ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´

Contact

• workRoom B30a Trent Building
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• work0115 95 15893
• fax0115 95 15812
• Pierre-alexis.Mevel@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

Dr Pierre-Alexis ²Ñé±¹±ð±ô is Associate Professor in Translation Studies at the ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´. His research interests include creative captions for the screen and for the stage, the translation of nonstandard language varieties, and media accessibility. He teaches subtitling for D/deaf audiences and audio description at the ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´. He is a fierce advocate for inclusive media-making practices and has a long track-record of working with partners from the creative industries.

Expertise Summary

• Translation theory
• Audiovisual translation
• Subtitling (interlingual and DoH)
• Dubbing
• Audio description
• Transfiction
• Machine translation

Teaching Summary

MLAC3157 Subtitling and Dubbing from French into English

MLAC4027 Audiovisual Translation: Accessibility

MLAC1079 Introduction to French and Francophone Studies (Phonetics)

MLAC3061 Translation from French

MLAC3114 Translation into French for native speakers of French

MLAC3151 Introduction to Interpreting

Research Summary

My first monograph Subtitling African American English into French: can we Do the Right Thing? analysed the French subtitling of African American English in a corpus of films from the United States,… read more

Recent Publications

• PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, FRANCESCA LEVERIDGE and MYRON TSIKANDILAKIS, 2025. Journal Audiovisual Translation. 8(1),
• FRANCESCA LEVERIDGE, PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL and MYRON TSIKANDILAKIS, 2024. Journal of Audiovisual Translation. 7(1), 1-32
• PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, 2024. The Illusion of Symmetry: Subtitling African America into French. In: IRENE RANZATO and PATRICK ZABALBEASCOA, eds., Palgrave Handbook of Multilingualism and Language Varieties on Screen Palgrave.
• MYRON TSIKANDILAKIS, PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, PERSEPHONE BALI, ALEXANDROS-KONSTANTINOS KARLIS, CHRISTOPHER MADAN, PATTY MORFI and ALISON MILLBANK, 2024. Perception.

• View all publications

Current Research

My first monograph Subtitling African American English into French: can we Do the Right Thing? analysed the French subtitling of African American English in a corpus of films from the United States, exploring in particular the implications of resorting to non-standard forms in the French subtitles to portray linguistic variation. I have also published several articles on the translation of non-standard varieties.

I originally focussed on translation for screens but then went on to work on an AHRC-funded project for the stage. The main project partner was a Derby-based company called Red Earth Theatre, a small-scale touring theatre company with an established track record and commitment to research in inclusive integrated communication for young audiences (with a focus on deaf audiences). In this project, we explored the potential for the use of cheap or freely available immersive technologies to support further development of integrated inclusiveness for deaf audiences in small scale touring productions. Also working with stakeholders from the D/deaf community (through D/deaf societies and with local schools with deaf units), the research team (from English, Translation Studies and Computer Science) prototyped tools and resources to make stage performances more inclusive through the integration of captioning into creative processes. The team was then awarded follow-on funding by the AHRC to use the technology in a show created by Red Earth that toured around the UK. Red Earth have recently had to close, in no small part because of Covid. As a result of this project, we published a series of articles.

Past Research

At the intersection of Translation Studies, Sociolinguistics and Film Studies, my doctoral thesis analysed how textual and audiovisual objects move across borders, and the nature of the shift characters' identity undergoes in the process of translation. I examine the translation into French, in the form of subtitles, of a corpus of American films portraying speakers of a marked use of language (African American Vernacular English, henceforth AAVE) that informs character development, and convey powerful social and political traits that are particularly meaningful in the source culture. This raises particular issues relating to the formation of identities, about their cultural porosity, and the transferability of culturally bound features and the nature of their adaptation in another culture. In the process, I am redefining the figure of the translator, who is constantly negotiating with cultures, for instance by associating features of banlieue French (such as verlan) in their subtitles with images of Black America. Although sociolinguistic studies have shown how black youths use specific linguistic characteristics to construct their social identity, the audiovisual translation of vernacular language and the possibilities for language to convey otherness remain under-studied. In this thesis, I show the ways in which these traits are altered (in the etymological sense, "made other/different/foreign") in the process of translation. This case study on the subtitling of AAVE into French, particularly in the context of audiovisual translation which is just coming to the fore of Translation Studies, contributes to broader debates on the translation of sociolinguistic features and suggests ways in which existing subtitling frameworks might be broadened to include cultural and sociolinguistic dimensions, rather than limiting themselves to technical and linguistic considerations.

Future Research

My focus has recently shifted back to screen settings, and particularly to the reception of subtitles, yet still with EDI considerations and particularly D/deaf audiences. At the intersection of Psychology and Translation Studies, this project investigates the emotional correlates of different types of subtitles on audiences. We compare the reception of 'creative subtitles' (also sometimes referred to as 'integrated titles' - subtitles that experiment with font/typeface, size, colour, positioning and enhancing effects) with that of traditional subtitles (white letters, bottom of the screen).

I am also currently working on a project with a Nottingham-based dance company called IMPACD CIC. After transalting their website into Easy Language, we set the WeSpeak initiaitive (https://wespeakuon.wordpress.com/about/) and have been fervent advocate for inclusive media-making practices.

• PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, FRANCESCA LEVERIDGE and MYRON TSIKANDILAKIS, 2025. Journal Audiovisual Translation. 8(1),
• FRANCESCA LEVERIDGE, PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL and MYRON TSIKANDILAKIS, 2024. Journal of Audiovisual Translation. 7(1), 1-32
• PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, 2024. The Illusion of Symmetry: Subtitling African America into French. In: IRENE RANZATO and PATRICK ZABALBEASCOA, eds., Palgrave Handbook of Multilingualism and Language Varieties on Screen Palgrave.
• MYRON TSIKANDILAKIS, PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, PERSEPHONE BALI, ALEXANDROS-KONSTANTINOS KARLIS, CHRISTOPHER MADAN, PATTY MORFI and ALISON MILLBANK, 2024. Perception.
• MARTYN GRAY and PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, 2024. Available at: <https://wespeakuon.wordpress.com/>
• 2024. Borders Talk: Dots, Dashes & the Stories They Tell: Borders and Language ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´. . 01/01/1900 00:00:00
• PIERRE-ALEXIS MEVEL, PAUL TENNENT and JO ROBINSON, 2023. inTRAlinea: Online Translation Journal.
• FRANCESCA LEVERIDGE and PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, 2023. Journal of Romance Studies. 23(1), 27-47
• MYRON TSIKANDILAKIS, PERSEFONI BALI, ZHAOLIANG YU, ALEXANDROS-KONSTANTINOS KARLIS, EDDIE MUN WAI TONG, ALISON MILLBANK, PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, JAN DERRFUSS and CHRISTOPHER MADAN, 2023. Current Psychology. 43, 3999-4015
• MYRON TSIKANDILAKIS, PERSEFONI BALI, ALEXANDROS-KONSTANTINOS KARLIS, PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, CHRISTOPHER MADAN, JAN DERRFUSS and ALISON MILLBANK, 2023. Current Research in Behavioural Sciences. 4,
• PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, JO ROBINSON and PAUL TENNENT, 2023. Integrated immersive inclusiveness: rethinking captioning for creative accessibility. In: LOUKIA COSTOPOULOU and VIASSILIKI MISIOU, eds., New Paths in Theatre Translation and Surtitling Routledge.
• MYRON TSIKANDILAKIS, PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL and ET AL, 2023. Perception. 52, 812-843
• PIERRE-ALEXIS MEVEL, PAUL TENNENT and JO ROBINSON, 2022. Journal of Audiovisual Translation. 5(2), 176-193
• TSIKANDILAKIS, MYRON, YU, ZHAOLIANG, KAUSEL, LEONIE, BONCOMPTE, GONZALO, LANFRANCO, RENZO C., OXNER, MATT, BALI, PERSEFONI, URALE LEONG, POUTASI, QING, MAN, PATERAKIS, GEORGE, CACI, SALVATORE, MILBANK, ALISON, MEVEL, PIERRE-ALEXIS, CARMEL, DAVID, MADAN, CHRISTOPHER, DERRFUSS, JAN and CHAPMAN, PETER, 2021. "There Is No (Where a) Face Like Home": Recognition and Appraisal Responses to Masked Facial Dialects of Emotion in Four Different National Cultures PERCEPTION. 50(12), 1027-1055
• MYRON TSIKANDILAKIS, MAN QING LEONG, ZHAOLIANG YU, GEORGIOS PATERAKIS, PERSEFONI BALI, JAN DERRFUSS, PIERRE-ALEXIS MEVEL, ALISON MILBANK, EDDIE TONG MUN WAI TONG, CHRISTOPHER MADAN and PETER MITCHELL, 2021. Psychological Research.
• PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, 2020. Punctum. 6(1), 203-219
• PIERRE-ALEXIS MEVEL, 2019. Traduction Terminologie Rédaction.
• 2019. Creative Captions - Red Earth Theatre Anthony Esteban & Pierre-Alexis ²Ñé±¹±ð±ô. 05/01/2019 00:00:00
• PIERRE-ALEXIS MEVEL, 2018. Atelier de Traduction. 29, 115-127
• PIERRE-ALEXIS MEVEL and DAWN CORNELIO, 2018. Traduction Terminologie Rédaction. 29(1), 139-160
• PIERRE-ALEXIS MEVEL, 2017. Subtitling African American English into French: Can We Do the Right Thing? Peter Lang.
• PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, 2014. InTRAlinea: Across Boundaries, Across Screens.
• JEAN-XAVIER RIDON, PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL and NADINE LAPORTE, eds., 2012. Européens, qui sommes-nous? Presses de l'université de Pau.
• MÉVEL, P-A., 2012. Passages européens, la traduction audiovisuelle et les films américains en Europe: discontinuités, violence et conflits. In: RIDON, J-X., MÉVEL, P-A. and LAPORTE, N., eds., Européens, qui sommes-nous?: Actes des 2e et 3e colloques "Europe" Presses de l'université de Pau et des pays de l'Adour. 51-62
• PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL and HELEN TATTAM, eds., 2010. Language and its Contexts: Transposition and Transformation of Meaning? – Le langage et ses contextes: Transposition et transformation du sens ? Peter Lang.
• PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, 2010. Trompe l’oeil et traduction. In: PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL and HELEN TATTAM, eds., Language and its Contexts: Transposition and Transformation of Meaning? – Le langage et ses contextes: Transposition et transformation du sens ? 91. Peter Lang. 268
• HELEN TATTAM and PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, 2010. Introduction. In: PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL and HELEN TATTAM, eds., Language and its Contexts: Transposition and Transformation of Meaning? – Le langage et ses contextes: Transposition et transformation du sens ? 91. Peter Lang. 268
• PIERRE-ALEXIS MÉVEL, 2010. Traduire La Haine: Le sous-titrage du français des banlieues. In: FEDERICO FEDERICI, ed., Translating Regionalised Voices in Audiovisuals Aracne. 263-277