Complexities of source text networks in globally circulated multimodal texts: The case of a compilative anime music video translation

Abstract

As audiovisual texts circulate through multiple language areas and diverse markets, localized target texts (TT) derive from complex networks of source texts (ST) and distribution processes. In this study, we analyze the Finnish opening to the Japanese anime series Digimon as an example of a multimodal TT whose different modes indicate different and sometimes multiple STs. We propose that the concept of compilative translation can be of help in such cases where the ambiguity of the ST complicates the study of the TT. We conclude by suggesting that defining the ST is a matter of perspective, and that this perspective must be chosen wisely because the conceptualization of the ST affects how we understand the TT.