Multilingualism as a Marker of Foreignness in Translation: Language Varieties to Help Depict the Out-Group on Screen

The presence of different voices in an audiovisual text stresses the fact that not all of them speak the same language or variety. The third language (L3) is usually spoken by foreign characters that do not belong to the group with which the audience identifies (the in-group) but to a different group whose members are alien from the audience’s perspective (the out-group). Thus, two of the most recurrent functions of L3 are signalling Otherness and character portrayal, given that these functions help create a foreign atmosphere. The third language (spoken by members of the out-group in the source text) might coincide with L2 in the translation and might be rendered in a number of ways. Depending on the transfer operation, the result will vary from clearly signalling the out-group to clearly masking it. This chapter seeks to contribute to the ongoing exploration of the translation of multilingual audiovisual texts, focusing on the third language when (a) its functions either signal Otherness or portray character identity, as they both help distinguish between the in-group and the out-group, and when (b) it coincides with L2, as often happens with films or series from the United States that portray Hispanic characters who speak Spanish and are dubbed for Spanish speakers. When this happens, other identities or cultures might be totally or partially obscured, so creative solutions are called for.