International Film Translation Project of the Rijeka School of Croatian Studies Found in Translation
The international film translation project Found in Translation, organized by the Rijeka School of Croatian Studies, was held in three project cycles: from 2 to 15 July 2012 (2011-1-HR1-ERA10-00860), from 30 June to 13 July 2013 (2012-1-HR1-ERA10-02006), and from 29 June to 12 July 2014 (2013-1-HR1-ERA10-03303) at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Rijeka. The project was implemented as an Erasmus Intensive Programme activity, with the following partner institutions: the Institute for Theoretical and Applied Translation Studies of the University of (Karl Franz in) Graz, the Faculty of Philology of Jagiellonian University in Kraków, and the Department of Slavic Philology of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures of the University of Udine. The project focused on film translation as an activity that promotes the acquisition and development of linguistic and intercultural competence in Croatian as a Second and foreign language. During the first year of the project, subtitles were produced for the Croatian children’s film Koko i duhovi (Koko and the Ghosts) in German, Polish, and Italian. The programme included lectures on contemporary translation theories and methods, film translation, the development of Croatian cinema, contemporary Croatian film, and film criticism, as well as workshops on translation into participants’ first languages, and film evenings with preparatory activities for the screenings of selected Croatian films and discussions afterwards, and writing of film reviews.
The second year of the project was dedicated to Croatian documentary film, involving the creation of subtitles in German, Polish, and Italian for the documentaries Pun kufer (dir. Tomislav Jelinčić) and Veliki dan (The Big Day, dir. Đuro Gavran). The audiovisual translation was carried out in cooperation with the Academy of Dramatic Arts of the University of Zagreb.
In the third year, the participants were introduced to audio description as a specific form of intralingual translation designed to make audiovisual media accessible to people with hearing impairments. The activities were based on selected interactive Priče iz davnina (Croatian Tales of Long Ago), adapted from the literary work of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, and carried out in cooperation with Bulaja Publishing and the Association of the Blind of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. In addition to learning and applying film translation techniques, the project’s objectives included developing communicative, sociolinguistic, pragmatic, and intercultural competence in Croatian, as well as promoting social inclusion and empathy towards socially vulnerable groups.
From the media and academic publications on the project Found in Translation:
https://www.mojarijeka.hr/uspjesno-okoncan-medunarodni-projekt-rijecke-kroatisticke-skole/
https://www.art-kino.org/en/filmovi/pronadjeno-u-prijevodu
https://arhiva.mobilnost.hr/nio_arhiva.php?pageNum_rs_arhiva=64&totalRows_rs_arhiva=843&o=519
https://www.croris.hr/crosbi/publikacija/prilog-knjiga/74208