Dubbing versus subtitling yet again?
An empirical study on user comprehension and preferences in Spain
Anna Matamala | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Elisa Perego | University of Trieste
Sara Bottiroli | C. Mondino National Neurological Institute
The dubbing versus subtitling debate has been a recurrent topic in the audiovisual translation literature, but empirical research into the reception of both modes is still lacking. This article presents the results of an experiment that aimed to investigate to what extent comprehension, memory, and enjoyment of a film differ in a dubbed and a subtitled version in a country that traditionally uses dubbing, like Spain. Fifty-one young Spanish adults participated in the study, which measured general comprehension, dialogue recognition, face-name association and visual scene recognition, as well as evaluative measures including film appreciation, self-reported effort related to film viewing, and metacognitive judgments of memory.
Keywords: audiovisual translation, dubbing, subtitling, reception
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Dubbing versus subtitling again?
- 3.Beyond the “eternal dilemma”: Audience reception studies
- 4.Methodological aspects
- 4.1Participants
- 4.2Experiment design
- 4.3Video
- 4.4Questionnaires
- 4.4.1Cognitive measures
- 4.4.2Evaluative measures
- 4.5Procedure
- 5.Results and discussion
- 6.Conclusions and future research
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
Published online: 03 November 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.63.3.07mat
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.63.3.07mat
References
Ávila, Alejandro
Ballester Casado, Ana
Caillé, Pierre-François
1965 “La traduction au cinema [Translation in Cinema]”. In Übersetzen- Vorträge und Beiträge vom Internationalen Kongress literarischer Übersetzer in Hamburg [Translation. Presentations and Contributions from the International Conference on Literary Translation held in Hamburg], ed. by Rolf Italiaander, 115–122. Frankfurt: Athenäum.
Díaz-Cintas, Jorge
Díaz-Cintas, Jorge, and Aline Remael
Duarte Silva de Andrade Xavier, Catarina
2009 Esbatendo o tabu: estratégias de traduçao para legendagem em Portugal [Blurring the Taboo: Translating Strategies for Subtitling in Portugal]. Universidade de Lisboa. http://repositorio.ul.pt/bitstream/10451/1974/1/ulfl078315_tm.pdf
d’Ydewalle, Géry, and Wim De Bruycker
d’Ydewalle, Géry, and Ingrid Gielen
d’Ydewalle, Géry, Caroiline Praet, Karl Verfaillie, and Johan Van Rensbergen
d’Ydewalle, Géry, Johan Van Rensbergen, and Joris Pollet
Franco, Eliana, Anna Matamala, and Pilar Orero
Fuentes, Adrián
2000 La recepción del humor audiovisual traducido: estudio comparative de fragmentos de las versiones dobladas y subtituladas al español de la película Duck Soup, de los Hermanos Marx [The Reception of Translated Audiovisual humour: Comparative Study of Excerpts of Spanish Dubbed and Subtitled Versions of the Film Duck Soup by the Marx Brothers.] PhD thesis. Granada: Universidad de Granada.
Ghia, Elisa
2012 Subtitling Matters. New Perspectives on Subtitling and Foreign Language Learning. Oxford: Peter Lang.
Gil Ariza, M. Carmen
2004 “A Case Study: Spain as a Dubbing Country”. Translation Journal 291. http://translationjournal.net/journal/29movies.htm
Gottlieb, Henrik
Grillo, Virgil, and Bruce Kawin
Incalcaterra Mc McLoughlin, Laura, and Jennifer Lertola
Izard, Natàlia
Kilborn, Richard
Koolstra, Caes M., Allert L. Peeters, and Herman Spinhof
Labaki, Nadine
2007 Caramel. Barcelona: Cameo Media. DVD.
Leboreiro, Fernanda, and Jesús Poza
Luyken, George-Michael, Thomas Herbst, Jo Langham-Brown, Helen Reid, and Hermann Spinhof
Mailhac, Jean-Pierre
2000 “Subtitling and Dubbing, for Better or for Worse? The English Version of Gazon Maudit”. Paper presented at the Third International Conference and Exhibition on Converging Markets and Multimedia. Berlin, Germany.
Mangnus, J., H. Hoeken, and H. van Driel
1994 “De Schaar van Wember en Ondertiteling: Experimenteel Onderzoek naar de Informatieoverdracht van Ondertitelde en Nederlands Gesproken Documentaires." [ The Scissors of Wember and Subtitling: Experimental Research on Information
Processing of Subtitled and Dutch Spoken Documentaries]. Communicatie 241: 1–11.
Marleau, Lucien
Martín, Laurentino
1994 “Estudio de las diferentes fases del proceso de doblaje [Study on the Different Stages of the Dubbing Process]”. In Trasvases culturales: literatura, cine, traducción [Cultural Transfers: Literature, Cinema, Translation], ed. by Federico Eguíluz, Raquel Merino, José Miguel Santamaría, and Eterio Pajares, 323–330. Gasteiz: UPF.
Martínez Sierra, Juan José
Matamala, Anna
Matamala, Anna, and Pilar Orero
MCG (Media Consulting Group)
MECD (Ministerio de Educación, Cultural y Deporte [Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports])
2012 European Survey on Language Competences (ESLC). Expert Analysis. http://www.mecd.gob.es/dctm/inee/internacional/eeclvol2ingleslinea.pdf?documentId=0901e72b81443480
2013 Boletín informativo 20. Películas, recaudaciones, espectadores [Informative Report. Films, Box-Office, Audiences]. http://www.mecd.gob.es/cultura-mecd/areas-cultura/cine/mc/bic/ano-2013.html
Mera, Miguel
Nootens, J.
OTX
2010 Subtitling versus Dubbing: An OTX Case-Study Report to the UK Film Council. http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/uk-film-council-case-study-subtitling-vs-dubbing-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo.pdf
Peeters, Allerd L., Annette Scherpenzeel, and J. H. Zantinge
Perego, Elisa, Fabio Del Missier, and Sara Bottiroli
Perego, Elisa, Fabio Del Missier, Marco Porta, and Mauro Mosconi
Perego, Elisa, Monika Laskowska, Anna Matamala, Aline Remael, Isabelle Roberts, Agnieszka Szarkowska, Anna Vilaró, and Sara Bottiroli
Reid, Helen
Remael, Aline
Van de Poel, Marijke, and Géry d’Ydewalle
Van Lommel, S., Laenen, A., and d’Ydewalle, G.
von Feilitzen, Cecilia, Leni Filipson, and Ingela Schyller
Wissmath, Bartholomäus, and David Weibel
Wissmath, Bartholomäus, David Weibel, and Rudolf Groner
Cited by
Cited by 12 other publications
Díaz-Cintas, Jorge & Juan Zhang
Iturregui-Gallardo, Gonzalo
Iturregui-Gallardo, Gonzalo & Anna Matamala
Mehdizadkhani, Milad & Masood Khoshsaligheh
Qasim, Asil & Rashid Yahiaoui
Riniolo, Todd C. & Lesley J. Capuana
Szarkowska, Agnieszka & Lidia Bogucka
Szarkowska, Agnieszka, Jorge Díaz Cintas & Olivia Gerber-Morón
Szarkowska, Agnieszka & Olivia Gerber-Morón
Szarkowska, Agnieszka, Olivia Gerber-Morón & David Orrego-Carmona
Wu, Zhiwei & Zhuojia Chen
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 07 april 2022. 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.