Pro and cons on dubbing

From Kompas

The dubbing of foreign television films into Indonesian has become a hotly debated topic recently. Some people are of the opinion that in the absence of dubbing into Indonesian, "we can learn a foreign language", (meaning English). However, if the film is in Spanish, for example, will many of the viewers be able to understand the dialog?

Others hold the view that the voices in a dubbed film often do not suit the character of the actor/actress whose words are dubbed. In my opinion, however, in most cases the dubbing fits the character of the actor/actress.

As a housewife who happens to be in favor of dubbing, I wish to take this opportunity to appeal to the authorities to allow dubbing to continue. Why? It is undeniable there are many old housewives, domestic helpers and others who are still illiterate.

If dubbing into Indonesian is prohibited, these people will greatly miss their practical and cheap entertainment. (They sometimes simply listen to the dialog of a TV film while doing other jobs).

If dubbing into Indonesian is scrapped, people with poor sight will also be disadvantaged. These people find the subtitles difficult to read because they are usually printed in small letters in a color which is often the same as the background.

Some people say that the stories in foreign films of poor quality. To me this is not the right assessment. I usually watch Latin American TV films and think that the stories, the scenes and the acting are excellent and that the plots always contain surprises.

One thing not to be forgotten is that the prohibition of dubbing means thousands of dubbers having to find new jobs, which is not easy to do nowadays.

So, please let dubbing continue.

MRS. M. SURONO

Yogyakarta