Voice-over translation

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Voice-over translation is an

, actor voices are recorded over the original audio track which can be heard in the background.

This method of translation is most often used in

to translate words of foreign-language interviewees in countries where subtitling is not the norm.

Movies

A typical voice-over translation is usually done by a single male or female voice artist. It is slow paced, therefore shortened but fully intelligible,^{[citation needed]} usually trailing the original dialogue by a few seconds. The original audio can thus be heard to some extent, allowing the viewer to grasp the actors' voices. Any text appearing on the screen is also usually read out by the interpreter, although in more recent times^[when?], it is sometimes carried with subtitles covering any on-screen text.^{[citation needed]}

In Russia

Called Gavrilov translation (

.

During the early years of the

, where Western films were accessible to a larger public, and allowed the interpreters to gain further recognition.

With the introduction of

The three aforementioned interpreters, Gavrilov, Mikhalev, and Volodarskiy, were the leading names in film dubbing in the last decades of the 20th century, with dubs done by each of them numbering in the thousands.

.

After perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union, when restrictions on Western films were lifted, movie theatres, the state television channels, and eventually DVD releases primarily employed multiple-voice dubbings done by professional actors. However, cable television and the thriving unauthorized video industry continued fuelling demand for Gavrilov translations. This period marked a significant drop in the quality of such dubbings, as the intense competition between the numerous infringement groups and the lack of available funds resulted in releases with non-professional in-house dubbing.^[4] This was further exacerbated by the death of Mikhalev in 1994 and fewer recordings being produced by many of the other skilled veterans of the industry, who pursued alternative career paths. Numerous well-regarded newcomers took their place, including Alexey Medvedev, Petr Glants, Peter Kartsev, Pavel Sanayev, Sergey Vizgunov, and most famously Dmitry "Goblin" Puchkov. The latter is notorious for his direct translation of profanity, as well as alternative "funny translations" of Hollywood blockbusters, such as Star Wars: Storm in the Glass after Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

In later years, however, the use of Russian

In Poland

Voice-over translation is the traditional translation method in

lektor

("reader") is used to refer to the translation.

Voice-over is the preferred form of dubbing among Polish broadcasters due to being very cheap to produce, and because of its wide use, it seems to be widely accepted by most of the audience.^[citation needed] TVP tried to introduce subtitled versions of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Radio Free Roscoe, which, due to low ratings, were later replaced with their existing, fully dubbed versions. Since then, outside some special cases, only some anime titles aired with only subtitles, as being the most acceptable form among otaku.^{[citation needed]}

The most notable readers are Stanisław Olejniczak, Janusz Szydłowski, Piotr Borowiec and Maciej Gudowski.^[9] Tomasz Knapik, who died in 2021, was also named notable.^[10][11][12]

In Bulgaria

Voice-over translation is also common, but each film (or episode) is normally voiced by professional actors. The voice artists try to match the original voice and preserve the intonation. The main reason for the use of this type of translation is that unlike synchronized voice translation, it takes a relatively short time to produce, as there is no need to synchronize the voices with the character's lip movements, which is compensated by the quieted original audio. When there is no

in the film for some time, the original sound is turned up. In later years, as more films are distributed with separate full mix and music+effects tracks, some voice-over translations in Bulgaria have been produced by only turning down the voice track, in this way not affecting the other sounds. One actor always reads the translation crew's names over the show's ending credits (except for when there are dialogues over the credits).

At the end of the 1980s, as

releases). In the mid-90s, the voice-over became more professional, using a female voice actor for the corresponding parts, and with the actors trying to match the intonation of the original characters.

Sample

See the right-hand side of this page.

See also

• Lector
• Benshi
• Dub localization

References

External links

• (in Russian) Profiles of the most prominent "Gavrilov translators" with audio samples of their work