Introducing the Interactive Model for the Training of Audiovisual Translators and Analysis of Multimodal Texts

This paper introduces the ‘Interactive Model’ of audiovisual translation developed in the context of my PhD research on the cognitive-semantic, functional and socio-cultural features of the Italian-dubbing translation of a corpus of humorous texts. The Model is based on two interactive macro-phases – ‘Multimodal Critical Analysis of Scripts’ (MuCrAS) and ‘Multimodal Re-Textualization of Scripts’ (MuReTS). Its construction and application are justified by a multidisciplinary approach to the analysis and translation of audiovisual texts, so as to focus on the linguistic and extralinguistic dimensions affecting both the reception of source texts and the production of target ones (Chaume 2004; Díaz Cintas 2004). By resorting to Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough 1995, 2001), to a process-based approach to translation and to a socio-semiotic analysis of multimodal texts (van Leeuwen 2004; Kress and van Leeuwen 2006), the Model is meant to be applied to the training of audiovisual translators and discourse analysts in order to help them enquire into the levels of pragmalinguistic equivalence between the source and the target versions. Finally, a practical application shall be discussed, detailing the Italian rendering of a comic sketch from the American late-night talk show Cona