• Thesis Title: Ideology and Characterization in the Dubbing of Children’s Cartoons: A Comparative Study of Pooya and GEM Junior Networks
• Student Name: Ms. Zahra Vakilian
• Supervisor: Dr. Katayoun Afضلی
• University: Sheikh Bahaei University of Isfahan, Faculty of Foreign Languages
• Major: English Language
• Defense Date: September 2015

Abstract

Audiovisual translation (AVT) is a challenging type of translation mainly because of its multimodal nature; in other words, when translating an audiovisual (AV) product, in addition to linguistic content, visual aspects of an image need to be taken into consideration. This study suggests a new line of research in the analysis of AV materials focusing on characterization. The aims of the current study were twofold: 1) investigating the traces of ideology in localization and adaptation strategies used by dubbers in the translation of cartoons, and 2) examining any changes in characterization resulting from applying localization and adaptation strategies. To this end, first, a corpus of fourteen episodes of the SpongeBob SquarePants series and two of their translations, i.e. GEM Junior and Pooya TVs’ translations were selected. Then, first, the strategies used by dubbers in translating cartoons based on Bastin’s (2005) adaptation model were discerned; next, to specify the reasons for which the strategies were applied, Chaume’s (2004) model of signifying codes was used. After that, based on the adaptation and localization strategies used by dubbers, the ideologies of the two cartoon channels and the ideology of Iran’s society regarding the concept of childhood were identified. Finally, any shifts in characters were specified and discussed. The findings revealed that while Transcription was the most frequently-used strategy in GEM Junior TV, Situational/cultural adequacy was the most frequent strategy used in Pooya TV. The findings indicated that Pooya TV’s translation was target-oriented, translating in a way that is more familiar and acceptable in target culture. However, GEM Junior TV’s translation was source-oriented resulted in creating a street talk language in some parts. Also, the findings of the study showed that in Pooya TV’s dubbed version, some characters were delineated to be less impolite and violent.

Key words: audiovisual translation- adaptation- localization- characterization-ideology

Abstract

Audiovisual translation is considered a challenging type of translation mainly due to its multidimensional nature. In other words, when translating an audiovisual product, in addition to the linguistic content of the work, the visual aspects of the image must also be taken into consideration. The present study offers a new field in research related to the analysis of audiovisual works, focusing on characterization. The two objectives of this study were: 1) investigating the traces of ideology in adaptation and localization strategies employed by dubbers in translating cartoons, and 2) discovering any changes in characterization resulting from the adoption of adaptation and localization strategies. To this end, a corpus of 14 episodes of the SpongeBob SquarePants series and two of their translations, namely the translations of Pooya and GEM Junior networks, were selected for examination. Then, initially, the strategies used in translating cartoons were identified based on Bastin’s (2005) adaptation model. Afterwards, in order to determine the reasons for applying each strategy, Chaume’s (2004) model of signifying codes was used. In the next step, based on the adaptation and localization strategies adopted by the dubbers, the ideology of the two networks and the ideology of Iranian society regarding the concept of childhood were determined. Finally, any changes in characterization were specified and discussed. The findings of this study showed that while “transcription” was the most frequent strategy used in GEM Junior TV, the strategy of “cultural/situational adequacy” had the highest frequency in Pooya TV. According to the research findings, Pooya TV’s translation was target-oriented in such a way that the translated text was more familiar and acceptable in the target culture. Meanwhile, GEM Junior TV’s translation was source-oriented, which led to the creation of a kind of street language in some parts. Furthermore, the findings indicate that some characters in Pooya TV were portrayed as less violent and rude.

Keywords: audiovisual translation – adaptation – localization – characterization – ideology