Sumários

Practical 11 (Session 2): Strategy Analysis and Review

17 Dezembro 2025, 15:30 Rui Vitorino Azevedo

In this second session, students completed reflective commentaries analyzing their translation choices through Andrew Chesterman’s framework. They examined their use of grammatical strategies (such as transposition, unit shifts, and phrase structure changes), semantic strategies (synonymy, paraphrase, and tropes), and pragmatic strategies (cultural filtering, explicitness changes, and interpersonal adjustments).

We reviewed selected student translations as a class, discussing how they handled slang, idioms, sarcasm, and culturally-specific references to ensure resonance with Portuguese audiences. Particular attention was paid to how students preserved character voice and emotional nuance, and how they navigated the tension between fidelity to the source text and naturalness in the target language.

The discussion highlighted the unique challenges of video game localization, where dialogue must feel spontaneous and authentic while fitting subtitle constraints and maintaining narrative coherence across interactive media. Students reflected on the differences between translating for silent reading versus dubbing, and how the medium shapes translation choices.


Practical 11 (Session 2): Strategy Analysis and Review

17 Dezembro 2025, 14:00 Rui Vitorino Azevedo

In this second session, students completed reflective commentaries analyzing their translation choices through Andrew Chesterman’s framework. They examined their use of grammatical strategies (such as transposition, unit shifts, and phrase structure changes), semantic strategies (synonymy, paraphrase, and tropes), and pragmatic strategies (cultural filtering, explicitness changes, and interpersonal adjustments).

We reviewed selected student translations as a class, discussing how they handled slang, idioms, sarcasm, and culturally-specific references to ensure resonance with Portuguese audiences. Particular attention was paid to how students preserved character voice and emotional nuance, and how they navigated the tension between fidelity to the source text and naturalness in the target language.

The discussion highlighted the unique challenges of video game localization, where dialogue must feel spontaneous and authentic while fitting subtitle constraints and maintaining narrative coherence across interactive media. Students reflected on the differences between translating for silent reading versus dubbing, and how the medium shapes translation choices.


Practical 11 (Session 1): Translating Video Game Dialogue

15 Dezembro 2025, 15:30 Rui Vitorino Azevedo

This two-part practical focused on translating a scripted sequence from The Last of Us Part II into Portuguese. Students were tasked with creating subtitles for silent reading that would be idiomatic, emotionally faithful, and natural-sounding while preserving the meaning, tone, and distinctive character voices of the source text.

In this first session, students analyzed the excerpt and began their translations. The task required balancing multiple priorities: clarity, conciseness, and readability, while ensuring dialogue felt authentic to contemporary spoken Portuguese. Students worked to preserve each character’s unique voice, avoiding literal translations or unnatural calques from English. They maintained an informal register appropriate for young adults, using natural Portuguese equivalents for profanity where necessary.

The translation also included scene descriptions, which students rendered concisely and visually in keeping with screenplay conventions, and song lyrics (Future Days), which required maintaining emotional tone while ensuring readability in Portuguese.


Practical 11 (Session 1): Translating Video Game Dialogue

15 Dezembro 2025, 14:00 Rui Vitorino Azevedo

This two-part practical focused on translating a scripted sequence from The Last of Us Part II into Portuguese. Students were tasked with creating subtitles for silent reading that would be idiomatic, emotionally faithful, and natural-sounding while preserving the meaning, tone, and distinctive character voices of the source text.

In this first session, students analyzed the excerpt and began their translations. The task required balancing multiple priorities: clarity, conciseness, and readability, while ensuring dialogue felt authentic to contemporary spoken Portuguese. Students worked to preserve each character’s unique voice, avoiding literal translations or unnatural calques from English. They maintained an informal register appropriate for young adults, using natural Portuguese equivalents for profanity where necessary.

The translation also included scene descriptions, which students rendered concisely and visually in keeping with screenplay conventions, and song lyrics (Future Days), which required maintaining emotional tone while ensuring readability in Portuguese.


Practical 10 Review: Translating a Popular Science Text

10 Dezembro 2025, 15:30 Rui Vitorino Azevedo

This session involved reviewing students’ translations of an excerpt from Don’t Look, Don’t Touch: The Science Behind Revulsion by Valerie Curtis. The practical emphasized applying Andrew Chesterman’s translation strategies while balancing scientific precision with accessibility for general readers.

Students had conducted pre-translation analyses, examining the text’s communicative intent, target audience, and the author’s approach to making complex scientific concepts engaging and readable. They identified key translation challenges, including specialized terminology from behavioral and psychological sciences, the need to maintain a non-academic tone while preserving technical accuracy, and culturally sensitive topics such as disgust thresholds and cannibalism. Students also noted intertextual elements like Diego Rivera’s quotation and references to Géricault’s painting, which required careful contextual interpretation.

During the class review, we examined students’ completed translations and post-translation commentaries, discussing their application of strategies and evaluating how successfully they balanced precision with readability. We analyzed various solutions to the text’s specific challenges, with students sharing their reasoning for particular choices and discussing moments of translation loss or successful compensation. The session emphasized the importance of pre-translation planning and strategic decision-making when working with specialized yet accessible texts for general audiences.