Gyöngyvér Bozsik

The Challenges of Opera Translation and its Applicability in Translation Training
Gyöngyvér Bozsik, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Hungary

Opera, as “multi-channel polisensual communication” (Gorlée 1997) belongs to multimedia
translation, and – as its name suggests – the message is communicated via various channels, including two aural ones: music and text (lyrics). The term opera translation usually refers to two main types: singing translations, where translators need to produce fully singable TL versions and subtitle/surtitle translations, where no complete musical match is required and mostly the (technical) limitations of the screen represent the greatest challenge. 

When opera and translation appear within the same discourse a really exciting journey begins, as this special field of audiovisual translation requires great expertise and experience both in translation and classical music, more precisely in singing. The reason behind is the intertwined nature, that is the unity of music and text. As a result of this close relationship the textual reflection of musical expressions is an important aspect of not only singing translations but – maybe surprisingly – also of surtitles/subtitles (Palmer 2012).

The paper investigates the less widely studied field of opera translation, introducing the close and complex relationship of music and text, the types of opera translation, the similarities and differences thereof, the most important requirements and challenges of singing translations and surtitles (Deme 2014, Apter 1985, Desblache 2007, Dewolf 2001), and related to all these the traits of a good opera translator – with lots of examples and music. 

The focal aim of the study is to point out the most challenging factors of opera translation and to reflect on how the lessons learnt in opera translation can be applied in translation training. 

Keywords: audiovisual translation, opera, surtitling, translation training