Abstract
Behaviour of Tanzanians to watch television dramas dubbed from other languages into Kiswahili can be traced back to the 1990s as an outcome of massive increase of television programmes imported from abroad. Apart from economic significance, Tanzanians utilise translated and dubbed television drama as a platform to learn world cultures as well as to affirm to their negotiated values. While studies on television drama in Tanzania seem to provide its history, development, marketing and distribution, little is known pertaining to how Tanzanians receive foreign television drama translated and dubbed into their language. This chapter uses a well-known Indian television drama “Kulfi” directed by Pradeep Yadav. With a total of 494 episodes, Kulfi was dubbed into Kiswahili language and aired on Azam Two TV in Tanzania between February and December 2021. In this chapter, we seek to understand the manner Tanzanians receive foreign television drama dubbed into Kiswahili. The study uses both primary and secondary data to explore the same. Whereas secondary data was used to locate theories and backing up data collected for this study, primary data were collected through observation method, focus group discussion and in-depth interviews. The study used reception and Skopos translation theory to argue that television drama dubbed into Kiswahili are well received by Tanzanian audience on grounds of language used to dub the TV drama, skills used by artists to re-voice sounds in TV drama and the message portrayed in the television drama.
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Sanga, D.N., Mwakalinga, M.N., Mbura, I.A. (2023). Kulfi Is Like a Tanzanian: The Reception of an Indian Television Drama Dubbed in Kiswahili. In: Mpofu, P., Fadipe, I.A., Tshabangu, T. (eds) Indigenous African Language Media. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-0305-4_2
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