The Subtle Art of 'Saying Almost the Same Thing' in Audiovisual Translation: A Subtitling Proposal for the TV Series 'The ABC Murders'

The purpose of this paper is to analyze Audiovisual Translation (AVT) and its fundamental role in both the current intercultural context and in the cinematographic field. Starting from the general characteristics of Audiovisual Translation and its progressive diffusion, the attention will then move no to an in-depth exam of the technical and formal characteristics of one of its most widespread typologies, i.e. subtitling, a subject which, in recent years, aided by changes in society and television habits, is becoming increasingly widespread. Its use at the expense of dubbing is gaining ground, in some countries more than others, and the demand for subtitled products is increasing so fast that is leading to the emergence of unauthorized phenomena, with the so-called “fansubbing”, i.e. the unauthorized subtitling of TV series and movies by private users on the web, or of inaccurate translations developed by AI. The focus will the shift to a subtitling proposal for the first episode of the British mini-series The ABC Murders, broadcasted on BBC and inspired by the famous Agatha Christie’s book. After an in-depth overview of the series and its characters and a comparison withe the original book, the work will focus on the choices made during the subtitling process and the strategies used to cope with any translation problem that may have occurred.