Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dubbing in Video Games

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Enhancing Video Game Localization Through Dubbing

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting ((PTTI))

  • 426 Accesses

Abstract

Chapter 4 focuses on the dubbing phase, taking place in the intermediate stage of the localization process. An initial review of basic terms used in the media localization field is included to avoid terminology overlap when referring to dubbing, voice-over and lip-sync. The industrial process of film dubbing is reviewed to establish a comparison with game dubbing. The model of quality standards in film dubbing also serves as a basis to study the differences that game dubbing standards reflect. Finally, synchronization is presented as a particular dubbing standard that requires a different taxonomy for interactive products. While film dubbing synchronies can be divided into three types, the multimodal configuration of video games expands the taxonomy to five synchronies related to the restrictions applied to the translatable assets.

Cinema is a factory of illusions. Dubbing attempts to give the illusion of an illusion.

—Whitman-Linsen (1992: 55, drawing on Caillée 1960: 108)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Future research could explore the similarities and differences between the voice recording of video games and of non-interactive animated films (Minutella 2021) as both types of product use human voices to bring characters to life in the original language, not only to dub their dialogues into the target language.

  2. 2.

    The collective agreement on dubbing and sound professional conventions in Madrid is available online: https://adoma.es/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/CONVENIO-ANEXO-SALARIAL-IV-.pdf. The collective agreement on dubbing conventions in Catalonia is also available online: https://www.aadpc.cat/uploads/2015/03/01-ii-convenicolectivoprof-doblaje.pdf. They are available in Spanish only [accessed on December 21, 2020].

  3. 3.

    Sound studio specialized in video game dubbing, based in Madrid (Spain). Website available at http://www.recgamessonido.com/ [accessed on December 23, 2020].

  4. 4.

    Two sound engineers and a dubbing professional were interviewed in 2017, 2018 and 2020 about the use of dubbing synchronies in game localization (Mejías-Climent 2019, 2022).

  5. 5.

    Chaume 2004a describes these situational or external factors as professional issues, historical aspects and communicative and reception issues related to the translation brief. See also Chaume 2012: 165–171 for further discussion.

  6. 6.

    Sections 5.3.1.2, 5.3.2.2 and 5.3.3.2 in Chap. 5 offer some particular examples of text strings that have been dubbed applying this type of synchrony.

  7. 7.

    Haptic codes are considered in cinematic scenes as triggers, but they do not affect their audiovisual configuration since cinematics do not allow any type of interaction for the player, except in quick-time events.

References

  • ADOMA. 2014. II Convenio Colectivo de Profesionales de Doblaje y Sonorización de la Comunidad de Madrid (Rama Artística). Madrid.

    Google Scholar 

  • Agost, Rosa. 1999. Traducción y doblaje: Palabras, voces e imágenes. Barcelona: Ariel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ávila, Alejandro. 1997. El doblaje, 46. Madrid: Cátedra, Colección Signo e Imagnn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baños-Piñero, Rocío. 2009. La oralidad prefabricada en la traducción para el doblaje. Estudio Desrcriptivo-contrastivo del español de dos comedias de situación. Siete vidas y Friends. Universidad de Granada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baños-Piñero, Rocío, and Frederic Chaume. 2009. Prefabricated Orality. A Challenge in Audiovisual Translation. InTRAlinea. Online Translation Journal. Special Issue: The Translation of Dialects in Multimedia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernal-Merino, Miguel Ángel. 2015. Translation and Localisation in Video Games Making Entertainment Software Global. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caillé, Pierre-François. 1960. Cinéma et traduction: Le traducteur devant l’écran. Le Doublage. Le Sous-Tittrage. Babel1 6 (3): 103–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caillée, Pierre-François, 1960. “La traduction au cinema”. In Übersetzen. Vorträge und Beiträge vom internationalen Kongress literarischer Übersetzer, edited by Rolf Italiaander, 1965. Frankfurt/Bonn: Athenäum.

    Google Scholar 

  • CD, Alex. 2013. No es broma: Imanol Arias participa en el doblaje de Battlefield 4. Vida Extra, July 8. https://www.vidaextra.com/fps/no-es-broma-imanol-arias-participa-en-el-doblaje-de-battlefield-4.

  • Chandler, Rafael. 2006. Screen/Play: Documenting Voice Assets. Gamasutra. https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131133/screenplay_documenting_voice_.php.

  • Chaume, Frederic. 2004a. Cine y traducción. Madrid: Cátedra.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2004b. Synchronization in Dubbing: A Translational Approach. In Topics in Audiovisual Translation, ed. Pilar Orero, 35–52. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2005. Los estándares de calidad y la recepción de la traducción audiovisual. Puentes 6: 5–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2007. Quality Standards in Dubbing: A Proposal. Tradterm 13: 71–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2012a. Audiovisual Translation: Dubbing. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2012b. La Traduccion audiovisual: Nuevas Tecnologías, nuevas audiencias. In 12° Congresso dell’Associazione Italiana di Linguistica Applicata, 143–159. Perugia: Guerra Edizioni.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. The Turn of Audiovisual Translation: New Audiences and New Technologies. Translation SpacesTranslation Spaces. A Multidisciplinary, Multimedia, and Multilingual Journal of Translation 2: 105–123. https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.2.06cha.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2020. Dubbing. In The Palgrave Handbook of Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility, ed. Łukasz Bogucki and Mikolaj Deckert, 103–132. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Chaves García, María José. 2000. La traducción cinematográfica. El doblaje. Vol. Arias Montano, 43. Huelva: Universidad de Huelva.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cornu, Jean-François. 2014. Le doublage et le sous-titrage: Histoire et esthétique. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pur.76511.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Giovanni, Elena Di, and Yves Gambier. 2018. Reception Studies and Audiovisual Translation. Ed. Elena Di Giovanni and Yves Gambier. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Díaz Cintas, Jorge. 2018. Film Censorship in Franco’s Spain: The Transforming Power of Dubbing. Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice 27 (2): 182–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2017.1420669.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Díaz Cintas, Jorge, and Aline Remael. 2021. Subtitling: Concepts and Practices. London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, István. 1976. Film Dubbing: Phonetic, Semiotic, Esthetic and Psychological Aspects. Hamburgo: Buske.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franco, Eliana, Anna Matamala, and Pilar Orero. 2010. Voice-Over Translation: An Overview. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freddi, Maria, and Maria Pavesi. 2009. Analysing Audiovisual Dialogue: Linguistic and Translational Insights. Bolonia: Clueb.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilabert, Ana, Alberto Trifol, and Iolanda Ledesma. 2001. La traducción para el doblaje y la subtitulación. In La traducción para el doblaje y la subtitulación, ed. Miguel Duro Moreno, 325–330. Madrid: Cátedra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greco, Gian Maria, and Anna Jankowska. 2020. Media Accessibility Within and Beyond Audiovisual Translation. In The Palgrave Handbook of Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility, ed. Łukasz Bogucki and Mikolaj Deckert, 57–81. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gregory, Michael, and Susanne Carroll. 1978. Language and Situation. Language Varieties and Their Social Contexts. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbst, Thomas. 1996. Why Dubbing Is Impossible. In Traduzione Mulimediale per Il Cinema, La Televisione e La Scena. Atti Del Convegno Internazionale, Forlì 26–26 1995, ed. Christine Heiss and Rosa Maria Bollettieri Bosinelli, 97. Bologna: Clueb. https://doi.org/10.1400/276624.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hurtado Albir, Amparo. 2011. Traducción y traductología. Introducción a la traductología. 5th ed. Madrid: Cátedra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karamitroglou, Fotios. 2000. Towards a Methodology for the Investigation of Norms in Audiovisual Translation. Amsterdam/Atlanta: Rodopi.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Le Dour, Corinne Isabelle. 2007. Surviving Audio Localization. Gamasutra. https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1713/surviving_audio_localization.php#5.

  • Lloret, Alberto. 2014. Análisis y crítica de Battlefield 4. Hobby Consolas, January 18. https://www.hobbyconsolas.com/opiniones/guerra-sube-nivel-57726.

  • Lorenzo-García, Lourdes, and Beatriz Rodríguez-Rodríguez. 2015. La intertextualidad en los textos audiovisuales: El caso de Donkey Xote. Ocnos: Revista de Estudios Sobre Lectura 13 (13): 117–128. https://doi.org/10.18239/ocnos_2015.13.07.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mangiron, Carme. 2018. Reception Studies in Game Localisation: Taking Stock. In Reception Studies and Audiovisual Translation, 277–296. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2021. Panorama actual de la accesibilidad a los videojuegos. In Modalidades de Traducción Audiovisual: Completando El Espectro, ed. Beatriz Reverter Oliver, Juan José Martínez-Sierra, Diana González Pastor, and José Fernando Carrero Martín, 101–110. Granada: Comares, Colección Interlingua.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mangiron, Carme, and Minako O’Hagan. 2006. Unleashing Imagination with ‘Restricted’ Translation. JoStrans. The Journal of Specialised Translation 6: 10–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mangiron, Carme, Pilar Orero, and Minako O’Hagan. 2014. Fun for All: Translation and Accessibility Practices in Video Games. Bern: Peter Lang.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez-Sierra, Juan José. 2008. Humor y traducción. Los Simpson cruzan la frontera. Castelló de la Plana: Universitat Jaume I.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010. Building Bridges Between Cultural Studies and Translation Studies: With Reference to the Audiovisual Field. Journal of Universal Language 11 (1): 115–136. https://doi.org/10.22425/jul.2010.11.1.115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2012. Introducción a la traducción audiovisual. Murcia: Universidad de Murcia.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2017. Dealing with the N-Word in Dubbing and Subtitling Django Desencadenado: A Case of Self-Censorhip? Ideas 3 (3): 39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marzà Ibàñez, Anna, and Frederic Chaume. 2009. The Language of Dubbing: Present Facts and Future Perspectives. In Analysing Audiovisual Dialogue. Linguistic and Translational Insights, ed. Maria Freddi and Maria Pavesi, 31–39. Bolonia: Clueb.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matamala, Anna. 2020. Translating Non-fictional Genres: Voice-over and Off-screen Dubbing. In The Palgrave Handbook of Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility, ed. Łukasz Bogucki and Mikolaj Deckert, 133–148. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Maxwell Chandler, Heather. 2005. The Game Localization Handbook. Hingham, MA: Charles River Media.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maxwell Chandler, Heather, and Stephanie O’Malley Deming. 2012. The Game Localization Handbook. 2nd ed. Sudbury, MA: Jones.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayoral, Roberto, Dorothy Kelly, and Natividad Gallardo. 1988. Concept of Constrained Translation. Non-Linguistic Perspectives of Translation. Meta 33 (3): 356–367. https://doi.org/10.7202/003608ar.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mejías-Climent, Laura. 2019. La sincronización en el doblaje de videojuegos. Análisis empírico y descriptivo de los videojuegos de acción-aventura. Universitat Jaume I.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2022. Una perspectiva diacrónica del doblaje en videojuegos: Evolución de la práctica profesional. Hermeneus, Revista de Traducción e Interpretación.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merchán, Cerezo, Federico Chaume Beatriz, Joaquín Granell Varela, José Luis Zafra, Martí Ferriol, Juan José Martínez Sierra, and Anna Marzà Ibàñez. 2017. La traducción para el doblaje en España. Mapa de convenciones. Castelló de la Plana: Publicacions de la Universitat Jaume I. https://doi.org/10.6035/estudistraduccio.trama.2016.3.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mereu Keating, Carla. 2016. The Politics of Dubbing. Film Censorship and State Intervention in the Translation of Foreign Cinema in Fascist Italy. The Politics of Dubbing. Oxford: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minutella, Vincenza. 2021. (Re)Creating Language Identities in Animated Films. (Re)Creating Language Identities in Animated Films. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Neves, Josélia. 2018. Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Audiences. In The Routledge Handbook of Audiovisual Translation, ed. Luis Pérez-González, 82–95. London: Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Nord, Christiane. 2018. Translating as a Purposeful Activity. Functionalist Approaches Explained. 2nd ed. Oxon and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Hagan, Minako, and Carme Mangiron. 2013. Game Localization: Translating for the Global Digital Entertainment Industry. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Orero, Pilar, Stephen Doherty, Jan-Louis Kruger, Anna Matamala, Jan Pedersen, Elisa Perego, S. Pablo Romero-Fresco, Olga Soler-Vilageliu Rovira-Esteva, and Agnieszka Szarkowska. 2018. Conducting Experimental Research in Audiovisual Translation (AVT): A Position Paper. The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Technology 30: 105–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pavesi, Maria. 2005. La Traduzione Filmica: Aspetti Del Parlato Doppiato Dall’inglese All’italiano. Rome: Carocci editore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-González, Luis. 2007. Appraising Dubbed Conversation: Systemic Functional Insights into the Construal of Naturalness in Translated Film Dialogue. The Translator 13 (1): 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2007.10799227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pujol Tubau, Miquel. 2015. La representació de personatges a través del doblatge en narratives transmèdia. Estudi descriptiu de pel·lícules i videojocs basats en El senyor dels anells. Universitat de Vic – Universitat Central de Catalunya.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ranzato, Irene. 2016. Translating Culture Specific References on Television: The Case of Dubbing. Vol. 11. Taylor and Francis Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romero Fresco, Pablo. 2009. A Corpus-Based Study on the Naturalness of the Spanish Dubbing Language: The Analysis of Discourse Markers in the Dubbed Translation of Friends. Heriot-Watt University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Mompeán, Sofía. 2020. The Prosody of Dubbed Speech: Beyond the Character’s Words. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sioli, Fulvio, Fabio Minazzi, and Andrea Ballista. 2007. Audio Localization For Language Service Providers. Multilingual Localization: Getting Started Guide, 18–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spiteri Miggiani, Giselle. 2019. Dialogue Writing for Dubbing: An Insider’s Perspective. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Szarkowska, Agnieszka. 2020. Subtitling for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing. In The Palgrave Handbook of Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility, ed. Łukasz Bogucki and Mikołaj Deckert, 249–268. Cham, Switzerwland: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Toury, Gideon. 2012. Descriptive Translation Studies – And Beyond. 2nd ed. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • United Nations. 2006. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Optional Protocol.

    Google Scholar 

  • Venuti, Lawrence. 2008. The Translator ’s Invisibility. 2nd ed. London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitman-Linsen, Candace. 1992. Through the Dubbing Glass. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, Jean Ann, and M.J. Lallo. 2009. Voice-over for Animation. Burlington/Oxford: Elsevier (Focal Press).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Translation and Communication, Jaume I University, Castelló, Spain

    Laura Mejías-Climent

Authors
  1. Laura Mejías-Climent
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura Mejías-Climent .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Mejías-Climent, L. (2021). Dubbing in Video Games. In: Enhancing Video Game Localization Through Dubbing. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88292-1_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88292-1_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-88291-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-88292-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation