Subtitlers on subtitling : a qualitative study of Norwegian subtitlers' perceptions of their working conditions and the task of subtitling from English to Norwegian

Abstract

This master’s thesis is a qualitative study of Norwegian subtitlers and their perceptions of own working conditions, including their views on English’s role in Norway. The research contains information on how subtitlers, as language role models, view their own working situations and how they think the role of English has developed in Norwegian society, and thereby also subtitling. The study aims at shedding light on the people behind the subtitles, as subtitlers are often regarded invisible translators, who get little or no attention in the language debate or in society in general. The method used to attain this information was semi-structured in-depth interviews of five Norwegian subtitlers with long experience in the field of subtitling. Several findings appeared from the research; a detected decline in working conditions in private sector, a growing gap between subtitlers and subtitling in NRK and private sector, an increasing use of English loan words in Norwegian, that Norwegian subtitling can be defined as vulnerable translation and how Norwegian subtitlers view the future of their work and products.