CRISTINA BETTENCOURT
TALK: TRANSLATION AND SUBTITLING IN PORTUGAL FOR THE LAST THREE DECADES
BIO
Cristina Bettencourt studied in the Academy of Fine Arts of Lisbon, and later attended and graduated from the University of Early Childhood Studies, Maria Ulrich; she attended Cambridge Institute of Lisbon and passed the C2 Proficiency Exam. Taught for 10 years in the Institution "Misericórdia" and started a career in audio-visuals translation in 1989, at the time with VHS. She learned the technique and art of subtitling in 1994, working with Screen Subtitling Systems. Simultaneously, in 1993, she started translating texts, books and videos for the Catholic University of Lisbon, which in 1995 invited her to try simultaneous interpretation, giving thus rise to a new career.
She created, directed and taught the Post-Graduation Course on Subtitling in the former ISLA, (now European University) from 2005 to 2011. Cristina is the author of the first Portuguese book on Subtitling "Legendas e Narrativas".
In 1999, she founded Cristbet, Ltd, a translation, subtitling and interpretation company, working for the main Portuguese television networks as well as many other national and international clients.
ABSTRACT
Portugal is a so-called "subtitling country", like Holland, and unlike other countries that dub (France, Spain, Germany...).
Until the 1980's subtitling here was done mainly for cinema and for the National Television, RTP. There was only a handful of translators, which were well known to the public, almost as famous as the TV anchors. The VHS videocassette really took off here by late 80s.
Until then, there were two main subtitling systems, for television and movies.
Interestingly enough, there were no university translation courses, not even any private universities, just private institutes with basic courses for secretarial training (ISLA was one of them). Most translators had a degree either in Romanic or Germanic Languages, by the public university, and some had other university degrees, but no specific translation training; some of the professionals just happened to master very well the source and target languages due to specific circumstances. There were no subtitling schools either and professionals just learned on the job.
Nevertheless, quality was a sine qua non condition, one upon which clients insisted. The market was inexorable in its selection so only the cream of the crop survived.
The subtitled VHS movies opened a new avenue and attracted more professionals. Demand was high and supply low. The profession was highly regarded and "audiovisual translation" paid very well.
The written translations were delivered on paper, well divided and (unlike TV and Movies) the technical part was carried out by specialized labs and not by the translators themselves...