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Sat, 8 May 1999 21:30:06 -0700 |
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Eric Kisch writes:
>I agree with all the limitations that you outlined, and yet, until
>something better, more in sync with the stage action, comes along, we
>should live with surtitles and improve them.
I've always itched to have a try at writing opera supertitles, because
I can see it is very tricky. The main problem, it seems to me is
condensation (and I don't recall other posts on this thread mentioning it).
If the supertitler simply had to give a translation of every word that was
being sung his task would be comparatively simple; but more typically he
has to take a long and complicated aria and give the sense of it in a word
or two. Many titlers are not very adroit at doing this, to say the least.
Another irritation for me is a titler who uses anachronistic language:
it is jarring to watch a C19th costume drama and have the characters'
speech/song rendered in modern American vernacular. And of course some of
the melodramatic utterances in opera sound ludicrous when we can understand
them too well. It is all a great challenge, and I can foresee a time when
really skilled supertitlers will emerge and be in great demand. To me it
is a language problem rather than a technical one.
Julia Werthimer <[log in to unmask]>
California, USA
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