IELTS Reading: ‘Working in the movies’ – Demystified

Film subtitling is often considered the most glamorous and exciting area of the translation industry. Audiences only see concise, perfectly timed lines of text appearing on screen, synchronized with every character’s gesture. However, behind this lies a highly disciplined technical process: from precisely matching time code to each frame, strictly managing character length, to subtly conveying cultural nuances and specific slang. Through a conversation with French translator Virginie Verdier at VSI translation company (London), the reading passage Working in the Movies will reveal the true behind-the-scenes technical challenges of film subtitling.

Covering topics like careers, audiovisual translation, and cinema, this reading passage features a well-structured process overview and practical industry-specific vocabulary. The exam tests candidates through three main question types: Flow Chart Completion, True/False/Not Given, and Sentence Completion. If you are studying and practicing this reading passage, check out the following article from ECE Language Center.

Reading Passage Content

Working In The Movies

Subtitling is an exciting part of the translation profession. Melanie Leyshon talks to Virginie Verdier of London translation company VSI about the glamour and the grind.

[Paragraph 1] When people ask French translator Virginie Verdier what she does for a living, it must be tempting to say enigmatically: ‘Oh me? I’m in the movies’. It’s strictly true, but her starring role is behind the scenes. As translating goes, it doesn’t get more entertaining or glamorous than subtitling films. If you’re very lucky, you get to work on the new blockbuster films before they’re in the cinema, and if you’re just plain lucky, you get to work on the blockbuster movies that are going to video or DVD.

[Paragraph 2] Virginie is quick to point out that this is as exciting as any translating job. ‘You work hard. It’s not all entertainment as you are doing the translating. You need all the skills of a good translator and a top-notch editor. You have to be precise and of course, much more concise than in traditional translation work.’

[Paragraph 3] The process starts when you get the original script and a tape. ‘We would start with translating and adapting the film script. The next step is what we call ‘timing’, which means synchronising the subtitles to the dialogue and pictures.’ This task requires discipline. You play the film, listen to the voice and the subtitles are up on your screen ready to be timed. You insert your subtitle when you hear the corresponding dialogue and delete it when the dialogue finishes. The video tape carries a time code which runs in hours, minutes, seconds and frames. Think of it as a clock. The subtitling unit has an insert key to capture the time code where you want the subtitle to appear. When you press the delete key, it captures the time code where you want the subtitle to disappear. So each subtitle would have an ‘in’ point and an ‘out’ point which represent the exact time when the subtitle comes in and goes out. This process is then followed by a manual review, subtitle by subtitle, and time-codes are adjusted to improve synchronisation and respect shot changes. This process involves playing the film literally frame by frame as it is essential the subtitles respect the visual rhythm of the film.’

[Paragraph 4] Different subtitlers use different techniques. ‘I would go through the film and do the whole translation and then go right back from the beginning and start the timing process. But you could do it in different stages, translate let’s say 20 minutes of the film, then time this section and translate the next 20 minutes, and so on. It’s just a different method.’

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