Untertitelungskompetenz: Eine Interviewstudie mit Untertitel-ExpertInnen im deutschsprachigen Raum

Abstract

This study deals with audiovisual translation and investigates subtitling professionals’ views on subtitling competence. With this aim, an email interview study was conducted with nineteen freelance subtitling professionals producing German-language subtitles. Patterns in the interviews were identified using thematic analysis. Important (sub)themes in the subtitlers’ accounts that expand on earlier findings are, inter alia, the ability to work without a script, the growing importance of post-editing as well as English as a pivot language in indirect translation settings, and the disposition to collaborate in entirely virtual teams. Suggestions for future directions concern the comparison of competence goals, as stated in the curricula at translator and subtitler training institutes, with the competences considered to be important by subtitling professionals themselves. In addition, studies in work psychology should help to identify the variables that enhance or hamper the activation of subtitling competence and, hence, have an impact on subtitle quality.