Rozwój tłumaczenia napisowego w Polsce w latach 1931–1939

Text translation in films, contrary to frequently quoted opinions, did not start with the introduction of sound in films – which occurred in Poland in the 1929/30 cinema season. Prior to that, in the silent cinema period, title cards were a tried and tested way of delivering content to the viewer. And these silent movies’ intertitles were translated. Copies of various foreign films with Polish title cards have even been preserved instead of with the original wording. Imitating title cards for silent films, subtitles began to appear in films with sound and dialogue. These were “inserted subtitles” – between scene edits. The next way of presenting a subtitle was the in-image subtitle, which began modern film subtitling. This article concerns the subtitling of films in Poland in 1931–1939. It endeavours to show the development of Polish film text translation in its initial phase. The article contains previously unpublished pictures of subtitles for films from the discussed period, which come from original archival research.