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Language Learning in Higher Education

Journal of the European Confederation of Language Centres in Higher Education (CercleS)

Editor-in-Chief: Szczuka-Dorna, Liliana / O’Rourke, Breffni

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2191-6128
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La vita è bella (Benigni 1997) and its subtitled versions in the teaching of L2 English, Spanish and German

Claudia Buffagni / Beatrice Garzelli / Elisa Ghia
Published Online: 2017-10-07 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2017-0012

Abstract

The present contribution focuses on Benigni’s auteur film La vita è bella (Italy, 1997) as a tool for the development of language competence in L2 English, Spanish and German, as well as of translation skills from Italian into these languages. The project, developed at the CLASS Language Centre at the University for Foreigners of Siena, Italy, is placed within the Centre’s research activities on foreign language learning and audiovisual translation. More specifically, it addresses Italian-speaking students from the degree course in Linguistic and Cultural Mediation at advanced proficiency level in the three target languages. The study will examine the English, Spanish and German subtitles of the film (taken from the respective DVD versions), focusing on sequences which result in different translation outcomes in the three languages and specifically relate to the following aspects: culture-bound language, verbal and non-verbal humour, sociolinguistic variation and multilingualism (standard and regional Italian, German). Based mainly on Gottlieb’s (1992) model of subtitling strategies, the research aims at promoting classroom reflection on translation creativity and potential inaccuracies in the reversed subtitles. The analysis ultimately suggests teaching activities which, moving from cross-linguistic comparison and the linguistic inventiveness that characterize the film, promote the development of students’ metacompetences and integrated skills, as well as their critical abilities.

Keywords: linguistic creativity; Audiovisual Translation; reversed subtitling; L2 English; L2 German; L2 Spanish; instructed L2 learning

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Filmography and film versions

  • Benigni, Roberto, La vita è bella, 1997, Italy, 120ʹ.Google Scholar

  • Benigni, Roberto, 2011a DVD version, Life is Beautiful, UK and Ireland, 111ʹ.Google Scholar

  • Benigni, Roberto, 2011b DVD version, La vida es bella, Argentina, 116ʹ.Google Scholar

  • Benigni, Roberto, 2011c DVD version, Das Leben ist schön, Germany, 119ʹ.Google Scholar

About the article

Claudia Buffagni

Claudia Buffagni is Lecturer in German Language and Translation at the University for Foreigners in Siena, where she is also Director of the degree course in Linguistic and Cultural Mediation. She is co-editor of the InterLinguistica. Studi contrastivi fra lingue e culture book series (ETS, Pisa). Her research focuses on German-Italian news discourse, German-Italian contrastive analysis and Audiovisual Translation, from both a descriptive and a teaching perspective (especially concerning the Italian subtitles of German-language films and short films and the translation of humour).

Beatrice Garzelli

Beatrice Garzelli is Associate Professor of Spanish Language and Translation at the University for Foreigners in Siena, where she is also Director of the University Language Centre and Vice Director of the University Department for Research and Teaching. She is co-editor of the InterLinguistica. Studi contrastivi fra lingue e culture book series (ETS, Pisa). Her research interests concern the literary translation of Spanish and Hispano-American Siglo de Oro and contemporary texts, Spanish-Italian contrastive analysis and Audiovisual Translation (with special focus on multilingual or Spanish-language films and short films in foreign language teaching).

Elisa Ghia

Elisa Ghia is Lecturer in English Language and Translation at the University for Foreigners in Siena. Her research interests include the acquisition of English as a foreign language, the study of spoken English, Corpus Linguistics and Audiovisual Translation (with a special interest in dubbing and subtitling and in their impact on foreign language learning).



Published Online: 2017-10-07

Published in Print: 2017-10-26


Citation Information: Language Learning in Higher Education, Volume 7, Issue 2, Pages 311–332, ISSN (Online) 2191-6128, ISSN (Print) 2191-611X, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2017-0012.

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