Multiculturalism on screen : subtitling and the translation of cultural differences

One of the most significant legacies of successive migration policies in Australia has been the transformation of Australia’s linguistic landscape. Australia is a country where many different languages are spoken from Aboriginal languages still practiced in remote regional communities, to the use of homeland or first languages in many households. Today the most commonly spoken languages in Australia are English, Italian, Greek, Cantonese, Arabic, Mandarin and Vietnamese. This linguistic diversity is at the heart of Australian multiculturalism. It is a powerful indicator of the complexities of cross-cultural interaction in hyper-diverse societies. Languages carry with them worldviews and values they are one of the most intimate markers of identity. While English may be the dominant or national language for many Australians it is often not the language of everyday life. Australia is multilingual and this reality presents a range of challenges to social communication.