FR 1047 - FRENCH TELEVISION: MEDIA TRANSLATION, SUBTITLING, AND DUBBING

Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
Long Description This course will introduce students approaches to studying television made in and about France and to basic translation techniques (French into English and English into French) through media localization (subtitling and dubbing projects). In the first third of the course, students will learn basic tools to analyze and describe television narrative, images, sound design and genres while we work on listening comprehension through transcription exercises of the French series we watch. In the second third of the course, we will shift to learning theories and practices of translation and subtitling using some of transcribed scenes students created earlier. In this part of the course, students will individually transcribe, translate into English, and subtitle a short three to five-minute episode of a French comedy series. In the final third of the course, we will study dubbing practices and collectively translate and dub an episode of an American sitcom into French. We will also learn about possible career paths in translation and media localization throughout the semester. This course presumes no prior knowledge of or experience with television, translation, transcription, subtitling, and dubbing practices or software. It does presume an intermediate mid-high (B1) or above level of French. Ideally, students will have completed the intermediate sequence (220, 221, 227, 255, and 256) before taking this course. The course will involve significant group and lab work in addition to individual projects. Class projects will be graded using specification grading emphasizing task completion and learning rather than quality of translation or technical polish. Course readings will be in French and English, and the course will be mainly taught in French with some English used during the technology workshops and some of the translation parts of the course. This course satisfies the Dietrich School general education requirements for "E.3. A Course in Creative Work." Translation is a form of creative labor, as calls in the localization industry for better pay, longer time to work on individual projects, and increased recognition demonstrate. Subtitling and dubbing exercises in this class will focus on comedy, one of the most challenging genres to translate and one that requires significant creativity. Students will learn about the difficulties of translating humor and cultural references by subtitling a French comedy episode into English and by translating an American sitcom into French. They will also perform and record the dubbed voices in French. They will learn professional practices in the localization industry, common translation techniques, and the software tools for subtitling and dubbing. They will leave the class with a subtitled short episode made on their own and a dubbed 30-minute sitcom episode produced by the whole class. Many of our French majors and minors are interested in translation as a form of creative research, and this class will train them to work on future creative research projects in this area.
Academic Career: Undergraduate
Course Component: Lecture
Grade Component: LG/SNC Elective Basis

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