Having fun in the classroom: Subtitling activities
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Micol Beseghi
Micòl Beseghi is currently a contract lecturer in English at the University of Parma. She holds a PhD in Comparative Languages and Cultures from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, with a thesis on the translation of diasporic films. Her main research interests and publications concern audiovisual translation, the translation of multilingual films, translation teaching, and autonomy in language learning.
Abstract
This article analyses the role of subtitles both as a functional activity and a didactic tool in translation teaching and foreign language learning. It presents the results of a didactic project carried out with a class of university students enrolled in the first year of Laurea Magistrale in Lingue e Letterature Straniere (University of Parma). In particular, the aim of the project was to exploit the potentials of subtitling – and in particular those of fansubbing – in a formal teaching context such as a translation course (Lingua e Traduzione Inglese). More specifically, students were asked to engage in multimodal activities in order to create interlingual subtitles for a variety of TV series, acting as non-professional subtitlers. Such activities included the translation of episodes of their favourite TV programmes, ranging from medical dramas to crime, legal and science fiction series, thus presenting students with a variety of backgrounds and different fields. Using the software Subtitle Workshop, students were asked to complete the translation of the episode in a very short time, trying to solve as many problems as possible (regarding terminology, cultural references, language varieties, taboo language, etc.) and making the most of their fan cultural knowledge.
About the author
Micòl Beseghi is currently a contract lecturer in English at the University of Parma. She holds a PhD in Comparative Languages and Cultures from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, with a thesis on the translation of diasporic films. Her main research interests and publications concern audiovisual translation, the translation of multilingual films, translation teaching, and autonomy in language learning.
©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Narratives and accounts: “Post-crisis” narration in annual company reports
- Connectedness through a strong form of TBLT, classroom implementation of the CEFR, cyclical learning, and learning-oriented assessment
- Impacts of the use of “support tools” on a distance language learning course
- Oral communication in the framework of cognitive fluency: Developing and testing spoken Russian within the TORFL system
- First- and final-semester non-native students in an English-medium university: Judgments of their speech by university peers
- The European Language Portfolio and Languages for Specific Purposes: A project to develop “can do” descriptors focused on students' interests and motivation
- Translating the CercleS European Language Portfolio into Portuguese for plurilingual development in a Community of Practice
- The role of research in teaching-oriented institutions: A case study of university language centres in Finland
- The changing world of higher education: Where do language centres fit in?
- Mind the gap between form and function. Teaching pragmatics with the British sitcom in the foreign language classroom
- Having fun in the classroom: Subtitling activities
