Indirect Translation in Subtitling:

From Theory to Practice

Laura Ivaska

University of Turku

How does one subtitle if the original source text is not available? Besides the audiovisual product itself, subtitlers may use other source materials such as dialogue lists, dubbing scripts, templates, or previous subtitles. In this talk, I explore the different combinations in which the various source texts may be used and what this means for subtitling practice.

To make better sense of the varied subtitling practices, I use a model originally developed for studying indirect literary translation to explore subtitling processes. Using that model, I distinguish 14 different source text and source language combinations. Of these, six of align with current subtitling norms which state that subtitlers should always have access to the original audiovisual product.

This presentation will inform the work of practitioners in the following ways:

Differentiating indirect subtitling processes proves valuable for disentangling complex subtitling workflows. In addition, it helps clarify the types of source materials subtitlers may work with. Appreciating these dynamics can give subtitlers practical insights into negotiating different subtitling scenarios.

I have the following questions for practitioners:

Have you created subtitles from the basis of several source texts? Have you subtitled without access to the original audiovisual product?

Keywords: subtitling, indirect translation, template, translation process, source text

Laura Ivaska is a University Lecturer specializing in English and translation studies at the University of Turku, and a postdoctoral researcher in the project “Traces of Translation in the Archives” at the Finnish Literature Society. Her research interests include indirect translation, translation archives, genetic translation studies, and corpus-based translation studies. Previously, she has guest-edited special issues on indirect translation for Perspectives (2024), Target (2023) and Translation Spaces (2023).