Editorial

We are extremely happy to present this thematic issue of JoSTrans, on the theme of Experimental research and cognition in audiovisual translation, guest-edited by Jorge Díaz Cintas and Agnieszka Szarkowska. A publication dedicated to experimental research in audiovisual translation (AVT) is extremely timely, as such work has enjoyed an increase in popularity in recent years, with the frequency of studies involving empirical research increasing and the interest in cognition in AVT intensifying. It was perhaps inevitable that AVT as a discipline would increasingly tend to focus on data-based research as part of its ongoing maturity process. Articles on AVT have always been well-represented within JoSTrans, with most issues featuring some work in this domain; looking back at issue one, we find two of the seven articles deal with this research area.

It is particularly pleasing to be able to benefit from the unique experience of Jorge Díaz Cintas in the field. Jorge was one of the founders of JoSTrans, and has been a loyal and vocal supporter of the journal ever since; in fact, his contribution to Issue One describes AVT at the start of its “long journey to academic acknowledgement” (Díaz Cintas 2004).

The research presented in this issue spans all the fields of AVT, from subtitling in all its forms, including its use in language learning (Ragni); through dubbing and voice-over (Romero-Fresco; Flis et al.; de los Reyes Lozano); to audio description (Ramos and Rojo; Bardini); and accessibility to live events (Moores). The work published here displays the use of various experimental methods, with eye-tracking and questionnaires being strongly represented. A novel contribution is that of Matamala et al., who investigate the monitoring of electrodermal activity as a method of measuring emotion, a technique that could be of wide-ranging use in studies of both reception and practice. Of particular interest are the studies using experimental methods to examine the practices of AVT professionals (Perdikaki and Georgiou for subtitling, and Ramos and Rojo in the case of audio description).

The studies by Romero Fresco and Flis et al. belong naturally together, as the latter is a replication of the former’s work on the ‘dubbing effect’, with particularly interesting results. Liao et al. and Ragni also form a pair, both investigating cognitive elements of various subtitle presentations through the use of eye-tracking and questionnaires.

The papers by de los Reyes Lozano and Bardini are both examples of classic reception studies examining children’s comprehension of dubbed films and an adult audience’s reactions to different presentations of AD respectively.

The issue is completed by eight reviews of relevant publications in audiovisual translation and the wider translation domain. Finally, we are delighted to be able to include four interviews with a varied range of figures from the AVT sector, all conducted by Agnieszka Szarkowska: Jan-Louis Kruger talking about experimental research in AVT; Paulina Sauma adding her thoughts about eye-tracking research in the same domain; Łukasz Dutka on respeaking in the Polish context, and Amalie Foss on her long career as an interlingual subtitler.

We hope you find the articles both interesting and inspiring.

Lindsay Bywood

 

Reference