Article published In:
BabelVol. 63:5 (2017) ► pp.667–688
Re-assessing the ‘weight’ of translations within the context of translated soap operas
In translation studies, investigating translations beyond the implications, realities and difficulties of single texts and single
language combinations, viewing the larger picture surrounding translations and following the translations through to the impacts
they produce wherever they are received, is an integral part of the discipline. The study discussed in this article is an effort
to present food for thought for audiovisual translators of soap operas. Turkish soap operas have been aired in 90 countries around
the world, reaching over 400 million viewers, according to 2014 statistics from the sector. The aim of the study is to indicate
the type of translated soap operas preferred in different regions of the world; to explain, on the basis of feedback from experts,
the public and local and international media, why these are watched; and to investigate the translation modes and strategies used
to market the translations successfully in the receiver markets.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Reasons behind the success of Turkish soap operas
- 2.1Content and the manipulation of the content
- 2.1.1Portrayal of issues which are taboo in the viewer country
- 2.1.2Focus on family and values
- 2.1.3Creation of strong women characters
- 2.1.4TV policies in Turkey and censorship making originals acceptable for conservative audiences
- 2.2Similarities and creating empathy
- 2.2.1Cultural/linguistic similarities
- 2.2.2Religious/social similarities
- 2.2.3Shared history and commonalities
- 2.3Economic and political factors
- 2.3.1Portrayal of a synthesis of the West and the East
- 2.3.2Social and political changes and aspirations in the viewer country
- 3.Translations of Turkish soap operas
- 3.1Translations of the names of Turkish soap operas
- 3.2Dubbed Turkish soap operas
- 3.3Subtitled Turkish soap operas
- 3.4Adaptations and remakes of Turkish soap operas and Turkish remakes
- 3.5Censorship
- 4.Conclusion
-
References
References (62)
References
Abramovich, Paulina. 2014. “Turkish soaps invade Latin America, land of telenovela”. Business Insider, December 23. [URL].
Akgün, Mensur, et al.. 2013. TESEV Dış Politika Programı:Ortadoğu’da Türkiye Algısı. Online edition. [URL].
Akyol, Arzu. 2014. “Türk Dizilerini Dünyada 400 Milyon Kişi İzliyor”. Akşam, June 15. [URL].
Aljazeera. 2008. “Saudi Scholar Issues TV Death Fatwa”. Aljazeera, September 13. [URL].
Aljazeera. 2014. “Türk Dizilerinin Rekoru”. Aljazeera, February 21. [URL].
Almutawa, Shatha. 2014. “Magnificent century: Historical Turkish Soap Opera finds a Global Audience”. AHA Today: A Blog of the American Historical Association, July 29. [URL].
Altamimi, Jumana. 2012. “Challange of the Turkish Soap Operas.” Gulf News, April 1. [URL].
Altaylı, Fatih. 2013. “Türk Dizileri Niye Başarılı?” Habertürk, August 18. [URL].
Anatolia News Agency. 2013. “Turkish Sopa Operas Take Bulgaria by Storm”. Hürriyet Daily News, June 13. [URL].
Athens Owl. 2014. “How Turkish Soap Operas have affected Greece and the Arab World”. Athens Owl Blog, October 18. [URL].
Ballı, Faruk, et al.. 2013. “Impacts of Exported Turkish Soap Operas and Visa-Free Entry on Inbound Tourism in Turkey”. Elsevier Science 371: 180–192.
Bilbassy-Charters, Nadia. 2010. “Leave it to Turkish soap to conquer hearts and minds”. Foreign Policy Group: The Middle East Channel, April 15. [URL].
Buccianti, Alexandra. 2010. “Dubbed Turkish Soap Operas Conquering the Arab World: Social liberation or cultural alienation”. Arab Media and Society 101. [URL].
Çevik, Senem. 2014. “Turkish Soap Opera Diplomacy: A Western Project by a Muslim Source”. Exchange Journal of Public Diplomacy 51: 77–102.
De Marco, Marcella. 2012. Audiovisual Translation through a Gender Lens. Amsterdam: Rodopi. 

Diaz Cintas, Jorge. 2009. New Trends in Audiovisual Translation. Bristol: Mutlilingual Matters. 

Díaz Cintas, Jorge. 2012. “Clearing the smoke to see the screen: Ideological manipulation in audiovisual translation”. Meta. 57 (2): 279–293. 

Dick, Jennifer K. and Stephanie Schwerter (eds.). 2012. Transmissability and Cultural Transfer: Dimensions of Translation in the Humanities. Stuttgart: İbidem-Verlag.
Ekopolitika. 2015. “Türk Dizileri Arap Ülkelerinde Boşanma Furyası Başlattı”. Avrupalı Türklerin Platformu Ekopolitika, June 21. [URL].
Erdbrink, Thomas. 2013. “Starring in Drama in Iran: TV Itself”. The New York Times, Middle East Tehran Journal, January 14. [URL].
Feral, Anne-Lise. 2011. “Gender in audiovisual translation: Naturalizing feminine voices in the French Sex and the City
”. European Journal of Women’s Studies 18 (4): 391–407. 

Flynn, Rachel. 2014. “Language, culture and censorship: A Glimpse into the World of Audiovisual Translation”. Rachel Flynn Blog Discussions in Translation Studies. April 14. [URL].
Gamal, Muhammed Y. 2014. “Audiovisual translation in the Arab World: Mapping the Field”. Arab Media and Society 191. [URL].
Gambier, Yves. 2003. “Introduction: Screen translation perception and reception”. The Translator 9 (2): 171–189. 

Gambier, Yves. 2006. “Multimodality and Audiovisual Translation”. In Proceedings of the
Marie Curie Euroconferences MuTra: Audiovisual Translation Scenarios
, 1–8. Copenhagen, May 1–5.
Gök, Seda. 2015. “Türk Dizileri Dünya Liderliğine Oynuyor”. Seda Gök’ün Haber Sitesi, March 15. [URL].
Gubash, Charlene. 2008. “Soap Opera Upends Traditional Arab Gender Roles”. NBC News, July 31. [URL].
Günerhan, Ayla. 2014. “Ojala! Şehrazat Mutlu Olur”. Hürriyet Kelebek, September 22. [URL].
Haberport. 2015. “Dünya Hangi Türk Dizilerini Beğeniyor”. Haberport, April 2. [URL].
Haber Türk. 2011. “Adını Rekor Koyduk”. Haber Türk, December 10. [URL].
Hamzic, Amina, Maja Nedelkovska, Donjeta Demolli, and Nemanja Cabric. 2013. “Turks Bewitch the Balkans With their Addictive Soaps”. Balkan Insight. [URL].
Hürriyet. 2012. “Macedonia Bans Turkish Soap Operas”. Hürriyet Daily News. November 14. [URL].
Jawad, Adil. 2013. “Some in Pakistan Threatened by Turkish TV Invasion”. Yahoo News, November 26. [URL].
Kaya, Canan. 2014. “Binbir Gece’nin şaşırtan başarısı- Türk dizileri Güney Amerika dizi piyasasında Arjantin ve Brezilya’nın tahtını sarsmaya başladı”. Hürriyet, September 11. [URL].
Kimmelman, Micheal. 2010. “Turks put twist in Racy Soaps”. New York Times, June 17. [URL].
Khawaja, Hafsa. 2013. “Pakistan hit by fever of Turkey’s popular cultural export”. Hafsa Khawaja’s Blog, March 16. [URL].
Krajeski, Jenna. 2012. “Turkey: Days of our lives”. Pulitzer Center on Crises Reporting, March 30. [URL].
Makris, A. 2012. “Bishop Antimos Hits Out at Turkish Soap Operas Fans”. Greek Reporter, October 30. [URL].
Matthews, Owen. 2011. “Turkish Soap Operas Are Sweeping the Middle East”. Newsweek, September 5. [URL].
Mendillioğlu, Ali. 2014. “Türk Dizileri Balkanlar’da Neden Bu Kadar Popüler?” Dipnot, October 6. [URL].
Moore, Robbie. 2013. “Soap Opera Diplomacy: Turkish TV in Greece”. Yale Global Online, quoted from Article by Robbie Moore in The Independent
, February 27. [URL].
Oxford Bussiness Group. 2015. “Soap Power: The Sweeping Success of Turkish television series”. Oxford Business Group. [URL].
Özyurt, Olkan. 2014. “Dünyada İzlenen Türk Dizileri Kadınların Hayatına Dokundu”. Sabah, February 2. [URL].
Paschalidou, Nina Maria. 2014. “Kısmet: How Soap Operas Changed the World: Filmmakers View”. Aljazeera, January 15. [URL].
RFE/RL Uzbek Service. 2015. “Turkish Soap Operas Taken Off Air in Uzbekistan”. Radio Free Europe Rabio Liberty, June 16. [URL].
Rohde, David. 2012. “The Islamıc World’s Culture Wars Played Out on TV Soap Operas”. The Atlantic, March 9. [URL].
Rousselin, Mathieu. 2013. “Turkish Soap Power: International Perspectives and Domestic Paradoxes”. Euxeinos, October. University of St Gallen. [URL].
Salem, Paul. 2011. “Arap Dünyasında Türkiye’nin Imajı”. TESEV Yayınları. [URL].
Scott, J. 2011. “Audiovisual Translation: Culture Versus Translation”. Trusted Translations Translation Blog, November 17. [URL].
Sinanidis, Mary. 2015. “Daze of our Lives”. Odyssey: The World of Greece, January-February. [URL].
Superhaber. 2014. “Türk Dizileri Brezilya’da Maçtan Bile Çok İzleniyor1.” Source cited as Aljazeera.com.tr, November 3. [URL].
Turkish Review. 2014. “Turkish soap operas, Arab viewers and censorship”. Turkish Review, July 1. [URL].
Tursunbaeva, Kanykei. 2014. “Central Asia’s Rulers View Turkish Soap Power with Suspicion”. Global Voices, August 7. [URL].
Vivarelli, Nick. 2013. “Turkish Soaps Slip by Middle East Censors”. Variety, October 9. [URL].
Williams, Nathan. 2013. “The rise of Turkish soap power”. BBC News, June 28. [URL].
Yasser, Nayera. 2015. “Zawya discussses impact of Turkish soap operas on Arab Women”. Daily News Egypt, May 20. [URL].
Yusuf, Huma. 2013. “The Geopolitics of Soap Operas”. The New York Times, January 10. [URL].
Zalewski, Piotr. 2013. “As Turkey Turns: Turkish soap operas are one of the country’s most unexpected cultural exports and a new source of soft power”. The Slate, August 16. [URL].
Zaman. 2014. “Binbir Gece’nin Bulgaristan’daki başarısı Türk dizilerini dünyaya taşıdı”. Zaman, August 1. [URL].
Zayed, Mohamed. 2013. “Turkish Drama in the Arab World: Social Impacts, Religious Reaction and Dramatic Void in the Arab World”. Research Turkey II (7): 35–42. [URL].
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Glushneva, Iuliia
2024.
Sentimental education across the borders: Hindi soap opera and translation cultures on the Russophone Web.
Feminist Media Studies 24:6
► pp. 1314 ff.

Sancaktaroğlu Bozkurt, Sinem & Ayşe Şirin Okyayuz
Okyayuz, Şirin
2019.
Translation and language and cultural policies: The importance of political cognizance in audiovisual translator training.
Dil ve Dilbilimi Çalışmaları Dergisi 15:3
► pp. 937 ff.

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.