When Hollywood Goes Global

Bloopers


http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2000/12/122800_subtitles.jhtml

The Art of Subtitles

Many people in other parts of the globe base their views of American life on what they see in the movies. The dialogue for American movies is translated into many other languages. What can go wrong in the translation? How can non-English speaking audiences around the world understand the latest adventures of the nutty professor or Erin Brockovich?

Before a movie is released in countries where English is not the official language, the dialogue must be translated. One frequently used method is subtitles. The original dialogue soundtrack is left in place and the translation is printed along the bottom of the film. The translator of subtitles faces a unique challenge that few other translators deal with: The original words are presented simultaneously with the translation. Anyone who understands both languages can immediately spot any translation mistakes.

Vivian Vitler is a veteran translator of English and Spanish movies and television shows for Israeli audiences. She says that the challenge of having the original dialogue alongside her translation forces her to check and recheck her work to ensure accuracy. She relies on an array of specialized dictionaries (including ones that cover slang, visual definitions, and technical terms), extensive research on the Web, and consultation with specialists in order to catch as many of the unfamiliar phrases and specific references as possible.

Vitler gives the example of a mistranslation by one of her colleagues: The dialogue said that someone was so crazy he wanted "to build a Greyhound depot on the highway." The translator relied on a dictionary instead of consulting with someone who could provide the fact that Greyhound is the name of an American bus company. So, of course, the subtitle changed the intent: "He is so crazy that he wants to build a dog-racing track on the highway." Subtitles give the translator the option of explaining puns and jokes, if this can be done in a word or two. For example, Vitler recently translated a movie in which a young boy claimed that he was a pacifist so he would "pass-on-fist."

Obviously no translation is going to express this play on the sound of words. But with subtitles, the translator can add a brief explanation in parentheses, to help the audience get the full intent of the original dialogue. The Bloopers When Americans watch a subtitled Hollywood comedy in a European cinema, they often laugh at points in the film where no one from the native audience laughs. Sometimes the European's lack of laughter is due to cultural differences in perception of what is funny. In other cases it is because the translator has failed to translate the joke. In a handful of cases, the Americans' laughter is caused by the translation itself. Consider a simple word like "call." Webster's dictionary gives 15 definitions for the noun alone.

Here are two actual mistranslations from movie and TV subtitles :
A priest explains, "That's when I got my call from God."
The subtitle reads: "That's when God telephoned me."

A general has to decide whether or not to bomb an urban target, and he says, "It's a tough call." The subtitle reads: "It's hard to make a phone call."

In both cases, the translator didn't consider the various meanings of the word call.

Subtitles vs. Dubbing

There are two possible methods for providing the translation of a movie's dialogue: subtitles, where the original dialogue soundtrack is left in place and the translation is printed along the bottom of the film dubbing , where the dialogue soundtrack is replaced with one recorded in the viewing country's language by local actors.Each method has advantages and disadvantages. Subtitles enable audiences to hear the original soundtrack the way the original actors and the director intended. Subtitles also let people with some English vocabulary listen to the original, while aiding them when they need help understanding a specific phrase.

Subtitles:

Subtitles are limited by space and time. There is only room for a limited number of characters across the bottom of the film. The translator must break the translation into logical lines that fit into this space constraint. Also, each subtitle needs to display for two to six seconds to enable the audience to read it. If the dialogue is flowing quickly, the audience members may feel that they are "missing out on something," because obviously more is being said than they are being given to read.


Dubbing :

The advantage of dubbing is that it frees the audience up from the need to read, enabling viewers to enjoy the visual side of the film more fully. Dubbing is free of space limitations, so the translator is able to include more of the dialogue. However, there are still time constraints: The dubbed dialogue must take the same amount of time to speak as the original dialogue. It is unsettling for the viewer to watch one person's lips moving while another person's voice is speaking. Dubbing is necessary for nonreading audiences, such as preschoolers, who are incapable of reading subtitles.

For this reason, Disney movies are usually dubbed, including the songs. Have you ever seen a movie with subtitles or a dubbed soundtrack?

Did you enjoy the experience?

What did you dislike about the experience?

If you are going to a foreign-language film and have the choice between subtitles and dubbing , which would you prefer?

Why?

Foreign Language Dubbing

Shrek(2)


http://www.mcall.com/features/arts/all-filmdubbingjan23,0,3142564.story?coll=all-artsideas-hed

Film-dubbing a key for foreign movie sales

By Mary McNamara
Special to The Morning Call
HOLLYWOOD

At first Chuck Mitchell did not think it was such a great idea to insert a slaughterhouse joke in the middle of ''Shrek.''''I said, wait a minute, I don't think so. I mean it's one thing to have Shrek say he's going to kick Donkey's butt; it's another to have him dragging him off to the meat house.''But then Mitchell isn't Polish. Apparently, in Poland, there is a very funny folk tale involving a donkey and a slaughterhouse. And according to the translator working on the Polish version of the wildly successful DreamWorks film, they would be fools not to reference it. So Mitchell said go with the slaughterhouse.''We had a great translator,'' he says with a shrug. ''I trusted him. There were lots of things that had to be changed because a lot of the fairy tales they use in 'Shrek' are not known in Poland. So we used dialogue to add some Polish fairy tales.

''Mitchell is president of Voices in the Arts, an audio production company that does, among other things, foreign dubbing for theatrical and nontheatrical film projects. As foreign sales have become increasingly important to the entertainment industry — making up, in some cases, 50 percent of revenue — the ''foreign post-production,'' or dubbing, industry has grown in scope and expertise. Where once it consisted of literal voice-over translation, often not particularly well-synchronized, now entire casts and crews are assembled to re-create the dialogue in a way that captures not only the spirit of the original movie but also provides local nuance to make it play better in the various foreign territories.

Throughout Western Europe, English-speaking film and television has been regularly dubbed for years. In France, Italy, Germany and Spain (the FIGS, as they are called in the industry), there is a free-standing dubbing industry with studios and talent that can have lucrative careers in dubbing alone. But as Hollywood has ventured into Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa, dubbing is overseen by the American studios that will hire local actors and directors but, when the budget allows, also provide a production supervisor such as Mitchell to be on set.Mitchell signs off on everything — from the script to the performances, where cultural translation is as important as linguistics.

For ''Shrek,'' Mitchell oversaw the Polish, Catalan and Castilian versions; for ''Titan A.E.,'' he worked in Hong Kong, Korea, Spain, Iceland and Greece; and for ''Star Wars: The Phantom Menace,'' he supervised the dubbing in Hong Kong and Russia. ''Chuck is part of a very select group who not only understand the creative process but also know how to do all the audio post-production,'' says Debra Chinn, executive director of international theatrical dubbing for Fox Film Corp., who has worked with Mitchell many times over the years. ''Because it's not a question of understanding the language so much as it is understanding the original project.''

''In a way, I am a professional American,'' Mitchell says. ''A lot of the [foreign] directors may or may not have worked in the U.S., so they may or may not get some of the references or nuance. Sometimes I have to explain that this is supposed to be funny, or this isn't.''That cuts both ways. Mitchell remembers asking a Russian director why the actors voicing one film sounded so stern and angry. ''I said, 'You know, the characters aren't supposed to be angry here.' And he said, 'Oh they aren't angry. That's just the way we talk.' I hear it's even worse in Turkey; in Turkey they scream at each other.''

Mitchell, who got into theatrical dubbing by way of music production and interactive dubbing , is one of a handful of independent dubbing supervisors living in the United States. Occasionally, he works in the FIGS. (If there is a big enough budget for the translated version, local stars will be cast — in France, Vincent Cassel often dubs Hugh Grant, in Poland Jerzy Stuhr dubbed Eddie Murphy in both ''Shreks.'')But much of his work has been in the newer territories. Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa still tend toward subtitles, but that is changing, especially for those films aimed at a family audience. ''Kids can't read subtitles,'' Mitchell says. ''So they dub the animation features and some live action. 'Star Wars' is a natural example.''

''When I got into dubbing in 1989,'' says Chinn, who has a degree in linguistics, ''I went to Disney because the only studio that had its own dubbing department was Disney. Now most of the big studios have one.''And with the increase in foreign sales has come a greater concern about ''protecting the brand.'' Filmmakers want to make sure that what audiences are hearing in Iceland and Hong Kong and Moscow is essentially, if not specifically, the same dialogue heard in the United States. Which means the studios need more control and more resources.'' So in 'Star Wars,' you have to secure all the various voices of Darth Vader,'' Chinn says. ''Which can be difficult if, over the years, some of the actors have died or retired.''

Although it probably isn't the first thing on anyone's mind, every shift in the international community affects Mitchell and Chinn and those involved in foreign post-production. When the Soviet Union fell, when the United States invaded Afghanistan and then Iraq, new dubbing markets were born. When Chinn came to Fox in 1997, the studio dubbed for 28 territories; this year it will be 33.''Croatia may not provide a huge revenue,'' Chinn says, ''but it's revenue.''Although it is cheaper to deal directly with a director in a given territory, a dubbing supervisor gives the studio more control. There are countless ways a translation must be modified for each audience. ''I Huckabees,'' for example, opens with 45 seconds of swearing, which doesn't play well in France. So the tenor of the language had to be changed.

Directors such as David O. Russell and Baz Luhrmann are becoming increasingly involved; many will sit through each dubbed version with a translator and sometimes demand a new version if they aren't happy with an actor.''It isn't like the old days when films just got a voice-over translation,'' Mitchell says. ''Everything is much more nuanced.''

Yet cost-cutting at every level has recently decreased the number of jobs Mitchell has gotten abroad. It has been suggested to him by several studio executives that he move to Europe, which would make him competitive for projects without the budget to fly in and put up a U.S.-based supervisor. So far, he and his wife have resisted, and a nascent local dubbing market is filling in some of the gaps.

Mary McNamara is a writer for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.

Hollywood studios have mixed record in India

Gladiator(Hindi)


http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/05/jan/30hollywood.asp
By Priyanka Khanna, IANS

Mixed signals are emanating from Hollywood studios about their future plans in India. While 20th Century Fox has decided to wind up its operations in India, some other studios have declared the country a "priority market". Buoyant after ticket collections of Rs.2.5 billion ($57.3 million) in 2004, Columbia Tristar Films and Warner Bros are bullish about the Indian market and are rolling out expansion plans in the subcontinent. In dramatic contrast is the news about Fox's India office closing down because of a decline in the market for dubbed English films. Is Fox's decision to pack up its India operations a hasty decision or are Columbia and Warner Bros' plans for expansion based on unfounded optimism?

The answers seems somewhere in between. The box-office report for Hollywood films seems relatively better than that of Bollywood's ware. "Spiderman 2" grossed over Rs.350 million last year, the second highest English grosser in India after "Titanic", which made over Rs.500 million, reports indicate. In fact some Bollywood observers claim the English movie market is growing at 35 percent in India, which now ranks 15th in theatrical collections made by Hollywood studios. And studios like Columbia and Warner Bros have lined up a slew of big movies in 2005, like "Batman Begins", "Star Wars Episode III", "King Kong", "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", "Hitch", "Miss Congeniality 2", "Mr and Mrs Smith", "The Chronicles of Narnia", "Memoirs of a Geisha", "War of the Worlds" (a Steven Spielberg film) and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

Simultaneous global releases are becoming the norm. The total number of films made by Hollywood is peanuts compared to films made in India. The domestic movie industry makes around 900 films a year, compared to America's 100, making it the world's most prolific film-producing country. But given the low rate of box-office hits - less than one-fourth of them break even - the industry's market share in the $300 billion industry is a mere $3.5 billion. Though Fox's marketing manager Paresh Manjrekar was quoted as saying that poor box-office returns for Hollywood films had prompted the decision for a pullout, the facts tell a different story. Foreign studios have had a reasonably good run at the Indian box-office. Fox's "Garfield" netted a neat profit and Columbia Tristar made the highest profit in 2004 after setting up business in India.

Insiders said the reason behind Fox's decision to close its India operations could well be the way the country conducts business and no way a certificate of Bollywood's triumph over Hollywood.Former Fox India's managing director Aditya Shastri had at many forums brought up the need for urgent change in policies and laws but to no avail. He had gone on record as saying: "We have multiple problems in India, including unsettled tax issues for the last eight years. So we are not seriously looking at production here."The biggest adverse impact will be on Indian producers like Ram Gopal Varma who were counting on funds from Fox. Industry chambers like FICCI have been advocating the need for transparency in Bollywood for eons.

FICCI's S. Dasgupta said Bollywood needs a lot of catching up with regard to contracts, bonds and insurance procedures. Hopefully, his voice will be heard with Fox's withdrawal from Indian market. Restrictions imposed on foreign investors in the entertainment industry are probably more responsible for the low Hollywood stakes in the Indian film market. The world's biggest entertainment industry accounts for a mere five percent of the Indian market, whereas in most other markets its share is up to 60-90 percent.Domestically produced films capture up to 95 percent of the Indian market and there is no doubt that most Indians prefer Indian movies.

Nonetheless, there is no dearth of connoisseurs of Hollywood products. Evidence for the demand is the fact that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said Hollywood's leading studios lost more than $896 million in 2004 because of rampant movie piracy in the Asia-Pacific region. Fuelling the demand for Hollywood films in India is the increasing demand for them by Indian TV channels. Channels like STAR and SET Max have made the airing of Hollywood movies dubbed in Hindi a rule rather than the exception.

Hollywood films, particularly those big on action and special effects, are typically dubbed by voiceover professionals in Hindi to reach a wider section of the billion-plus population in a country crazy about movies. To further increase their reach, Hollywood films are now being dubbed in Tamil and Telugu. In fact, Sean Connery who uttered a few Hindi words in "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" will be seen speaking eloquent Hindi, Tamil and Telugu as the dubbed versions of his James Bond classics roll out across India. Ashok Amritraj has acquired the rights to dub the vintage Bond hits into the three Indian languages. He is also considering dubbing many action-packed films including the early Clint Eastwood movies for exhibition in India. The entry of major Hollywood studios into production has to a great extent quelled the resentment of domestic players.

Instead of fighting off the trend, the high and mighty of Bollywood have joined the gang and recently superstar Shah Rukh Khan lent his voice to the Hollywood movie "The Incredibles". Some studios are mulling the possibility of Hollywood directors and producers making out-and-out Bollywood potboilers starring our very own homespun stars.No longer content with Hollywood blockbusters -- both dubbed and non- dubbed-- cornering a fair share of Indian moviegoers, the Western movie powerhouses are joining the Bollywood bandwagon. At a conference, MPAA's Asia-Pacific senior vice-president admitted Hollywood was keen to join hands with Bollywood to "bring the mystical magic of film to people everywhere through the new digital technologies".

Hyperion Pictures India, a subsidiary of the independent Hyperion Studio Inc, is looking at three projects in India, including a musical directed by US director Willard Carroll, with an American heroine but an Indian hero, cast, crew and locations.Universal Music has announced its intention of producing three Hindi films. With this, Universal has stolen the march over Sony Pictures Entertainment, which was the first to get a Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance to produce and distribute films in India way back in 1998.Though Sony is going slow on the production front, it has significantly opened up its distribution line-up through its Columbia Tristar Films arm. Some Indian production houses have tied up with their Western counterparts for financing and distribution. Clearly, the future of Hollywood films in India is not too bleak. Some Hollywood studios are cooking up right for the Indian palate but changes in Bollywood's way of doing business are the need of the hour.

German Dubbing:Losing its Glory ?

People have become adept at lip reading to get around the dubbing

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=1716&name=Dubbing+down

Dubbing downNo matter how people might try to defend it, dubbing of German television seems to have developed into another crude form of cultural imperialism. And says Andrew McCathie it can drive you mad.

Strangely enough I have never heard people saying the same thing about learning German from German TV — even though, at least according to German television, the whole world speaks perfect Hochdeustch (High German) with almost every programme that takes to the air dubbed to within an inch of its life. Instead of picking up the German language, many people say they have become adept at lip reading as a way of getting around the heavy-handed voiceovers and 'synchronisierung' that has turned dubbing into a major industry in Germany. Frankly, it can drive you mad.

Those actually doing the dubbing might have become big stars in their own right in Germany, but the whole process of sychronisierung wipes out regional and national differences in language with the actors' 'voices' seeming to come down to just a handful of dubbers. For a country that prides itself on its acting profession and theatres, there appears to be a very rudimentary understanding of the importance of language in even the most minor character roles. The madness appeared to reach a particular low point on the night of the death of Marlene Dietrich more than a decade ago when in marking her career German TV showed one of her English-language movies with Dietrich's sultry voice dubbed out and replaced by the bland voices from the television dubbing machine.

The conclusion was all too depressing. Germany might have very quality TV programming, but if Germans don't get it about the importance of Dietrich's voice in her acting, how can they get it for someone like Woody Allen or a cop from Liverpool or Muriel in the Australian film 'Muriel's Wedding'? The Germans are a sophisticated and educated lot, so how do they really feel when the die Glotze or boob tube takes them to some remote part of the world only to find that everyone there (surprise, suprise) speaks perfect German? Or as was the recent case when a young German man met a beautiful young Portugese woman. “I don’t speak Portugese,” he told her. Don’t worry, she said, “I speak German”. I am afraid I flicked on so I didn't hear why she spoke German or if it had anything to do with the storyline. Even TV addicts say they have given up following their favourite shows in Germany But how can it be that Germans will tell you that it was only after a visit to Britain that they were for the first time able to hear the Queen's squeaky porcelain voice in its royal glory?


At least now with the arrival of international television via cable TV Germans can cringe with the rest of us when they hear George W Bush attempting to piece a sentence together or reducing the word 'terrorist' to one syllable. With the whole world speaking German, as German television would have it, flicking into a TV movie or programme after it has started can very problematic in Germany as it often takes a while to work out what country a programme comes from. Is there anything more irritiating than hearing those excruciating voices when some of our older dubbing friends do the voiceovers for children? And for that matter do the dubbing for some of those older people. Who on earth does those weird 'voices' for The Golden Girls?

New TV technology and programming has helped, with some televisions allowing viewers to watch programmes in their 'original sprache'. But even the most hardened television addicts will tell you that they have to an extent given up on trying to keep up with their favourite shows in Germany, partly because they seemed to have been transformed into quite different programmes by the, let’s face it, highly unwelcome dubbing process. There appears to be a very rudimentary understanding of the importance of language Germans insist that German-speakers are in the minority with their language, and without dubbing their language would be swamped by a world which is already dominated by English. But other even smaller nations make do and in fact almost celebrate showing programmes from other nations, often with subtitles. There is a sense of: that is their culture and this is our culture.

Interestingly enough, it is the old European fascist powers of Germany, Italy and Spain which during the dark pre-war days seemed to use dubbing as a form of censorship that now seem most concerned about maintaining their dubbing industry. Unfortunately, far from protecting their own language, the reality is that the dubbing game appears to have developed into nothing less than a rather a clumsy form of cultural imperialism.

February 2005
[Copyright Expatica 2005]
Subject: Life in Germany, TV, films dubbing

Mexican Simpsons stars on strike

The same actors have been voicing the Mexican Simpsons for 15 years

Mexican Simpsons stars on strike

The same actors have been voicing the Mexican Simpsons for 15 long years in Latin America.Now these voices of cartoon family "The Simpsons" in Mexico went on strike on Wednesday. They say the dubbing company wants to cast cheaper actors from outside their union, the National Actors Association.

The actors picketed the offices of the company, Grabaciones y Doblajes Internationales, blocking entry to the non-union actors. "For now we have to keep up the strike there," said Patricia Acevedo, 45, the voice of Lisa Simpson.

The actors normally start recording their parts in January but negotiations between the union and the company have broken down. The company has said it is struggling to remain competitive because of the union's actions. "With attitudes like these, our country has lost ground for dubbing in Latin America," the company said. Humberto Velez, the voice of Homer Simpson, has said he earns about 600 pesos ($54, £28) per episode and felt obliged to stand up for his union.

Northern voices, foreign tongues

APTN

Northern voices, foreign tongues

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050329/ABORIGINAL29/TPEntertainment/FilmProducers

Producers are up in arms over a decision by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network to replace subtitles with dubbing. Inuit film and television productions are going to end up sounding like badly dubbed kung-fu movies. That's the fear of Zacharias Kunuk, director of the 2001 film Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner), which was shot entirely in the Inuit language, Inuktitut, and was shown around the world with subtitles. Kunuk is joining other filmmakers and politicians in Nunavut to speak out against the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network's new policy of asking producers to dub their programming into other languages instead of subtitling them.

"We've been producing films for 15 years and we've never had any trouble producing in Inuktitut," Kunuk says. "Now it's the one TV network that belongs to us aboriginal people of Canada that's giving us a problem. It feels like we're moving backwards." Kunuk spoke at an emotionally charged public consultation last month in Iqaluit, Nunavut, that was organized by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). Inuit elders and film and video producers voiced concerns that the network's move to dub aboriginal-language programming into French and English could damage the territory's fledgling TV and film industry and roll back efforts to promote Inuktitut.

However, APTN's CEO Jean LaRose, a member of the Odanak First Nation in Quebec, says the new policy will have exactly the opposite effect: It will promote the use of aboriginal languages across Canada. The issue flared up after APTN sent out a request for proposals asking for new dramas, children's shows and series to be dubbed into more than one language: For example, an Inuktitut drama would be dubbed into English and French, while a French series would be dubbed into English and Inuktitut. LaRose says the move prepares them for the transition to HDTV, which can carry four tracks of Secondary Audio Programming, allowing the viewer to select which language they want to listen to. He says this will allow the network to reach more viewers and generate additional revenue.

But film and video producers who make programming in Inuktitut have reacted with anger, engaging in a public e-mail debate with LaRose. John Houston, president of Ajjiit, the Nunavut Media Association, an advocacy group for the territory's film and television industry, feels dubbing will reduce the quality of their productions. Houston is a non-aboriginal filmmaker who is fluent in Inuktitut, and his APTN-funded programs feature elders speaking their own language with English subtitles. "When you watch an elder speaking Inuktitut, you might not understand a word he's saying, but a lot more is transmitted than just straight content," Houston says. "You hear the elder pausing. You hear the earnestness in his voice. Taking away an elder's voice and replacing it with an English voice feels like an insult to me. It feels wrong." Feature films like Atanarjuat aren't currently eligible for funding from APTN, but Houston mentions it as an example of an Inuktitut film that reached a wide audience while using subtitles. Houston says if people had the option of listening to an English dub, many would never hear the beauty of the Inuktitut language. He's also concerned that if APTN programming is available in English at the press of a button, young Inuit might not listen in Inuktitut. Nunavut's minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, Louis Tapardjuk, recently sent a letter to APTN expressing his concern. "

Speakers of aboriginal languages right across Canada are struggling for the very survival of their mother tongues and film and television are very powerful tools to reach out to young people and spark an interest in their language," Tapardjuk says. "When producers are encouraged to provide programming with dubbing in English or French, it undermines our efforts in Nunuvut to promote Inuktitut." Almost all of APTN's aboriginal-language programming is currently in Inuktitut, and LaRose says dubbing will help the network diversify its content. "I know that in the North right now, there is a great concern about the rapid loss of the Inuktitut language," LaRose says. "I can understand their concerns, but at the same time I have to look at the national mandate of the network, which is to program in as many aboriginal languages as we can and give every language an opportunity to be heard. There's been a strong reaction of fear, but we are not trying to take anything away from the Inuit, we're just trying to give other groups the same opportunity to hear their own stories."

LaRose says APTN's policies are flexible and he's not closing the door to subtitled programming. "It's not our preference because we'd rather have dubbed versions we can use with the Secondary Audio Programming. However, if a producer says they're doing a documentary with elders and they are adamant that they don't want other voices speaking for them, we'll still work with the producer and come to an agreement." However, LaRose says subtitled programming may be broadcast only on APTN's northern feed and producers will receive lower licence fees, as they won't have the additional cost of dubbing. His comments haven't been much of an assurance to Northern filmmakers, who fear losing their national exposure and wonder if they'll end up with smaller budgets.

Some worry that by insisting on using subtitles, their proposals simply won't be approved. And producers like John Houston feel they don't have any time to waste, as they're documenting the last living elders who grew up on the land. LaRose, who is still crossing the country doing public consultations, hopes the emotional debate will die down as people get more information. He says the expectations for the aboriginal broadcaster are extremely high, and everywhere he goes, native people all want the same thing: to see more of their own culture on the TV screen.

Palestinians have a chance to watch the movie Gandhi in Arabic

Gandhi


Palestinians have a chance to watch the movie Gandhi in Arabic
By: Maher Abukhater*

http://www.amin.org/eng/maher_abu_khater/2005/apr6.html

Ramallah-

Dubbed in Arabic, the Oscar winning film Gandhi was premiered in Ramallah Wednesday April 6, launching plans to screen the film throughout the Palestinian areas and Arab world. Makers of the original film in English, including actor Sir Ben Kingsley, who won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Gandhi in the film, told a press conference, two hours before screening the film in Ramallah, that the Arabic version came in response to a Palestinian initiative.

“We saw a genuine need and we responded,” he said, joined in this by the film producer Jake Eberts.

Kingsley, Eberts and Palestinian director Hanna Elias, who worked on the Arabic dubbing since September, along with the funders Kamran Elahian, founder of Global Catalyst Foundation, and Jeff Skoll, founder of Skoll Foundation, met before the press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other members of the Palestinian civil society.

Kingsley said he saw strong support from Abbas to this work, which he hoped would carry a message to the Palestinian and Arab people that “the force of truth is irreducible.” He said the film was not about violence or non-violence, rather about one word he mentioned in Indian, satyagraha, which means “truth force.”

The Palestinian director Hanna Elias said: “A lot of effort was put into this project by all parties; Sony Pictures donated the rights to dub the film Gandhi. We were able to complete the work in less than a year with support from the Skoll Foundation and the Global Catalyst Foundation (GCF). Mr. Kamran Elahian, Founder of GCF and Mr. Jeff Skoll, Founder of Skoll Foundation believe that it is essential to support Palestinian Civil Society that practices Gandhi’s philosophy and call for economic self-reliance.” Elias said the idea for an Arabic version of the film Gandhi came few years ago when he and Elahian were traveling through the West Bank and Gaza. The Israeli military checkpoints and the situation on the ground showed him how important it was to present to the Palestinian people a film that can give them hope. He approached the producers of Gandhi and Skoll and was able to get them to commit 60,000 US dollars to make the Arabic version of the film. However, when the work was completed, the costs did not exceed 20,000 US dollars, said Elias, a Palestinian film director whose recent film The Olive Harvest won best picture in the Cairo Film Festival.

The date for launching the film, April 6, also came coincidental with the fact that April 6 was the date mentioned in the film for fast and prayer. When work on the film began in September, said Skoll, it was planned to be completed in April. However, certain problems a month before schedule made it appear as if the production would be delayed. However, explained Skoll, when it was realized that the launching date, April 6, was the day of prayer and fast, work was increased and the dubbing ended on time. Eberts said he was ready to make the film in other languages if necessary, praising what he said was the high quality of the work in Arabic.

The film, using 129 Palestinian actors for the dubbing, will be screened in the Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps. It will be given to schools and non-governmental organizations to show it wherever possible. The Ramallah event will be followed by screenings in Jerusalem on April 7th, Bethlehem on April 9th and Gaza on April 14th. The April launch in Palestine will be followed in May by screenings in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

* Palestinian journalist based in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

"Stop Busting Homer Simpson's Union"!

Simpsons



[Information for this alert comes from the Mexian National Association of Actors (ANDA) and U.S. Labor Education Project in the Americas (US/LEAP)]
http://www.nosweat.org.uk/article.php?sid=1262&mode=thread&order=0

Mexican actors who do the voice dubbing for Fox Entertainment Group Spanish-language programs in Latin America including The Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle were forced to strike on February 23 when their employer refused to honor the workers' collective bargaining agreement requiring the use of union labor. For 40 years, the Mexican National Association of Actors (ANDA) has guaranteed union actors' right to work on productions by Grabaciones y Doblajes Internacional (GDI), which produces the programs for Fox. When GCI refused to respect the existing collective bargaining agreements, ANDA actors such as Humberto Vélez, the voice of Homer Simpson, stopped working to protect the union's rich tradition of providing top-notch performances for Latin American audiences. "We are not difficult people to work with; we work out of love of our craft," says Vélez. "Let's hope that before we have to turn this into an ugly affair that (our employers) solve the issue. It would break my heart to have to stop doing the voice of Homero, and to turn on the television and hear someone else doing my voice."[El Universal]

ANDA is striking to protect its collective bargaining agreement that guarantees union members the right to work. Although the dispute is not about money, it is worth noting that there is a stark contrast between the $60 per episode paid by DGI in Mexico and earnings of their English-speaking counterparts, who are paid as much as $250,000 USD per episode. Over 250 million viewers in 40 Spanish-speaking countries watch Los Simpson and other Fox programs. Striking ANDA actors ask that worker rights advocates immediately contact GDI's main client, Fox Entertainment Group, to insist that it do the right thing. Urge Fox to demand that GDI respect the basic rights of its workers and the collective bargaining agreement and to stop using non-union labor for voice dubbing of Fox programs.

Dubbing it out; one man’s battle against TV voice-overs

Dubbing Studio

25.05.2005

Dubbing it out; one man’s battle against TV voice-overs

By Darius James Ross
http://www.baltictimes.com/art.php?art_id=12793
VILNIUS -

In a bid to increase second-language fluency among Lithuanians, a young parliamentarian is telling television networks that it’s time to start using subtitles instead of voice-overs in the programs they import from Europe and the United States. Algirdas Paleckis, a 34-year-old social democrat, says Lithuania’s longstanding voice-over tradition – a cheap form of TV dubbing that uses a single voice, usually male, for all roles regardless of gender, and that makes no effort to synchronize text with lip movement – is hurting the country’s integration into Europe.

“I’m trying to get Lithuania to be more European,” he says, adding that Lithuanians talk proudly about their 2004 accession to the 25-nation bloc, but must still strive to improve their foreign language skills. Studies released earlier this year show that only one in 10 Lithuanians demonstrate a high degree of fluency in English, French or German, which is far off the EU’s goal of two second languages for each European, and a figure that has many local government experts worried.

Paleckis said he’s frustrated because so many young people are emigrating, taking the second-language skills they learned at school with them when they leave. Meanwhile, those who choose to stay have few opportunities, such as watching foreign television shows in their original languages, to keep up what they’ve learned.“Fluency in English, in our day, is as important as being able to read and use a computer,” he says, adding that French and German were tied for a not-distant second place.Nearly all Lithuanians, especially adults, are still at ease in the language of the country’s former overlord – Russian.

Despite a healthy mix of locally produced state-run and commercial Lithuanian language broadcasts, programs beamed in from Russia – which, in a paradoxical twist, are often subtitled in Lithuanian – are still widely watched. “The vast majority of Lithuanians understand this language [Russian],” says Paulius Virbickas, a producer with LNK, Lithuania’s biggest private broadcaster. He adds that LNK uses subtitles for Russian-language shows, but reverts to voice-overs for those in any other foreign language. While Lithuanian commercial networks mostly show benign Russian-language entertainment programs, it’s the Russian news channels that cause unease for some.“We know who rules the flow of information in Russia,” says Paleckis, referring to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s claw-back of media freedoms in recent years, which, critics say, was a deliberate strategy by the Kremlin to remove a pesky burr in its saddle.

Months before acrimonious diplomatic rows between Moscow and the three Baltic capitals culminated earlier this month over the implications of the end of World War II, a Russian channel foreshadowed the Kremlin’s official view that Baltic states were “liberated” by Soviet troops, not occupied, in a documentary that drew outrage from Lithuania and scorn from its fellow Baltic states. But in Lithuania, even the “Discovery Channel” and “National Geographic TV” are shown in Russian.“It’s ironic that American television reaches us through Russia,” said Egidijus Aleksandravicius, a Kaunas-based history professor and social critic who is one of a growing number of educators joining Paleckis’ chorus.Government education experts who did not wish to be named said that they weren’t overly worried about the high dose of Russian television on Lithuanian airwaves, but they do say subtitled Western programs would go far in boosting second language proficiency.

TV execs disagree

Paleckis doesn’t intend to use the legislature to push through his hobby-horse, but he is applying pressure on the country’s government-owned broadcaster, Lithuanian Television, in the hope that it will lead the way in a gradual replacement of monotonous, staccato voice-overs with less intrusive subtitles.“I think our public broadcaster will break the ice,” he says, adding that private stations told him voice-overs were deeply ingrained in local television culture and they feared losing viewers. “The private broadcasters are looking to Lithuanian Television to pave the way.”But the head of Lithuanian TV, Kestutis Petrauskis, doesn’t see a bright future for subtitles.“It’s a habit that’s taken shape over several decades; people are used to the voice-overs. It’s something that’s easy for politicians to talk about, but much harder to put into practice.”

Petrauskis says studies have shown that linguistic subtleties cause translated subtitles to be too long, and that Lithuanians grow tired quickly when reading them. LNK’s Virbickas agrees: “We listen to television here as much as we watch it. Subtitles mean you can’t step away from the TV set, you always have to follow the small running lines of text.” Teresa Ziboliene, an independent film and television producer, says that eye strain is known as a drawback of subtitles, but also a proven and very effective way to acquire second-language skills, adding: “in the case of quality films, subtitles preserve the artistic integrity of the production.”According to Petrauskis, Lithuanian TV will test the waters by broadcasting some subtitled films on its second station, which is reserved for re-runs as well as high-brow cultural programming.When asked if using subtitles would lead to a drop in viewers, LNK’s Virbickas says yes. “It would be almost cruel to all the housewives here if we forced them to watch Mexican soap operas in their original language,” he explains.Yet Virbickas himself, who is fluent in English, admits he prefers watching English-language films in their original language.Virbickas says legal obstacles prevented LNK from dubbing Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” and Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ,” which were both shown with subtitles, and that both films drew high ratings. However, he adds, the controversial nature of the films was the likely reason behind their popularity.

Looking around

Latvian Television experimented last year with subtitles by showing the same film on two channels simultaneously – one dubbed, the other subtitled. In the end, dubbing won and subtitles were ditched. But Latvia goes one step further than Lithuania by matching the sex of the reader to that of the actor, though it doesn’t synchronize text with lip movement.Estonia, on the other hand, emulates Finland and Scandinavia by using only subtitles for foreign shows, and is the example lawmaker Paleckis says Lithuania should follow: “People in these countries have developed very good second-language skills, with no erosion of fluency in their mother tongue.”

When asked about the practices of France, Germany and Italy, where television is usually dubbed, he said: “These are big countries that are comfortable in their major language space. It’s the small and medium sized countries such as the Netherlands and the Nordics that Lithuania needs to look to.”

Lost in translation on Japanese screens

Japanese "Godzilla" movies were infamous for their dubbing, but it fell out of fashion


The Japan Times Printer Friendly Articles http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/features/life2004/fl20040509x4.htm
SPEAKING IN TONGUES

Lost in translation on Japanese screens

By SETSUKO KAMIY: A Staff writer

Unlike the countries that tend to dub foreign movies, Japan has been mainly using subtitles for more than 70 years. No one knows exactly why, but some say the Japanese simply enjoy hearing the original voices of the actors and the sounds in the background. Most now take it for granted that going to the movies means reading subtitles. Good subtitling is thus indispensable for the audience. And that is why some people are upset when they spot poor subtitles. They believe that they warp directors' intentions, mystify audiences and ruin the cinematic experience that people pay for. There was a scandal just two years ago, for example, when angry "Lord of the Rings" fans lobbied the movie-trilogy's Japan distributor, Nippon Herald Films, demanding improvements to the subtitles written by popular subtitler Natsuko Toda.

Of course some problems are partly due to the technical demands of the craft. Compared with other fields of translation, subtitlers have greater freedom to paraphrase foreign dialogue -- but this is also a result of their constraints. The number of words that can appear on screen must be limited so the sentences can keep up with the flow of the story. And this is on top of getting the dialogue across while compensating for cultural differences. Given this, subtitling is undoubtedly hard work. But some in the industry think subtitlers have been taking too many liberties with scripts, a phenomenon they blame not only on the subtitlers, but on the mind-set of the industry itself. Film director Masato Harada, 54, says he has long been bothered by the philosophy of mainstream subtitlers, who he says believe the rapidly changing lines of text must be simple to make movies "easier to understand," a habit handed down by their pre-war seniors. "Because of their explanatory interpretations, Japanese are forced to watch movies without appreciating all that crisp dialogue."

Harada, who directed "Inugami" (2001) and other movies, worked on the subtitles for Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" (1987) after the American director, who retranslated the work of Toda's back into English, asked for replacements because he wanted the nuances of the dialogues rendered more faithfully. As a director who writes his own scripts and is also careful about the subtitles on his own works screened overseas, Harada said he sympathized with Kubrick. "Producers and scriptwriters each have their own personalities, and that must be respected," Harada said. Most movies are translated by a select group of popular subtitlers (whose names appear in the credits) at the request of local distributors. According to an employee of a major film production company in Tokyo, who asked to be referred to only as "S," distributors hesitate to take the risk of hiring inexperienced newcomers because an awkward translation might ruin its box-office potential.

But although experienced subtitlers are essential to a film's success, the conditions under which the subtitlers work may also be another cause of the problem. Subtitles are often completed within a short space of time -- often just a week or two -- to meet tight screening schedules. In the case of simultaneous releases in Japan and the United States, subtitlers may not even have the final cut to work from. Director Harada said distributors should take more care when working on subtitles, especially those for major movies that could be nominated for the Academy Awards. His opinion is echoed by movie critic Atsuko Osanai, who says distributors should take more responsibility for the final product. Although they are supposed to double-check the subtitles, Osanai says she has heard of cases where they only confirm that the subtitles are timed correctly with the scene. In other cases, "corrections" made in haste when errors were spotted before shipping often turn out to be erroneous themselves because no one bothered to run the change past the subtitler. Osanai has even witnessed cases where mistakes found at preview screenings were left in because the distributors said they didn't have time to fix them. As an effort to improve the situation, "the names of distributors should be listed in the credits alongside those of the subtitlers," she said.

Meanwhile, the industry is seeing an increase in dubbing especially for family-oriented movies, such as the "Harry Potter" series, which audiences find easier to watch because it allows them to focus on the stories. In addition, demand for dubbing has climbed with the growing popularity of DVDs, where dubbing is considered just one of many standard viewing options. Dubbers can convey three times more information than subtitlers can, and dubbing can handle several people speaking simultaneously. Subtitlers mainly concentrate on the main characters.

But dubbing has its downside, as well. For example, dubbers must translate freely in some cases, such as movies aired on TV, to tone down offensive language. Sometimes, according to S, they have to change product names in the movie to avoid upsetting the program's corporate sponsors. The cost of dubbing a movie is also much higher than subtitling because it requires more staff, including actors, S said. Nevertheless, an increasing number of movies recruit celebrity voice actors to attract more viewers. Subtitlers and dubbers are usually different people. Videos and DVDs often use the same subtitles made for the movie's original release. But dubbed lines, added later, usually differ. The DVD version of "The Last Samurai" includes both Toda's subtitled version (as released in the cinema) and a dubbed version, "directed" by Harada, who starred in the film as the sinister Omura. Viewers may find the dubbed dialogue is a far better match for the nuances of the original than the subtitles.

One possible scenario: If DVDs with dubbed dialogue catch on, and more Japanese become aware of the difference, maybe viewers will become more demanding and the movie industry will be nudged into improving the quality of subtitling. Then maybe, just maybe, fewer things will get lost in translation.

The Japan Times: May 9, 2004(C) All rights reserved

Dubbed Works Losing Popularity

Harry Potter

http://www.china.org.cn/english/Life/132371.htm
Dubbed Works Losing Popularity
It is said there is a generation gap with anyone three years younger than you in China. The claim is true if you look at the choice of entertainment out there if you listen to hard rock instead of chilled-out tunes, watch dazzling Star Wars instead of Harry Potter, you are already old in the eyes of teenagers and hipsters in their early 20s.
And the latest fashion:
Watching Harry Potter movies in English. If a Chinese person chooses the Chinese-speaking dubbed version instead of the English-speaking original with Chinese subtitles, he or she is scoffed at by the younger generation. The ongoing Shanghai Film Festival certainly follows this mode of thinking none of its more than 100 foreign movies have been dubbed. Dubbing is expensive, arouses intellectual property issues and above all is unnecessary, as the festival is targeting the educated young, said sources with the organizers.

Here comes the generation gap:

For those Chinese above 30, movie dubbing is itself a great art and experts in the field are widely respected, probably more than the foreign actors and actresses actually in the movie. More than 30,000 Shanghai residents reportedly lined the route of Qiu Yuefeng's funeral procession in 1980. Who's he you ask? Only one of the most famous local dubbing actors ever to put his voice to foreign films. Qiu is remembered best for his interpretation of cinematic heroes like Mr Rochester in the British film Jane Eyre. Dubbing actors were immensely popular among Chinese in the late 1970s and 1980s, partly because dubbed films were among the only ways for ordinary Chinese to learn about the outside world at a time when a foreigner in the street was still a rare species, according to Peng Zhichao, vice president of the Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio. "Ask a Chinese of the time what a Western man was like, he or she would probably cite Zorro, or Alan Delon," he said. Dubbed films are an interesting hybrid of East and West: Of the two major components of a movie, namely video and audio, the audio part is "localized" in a dubbed film.

In the eyes of dubbed film fans, the Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio is a Mecca of the industry. China built two film dubbing studios in the 1950s the first in Changchun in Jilin Province in 1955 and the second in Shanghai in 1959 and both have remained State-owned, while the latter stands out for being more "international." The studios also "dubbed" China's international relations: The first film dubbed in Shanghai was a biography of Russian botanist Michurin imported from the former Soviet Union. China cut its film ties with the Soviet Union after the relations between the two countries soured over many issues. It began importing films from "countries of brotherhood," like Albania and Yugoslavia.

Japanese and Mexican movies were the first foreign films to make an impact in China after the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), and Hollywood blockbusters later arrived including Arnold Schwarzeneger's True Lies and Keanu Reeves' Speed. In the past five decades more than 1,000 movies from about 50 countries have been dubbed at the Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio. Meanwhile, Chinese who grew up watching the studio's dubbed films have reached their 30s, 40s or even 50s. Boys and girls of a dating age the major customers of theatres have become used to home videos with original soundtracks and Chinese subtitles. And they exhibited great enthusiasm for the first subtitled foreign film to be shown in China the Hollywood saga Pearl Harbour in 2001. Since then more and more theatres in Beijing and Shanghai have been showing subtitled movies in their major cinemas and dubbed movies in the smaller ones.

For those familiar with foreign languages, seeing the original movie is a handy way to brush up on language skills whilst having a good time. But for those who are not familiar with foreign languages, reading subtitles during a foreign movie can grow tiresome. "I know it can be tiring for my eyes to capture two parts of the screen at the same time, but it is so embarrassing to take a girl to a dubbed film," said 19-year-old Wang Chen, a freshman at Tongji University.

(China Daily June 17, 2005)