Audiovisual Translation: a cinematic journey between Italian and English

As for the English language, there is no such pronoun used to refer to someone unknown or to address someone with respect, instead other forms are used such as Madame and Sir. Therefore, during the translation, the Italian pronouns were replaced by the English form of courtesy for ladies, but the amusement of the misunderstanding was substituted with a wordplay and in the last line it was completely omitted, because it would have been quite impossible to give the same comicality to the target version. The strategy used was adaptation, even though it probably does not recreate the same effect in the TL for the reasons previously explained in this same paragraph.

Secondly, two culinary specialities are introduced, scilicet «zabaione» and «sanguinaccio». These two are translated into English as «zabaglione» and «blood pudding»: the first one is made of eggs, sugar, and liquor and the second one is made of chocolate and pig’s blood. Of course, the second one sounds disgusting to Alberto, who spits it immediately, even though he thought it was delicious. In this case, the second dish was translated in English to make it more comprehensible to the public, even though it was not necessary since shortly after Mattia explains what it is made of.

It was translated as «blood pudding» because in the United Kingdom and Ireland there is a similar dish called «black pudding», made of meat, cereals, and beef blood. Since this food is diffused in some parts of the UK, the translation of the term could be useful to the TL for a visual image of what is sanguinaccio, even though they are presented in different forms (the black pudding is solid, sanguinaccio is liquid). These simple choices could facilitate the comprehension of the source terminology for some spectators, just as the English ones, but if a look at the Spanish version is taken, the words were not translated but just kept as in the original. For the word zabaglione, the strategy was borrowing, so keeping it the same as in the SL, instead for sanguinaccio, there was a substitution with a similar element in the TL (pig’s blood), that is adaptation to the target culture.

From now on, a lot of Neapolitan dialect is present in the dialogues and the difference from standard Italian will be evident and this is the reason why a lot of times Mattia and Maria, who is Mattia’s ex-girlfriend and employed at the post office, will explain to Alberto what he does not understand. In time, Alberto starts emulating his colleagues in speaking and in their daily habits and stops seeing them as a threat or as awful people who want to make fun of him.

Another fun scene that deserves to be mentioned goes from minute 46:08 to 47:12. Alberto and his employees are eating at a restaurant and start teaching him how Neapolitan dialect works, explaining that all it takes is removing the last vowel from words and emphasise the last consonant, so that the sound is stronger. He understands the mechanism, and then they explain that those vowels are not completely lost, but instead they become alone words widely used to make affirmations, to express astonishment or disapproval and so on. Those expressions are not so diffused in the written language, but they usually work well when pronounced orally, because they give vividness to one’s words and intentions, just like manual gestures.

The next morning, the town is getting prepared for the patron saint holiday, Saint Costabile, which is a big event for the inhabitants and represents a moment of joy and unity. While walking in the streets, Alberto sees again the signal represented in Figure 2, but when he moves the plants from the top of it, he discovers something different from what he had read the previous time. [...]