‘A prompt box’: The profile of Polish official audiovisual translators

Abstract

As audiovisual productions are becoming increasingly popular, the need for specialized translators in this field is growing. This study aims to create a profile of a typical Polish audiovisual translator who officially delivers commissioned renditions for clients. The study reports the results of an online survey with 56 questions in seven domains to gather data from the intended research group. The domains covered basic information, educational background, actual translation education, individual ways of mastering audiovisual translation skills, translatorsʼ preferences, workspace, and aspects of teamwork. The results of the profile indicate that audiovisual translation is the predominant type of work for an average Polish translator. However, those who graduated in foreign languages had no opportunity to attend ATV courses at university. Most translators had not completed any translation-oriented postgraduate studies or specialized translation courses, but preferred a less institutionalized form of self-education. The average translator delivers target subtitles but also provides other types of AVT, in a majority of renditions from English into Polish. SubtitleEdit is the most commonly used translation tool, while CAT tools and online services like Google Translate are avoided. Translators tend to work alone but cooperate with external proofreaders. This profile can help establish specialized profiles for other domains of translation and compare them in cross-linguistic, national or cultural contexts.