Accurate dubbing a long way off for TV viewers
Accurate dubbing a long way off for TV viewers
By Lie Hua
JAKARTA (JP): "Thank you to his visit ...," says one character
in an American film dubbed into Indonesian, to the surprise of
television viewers because they are at a loss to find the
situation prompting the character to express his gratitude.
A TV film lover reads to his amusement an Indonesian subti
tle saying that something is hiding inside someone's sleeve,
while he has just heard, unmistakably, one character warns anoth
er to be careful about a Mr X because he has something up his
sleeve.
A long list of such examples may be drawn if a TV viewer is
observant enough to listen to the dubbing or read the subtitling.
To many, these may be trivial, but to some they may be disturbing
because what you hear or what you read is not related to what you
watch.
In both examples above it is clear that the translator is not
careful. In the first example, obviously the original version
reads "Thanks to his visit ...", which is way in meaning from
"Thank you to his visit ...".
In the second example, the character refers to "keeping secret
for use at the right time in the future" but someone reading the
Indonesian subtitle will expect to see the character busy trying
to find something hidden inside someone's sleeve.
Incongruity like these are easy to find if you are listening
to the dubbing or reading the subtitle. It is often hard to
understand why glaring mistakes still occur as the translation
for the dubbing and the subtitling have to be checked first
before they are released.
Translators
Whether a foreign film is dubbed or subtitled, a translator
will be needed. Obviously, the qualification of a translator will
determine the quality of the translation.
In Indosiar, for example, the translators are either permanent
staffers or freelancers. "Generally speaking, we have our own
team of translators and dubbers. We hire freelancers only when we
are underhanded," said Gufron, public relation chief of the
private TV station.
He added that they had translators for English and Mandarin
texts, and that in the case of Indian films, the dubbing would be
handled by the importer.
A senior dubber organizer, now employed by SCTV but preferring
anonymity, said that in this private TV station translators for
subtitling work are regularly employed but those for the dubbing
work are freelancers. He added that regularly employed
translators are university graduates but the freelancers are
university students, very often not majoring in English, at
higher grades.
The situation is almost the same in other private TV stations.
According to Inez Saptenno, first assistant to the dean of School
of Letters, National University, some of the students of the
English department work as freelancing translators for subtitling
work.
She said in some cases the translation showed sloppy work.
"The quality of translation depends on the qualification of the
translator. If a translator is underpaid, as I have heard, the
quality of the translation is obviously disappointing," she
added.
Subtitling
Both dubbing and subtitling needs a translator. In the case of
subtitling, it is sometimes the case that the translators have to
depend on their ears.
"We have no script. We listen to the dialog and translate the
dialog exchanges," said a translator for subtitling work in
translation workshop under Rahayu S. Hidayat of the University of
Indonesia, held at National University late last year.
Rahayu added that translating for subtitling work had the
limited space as the main constraint. A translator has to think
of the right phrases to fit the space given and at the same time
convey the meaning.
In the case of translation for dubbing work, the translator
will do the translation at home and then in the studio someone
will break down the sentences into parts that will synchronize
with the lips of the speakers.
Constraints aside, it is the qualification of the translator
that will determine the quality of the translation work.
Remuneration
Saptenno said that a few years back a translator for
subtitling work was paid Rp 30,000-50,000 per title.
Today a translator for subtitling work gets Rp 200,000 a title
for a 90-minute film and Rp 100,000 - Rp 150,000 a title for a
60-minute film, said a senior dubber at SCTV who requested
anonymity.
It would take a translator about 3 days to complete the
translation of a 60-minute action film, and about 1-2 days for a
30-minute sitcom, he said. In an action film, there are not many
dialogs but a sitcom relies heavily on dialogs, he added.
Usually a translator will have an English script for a Western
TV or wide-screen film, a Latin American TV film or Mandarin
film, either in Mandarin or dubbed in English, he said.
In the case of Indian films, he said, the English script is
usually incomplete, so the dialogs have to be translated by a
person speaking the language used in the film. This translator
will be paid an average of 300,000 per title for a film with a 3-
hour duration.
Thai and Philippines films are usually accompanied by dialog
texts in English although in some cases the help of (native)
speakers of Thai and Tagalog will be needed.
"The dialogs in Thai series with Racha as the main cast, now
aired by ANtv, for example, are translated directly from Thai,"
said Saptenno, adding that the translator is married to a Thai
gentleman.
In the case of translation for dubbing, the source at SCTV
said that university graduates majoring in English are usually
reluctant to take up the job because of its poor remuneration.
"Many of them prefer to take other kinds of translation
because of the higher pay," he noted. For comparison, a
translator gets paid Rp 40 - 50 a character doing business
translation.
It is a pity, he added, that there is yet to be a specific
association for translators for dubbing and subtitling work. This
association may, among other things, help improve and standardize
the quality of the translation.
Meanwhile, TV viewers may still expect to find incongruity
between what they hear or read and what is going on in the film.