Economic issues
Dominance of dubbing in the French film industry has been there for the past six decades. This translation technique requires an expert to match the actor’s dialogue with lips synchrony, a factor that has economic effect on both the small and medium distributors in the industry. Hiring such experts would be hugely expensive for these small and medium distributors like what Joinville studios experienced (Christine 2004, p. 208).
Major distributors have dominated the industry because their bulk production does not incur a lot of cost when dubbing (Dana 1991, p. 607). The expense for producing a dubbed film is 10 times higher than any other translational technique; these producers can only afford this form. Preferences for dubbed films have driven many filmmakers to acclimatize to their market demands by embracing dubbing as opposed to subtitling (Bogucki 2004, p. 71).
A tradition by French citizens to hold firmly onto dubbing has done little to embrace translational change. It is true that any abrupt change without both technological considerations as well as market survey would mean economic woes to dubbing industry just like what subtitling companies in Europe went through before the version could, became attractive to local companies (Riggio 2010, p. 31).
Dubbing has in turn created a few job opportunities for the actors doing voice translation. A survey carried out by European commission (2007, p. 1) inextricably linked economic down trend with dubbing by arguing that citizens from nations like France who grew up in a culture without diversity lack English skills to land them considerable contracts because dubbing neither promote English language development nor cultural diversity (Cattrysse 2004, p. 39).
Social class issues
This method of translation has been in use across France because it is a perfect way of shunning certain expressions and trademarks found in the films. This involves actors replacing vulgar words with a softer language expression that will not be offensive to the viewers.
These would include advertisements on alcohol, drugs, and certain brand names like coca cola trademarks. The elites and professionals within the social group AB prefer subtitles and original versions to those in the lower social ranks who prefer dubbed films. However, it is true that one would go for the method he or she came across at an earlier stage of life, this is particularly true with French citizens.
Subtitle movies have not had commanding support because most common citizens prefer dubbed version. Attitude has also played a crucial role in French movie industry in the sense that most citizens’ views dubbing as a way of preserving their culture and nationalism, as opposed to those shown in foreign languages (Danan 1991, p. 611).
Literacy
Studies show that international students from nations dominated with subtitles like Scandinavians and Dutch learning English have always outperformed students from countries dominated with dubbed movies, of these France and Germany students are the majority. Literacy improves in countries consuming subtitling movies, for it promotes foreign language comprehension, as opposed to dubbing (Koolstra and Beentjes 1999, p. 51).
Subtitle and the original versions would not only help the viewers learn foreign languages but also help in learning proper pronunciation; this would improve learning skills of a person (Danan 2004, p. 67). Dubbing, on the other hand, has promoted the French people to embrace a culture of people who do not want to read and learn other people’s traditions and customs (Pettit 2004, p. 25; Heiss 2004, p. 208).
Reference List
Bogucki, L. 2004.The constraint of relevance in subtiting. The Journal of Spedialised Translation 1. Web.
Cattrysse, P. 2004. Stories Travelling Across Nations and Cultures. META, 49(1), pp. 39-51. Web.
Christine, H. 2004. Dubbing Multilingual Films: A New Challenge? META, 49(1), pp.208-220. Web.
Danan, M. 1991. Dubbing as an Expression of Nationalism. Meta: Translator’s Journal, 36(4), pp. 606–614. Web.
Danan, M. 2004. Captioning and subtitling: undervalued Language learning Strategies. Meta: Translator’s Journal, 49(1), pp. 67-77. Web.
European Commission 2007. Effects on the European Economy of Shortage of foreign Language skills in Enterprise. Web.
Heiss, C. 2004. Dubbing Multilingual Films: A New Challenge? META, 49(1), pp.208-220. Web.
Koolstra, C. M. and Beentjes, W.J. 1999. Children’s vocabulary acquisition in a foreign language through watching subtitled television programs at home. Educational Technology Research and Development, 47(1), pp. 51-60. Web.
Pettit, Z. 2004. The Audio-Visual Text: Subtitling and Dubbing Different Genres. META, 49(1), pp. 25-28. Web.
Riggio, F. 2010. Dubbing vs. Subtitling Web.