the original English language soundtrack that has brought this to bear. In 1 987 I undertook a study that had as its objective to monitor the needs, preferences and perceptions of the linguistic standard of 4,200 students of English from the following nine European countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, France, Italy, Austria and the Netherlands (Tveit, 1987). An interesting result of the study was that listening comprehension was perceived as significantly more difficult by students from dubbing countries than by students from subtitling countries, the former category showing a much stronger need for an increased knowledge of vocabulary when communicating in English.is both expensive and time-consumingfurther factor to be considered is cost; dubbing is a lot more expensive than subtitling. The fact that figures vary considerably might be linked to the relationship between supply and demand. Since trained actors have traditionally been in short supply in small countries like Norway, the cost of using their services has been high, which has contributed to making subtitling a much cheaper alternative. Although the difference in cost has started to even out, dubbing remains 5 to 10 times more expensive. It might therefore seem odd that an increasing number of foreign films and television productions are dubbed for the Scandinavian markets. A case in point would be the family film (children under 7 are not admitted) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton, 2005). It was dubbed into Norwegian, something that would hardly have happened a few years ago. Other productions that have been dubbed for the Scandinavian audiences in recent years are the animation films Shrek (Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, 2001) and The Polar Express (Robert Zemeckis, 2004). In France, cinema audiences have been able to choose between dubbed and subtitled versions of major productions for a number of years. Although it is still only the thin end of the wedge, a similar development can now be seen in Scandinavia.is it then that makes dubbing a viable alternative when it is so expensive? The argument seems to be that costs do not matter too much if revenues are big enough. If lip synchronisation can attract bigger audiences, increased translation costs would not present too much of a problem. The television business is increasingly preoccupied with ratings. If a network is able to get an edge on its competitors, costs are not likely to hold it back.1997, an interesting screen translation experiment on subtitling took place in Scandinavia. TV 2, Norway s biggest commercial television channel, decided to test viewer reactions to lip synchronisation and the first three episodes of The Gregory Hines Show were dubbed into Norwegian. Some of the country s most renowned actors were hired, and the show was given prime viewing time on Friday evenings. After three weeks the viewers were asked for their verdict. The result showed that 85% of the viewers wanted to see subtitled versions of the remaining episodes, a somewhat baffling reaction, considering The Gregory Hines Show is a family programme, aired at a time when parents tend to watch television together with their children, many of whom have not yet learned to read.aficionados looked at the result as proof of subtitling being the best solution - and far superior to dubbing. But there is clearly a lot more to it than that, and tradition is a key word. One should not forget that preferences depend on what viewers are accustomed to - and Norwegians are used to subtitling. In a country lacking the tradition, it takes time to develop state-of-the-art dubbing. As for TV 2, the result of their market research seemed to convince the powers that be that dubbed versions did not attract big enough audiences.the dubbing process takes considerable time. In the case of news bulletins, it is obviously not possible to invite actors to play the parts of interviewees. Instead, the big US and European networks make use of voice-over. It is a reasonably speedy process, but it tends to distract viewers who tend to concentrate on the initial voice to the extent that they lose out on parts of the voice-over.most cases, the subtitling of news reports can be done swiftly, and often takes place minutes before the news bulletin starts. The subtitling of films and series can also be done surprisingly quickly, as illustrated by the following example dating back to the 1990s. A couple of hours after US television audiences had been treated to the solution to the murder mystery, the final episode of Murder One was on its way to Europe. It arrived in Norway 11 hours before the ending to Steve Bocho s drama was to be shown on Norwegian television. Nine hours later the target version had been brought to completion and the programme was ready for transmission. In dubbing countries such as Germany and Spain, the linguistic adaptation process would probably have taken we...
