UNIT 10 COMMUNICATION OF VISUAL PERCEPTION AND ITS MEDIA : DUBBING,

SUBTITLING AND TRANSLATION

Unit Structure

10.0 Objectives
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Dubbing
10.2.1 What is Dubbing ?
10.2.2 History of Dubbing
10.2.3 Difference between Dubbing and Voice over
10.2.4 Challenges of Dubbing
10.3 Subtitling
10.3.1 What is Subtitling ?
10.3.2 Types of Subtitling
10.3.3 History of Subtitling
10.3.4 Challenges of Subtitling
10.4 Difference between Dubbing and Subtitling
10.5 Dubbing and Subtitling in Global And Indian Context
10.5.1 Dubbing and Subtitling in the Global Media Industry
10.5.2 Dubbing and Subtitling in the Indian Media Industry
10.6 Let Us Sum Up
10.7 Exercise
10.8 Glossary
10.9 Suggested Readings

10.0 Objectives

After reading this unit, you will be able to:

• understand the need for the concept of dubbing and how it differs from ‘voice over ' .
• explain the difference between dubbing and subtitling.
• Scope of dubbing and subtitling in the global media industry.
• understand the need and practice of dubbing and subtitling in Indian media .

10.1 Introduction

In this unit we will discuss the role of dubbing and subtitling in the global media industry. In this unit the
terms 'dubbing', 'subtitling' and 'voice over' are used as technical terms. We will try to differentiate
between voice-over and dubbing. We'll highlight the challenges of dubbing and subtitling. We will also
discuss its practice, the process and requirements of subtitling and dubbing in the global and Indian media
context.

Pictures have a universal language. Pictures determine almost the same meaning around the world. It is
also said that a picture is better than 1000 words. Films, television programs, other videos, and video

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games are formats of moving pictures in which the images move very quickly (24 to 48 frames per
second), sometimes giving the illusion that the action is being played in real time. Although they are
volumetric images that appear to move a thousand times faster on a projector.

Cinema industry and film has a global reach. Countries around the world have been importing and
exporting films since the beginning of the global film industry. The Lumière brothers (Omsti and Louis),
pioneers of cinematography, have traveled the world to showcase their cinema in many countries,
including India.

During the silent film era, Hollywood studios increased their access to foreign markets by subtitling their
films in the correct language. In India, the first film was brought out by the father of Indian cinema,
Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (nicknamed Dadasaheb Phalke). It was the year 1913 when his film 'Raja
Harishchandra' came out in theatres. It was also a silent film with no sound. Along with physical
expressions, there were only pictures in it. It was witnessed by people from diverse linguistic regions of
India. The film became so popular that Phalke went on to make more than a hundred films.

Silent or 'anti-sound' films of the era did not 'talk' but they were never seen in absolute peace. The
dialogue was presented by subtitles, mostly in English and in two or three Indian languages.'' (Kewal J.
Kumar, Mass Communication in India, Jaco). And making films and presenting them to people of
different languages in many places was not a problem. But after the advent of talkies, more efforts were
required to move towards the commercial market, to reach many cities in India and many cities of the
world.

Now it was not possible to make a film in one language and show it to people speaking different
languages and only give subtitles in their languages. Now dubbing in their languages was necessary to
make the film more understandable and enjoyable.

There would be no need to write this chapter if there was no sound in the programs of films, serials and
other video formats. The issue of localizing the language to reach a wider audience was taken as a
challenge and experiments were started without any experience and training to work on professional
dubbing and subtitling.

Dubbing and subtitling can be placed within the broader discipline of audiovisual translation, which is
more than just interlingual transfer, including images, music, sound, and other non-verbal elements or
signs. It is natural that there will be a transfer between these indicators and interrelationships will also be
established.

10.2 Dubbing

10.2.1 What is Dubbing?

Simply put, dubbing is the process of creating a unified sound recording and substitutions of the full
dialogue of a film, which can also occur in any television program, video program, or video game. In
other words we can say that ‘dubbing is the process by which the original sound recording of a video
program is changed’.

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The term dubbing generally refers to the replacement of an actor's voice on screen with that of another
performer, who may be of a different language. In many cases dubbing is done to provide new voiceovers
that have already been provided in the video in the language of the target audience.

This post-production process is used in altered or mixed dubbing of films, television programs, videos or
video games. For example Pogo TV The Hindi dubbing of the Japanese program called ' Takeshi Castle ',
shown on the channel, has been done by Hindi film actor Jaaved Jaffrey.

Sometimes dubbing is done by an original actor and the dialogue in the same language of the original
production is used to improvise. This process is called Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR).

Once the editing process is over, apart from the dialogues, the background music is also dubbed. This
dubbing of background music makes the video more effective. While doing so, it is important to ensure
harmony of visual and audio. Failure to do so will spoil the entire viewer experience by dissonance
between sound and visuals.

Dubbing brings videos to multilingual audiences around the world. On the one hand, it benefits the
producer by taking one of his/her films to another linguistic group. On the other hand, it makes it possible
for people to watch a film in their own language even though the original film was made in a different
language.

For example, India has several hundred languages and dialects that are spoken by people in the regions of
its states. Any producer who makes a film or TV program or video advertisement wants it to reach the
maximum audience possible. In such cases, he/she gets the dialogues translated into the local languages
where he/she wants to show his/her film or other video programme. After the dialogues are translated,
they record them and convert them into the original dialogues.

Films, videos and sometimes video games are dubbed into the local language of the foreign market.
Dubbing is commonly used in theatrical films, television series, cartoons and foreign animated films.

The animated series The Jungle Book of Rudyard Clippings and other cartoon series such as 'Tom and
Jerry' seen on television around the world have been made possible by dubbing them into the languages of
the local audience.

Many times famous animated films of one language are dubbed in other languages. For example, the film
' Ice Age ' was dubbed in several languages so that it could reach the audience of those languages. In India
also many live movies have been dubbed in many languages like 'Hanuman', 'Krishna', 'Return of
Hanuman', ' Dasavatar ', ' Ghatotkacha ', ' Jumbo ' etc.

In the case of languages of larger communities (such as English , German , Spanish or French or
Chinese), dubbing in one of their languages may seem foreign to some or all of the groups. This is why a
film is translated into a language more than once, for example the animated film ‘The Incredibles’ dubbed
into European Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Venezuelan Spanish and Rioplatense Spanish.

10.2.2 History of Dubbing

The dubbing of an English film called 'Riorita' in Spanish in 1929 is considered to be one of the first
attempts at dubbing. A few years later, the technology of dubbing became widespread.

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The process of dubbing was sometimes used in musicals when the hero or heroine did not have a suitable
voice. In such cases, the harmony voices were recorded and replaced with the original voice. As we know
that in the beginning of the film the hero-heroine had to sing their own songs. After a long time the ' play
back ' method was developed in which the hero/heroine were separate and the singers of the songs filmed
on them were separate.

Sometimes re-recordings were made with the same hero or heroine to improve the voice cues and make it
more effective. Later, the process of dubbing began to be used to reach out to audiences of different
languages across the globe.

A Hollywood film is shown in many countries at the same time. In some countries, it is shown with local
language subtitles or dubbed into the local language. In the Indian context, a Bollywood film is shown
nationwide as well as overseas. In the process, dubbing helps to connect the film, the cast and its producer
and director to a wider audience.

The process of dubbing has come a long way and has now become an area of expertise. In India alone,
there are over 100 organizations that specialize in dubbing and subtitling.

10.2.3 Difference between Dubbing and Voice over

Dubbing is the process by which the voice symbol of a video is usually changed from the original
language to another language, thus dubbing is the exact translation of dialogues from the original
language to the target language. For example a film originally composed in Hindi and translated into
Tamil requires all the Hindi music to be translated and recorded in Tamil and integrated into the original
scene. Sometimes dubbing is done in the original language and the quality of the audio track is improved
to make it more effective.

A voice-over soundtrack, on the other hand, is the process of further elaborating on parts of a scene by
language. Voice-over describes the visuals on the screen, usually a narrator who informs the visuals on the
screen through his/her voice.

The process of dubbing is much more difficult than the process of voice-over. During dubbing, uniformity
in lip movements and body language is ensured. Whereas in voice-over the narrator has no such
limitation. He/she just has to make sure that what he/she is describing must match with the scenes.

The importance and value of dubbing is much more than voice over. Dubbing requires multiple actors to
record the dialogues of different characters. But in voice-over, only one person is needed to explain the
scenes to the audience. So dubbing is a more challenging task.

10.2.4 Challenges Dubbing

With the internationalization of programming, people from many countries around the world have been
able to watch audio-visual products in many languages and cultures. The promotion of new forms of
entertainment such as DVDs popular among today's audiences has increased the commercial demand for
dubbing and subtitling, breaking down barriers of language knowledge. Dubbing and subtitling can be
considered within the larger discipline - audiovisual, which includes the inter-lingual transfer of images,
music and other non-verbal elements. Thus, they provide a form of multiplexed transmission. It is

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believed that between the use of linguistic transfer and production techniques (such as the use of time-
code for subtitling), socio-cultural factors should not be overlooked, and lifestyles and value-systems are
reflected in films and TV. must appear in programs. (Kenneth K.L. " Dubbing and Subtitling in a World
Context " Editor-Gilbert Chee Phun Phom)

We know that different languages have different modes of articulation, different intonation patterns, stress
patterns and rhymes. It is a big challenge for the artists to do justice to the above characteristics of the
target language of a new audience by dubbing a film in another language. That's why a native user of the
target language is preferred for voice dubbing. In this case, it becomes even more challenging to find
dubbing artists who are local users of the target language and familiar with the original language so that
they can accurately replicate the original film.

Crude or poor translation of words can create a wide cultural gap between the original message and the
message received by the audience. Languages differ not only in pronunciation, vocabulary or grammar,
but also in many cultures. Its culture is the way a community uses language, it is a way of expressing
collective participation or identity. Therefore, it is a great challenge when a video is dubbed in a specific
setting of the linguistic pattern of the local language of a community.

A poorly dubbed film, television program or other media can destroy the experience of the viewer or
listener, so to speak, the end user. That's why local experienced and talented artists are required for
dubbing, which has a time limit. These artistes should be at least of equal merit, if not more so, than the
actors. For this they require additional training in dubbing. There is very little time to match the dubbed
film to the main film. Directors and actors have to employ local users for dubbing who can use state-of-
the-art technology to produce the closest possible match between sound and visuals. In such cases, there
is a need for highly skilled professionals, especially those who are familiar with both the native language
and target language cultures.

Some critics say that dubbing creates 'an illusion within an illusion' . They believe that no matter how
well the actor's on-screen lip movements and dubbed voices are synthesized with the foreign language
and sound, there must be something wrong with it.

On the other hand, Mac comments that some actors in France constantly lend their voices to Hollywood
celebrities. Therefore, many French people recognize the star of many popular American films by his
French voice, and are surprised when they hear ‘the real thing’. (Mac, Personal Communication , 2004)

There is also an economic aspect to this process. Certainly, if there is a distinction along national lines, it
is an economic one. Dubbing costs 15 times more than adding subtitles. (Baker and Hökl , 1998b:
Gottlieb , 1994 : 118)

Hollywood movies, even mediocre ones, are also popular in other countries. With a few exceptions,
foreign films attract relatively few audiences in the League of Nations. As a result, it is very expensive to
dub American films into the languages of millions of people, but it is wiser to subtitle films seen by fewer
people and those imported from the Commonwealth of Nations. Even cheaper than subtitling is voice-
over, in which a speaker explains the action of the film to the audience, a method used in Russia and
Poland. (Gottlieb , 1998: 244)

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10.3 Subtitling

10.3.1 What is Subtitling?

Subtitling is the written form of dialogue that is projected on the screen. In other words, subtitles are the
textual form of film and television programs, usually shown at the bottom of the screen. They may be
written translations of dialogue in a foreign language, or they may even be given in the same language
with or without additional information to accommodate viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing or who
may not understand spoken dialogue or have difficulty with accentuation. For them its television, teletest,
subtitles are hidden or kept. Additional sound complaints from deaf viewers are not reported unless
requested by the viewer from the menu or without selecting an authentic teletext page. Except in
multilingual countries where the broadcaster may provide additional subtitles on other teletext pages.
Teletext is the original audio in the subtitled language.

Sometimes, mostly at film festivals, the subtitles are shown separately at the bottom of the screen , saving
the filmmaker from having to make separate subtitle copies for a single show. Subtitling is used in some
countries for close-up picture viewing for the deaf and hard of hearing.

There are several ways to read subtitles. When two speakers' dialogue is shown on the same screen, each
line is represented by a dash, and relatively focused lines are usually given on the left.

- Why are you shouting?

- Because I want to!

Some experts recommend different colored subtitles for each speaker to identify which speaker is
speaking.

10.3.2 Types of subtitles

1. Analogous Subtitling or Direct Subtitling

Analogous language subtitling (SUB) or direct subtitling is done for people who can watch the movie but
cannot hear the dialogue because of the outdoor space. Or such viewers who do not understand the stress
of the actor.

Additionally it has been observed that subtitling also helps in increasing the literacy rate. It is very useful
in developing countries like India and other Asian, African and Latin American countries.

This method is used in the National Doordarshan Broadcasting Service of India. This idea was first
brought by Brij Kothari. He believed that the direct subtitling after reading, casual , automatic, and TV
entertainment builds up subconsciously. At low per capita cost and also helps in increasing the literacy
rate in India.

General Assembly The introduction to chamber or educational use of is also used in music and songs.
Also it is used to repeat the act of reading.

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2 Translated Subtitling or Diagonal Subtitling

The textual presentation of dialogue on screen in a language other than the original language is called
translated subtitling or diagonal subtitling. Diagonal subtitling is used to export movies, videos or video
games to other linguistic countries. In today's global media scenario, a film is produced in one country
and is shown in many countries with multiple subtitles in different language countries. Therefore, all
these have become an essential part of the media.

10.3.3 History of Subtitling

Subtitling has been used for cinema around the world including India since its inception and is being used
more and more in today's global village.

Before the invention of films, efforts were made to convey the dialogue of the actors to the audience. It
started with 'inter titles’. The texts written or published on characters, filmed and sequenced between the
film . Subtitles, as they were used in the same way as in newspapers. From the beginning, it happened
(but very rarely) that subtitles were given in scenes, as in ' College Chams ( 1907) or the French film '
Judex ' or ' Mixelli ' (1922)". ( 'The History of Subtitles in Europe' by Jan Iverson in Dubbing and
Subtitling in a World Context editor Gilbert Chee Phun Phom)

However, the purpose of titling was to make up for the lack of sound during the silent era. For example,
films in India had to be subtitled in several (two or three) Indian languages including English. In today's
scenario, subtitling is not used to make up for the lack of sound but to make up for the sound. The
purpose of subtitling has always been to make the film and the audience comprehensible.

Today subtitling is done in the same language and also translated into another language.

10.3.4 Challenges of Subtitling

Subtitling is a challenging and complex task. The main challenges faced in this work are: the speed of the
picture format, the dialogue of more than one character on one frame, the use of cultural context in the
original dialogue which does not translate accurately into the target-language, and the socio-cultural
aspect which has to be taken into account. It is not possible to express in other languages. If the scene is
long, dialogue can be placed and readers have enough time to read the titles with frame speed. But if the
scenes are of short duration, then in such cases the viewers find it difficult to read the full title.

Oral and written languages are completely different from each other, if the language is rooted in the
community then it is subject to socio-cultural and geographical differences, the written language is
generally considered more standard, scholarly and prestigious. As described by Diaz-Sintaj and Ramel :

Language, and spoken language in particular, is as changeable as human and his/her environment. Writing
is concerned with the preservation of knowledge and works well with classical oral art forms and dialect,
but the process of translating spoken words that may not have exact words into the written language of
another national language due to socio-cultural and geographic differences. Many problems arise from
this. Translating against the background of the original soundtrack certainly has some advantages, as the
linguistic transference and exoticism of the foreign film can be preserved. Language is only one
quantitative aspect of film transfer (Lucken,1991: 154), much written information can be conveyed by

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sounds. Tone, emphasis and intonation can support any environment and mood. This shows that subtitle
writers have to take into account certain boundaries, fixed locations and short-term constraints in order for
their translation to be readable, clear and accurate. (De Linde and Kay , 1999 : 6-7, Diaz Sitaj and Ramel,
2007 : 143) http://translationjournal.net/journal/57/subtitling.htm.)

One long subtitle is easier to read than two short subtitles. The optimal division is into two lines of greater
or lesser length, but this must be done with care. Kara Mitroglu states that the segmentation should be
done on ' highly probable syntactic nodes’. (Karamitroglu, 1998 : 9). Based on this principle, he tried to
show the following simple sentence by breaking it into smaller pieces and showing their effect:

‘The descruction of
city was inevitable?’
and-
‘The destruction of city
was inevitable?’

Perhaps Helen Rode's advice on rhetorical clauses is easier to implement than the grammatical concept of
higher syntactic knots. This Dutch television subtitler spoke of three possible types of fragmentation -
grammatical, rhetorical, and visual (cited in Gottlieb , 1994 : 109 ). In grammatical fragmentation is the
semantic unit, in film the scene follows the movement of the camera and the cut. Rhetorical fragmentation
is driven by the timbre of the voice, the cut coming where the speaker wants to pause for breath.
(Gottlieb, 1994: 110)

According to Gottlieb it is mainly related to the interruption between the screens, ‘The pause occurs
between 5-6 seconds with standard two-line subtitles exactly’, ( Gottlin, 1994 : 110) .

The problem comes when all the visuals and sound of the film are not combined on one track. Elsar Bay
suffered cuts while subtitling Victor Aris' film in which the voice-over was explaining behind the scene.
He suggested that the subtitles should appear one second before and one second after the cut, so that the
title should move continuously from the visual to the audio signal (Bay, 1998 : 11). His decision
complements Gotlin's opinion of the Public Television Service. 'If an important, rapidly spoken pause is
followed by silence and the camera remains focused on the speaker, a T.V. subtitler should hold the
subtitle for a second or two, giving the viewer time to read (Gottlin, 1994 : 113) .

10.4 Difference between Dubbing and Subtitling

Both dubbing and subtitling are translations of video formats used to reach audiences in languages other
than the language of the film or message being produced. In many cases, subtitling is also done in the
language of the production. This is done to reach out to people who are hearing impaired and also for
educational purposes. For example, the Government of India promotes the process of subtitling in its
Doordarshan programs. Despite the above similarities, dubbing and subtitling are opposite to each other
in their basic concept and function. Dubbing is the act of creating a substitute, producing a similar audio
representation of the entire dialogue, while subtitling is the text version of the dialogue, which is
projected at the bottom of the screen.

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Apart from the difference in the process, there is also a huge difference in the cost of production of
dubbing and subtitling. The cost of dubbing is 10-15 times more than the cost of subtitling .

10.5 Dubbing and Subtitling in Global and Indian Context

Dubbing and subtitling are both forms of translation of films that are done to make them accessible to a
wider audience. In Juliana House's typology, subtitling is an open translation while dubbing aims to create
a second level of the original, a closed translation (House, 1977 : 188–89). Heinrich Gottlieb holds that
subtitling is a fragmentary translation while dubbing is a unified translation (Gottlieb 1994 : 102) .

In today's computer technology, both dubbing and subtitled audio signals of films are available in DVD
form. They may also provide one or two different voice prompts in other languages. As a subfield of
theatrical translation, the real potential for lasting profit lies in dubbing and subtitling. It is expected that
in the near future the demand for its experts will increase worldwide.

Theatres that want to access theatrical translation in the 124 languages and films that do not speak the
language of the audience can provide free picture viewing or ‘simultaneous translation ' for the audience
via headset. The facilities for such titles and dubbing for the platform are still very limited and there is a
further paucity of published studies on them.

In 1987 Tweet conducted a research project studying 4,200 English students in nine European countries.
Their conclusion was that children from ‘dubbing countries' had lower listening comprehension abilities
than those from 'subtitling countries ' . (Tweet , 1998 : 366) .

10.5.1 Dubbing and Subtitling in the Global Media Industry

International distribution of film and TV programs has enabled people in many countries with different
languages and cultures to view audio-visual products. The expansion of new forms of entertainment such
as DVDs and fee-based television viewing has led to the commercial services of dubbing and subtitling
and increased demand. It has become an indispensable tool for those who do not know a foreign
language. It has also broken down linguistic barriers. (Kenneth Klo, 'Dubbing and Subtitling in a World
Context).

Globalization in the late 1980s and early 1990s opened doors for trade in goods and services, including
media trade, in the entertainment sector as well. A film that was released in Hollywood was exported to
be shown in cinemas in many countries. The number of viewers watching those films in local or regional
languages was higher than the audience watching films in English language. In such a situation it became
necessary that those films should be dubbed in the local or regional language.

In this way dubbing proved profitable for the producer. Local government and audience used to get
dubbed version of Hollywood movies in their own language. By doing this, the producers could increase
their profit, the local government could increase its revenue in the form of entertainment tax and income
tax and the local public could enjoy the film in their own language, which was not possible in any other
way.

Subtitling is the cheapest and fastest way to translate the content and allow you to hear the original
dialogues as well as the voices of the actors.

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TV subtitles are primarily intended for people who are hearing impaired or hard of hearing, but research
has proven that they are also viewed by people who have no hearing impairment.

Oxfom Research, a media regulator, has found that of the 7.5 million people who use TV subtitles, 6
million of them do not have a hearing problem. (BBC report, 31 March 2006)

10.5.2 Dubbing and Subtitling in the Indian Media Industry

1652 languages and dialects are spoken in India. Films are made in all major languages. We know that
pictures have a universal language. But if the visual is shown along with the audio, then this quantity
reaches the audience of that language class only. Bollywood film industry is the largest film industry not
only in India but in the whole world. In a year, 1000 films are made in many languages . If a film comes
out in one language, it does not mean that it is only for the people of that language. People of one
language want to watch good films of another language. To meet such demands, dubbing and subtitling
play an important role in showing films in other languages.

Sameer Bajpai, a dubbing consultant, is among the Indians who attended the 2006 International
Conference on Dubbing and Subtitling. In this conference held in Germany, he said about the dubbing
and subtitling industry of India - “The market is still growing. The current team of directors , translators
etc. are self-taught who have honed their craft with their experiences over the years regarding some of the
voice acting as well. We do not have professional or government bodies that run specialized courses in
dubbing and its fields. If there is a degree and professional preparation in this field, then the whole
scenario will change. The whole situation abroad is commercial. Companies employ professionals
(foreign language inspectors). They have strong bodies where everyone is safe and more than that their
dubbing industry is worth several crores. And said – There are many research works on dubbing and
localization , which are not done here.

There has been a lot of change in the field of dubbing and subtitling in India. Currently there are over a
hundred professional organizations that specialize in dubbing and subtitling and are working in this field.

The dubbing industry in India grew to a great extent. When the film 'Jurassic Park ' came after being
dubbed, it broke all records. Through satellite channels, the practice of dubbing for films and programs
became widespread. But most of the dub companies/studios are now working for profit.

'Lagaan' and ' Devdas ' increased interest in Indian films all over the world. It will be interesting to see
how well Indian films dubbed by foreign companies fare in the world market.

There is no provision on Indian satellite channels for subtitling or picture formatting for the deaf
community. Elsewhere these are much stricter and the deaf community also enjoys a range of events.
Indian society and government need to take some steps on this issue. In the coming days, with the
advancement of technology, it will take the form of an industry and there will be a need for skilled
translator, dubbing and subtitling personnel.

A related case here is that of dubbing, subtitling artists who work day and night to make a film reach a
wider audience. These talents have been in this business for a long time but they often do not make a
mark but they do make a quiet contribution.

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10.6 Let Us Sum Up

In this unit, we have discussed dubbing and subtitling and seen how dubbing and subtitling are being used
in the global and Indian media industry and are reaching a wider audience.

Subtitling has been in use since the beginning of cinema. When films were initially silent, subtitles were
used to describe scenes. For example, in India, subtitles were used in English and three regional
languages. Subtitling promoted language acquisition in India. It is also being promoted by the
Government of India. As far as dubbing is concerned, its use has been in vogue since the time of talkies or
talkies. Dubbing was initially used to enhance the sound quality of films. Actors and actresses had to sing
their own songs. In such cases, the songs were recorded and the original songs were replaced with the
post-recorded songs, if their voices did not match. Today they are being used more and more in new
media. It has given a new direction to translation and has also opened up opportunities for earning a
living.

10.7 Exercise

1 Define dubbing. Explain its relevance in Indian and Global media context.

2 What is the main difference between dubbing and subtitling?

3 Is subtitling a better option than dubbing? If yes, why?

4. How can we separate dubbing from voice- over? Give examples.

5. What is the importance of subtitling in the Indian media industry? Explain with examples.

6. Discuss the challenges in the process of dubbing and subtitling in the Global and Indian media
context.

10.7 Glossary

Dubbing: Dubbing is the name of the process of preparing the integrated sound and alternative of the
dialogue.

Subtitling : Subtitling is the written form of the dialogues of any film or television program. Usually
shown at the bottom of the screen.

Voice-over : Voice-over is the on-screen description of images by a narrator who provides voice-over
information about the images on the screen.

Original Language : The language from which the translation is done is called the original language or
OL.

Target Language : The language in which the translation is done is called the target language or TL.

Vertical Subtitling : The written presentation of dialogues on screen in the original language is called
Same Language Subtitling or Vertical Subtitling.

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Diagonal Subtitling : Translated subtitling or diagonal subtitling is the presentation of a video's
dialogues in the translated language on the screen.

10.8 Suggested Readings

• Gottlib, H. Subtitling in M. Baker, edited, Routledge, An Encyclopedia of Translation Studies ,

1998, 244–481.
• Tveit , J.E. The Role of Translation in the Film and Television Industries. In AG Macfarlance ,
ed. 'Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the American Translators Association',
Alexandria, VA: ATA, 1998, 365–69 .
• Tveit, J.E. ‘The Challenges of Subtitling’, ATA Cronicle 29.6 (June 2000): 43-45, 47. Ulman, G
and Ulman, P. Personal Interview, 5 May 2003.
• Claire Ellender, Overcoming the Challenges of Subtitiling, University de Lille. France
http://translation journal.net/jounal/57 subtitling.htm
• http://www.ashoka.org/fellow/brij-kothari.
• Jatlin, Phillips, 2005, 'Theatrical translation and film adaptation, a practitioner's view' England,
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