AD in China at the crossroads: a set of guidelines for localising AD scripts from Spanish into Chinese

In light of the growing demand for audio description (AD) in China, both in quantitative and qualitative terms, coupled with the persistent shortage of qualified AD scriptwriters, this article advocates for AD translation from Spanish to Chinese, a type of indirect translation, as an alternative approach to addressing this issue, potentially benefiting from localisation techniques (Jankowska et al., 2017; Remael & Vercauteren, 2010). This article presents the development of a set of guidelines for localising AD scripts from Spanish into Chinese, resulting from triangulating a corpus study comparing Chinese and Spanish ADs, interviews with Chinese AD providers, a reception study with end-users, and participant observation through a field study. Additionally, it discusses three controversial elements related to AD scriptwriting, along with four norms that guide the script writers' decision-making process, which must be considered when localising AD scripts in Chinese. It concludes with a summary of the localisation guidelines.