Spanish Audiovisual Translation from French in Spain: an approach to the industry and the profession

Abstract

This article explores and describes the current state of the French-speaking audiovisual industry in Spain, as well as the socio-professional profile and the main characteristics of the audiovisual translation profession with French as source language: volume of assignments, most demanded modalities, main clients, distribution channels, etc.  To this end, we have carried out, on the one hand, a review of reports provided by national and international institutions on the French-speaking audiovisual industry, and on the other, we have used a questionnaire answered by 69 translators specialising in French as a source language. Among other things, the results show that the volume of imports of French-language products - with French cinema as the main exponent is quite low. Thus, these assignments are relatively rare and appear to be unevenly distributed among professionals. Moreover, the omnipresence of English in the audiovisual field is evident, as a high percentage of professionals specialising in French also offer services in English.