Repetition and addition as coherent devices in audio description of comics: A case study of x: Big bad

Abstract

Audio Description (AD) translation is an important translational practice that promotes the accessibility of visual texts for the visually impaired audience. Although AD translation has been developed to be a regular practice in performing arts and entertainment, its potential has not been fully explored for visual-verbal sequential arts such as comics to meet the demand of the audience. To fill in such a gap, this article performs a case study on a commercial AD translation of an action comic series X: Big Bad to explore translation strategies as norms that specifically facilitate achieving coherence and are unique to the cross-modal translation of comics, aiming at providing theorised guidelines for future practices. Based on visual language and narratology analysis, three types of visible interventions in AD comics translation are identified, challenging the notion of neutrality in AD and arguing that reasonable additions and adaptations can facilitate the target text’s accessibility.