stake. The OPI provider finds an interpreter within a minute and connects the call between the three parties. The interpretation process takes place in consecutive mode: the interpreter listens (and takes notes) until the speaker finishes what s/he has to say and then renders the speech into the listener’s language. The roles of speaker and listener always switch but that of the interpreter is always the same. So this is a three-way and almost instant communication. Most of the time, OPI call centres offer services 24 hours/day, 7 days/week and 365 days/year. They are staffed with great interpreters, technical engineers, scheduling analysts and many more. Usually, they manage to successfully connect people...
The origin of languages We know when people invented writing. We also know when the very first translation was done (in the second century BCE on the Rosetta stone). But despite scientific studies, nobody knows when the first signs of oral language appeared, yet many have spoken on the issue. Let’s take a closer look at different perspectives when it comes to the emergence of languages. Divine hypothesis Language has a divine origin. This is what the Judeo-Christian tradition says on the subject of the creation of the universe in John 1: 1-3. It is a gift from above, from God to humankind. Similar stories come in all religions and mythologies. But those theories are of course very difficult to verify or falsify, therefore unlikely and invalid for most scientists. Many have searched for an answer to the question of the Original Human Language. By the 7th century BCN, the Egyptian Pharaoh Psammetichus had performed a famous experiment with a child he brought to a remote place to see what his first words would be. The first word the child pronounced was bekos which means “bread” in Phrygian. He thus concluded that Phrygian was the original language. In the same vein, James IV of Scotland carried on a similar experiment and discovered that the first word uttered was in Hebrew. Later on, Becanus claimed that the original language was Antwerpian Brabantic (a sort of Dutch), Webster Aramaic and Elkins Chinese. Human “invention” For other famous philosophers and researchers, language is not a gift from the gods. Language appeared because some needs had to be expressed. J.J. Rouseau speaks about...
