Research in Translation for Dubbing: An Overview

Abstract

Dubbing, together with subtitling, is one of the most widespread types of audiovisual translation. Its origins can be traced back to the late twenties, with the need to transfer the new sound films to other languages and cultures. This article places dubbing in the world of audiovisual translation, reviews the origins of research on dubbing, and offers an overview of the first theoretical and professional approaches to this audiovisual translation mode. The paper then sets out to compare research approaches centred on the problems posed by the source text to descriptive approaches focused on the target text. It concludes by showing research avenues which are still unexplored and call for urgent attention among the academic community. Each section explores basic concepts which have proved to be useful to audiovisual translation theory, such as the notion of translation constraints, dubbese and dubbing norms. The article also presents new genres and new combinations of audiovisual translation modes that are progressively changing the dubbing industry.