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Screen Translation: Dubbing

Chapter · December 2006

DOI: 10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/00471-5

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6 Duan Yucai (1735–1815)

that he applied his phonological theories properly to applied it in the interpretation of various classical
tackle the puzzling problems in the dictionary. The texts. Eventually fruitful results were achieved.
preface of the annotation, written by Wang Niansun
(1744–1832, see Wang Nien-Sun (1744–1832)), con-
firmed this point. See also: Chinese; Wang Li (1900–1986); Wang Nien-Sun
Duan’s phonological theories can be found in his (1744–1832).
Liushu yinyun biao (Phonological table of six char-
acter types). He divided Old Chinese into seventeen
rhyme categories, eight less than Dai Zhen. Another Bibliography
important theory put forward by Duan is ‘‘(characters
Baxter W H (1992). A handbook of old Chinese phonology.
with) the same phonetic element must be in the same Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
rhyme category.’’ This principle was thoroughly ap- Duan Yucai ([1776] 1983). Liushu yinyun biao. Beijing:
plied in the Shuowen jiezi zhu, where every word was Zhonghua shuju.
assigned to one of his seventeen categories. His obser- Duan Yucai ([1815] 1981). Shuowen jiezi zhu. Shanghai:
vations on intercategory rhyming practice and sound Shanghai guji chubanshe.
changes were also innovative. Hummel A W (ed.) (1967). Eminent Chinese of Ch’ing
It is not an exaggeration to say that Duan’s work period (1644–1912). Taipei: Ch’eng Wen Publishing
had turned the trends of the studies on Chinese Company.
philology. His followers inherited the method of Wang Li (1992). Qingdai guyinxue. Beijing: Zhonghua
linking etymology and phonology together, and shuju.

Dubbing
F Chaume-Varela, Universitat Jaume I, Castelló de la includes all dubbing types (dubbing properly, partial
Plana, Spain dubbing, narration, voice-over, etc.).
ß 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The Dubbing Process
Dubbing is a type of Audiovisual Translation mainly The process of dubbing begins when a TV channel or
used in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Austria, a movie house decides to buy (the exhibition rights of)
Switzerland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, a foreign film in a foreign language in order to offer it
Turkey, Brazil, China, Japan, most Asian countries, in the local language. Then the TV channel or movie
and some North-African countries, consisting of a house commissions the translation and the dubbing
replacement of the original track of a film containing process to a dubbing studio. In the studio, a dub-
the source language dialogs, for another track on bing director selects the voices (professional dubbing
which translated dialogs in the target language are actors and actresses) that will give life to the transla-
recorded. The remaining tracks are kept inviolable tion, and stimulates and instructs the actors to put on
(the soundtrack – including music and special effects the most adequate and accurate acting performances.
– and the track containing the images). Audiovisual At the same time, the studio commissions the transla-
Translation, a generic term equivalent to Screen tion to a professional translator. The translation brief
Translation or Media Translation and opposed to usually consists of a literal translation that reflects all
written and oral translation, not only includes dub- the idiosyncrasies of the source text and culture – the
bing but also subtitling – the other major type of so-called rough translation. Then a dialog writer
Audiovisual Translation – voice-over, narration, free rewrites the translation (sometimes this is also done
commentary, and partial dubbing (Luyken et al., by the same translator), making it sound like natural
1991; Gambier, 2000; Dı́az Cintas, 2003; Chaume, speech and taking care of the three kinds of synchro-
2004a). The term revoicing also can be used as a nization described below. This text is then passed on
synonym for dubbing, but it also includes the process to the dubbing actors and actresses who, under the
of intralingual postsynchronization (when the origi- supervision of the dubbing director, will utter and fit
nal dialogs of a film are subsequently recorded in a all sentences into the mouth of the original source
studio). When revoicing is just used as a synonym for actors and actresses of the film. A sound technician
dubbing or interlingual postsynchronization, the term or engineer will then record the target dialogs on a
 Dubbing 7

blank track of the original copy of the film, which will close-ups or detailed lip shots, solutions provided in
be ultimately mixed with the original tracks so that the professional contexts of the European countries
the film also can be exhibited and heard in the target with excellent dubbing reputations, are generally
language. much more relaxed.
The synchronization of the translation with the
actors’ body movements is known as kinetic syn-
Synchronization
chrony (Whitman, 1992: 33), originally referred to
Synchronization (or lip-sync) is one of the key factors by Fodor (1976: 72) as character synchrony. The
at stake in dubbing. It is commonly considered as the translation also must agree with the movements of
differentiating feature of dubbing, although, in fact, it the screen characters, i.e., a nodding head indicating
only represents one important area, together with affirmation cannot be accompanied by a negative
others such as the need to produce a translation ‘no.’
reflecting oral unlabored dialog (a written text to be The synchronization of the duration of the transla-
spoken as if not written), or the effect of the interac- tion with the screen characters’ utterances and pauses
tion between image and word on translation solu- is known as isochrony (Whitman, 1992), i.e., the
tions. Synchronization undeniably has a direct translated dialog must fit exactly in the time between
impact on the translation process and product, and, the instant the screen actor opens his/her mouth – to
as such, it should be given due consideration in the utter the source text dialogs – and the instant in which
study of Audiovisual Translation. Synchronization he/she closes his/her mouth. Most criticisms of a
obliges the translator to put into practice his or her badly dubbed film are grounded in deficiencies of
creative skills and move away from literal conceptions isochrony, as it is here that the viewer is most likely
in translation to focus on the function of the text to notice the fault.
and on the viewer, one of the essential features of Two further types of synchronization referred to
Audiovisual Translation. in the literature do not strictly fall within synchroni-
Although synchronization is both the professional zation: so-called character synchrony and content
and academic term for this technique (Fodor, 1976; synchrony. The former (Whitman, 1992) covers the
Mayoral et al., 1988; Whitman, 1992), other terms agreement between the voices of the dubbing actors
also may be found for the same technique, such as and the expectations of the on-screen actor’s voice: in
adjustment or adaptation. The following definition general, a child on screen cannot be dubbed by an
may be posited: Synchronization is one of the features older male voice; a woman’s voice must sound femi-
of translation for dubbing, which consists of match- nine, whereas the ‘baddie’ must sound deep and sin-
ing the target language translation and the articulat- ister. Apart from discussions of political correctness,
ory and body movements of the screen actors and this kind of ‘synchrony’ is definitely directly related to
actresses, as well as matching the utterances and the dramatization of dubbing actors, rather than a
pauses in the translation and those of the source text. type of synchronization. As such, it falls outside the
The proposed definition establishes the following range of synchronization to which the translator or
types of synchronization and rejects other typologies dialog writer has access. The effects of dramatization
that have been included in the literature to date. The are totally in the hands of the dubbing actors and the
definition suggests three types of synchronization: dubbing director.
. phonetic or lip synchrony Content synchrony (Mayoral et al., 1988), or the
. kinetic synchrony or body movement synchrony semantic relation between the translation and what
. isochrony or synchrony between utterances and happens on screen (images and music), cannot be
considered as a type of synchronization either. Here
pauses
the term synchrony or synchronization is misleading,
Lip or phonetic synchrony, referred to as phonetic as it refers, rather than to synchrony, to the function-
synchrony by Fodor (1976), lip-sync by Luyken et al. al-systemic concept of coherence.
(1991) and lip synchrony by Whitman (1992), consists The degree of accurateness of synchronization
of adapting the translation to the articulatory move- depends on countries and traditions (norms). For
ments of the on-screen characters, especially in close- some countries lip-sync is not that necessary, for
ups and big or extreme close-ups. The translation others isochrony is not compulsory. The observation
should particularly respect the open vowels and bi- of the different kinds of synchrony depends on many
labial and labio-dental consonants pronounced on factors, among them, the characteristics of the source
screen. Fodor’s comprehensive study includes much text (films and cartoons are not equally synchro-
more detailed observations for phonetic synchrony, nized), the languages and cultures in contact (the
but, except in the cases of close-ups, big or extreme closeness of a language pair), the professional context
8 Dubbing

(the client’s demands), the characteristics of synchro- the translation of idioms, politeness, humor, film
nization itself, the characteristics of the viewer (child titles, censorship, the construction of national
and adult audiences) and those of the target culture identity, film language, etc.
(Chaume, 2004b). Film language and translation is one of the
promising areas of research at present. The audio-
visual text is understood as a semiotic construct
Research
made up of different signifying codes the meaning of
Articles on aspects of dubbing were published in Eur- which interact with each other (linguistic, paralin-
ope as early as the 1960s and 1970s. Even so, it was guistic, musical, iconographic, photographic, etc.).
the pioneering work of Fodor (1976) that opened the The linguistic code, despite its predominant role, is
doors to research in this field, especially in the analy- but one more code at play in the construction and
sis of the process from a professional perspective and later transfer of meaning in audiovisual texts. For
in the insistence on the adaptation of translation to the translator, knowledge of all the signifying
the movements of the screen character’s mouths. codes present in the audiovisual texts is extremely
Years later, the detailed contribution made by May- relevant. Apart from the descriptive analysis of these
oral, Kelly, and Gallardo (1988) lays the foundations codes, the translator should be particularly interested
for investigation into dubbing and audiovisual trans- in the effect of the different signifying codes upon
lation. In the 1990s, Europe saw the publication of the linguistic code, as this is the only one that can be
wide-reaching studies on dubbing (Luyken et al., manipulated at all (together with the soundtrack).
1991; Whitman, 1992; Herbst, 1994; Agost, 1999; A translation that does not take all the codes
Chaves, 2000; Chaume, 2003, 2004a; among others), into account could then be seen only as a partial
some pioneering articles (Hochel, 1986; Goris, 1993; translation.
Delabastita, 1989, 1990; Zabalbeascoa, 1996; among
others), collective volumes (among them, those edited Quality Standards
by Gambier, 1996, 1998, or Gambier and Gottlieb,
In professional circles, there seems to be agreement
2001), and special issues of journals (the most recent
with respect to three quality standards that any
being The Translator, 9(2) and Meta, 49(1), both
dubbed product should have:
edited by Gambier). Karamitroglou’s Towards a
methodology for the investigation of norms in audio- . Observance of the three kinds of synchronization
visual translation (2000) explains the Greek land- mentioned above, especially of isochrony. This
scape with a descriptive study of norms governing should be taken into account by the translator, the
the choice of audiovisual modalities based upon the dialog writer, and the dubbing director.
polysystem theory. . Avoidance of overacting or underacting perfor-
The lines of work in translation for dubbing are mances. Overdone, overdramatic performances,
mainly focused in two different fields. First, there is as well as flat and monotonous speech, do not
the consideration of the constraints affecting the pro- contribute to the illusion of watching and living a
cess of translation, mainly the simultaneous presence true story. Actors and actresses and the dubbing
of images and dialogs, but also the observation of the director are responsible for this. Nevertheless, this
different types of synchronization, or the elaboration norm depends on countries and traditions, for ex-
of fresh, unlabored dialog, together with the strate- ample, narration in Poland or Russia sounds flat
gies and techniques employed, etc. Second, there is the and monotonous to people in Western European
study of the translation itself: the product. In other countries, whereas dubbing sounds phony, artifi-
words, the dubbed text is studied from linguistic- cial, and false to people in some Eastern European
discursive, cinematographic, ideological, cultural countries.
and social perspectives. Translations are then seen as . Elaboration of credible and natural dialogs,
a system that influence and are influenced by other believable and convincing sentences, gestures and
(literary) systems within the general polysystem of the intonation that give the illusion of watching a ‘real’
target culture (the cultural impact of audiovisual story. This is one of the translator’s major goals.
texts, the generation of new types of texts in the
receiving cultures and the necessary adaptations, See also: Norms and Correctness; Subtitling; Voice-Over.
etc.). Of special interest are the emerging studies on
norms in dubbed texts, still vague and localized in
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Dubois, Jacques (Sylvius) (1489–1555)

D A Kibbee, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA Montpellier, receiving his degree in medicine in 1529.
ß 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. When refused a post at the University of Paris, he
returned to his Humanistic studies and wrote the
first grammar of French written in France, the In
Jacques Dubois (1489–1555) is also known by the linguam gallicam isagoge, una cum eiusdem Gram-
Latin form of his name, Sylvius Ambianus (‘of matica Latino–gallica, ex Hebraeis, Graecis, et Lati-
Amiens’). He studied letters in Paris and medicine in nis authoribus (‘Introduction to the Gallic (French)

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