Cohesion errors

The third overt error subcategory discovered from the subtitling of Gilmore Girls is cohesion errors. From the five episodes, a total of 57 cohesion errors were discovered, thus, the cohesion errors accounted for 9.9 per cent of all of the translation errors. The percentage of all translations that included a cohesion error was 0.7%.

Even though a subtitling does not need to form a coherent text that could be understood out of context, the subtitling should still represent the original speaker‟s utterances in a way that the viewer is able to follow the plot (Vertanen 2007b: 150–151). Therefore, when the subtitling does not give an accurate description of the character‟s original lines or a

63 context of the line cannot be understood without understanding the original language, there is a cohesion error in the translation. A cohesion error is often a by-product of another translation error, such as omission or semantic, but for the purposes of this study it has been separated as its own category. In this thesis, a cohesion error is separated from other translation error categories by its relation to context. In other words, if the cohesion is, for example, caused by too much omission, yet the omission has occurred in relating the translation to its context instead of omitting the essence of the original line, the translation error is categorized as a cohesion error instead of an omission error. As an audiovisual translation is always in a visible context (Díaz Cintas 2010: 344, discussed in subsection 2.1.1.), all the cohesion errors in this study have been examined in context, and only if the context of the translation remains incoherent in its context, is it considered a cohesion error.

An example to demonstrate a cohesion error is presented below in example 15 from S01E16.

Example 15.

Oh no, it's that arcade game where the mole keeps sticking his head out

Se on peli, jossa myyrä kurkistaa kolosta.

In this scene, Lorelai‟s mother, Emily, has invited her friend‟s son for their traditional Friday night dinner. When Lorelai realizes that her mother is attempting to set her up with the surprise guest, she compares Emily‟s action to the arcade game Whack-a-mole. However, from the subtitling, Lorelai‟s comparison remains to seem like incoherent babbling about the game and the context is mainly comprehended by understanding the original language. This is caused by omitting the connection to Lorelai‟s previous line, even though the essence of the original line is preserved. If the connection to the original line would have been preserved in the subtitling, the connection would have been more apparent, showing that Lorelai is comparing her mother to the game. Another example of a translation with a cohesion error caused by the lack of transitional element is presented in example 16 below from S08E01.

Example 16.

All those women with red noses and sketchers…

Niillä naisilla on punaiset nenät ja lenkkarit.

64 In this scene, Lorelai is asking her mother, Emily, if she has attended a grief group after her husband‟s death, and Emily answers that she has not, with the sentence in example 16 as an emphasis. In its translation, however, the reasoning is incorrectly connected with Emily‟s lines, as the original does not list the other women‟s noses and choices of footwear as a reason not to go per se, rather it is used as a negative characterization of them. However, in the translation the mention is left separate from the context and is therefore somewhat confusing.

Another example, where the cohesion is hindered by excessive compression is found in S03E07 presented in example 17 below.

Example 17.

Saturday 6:00 A.M. to Sunday 6:00 A.M. Lauantai 6.00 & sunnuntai 6.00

In this example, the translation is from a sign instead of a character‟s line. The sign is advertising Stars Hollow‟s 24 hour dance marathon, lasting a full 24 hours from Saturday to Sunday. However, in the translation, the advertisement on the sign seems to suggest that the dance marathon has two separate times, Saturday at 6 A.M. and Sunday at 6 A.M., instead of conveying that the dance marathon takes places between the notified times. Even though the translation of the sign is technically correct, by accurately announcing the times of the dance marathon‟s start and finish, the ampersand is a confusing choice of punctuation.

In addition to the cohesion errors above, where the cohesion is hindered by choices of word, another translation error affecting the cohesion of the dialogue is present when the subtitling is divided into separate captions in a confusing way, such as in example 18 from S08E01, containing six translations.

Example 18.

- No one can.

- April Bloomfield?

- Too much pork.

- Alice Waters.

- A little flighty.

- David Chang?

-Totta.

-April Bloomfield?

-Porsasta.

-Waters.

-Kevytmielinen.

-David Chang?

In this scene, Lorelai and Michel are discussing the previous pop-up chefs they have had at the restaurant of their inn. Michel is listing the chefs‟ names to Lorelai, and she responds with

65 what she thinks is the reason they were not suitable for their inn. Even though the listing is technically accurate description of their conversation, the way the captions are divided, and which two translations are visible on screen at the same time makes the conversation more difficult to follow, as the chef‟s fault is not on screen at the same time as the chef‟s name.

Despite the cohesion being affected in multiple translations, the cohesion errors have been calculated by the instances they occur. Therefore, the entire eight translations divided in the way they are above, is calculated as one cohesion error.

As mentioned earlier, most of these cohesion errors can be considered a by-product of another error. However, as the examples above demonstrate, the cohesion error category is necessary for the purposes of this study, as the initial translation error that affects the cohesion is not necessarily affecting the essence of the original utterance, rather affects the following of the plot by not presenting the essences in their desired format.