If the translator of poetry or songs is hemmed in by the limitations of the communication medium, the translator for motion pictures is subject to restrictions sometimes even more severe. Some persons regard translating for the cinema as peripheral and not too important. However, as Pierre-François Caillé (1960. p. 110) has shown, in interlingual communication film translating probably surpasses book translation in total impact. Successful motion picture translating is increasingly vital to the cinema industry, for at least three-fourths of the receipts from a foreign film depend upon its being adequately translated.

There are two types of translating for motion pictures. First, there are the "titles," reproduced along with the picture sequence, and usually exhibited immediately below the picture itself. Consisting of a précis of the words spoken by the actors, they are run at a maximum speed of eight syllables per second for reading time, and, as far as possible, are synchronized with the action.

The translation of titles is no great task, but "dubbing," the replacement of one language with another in live sound, is difficult and complicated. In this type of translating there are several important factors: (1) timing, both of syllables and breath groups; (2) synchronization of consonants and vowels with obvious lip movements by the actors ("lip sync"); (3) words appropriate to the gestures (some words just do not fit a shrug of the shoulders); (4) characteristic differences of dialect in the various actors; and (5) timing of humor or expressions which produce special responses from other actors. To make matters even more difficult, there is an increasing tendency to shoot close-ups of the actors. In fact, during almost three-fourths of speaking time the camera comes in close, thus making any lack of synchronization very conspicuous. Moreover, it is necessary to keep the synchronization within a range of one-fifth of a second for general purposes. Though some translations of films do not attain this standard, it is a necessary standard for satisfactory results.

In making a translation of a motion picture, the first step is simply to translate meaningfully and idiomatically the speaking-script, with some general attention to overall corresponding length. This translation is then carefully edited by checking it against the film as it is being shown. The translation is then written out on film, which is synchronized with the picture, and the person who is doing the foreign-language dubbing speaks as he reads and watches the picture being shown.

This type of translating obviously requires the closest possible attention to a number of formal restrictions, while at the same time reproducing the substance of the story; otherwise the acting would become meaningless. Of course, it is possible to make a number of formal adaptations without destroying the meaningful content. For example, Cailé (1960а. p. 118) cites the instance of a French film in which l'Amérique du Sud was translated into English as in Mexico. The

substitution of this phrase permitted a very close parallelism of lip movement, timing of stressed syllables, and overall similarity in total speed of utterance. 

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