An assessment of subtitle quality of selected Cameroon films
a comparative study of four films
Keywords:
Audience reception, Cameroon films, comparative study, subtitling, subtitle qualityAbstract
This study aimed at comparing selected films in terms of language and subtitle standards, subtitling strategies, audience reception and thus proposing methods for the improvement of subtitled films made in Cameroon. The study was guided by three research questions: (1) which of the selected films has best subtitles in terms of language and subtitle standards? (2) What are the subtitling strategies used in the selected films? (3) How does the subtitle quality impact on audience reception? The study was both qualitative and quantitative. Data were collected from the corpus, through a questionnaire and interviews. Three theories were used for data analysis: The Functionality Accountability Reach (FAR) model theory of assessing subtitles quality by Jan Pedersen, Translation Strategies Theory in Subtitling by Henrik Gottlieb, and the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) by Charles Ragain. Thirty-three (33) subtitling strategies and twenty (20) subtitling and language mistakes excerpts were collected. One hundred and twenty (120) copies of the questionnaire were shared to respondents who had watched the selected films to fill. Interviews were carried out with available film directors and professionals who subtitled selected films. Findings revealed that: films subtitled by professionals have the best subtitles when compared to those subtitled by amateurs; subtitling strategies used were expansion, condensation, paraphrase, transcription, and imitation; the audience was affected both positively and negatively, depending on subtitle quality. Recommendations for the improvement of subtitle quality in Cameroon were made.
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