Media accessibility in Galicia(n)guidelines for inclusive subtitling

Resumo

Media accessibility services grant access not only to visually and hearing impaired audiences, but also to language learners. This latter fact proves to be of great relevance to minorised languages, as is the case of Galician, since, given the big influence media has on society nowadays, the language conveyed on TV, the internet, etc., would help to create a positive view as well as a standard model of said language. In other words, it has been shown how translation –and audiovisual translation, AVT, is no exception– can contribute to the normalisation process of a language. Therefore, the main objective of this PhD thesis is to increase the quantity and quality of media accessibility services in Galicia(n) in order to provide access to all kinds of audiences to information and entertainment, by means of different modes of audiovisual translation and offering a quality supradialectal model of the language. As a consequence, the thesis is divided in three main blocks: Firstly, the establishment of the current status of media accessibility in Galicia, that is, what are the legislative requirements and what is actually being done in practice? Secondly, the creation of the first official norm of subtitling for the hearing impaired. The analysis carried out on the first step, on the current situation of media accessibility services in Galicia, will serve as a basis for the creation of this norm; accessibility practices in other countries and the latest technological developments will also be taken into consideration. Last but not least, said official norm will be taken into practice with the establishment of a course on subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing in Galician for professionals and students of the Translation and Filmmaking fields. This course also aims at raising awareness among filmmakers about the importance of having their products made accessible and by language professionals. We believe the achievement of these ambitious goals could really improve the current status of both Galician and accessibility services.