Multimodality and Multi-sensoriality as Basis for Access to Knowledge in Translation: The Case of Audio Description of Colour and Movement

This paper presents research closely linked to the concepts of multimodality and multimodal perception: the translation process which takes place in audio description (AD) for blind people. AD is an intersemiotic translation method which in recent years has been included in the working practices of audio-visual translators and, thus, appears on the work desks of researchers in this field. Audio describers concern themselves with translating for blind people the iconic part of a source text of a multimodal nature (cinema, series, TV programmes, theatre, museum pieces, monuments, and so on), in such manner that they construct a target language text which matches the original text so that blind people may access the visual information. Thus, the translation process in AD involves a set of mental processes of a multimodal and multi-sensorial nature which start with the perception of the audio-visual and/or physical elements that make up the original text and finish with the production of the functionally equivalent target text.This study analyses the preferences of audio describers when translating two basic components of dynamic images (colour and movement) in accordance with the taxonomic model of the dynamic image laid out by Chica (2013). This model is based on neuroscientific studies which describe the way in which visual perception functions (Bartels & Zeki, 2005). In the study, the answers of a group of professional audio describers were contrasted with those given by control group during tasks of selecting audio descriptive texts connected to dynamic images which complied with a paradigm where one of the two visual elements, colour or movement, predominated. The results showed that audio describers do not favour descriptions which specifically highlight such elements, but rather they prefer neutral and relatively simple descriptions in relation to colour and movement.