SPECIFICS OF PIRATED TRANSLATIONS OF AMERICAN FEATURE FILMS INTO RUSSIAN VIA SINGLE VOICE-OVER

Abstract

The article examines the features of pirated translations of American films into Russian made in the 1980s-90s via single voice-over. The work is relevant due to the lack of diachronic studies concerning the domestic practice of audiovisual translation. The tradition of audiovisual translation in the USSR included such common forms of translation as dubbing, voice-over and subtitling. However, apart from official sources of foreign films, the audiences had access to the illegal, “pirated” film distribution. The pirated films were translated by amateur translators via voice-over. By pirated translation in this study we understand the single voice-over which makes both the original soundtrack and the recorded translation audible for the audience. Notably, the translation is voiced not by professional actors but by the translators themselves. In the present study we analysed the pirated translations of 10 American feature films into Russian made in the 1980s-90s. The goal of the study was to evaluate the degree of adequacy of the unlicensed translations. Having applied the methods of contextual and functional-stylistic analysis to the obtained material, we singled out several factors affecting the quality of the pirated translations. The extremely limited time allocated for the translation made its process similar to simultaneous interpreting, causing numerous omissions, pauses, repetitions and mistakes. Nevertheless, the extreme psychological focus allowed the translators to deal successfully with such difficult linguistic phenomena as wordplay and humour. Overall, the pirated translations proved to meet the international audiovisual translation quality requirement - they provided an enjoyable viewing experience for the target audience.