This exercise is designe to help candidates for the T2M-TA2M MA programs practice for the entance exam scheduled for Saturday 4 March. All candidates will be required to complete this part of the exam, which  will involve :

• transcription of an audiovisual document in English
• carrying out appropriate research to make sure that you understand the subject matter, that you know (and can explain) the terminology and phraseology you will need to use, and that you can adapt your translation to fit the expectations of viewers in your target language in terms of style and register, domestication or foreignization, etc.
• translating the text into English following the instructions given (for example, a fixed number of characters if making subtitles, or synchronising your translation with the rest of the soundtrack if asked to translate for voiceover)
• paying attention to any relevant details in the image and soundtrack
• answering questions to explain your working methods and choice of translation strategy.

The document for this practice exercise is from the Australian YouTube channel MightyCarMods, entitled “We Bought the CHEAPEST HILUX in Australia (then fixed it in ONE DAY)”. The channel has almost 4 million subscribers and tends to emphasize its Australian roots while also attempting to explain some references for an international audience.

Your ‘client’ for this exercise is the French channel RMC Découverte, which broadcasts several automotive-themed shows such as Top Gear and Les dépanneurs de l’extrême, in both original French and translated versions, under its RMC Mecanic sub-brand.

For this exercise, try working on the first part of the video, from 0:00 to 2:27, ending with “thanks for lunch”. The text you will be given on 4 March will likely be shorter and somewhat less difficult, but will require using the same skills.

1. Transcribe the dialogue you hear in English, making a note of any expressions that require further research. You may use the automatic captions on YouTube to help you but should note and try to explain any errors in the transcription. You are advised to use a table to help you organise your transcription plus the research and translation steps outlined in the steps below:

Start time	Transcription	Transcription comments	Terms and expressions to research (show sources used)	Proposed translation	Translation comments
0:09	Moog: And as such, Marty’s RX7 with the blown gearbox is not getting touched at all, no.	Error in YT captions: ‘blind gearbox’ for ‘blown gearbox’	RX7 [see gesture in image] blown (gearbox) [check use of ‘blown’ in this context, and give the sources you use to check and to find a French equivalent]	Non, on ne touche pas aujourd’hui à la Mazda de Marty avec sa boîte de vitesses éclatée.	‘RX7’ rendered as Mazda (car model less well-known than brand in target market). If brand names are problematic for the client, voiture de sport (hyperonym) or a synomym like coupé or bolide also possble, since the car is designated with a gesture.

2. Research the different terms, expressions and cultural references you will need to translate the dialogue and add them to your table. For an audiovisual document where dialogue follows the conventions of oral rather than written langugae, you will often need to research the expression in the source language (e.g. ‘blown gearbox’, above) before looking for an expression in the target language that is both accurate and appropriate for the style and register of your project. Indicate the sources used to carry out this research, such as dictionaries or glossaries or other documents in either the source or the target language. In the example given, the basic meaning of boîte de vitesses cassée could potentially be rendered as something like boîte éclatée or boîte HS given that the context of car mechanics is already established.
3. Translate the dialogue into French, paying attention to the style, register and target audience expectations of the document you are translating and following any other instructions you have been given. Your “client” for this video has requested a translation to be made for voiceover, meaning that dialogue should be roughly the same length in the source and target languages and as idiomatic as possible in French. If asked to produce a translation to be made into subtitles, you may be asked to produce a complete translation first, then a shortened version.
4. Add any comments about your translation choices or the translation process to the table, remembering that the examiners are just as interested in how you work as in what you produce.
5. Write a few sentences in English to answer the following questions [the questions asked will not always be the same, but will always be designed to show you have thought carefully about the task and understand what is involved in a translation project] :
   • Who is likely to view the translated version of your document and how could this influence your translation? Describe your strategy to translate (a) technical references and (b) any Australian cultural references encountered in the document.
   • What were the main challenges you faced when carrying out this exercise and how did you solve them?
   • What resources and tools did you use to carry out your translation and how did you use them?
     • ‘Resources’ could include things such as reference documents, dictionaries and glossaries (the more specialised the better!) or even guidelines published by your client or audiovisual regulators like the ARCOM.
     • ‘Tools’ could include anything that you used to transcribe, research, translate and edit the final document. You are allowed to use any tools you wish including machine translation and generative AI tools, but must name the tools used and how you used them, including any relevant information such as prompts and screenshots.
   • How do you think this task illustrates the need for human added value in the langugae industry? Explain your answer with examples.