Exploring applied strategies for English-language dubbing

Abstract

The sudden boom of non-English language content on popular streaming platforms has obliged media localisation companies to react and adapt quickly to provide the market with English dubbing lip-synch services. This comes with several challenges due to the absence of a long-established English dubbing tradition and professional practice, as well as the lack of consolidated norms and conventions, or a textual repertoire to act as a point of reference. This paper builds on a prior theoretical study (Spiteri Miggiani, 2021) that seeks to identify potential norms as well as challenges in English-language dubbing. It goes a step further by exploring strategies and techniques that could address the identified challenges while aiming to satisfy the generally accepted quality standards that govern dubbing globally. The proposed strategies apply to the dubbing workflow as a whole with a special focus on the dubbing text adaptation process. The study aims to set the grounds for further research required to corroborate these strategies through applied studies in an academic setting, or through collaboration with localisation companies where they can be tested and observed in professional practice.