Audiovisual translation in context

Against the backdrop of what is known as “the fourth industrial revolution” (Schwab 2017) and the revolutionary switchover from analogue to digital technology at the end of the last century, the audiovisual industry has fast developed new ways of distributing audiovisual materials across language and cultural communities. As part of this global drive, translations play a pivotal role, making the most of the potentialities offered by social media and the digital universe, wherein new mediascapes are being construed and negotiated. Within this framework, the mainstream media localisation industry finds itself processing an evergrowing volume of variegated content that needs to be translated into a myriad of languages for different purposes, different communicative contexts, and different platforms. The vast array and volume of audiovisual productions that need translation (i.e., TV series, feature films, talk shows, animation, stand-up comedies, reality shows, educational videos, documentaries…), together with the pressing deadlines imposed in the industry to carry out their localisation into other languages, are some of the primary factors why the mediascape is rapidly embracing state-of-the-art technologies and integrating automation in new agile work environments. The threat presented by novel dissemination approaches, such as fansubbing and fandubbing, that compete with traditional, commercial models is also responsible for some of the developments taking root in the industry.