Method and technique in the translation of idioms in audiovisual works: the Archer case

Abstract

The debate regarding the usage of literal translation has come a long way. When applied to the audio-visual translation field, it becomes even fiercer. Nowadays, it is not uncommon to find comments both in favour and against literal translation in dubbing and subtitling. That being said, these statements often not differentiate between translation method and translation technique, as the former includes a wide variety of solutions that are in fact frequently observed and applied in audio-visual translation (see Martínez Sierra, 2017). In order to offer a practical example on how literal translation can be applied to the often-creative audio-visual translation, a descriptive study has been conducted, analysing the 35 idioms found in the third season of the TV series Archer and noting which techniques have been used when translating them into Spanish. After this, we have described the data found with frequency percentages (%), using diagrams to represent them graphically. Results show that translation techniques from the literal translations method are actually quite frequent in the text, thus vindicating their usage in audio-visual translation.