A Road Map for Dubbing idiolects in TV Series: the Case of the Prison Break Serial in Iran (original) (raw)

Dubbing TV series which include many characters with different idiolects and intra-linguistic variations is a very demanding task for every dubbing team. Although dubbing directors are aware of the existence of various idiolects in their projects and try to reflect the variations, this can be done in a more organized fashion which can improve the quality of the dubbing. This paper set outs to propose a table of specifications for every character " s idiolect, to act as a road map to guide dubbing teams and the translation trainees to render source idiolects efficiently into target language idiolects. In the case study conducted on the dubbed version of The Prison Break serial, distinctive verbal and paralinguistic idiosyncrasies in the characters " idiolects were found to be the mostly neglected features of speech in the dubbing process. Based on this table, the paper also proposes a methodology for dubbing quality assessment from idiolectal variations point of view drawing on the comparative-descriptive methodology of Gideon Toury (1995). Film uses language variation and accent to draw characters quickly, building on established preconceived notions associated with specific regional loyalties, ethnic, racial, or economic alliances. (Lippi-Green, 1997, p. 80) 1. Introduction Dubbing popular prime time Hollywood TV series has become very widespread due to their worldwide acceptance on the side of the audience. The Islamic Republic of Iran which is a dubbing country (as classified by Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, 1997:244), has followed the same line and some domestic private home video corporations have recently dubbed some of these series into Persian, from among which one can refer to 24, The Lost and more recently The Prison Break. In addition, the Islamic Republic of Iran " s broadcasting TV started to dub The Prison Break for its channel 3, but the dubbing project stopped after only two episodes for some unknown reasons (Asriran Newspaper, 2009). The inclination of the channel 3 for dubbing such a serial indicates its great popularity in Iran.