Analysing the understandability of news "with" and "in" Sign Language: subtitle

Abstract

The Australian Deaf Community faces limited and often compromised information access, specifically distributing news to Deaf signing audiences. This results in a dependence on interpreting as the primary source of information access. Despite an increase in signed language translations aiming to provide Deaf audiences with access to mainstream information in the majority language, the deaf community have raised concerns. These concerns pertain to compromised Auslan (Australian Sign Language) translations that contain English inferences and lack comprehensive concept expansion.

Preserving the cultural and linguistic disparities between English and Auslan may disadvantage deaf signers, as compromised translations can be unintelligible. Visual medium translations face challenges competing with the dominant language and culture, unlike written translations which could challenge cultural norms and power dynamics (Venuti, 1986). To ensure the accuracy and authenticity of Auslan translations, it becomes imperative for practitioners to undertake domestic adaptations that encompass linguistic and cultural subtleties. This meticulous adaptation process serves to minimise errors in both linguistic and performance aspects.

Establishing a norm for signed news in Australia, surpassing reliance on interpreting and translation, is challenging due to the dominance of the English language and culture. However, the rise of Deaf community journalism, driven by deaf people assuming information relay and provision roles, offers a fruitful alternative. This process, known as transcreation, combines linguistic translation, cultural adaptation, and creative re-interpretation to effectively convey certain parts of a text (Millón & Olvera-Lobo, 2023). Introducing transcreation as a practice in Australia shows promise in achieving a signing norm for news. Transcreation involves leveraging a more expansive linguistic repertoire and experiential framing to enhance deaf audiences’ understanding of news.

This study compares how an experienced interpreting practitioner with a robust linguistic repertoire presents interpreted, translated, and transcreated news discourse to a deaf audience. This comparative analysis is augmented by applying a discourse analysis framework to conduct an analysis of each product. The main finding is that interpreting connects the dots while translating follows the traces of an object. Alternatively, transcreation exemplifies a metaphorical blank canvas that provides boundless avenues for unrestrained creative expression. I conclude that transcreation offers greater linguistic autonomy for Deaf audiences, allowing the translator to start with a blank canvas to generate new content in Auslan without being confined to the source language. This study emphasises breaking free from conventional approaches and fostering innovative thinking for equitable linguistic access to news discourse.