Aika painaa. Oopperan tekstilaitekäännöksen toiminnalliset rajat

Oopperoita on Suomessa tekstitetty vuodesta 1987 lähtien, ja nykyään tekstilaite on Kansallisoopperan ja Savonlinnan Oopperajuhlien lisäksi käytössä lähes kaikissa maakuntaoopperoissa. Tekstilaitekäännös luetaan osana oopperaesitystä, ja sen tarkoituksena on helpottaa esityksen seuraamista. Lisäksi se on tehokas keino edistää oopperatalon kansainvälistymistä. Riitta Virkkusen tutkimus, joka on maailman ensimmäinen oopperan tekstittämiseen keskittyvä väitöskirja, tarkastelee oopperan tekstilaitekäännöksen toiminnallisia rajoja. Tavoitteena on ollut selvittää, kuinka nämä rajat vaikuttavat käännöksen muotoiluun ja julkaisuun, sekä pohtia niiden merkitystä käännöksen lukemiselle. Käännöksen toiminnalliset rajat eli sen toimintaympäristön muodostavat muun muassa lähdeteksti eli näyttämötulkinta, julkaisumedium eli tekstilaite, kääntäjä-tekstittäjä, toimeksiantaja sekä oopperayleisö ja live-esityksen lainalaisuudet. Toiminnallisten rajojen vaikutusta selvitetään sekä etnografisen että tekstiaineiston avulla. Etnografinen aineisto muodostuu Virkkusen omista havainnoista ja kokemuksista oopperan kääntäjä-tekstittäjänä ja oopperan katsojana. Richard Straussin "Salome"-oopperan vokaalitekstistä ja kolmesta tekstilaitekäännöksestä koostuvan tekstiaineiston analyysissa tarkastellaan, millä tavalla käännökset eroavat oopperan verbaalisesta tekstistä. Analyysi osoittaa, että tekstilaitekäännökset ovat tekstimäärältään selvästi suppeampia kuin vokaaliteksti. Verbaalisen tekstin määrää on vähennetty muun muassa vähentämällä toistoa ja kielikuvia sekä lisäämällä ellipsiä. Myös dialogin rakennetta on muutettu, eikä käännöksissä toisteta kaikkea vokaalitekstin informaatiota. Aineistossa havaittavat muutokset, jotka tekstitysprosessissa on tehty oopperan verbaaliseen tekstiin, selittyvät eri toiminnallisten rajojen vaikutuksella. Koska tekstilaitekäännös on vain yksi osa oopperaesitystä ja oopperaesityksen ajallinen eteneminen on vääjäämätöntä, on jokainen tekstitysrepliikki muotoiltava niin, että yleisö ehtii sekä lukea sen että tulkita esityksen muita elementtejä. Aikaa on jätettävä myös käännöksen tosiaikaiselle julkaisemiselle: kun tekstilaitekäännös hengittää oopperaesityksen ­ etenkin sen musiikin ­ rytmissä ja tempossa, vältytään kiireen aiheuttamilta tekstittämisvirheiltä ja käännös istuu luontevaksi osaksi esitystä. Tutkimus osoittaa, kuinka monet eri tekijät tekstilaitekäännöksen muotoiluun ja julkaisuun vaikuttavat. Tekstilaitekäännöksen toimintaympäristön tuntemus auttaa sekä oopperayleisöä että kääntämisen tutkijoita ja opiskelijoita analyyttisemmin arvioimaan tekstityksen toimivuutta osana oopperaesitystä ja huomaamaan, että kaikkea laulettua tekstiä ei voi eikä tarvitse toistaa tekstilaitteessa.THE FUNCTIONAL BOUNDARIES OF OPERA SURTITLES This dissertation treats the functional boundaries of opera surtitles and aims to determine, how these boundaries affect the making and publishing of surtitles. I also consider their meaning in the reading of surtitles. Theoretically, I lean on the concept of textual and cultural multimodality and thus regard the surtitled opera performance a multimodal text in which meanings are made by using simultaneously several symbolic modes, such as sung, spoken and written (surtitled) words, music and both moving and still visual elements. Worldwide, operas have been surtitled since the early 1980s; in Finland surtitling came into use in 1987. At the same time as surtitles make it easier for the audience to interpret the operatic text, they contribute to the opera house's aspirations to enhance its internationality: In the Finnish National Opera, operas traditionally were translated into Finnish. With the introduction of surtitling, however, the works are now sung in original language, which enables the visits of foreign singers. Finnish operas, on the other hand, are nowadays performed with English surtitles, which attracts more foreign spectators and makes the singable translations of Finnish libretti unnecessary when the works are performed in foreign opera houses. Opera is both a relatively monomodal dramatic text ­ the score ­ and an emphatically multimodal performance text. In the performance, the dramatic text is reborn and rediscovers its status as situational discourse, a status it held before being transcribed by the authors and deposited on paper. By iconising the arbitrary verbal signs of the dramatic text, the stage interpretation places the text into concrete frames and plugs the holes in the text in a particular way. Since the surtitles are read in and as part of the performance, it is only reasonable to consider the whole stage interpretation as their source text. The idea of basing them on the libretto only is unrealistic, since the temporal and spatial constraints of the live performance and the screen the surtitles are projected on always have their impact on the surtitles. In addition, the contents and style of the stage interpretation should always be taken into consideration because they may differ from those in the score. Hence, strictly libretto-based surtitles might be contradictory to the meanings the stage interpretation wants to make. The functional borders I study in my thesis are the source text, the target text, the medium of publication and its place in the performance, the reading situation and the role of the translator as one creator and publisher of the surtitles. In addition to analysing authentic surtitles, I place them in a wider cultural context treating their status in the opera institution and in opera productions and discussing their effect on the public image of opera. Obviously, surtitles have made opera more democratic and easier to approach, since it's no longer necessary to study the piece at home in advance; nowadays, opera can be understood by everybody. My textual research data consists of three authentic surtitles made for two different productions of Richard Strauss' opera "Salome". One of the translations is from German into English, and was used at the Los Angeles Opera. The two others are into Finnish; one was made for the Los Angeles Opera production while it was visiting at Savonlinna Opera Festival, and the other was used in the Salome production of the Finnish National Opera. The most visible difference between the translations is their extent: whereas the English translation has 312 titles, the National Opera translation consists of 269 and the Savonlinna translation of 221 titles. In addition to the surtitles, the data includes the taped performances, the score and a CD recording of "Salome". Another type of research data are the observations and interviews I have made in the Finnish National Opera and Savonlinna Opera Festival from 1999 to 2002, during which time I worked there as a freelance surtitler/translator. In analysing the texts, I applied a descriptive, comparative text analysis that was outlined according to the classification of translation strategies. The comparison was made both between each of the three surtitles and the vocal text, and between the surtitles. The aim was to determine, how the translations differ from the verbal part of the vocal text, in other words: Which translation strategies were applied and what were the consequences? As a starting point, I used the commonly acknowledged conception that in screen translations (subtitles, surtitles) the amount of verbal text decreases in the translation process. I thus concentrated on the changes that have resulted in the decrease of verbal text: changes in repetition, the figurative expressions, the level of explicity, the structure and contents of the dialogue, and the increase of ellipsis. The libretto of "Salome" is based on Oscar Wilde's play. Since Wilde applies the musical technique of constructing melodies by repeating words, phrases and thoughts like musical motifs, the text is very poetic and melodic and thus suits well for musical arranging. According to my analysis, the surtitles are much less repetitive than the vocal text. Nevertheless, not all repetition is omitted; instead, it has in some cases been reformulated. As a result of the changes, the functions repetition has in vocal texts are not present in the nearly non-repetitive and verbally reformulated surtitles. The numerous metaphors of the vocal text have been changed either by removing the main or relative clause in a two-clause sentence or by excluding adjuncts. Some of the metaphors and other figurative expressions have been entirely omitted. Even after these changes, the surtitles still include many figurative elements, and the language maintains its poetic function. In the study, all surtitles are more implicit than the vocal text. This is contradictory to the common tendency in other types of translation. The omitted elements consist of introductory phrases explicating speech acts and temporal and spatial adjuncts, for example. The redundant elements in the vocal text have either been left out completely or expressed implicitly. In some cases this was possible because of the explicit or iconic nature of the stage. In the Finnish surtitles especially, the structure and contents of the sung dialogue were have been changed by condensation and reformulation, leaving out redundant information or elements that other symbolic modes expressed clearly enough, and by removing adjuncts and terms of address. In the last case, the English translation differs significantly from the Finnish surtitles which include much fewer terms of address. This difference is due to cultural conventions, among other reasons. Lastly, the surtitles are more elliptic than the vocal text. The use of ellipsis, especially in question-reply sequences, increases the dialogue s speech-like nature and make the phrases more cohesive both in relation to each other and to the communicative situation. Overall, the analysis showed that many changes are made to the verbal text of an opera when it is being translated into surtitles. The changes can be explained by the functional boundaries of the surtitles. From a translator s point of view, some boundaries are strict and given: the number of letters in a title (maximum of 80), some elements in the source text, the rehearsal schedule and the performance time must be rigorously adhered to. Other boundaries, however, such as the interpretation of the source text, the number of titles and their timing can be defined by the translator; the freedom of action within them makes the demarcation constant and endless. It is important to remember that surtitles are just one element in the multimodal performance text: enough time must be left for the reading of all the symbolic modes. Not everything can or must be expressed with words