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Hi, my name is Alastair Cole,

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I'm a documentary filmmaker [br]based here in Scotland.

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It's a pleasure to be here today[br]to celebrate

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International Translation Day 2017,

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and to talk here on Amara's blog

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which is, of course, a wonderful platform[br]for subtitling and translation.

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As part of my role as a filmmaker,

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subtitling and translation[br]is such a pivotal part to what I do.

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Specially as I make films,[br]and at the moment,

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I'm making a film about languages,[br]about the subject of language,

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including a recent project,[br]a feature documentary project

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called, "The Colours of the Alphabet",

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which I'm going to talk[br]a little bit about now,

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because subtitling and translation[br]have been so pivotal and so fundamental

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to how this film is made.

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Those in it, those with me on it,

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without them I wouldn't be able[br]to have made the film.

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The film is a feature documentary,

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it released last year[br]at the Glasglow Film Festival,

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and it's been turned around[br]festivals and cinemas around the UK,

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and in Europe and Africa, since then.

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It's the story of three children[br]in a village in Zambia,

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in a village called Lwimba.

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It's a story of language and politics[br]in education, if you want, and childhood.

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It follows the children for 12 months[br]at their first year of school.

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And there's a school in the community,

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where the community speaks[br]one language, called Soli,

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the region and the teacher speak[br]another language, called Nyanja,

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and they all must learn English,

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because English is the only [br]official language of Zambia,

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despite there being[br]72 different languages,

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and only less than 2% of the population[br]speak English at home.

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So, of course, it's a film about[br]this political dynamic,

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but at the same time, it's a film[br]about childhood, and it's funny,

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and it'a film that, hopefully,[br]we can all relate to at times,

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remembering those first days[br]at school and their difficulty

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but of course,

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for someone that is going to school[br]in a different language completely,

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these difficulties are really highlighted[br]and exasperated, if you want.

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But within the filmmaking process,[br]subtitling and translation is fundamental.

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We used multicolored subtitles in the film

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to represent the changes [br]in the different languages

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that are going on in the classroom,[br]and in somewhere like Zambia.

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This multilingualism is incredible,[br]it's very impressive, but of course,

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conveying it to a non-indigenous[br]African-language-speaking-audience

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is often difficult, and it's often[br]not taken as a priority.

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But for us it was a priority,

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so we used a creative approach [br]to subtitling, if you want, in the film,

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that you can see in the teaser[br]at the end of this video.

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Soli, one of the languages, is orange,[br]has orange subtitling,

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Nyanja has green subtitling,[br]Bemba has pink subtitling,

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and English has white subtitling.

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And this technique has been able to foster[br]more conversation, and hopefully,

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a greater understanding[br]about this multilingualism that exists,

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this beautiful multilingualism that exists[br]and the complexities and the skills

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which so many people [br]across the continent embrace this.

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And I suppose, [br]within the documentary more broadly,

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subtitling and translation [br]is so important, and my team --

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and is my team for this film[br]that I talk about.

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My team of subtitlers [br]and translators in Zambia,

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Suwilanji Ngambi, Peter Lupiya,[br]and Brighton Lubasi were so important,

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and without them [br]I wouldn't be able to make the film.

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And also my team in the UK,[br]Elena Zini and those in Screen Language,

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who helped to bring the film[br]to international audiences,

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and creating[br]foreign language versions of the film.

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But more generally, [br]a documentary film having translation

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and translators that work seriously[br]on a project,

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to understand the importance[br]of representing someone,

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that language can be misconstrued[br]and misunderstood in translation

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isn't taken seriously, is so important.

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I think documentary filmmaking[br]provides a specific case, sometimes,

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because people and the film[br]that an audience can see and hear

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are real people before and after the film,

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and so, their accurate representation[br]is so important,

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and their understanding of them[br]as people is so important.

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I think translation and subtitling[br]can do a wonderful job there

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to help audiences around the world

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experience different culture[br]and languages, but also, at the same time,

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understand people[br]in the best way possible.

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I suppose I also want to mention[br]a new project that we're working on

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around "The Colours of the Alphabet",

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but the release of[br]"The Colours of the Alphabet"

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in early next year across Africa,

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where it'll be broadcasted into [br]49 different countries with Afridocs.

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And as part of the broadcast[br]we're working with Amara

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to create 25 indigenous language versions[br]of the film.

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It's a really exciting project for us

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because, of course, we want the film[br]to travel across Africa,

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is where the film is made,

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is where, hopefully, [br]the film speaks to a lot of audiences.

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But, at the same time,

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it's important that the film is seen[br]in the languages of the audience,

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that is the end goal of the film,

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but we also want people to be able[br]to understand it in their terms.

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So, we're going to be working[br]in the next months

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with indigenous language[br]subtitlers and translators

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to create 25 different language versions.

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We're going to be offering them [br]the opportunity to train and work with us,

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and at the end of the day,

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for people to be able [br]to subtitle and translate this film,

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and hopefully, foster what can be[br]one of the first

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Africa-wide-film-translation-network.

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So, keep an eye on that,[br]keep an eye on the website below,

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coloursofthealphabet.com

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but also on our Facebook page,

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and you'll see more announcement[br]about this exciting project.

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And before we go, you can watch[br]a teaser at the end this film

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and finally, another big, happy[br]International Translation Day!

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And a message of thumbs up

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to all the ones who are subtitlers[br]and translators working out there.

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Thanks!

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[music]

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[music]