Towards multimodal literacy in translation studies

Abstract

Contemporary culture is characterized by the dominance of audiovisual factors. This has forced translation studies to broaden their vision of what texts are. This recontextualization has made it possible to study multimodal and intersemiotic translations in depth. However, despite the proliferation of analyses of multimodal translations, we have not yet managed to standardize the theoretical foundations that allow us to study this phenomenon from translatology and, more specifically, to teach it in the classroom. Therefore, this article reflects on the need for multimodal literacy in translation studies. It also presents a reconceptualization of the notion of equivalence applied to multimodal translation analysis. The purpose of this is to legitimize the role of the translator in studying, teaching, and facilitating multimodal translations.