Gavrilov translation
Encyclopedia
Voice-over translation is an audiovisual translation
technique in which, unlike in dubbing
, 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 documentaries
and news reports to translate words of foreign-language interviewees. In some countries, most notably in Eastern Europe
, it is commonly used to translate all kinds of movies
.
. It is fast paced, though fully intelligible, usually trailing the original dialogue by a few seconds. The original audio can thus be heard to a large extent, allowing the viewer to grasp the emotions in the actors' voices, as well as hear the actors' musical performances if the film contains singing. The dubbing usually contains only a hint of emotion, as many of the interpreters have stated that they try to follow the narrow path between sounding monotonous and "overacting
". A significant drawback of such dubbing is the ambiguity as to which character is speaking at a given time, as the interpreter usually makes very few changes in intonation to distinguish between different participants in a dialogue. Any text appearing on the screen is also read out by the interpreter.
Due to the imprecise nature of simultaneous interpretation, as well as the difficulties faced by non-native speakers in understanding foreign-language vernacular
, idioms, and culture references, voice-over translations are often riddled with errors in translation. Dmitriy Puchkov has been very outspoken about the issue, stating that simultaneous interpretation should be abandoned in favour of a more precise translation, with thorough efforts to research and find Russian equivalents in cases of lexical gap
s, and maintains numerous lists of gaffes made by interpreters, including highly experienced ones such as Mikhalev. However, others have commented that the creativity of good interpreters can make the film more enjoyable, though deviating from the filmmaker's original intentions.
and sold on video
, especially pirate copies
, and are sometimes included as additional audio tracks on DVD
s sold in the region, along with dubbing performed by multiple actor
s.
During the early years of the Brezhnev
era, when availability of foreign films was severely restricted, Goskino
, the USSR
State Committee for Cinematography, held closed-door screenings of many Western films, open mainly to workers in the film industry
, politicians, and other members of the elite
. Those screenings were interpreted simultaneously by interpreters who specialised in films, where an effective conveyance of humour, idioms, and other subtleties of speech were required. Some of the most prolific "Gavrilov translators" began their careers at such screenings, including Andrey Gavrilov himself, as well as Aleksey Mikhalyov
and Leonid Volodarskiy
. Their services were also used at film festival
s, where Western films were accessible to a larger public, and allowed the interpreters to gain further recognition.
With the introduction of VCR
s in the 1970s, and the subsequent boom in illegal pirate videocassette sales, which were the only means of seeing Western films available to the general public, the same interpreters began to lend their voices to these tapes. Many of their voices had a distinct nasal
quality, most pronounced in Volodarskiy, which led to the rise of an urban legend
that the interpreters wore a noseclip
so that the authorities would not be able to identify them by their voice and arrest them. Interviews with many of the interpreters revealed that this was not true, and that authorities generally turned a blind eye to them, focusing their efforts on the distributors of the tapes instead. This was also due to the lack of specific law forbidding the work of these interpreters, and they could only be prosecuted under the relatively minor offence of illicit work
.
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. Many of these dubs were made using simultaneous interpretation, due to time constraints caused by competition among the distributors to be the first to release a new production, as well as the sheer volume of new films. Whenever possible, however, the interpreters preferred to watch the films a few times first, making notes on the more difficult parts of the dialogue, and only then record a dub, which also allowed them to refuse dubbing movies they didn't like. While each of the interpreters dubbed a wide range of films, with many films being available in multiple versions done by different interpreters, the big names usually had specific film genres that they were known to excel at. Gavrilov, for instance, was usually heard in action film
s, including Total Recall
and Die Hard
; Mikhalev specialised in comedy
and drama
, most notably A Streetcar Named Desire and The Silence of the Lambs; while Volodarskiy, who is most readily associated not with a particular genre, but with the nasal intonation of his voice, is best remembered for his dubbing of Star Wars
. It is unclear why the term "Gavrilov translation" came to bear Gavrilov's name, despite Mikhalev being the most celebrated of the interpreters, though the popular nature of films dubbed by Gavrilov may be the most likely explanation. Other notable names of the period include Vasiliy Gorchakov, Mikhail Ivanov, Grigoriy Libergal, and Yuriy Zhivov.
After perestroika
and the collapse of the Soviet Union, when restrictions on Westerns 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 pirate 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 pirate groups and the lack of available funds resulted in releases with non-professional in-house dubbing. 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 alternate career paths. Numerous well-regarded newcomers took their place, including Alexey Medvedev, Petr Glants, Petr 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
.
Recently, the use of Russian mat (profanity) in the dubbings has been a great source of controversy. While many pirate recordings do not shy away from translating expletives literally, Gavrilov, Mikhalev, and Volodarskiy have all stated that they feel that Russian mat is more emotionally charged and less publicly acceptable than English obscenities, and would only use it in their dubs when they felt it was absolutely crucial to the film's plot.
television and DVDs (which most of the time provide the original audio track), except for children's material, especially animation, which is often fully dubbed. The word lektor ("reader") is used to refer to the voice artist.
Voice-over is the preferred form of dubbing among Polish viewers, and attempts to introduce full dubs to Polish television met with viewer protests and ultimately failed. It is also preferred over subtitles; an opinion poll conducted in 2008 shown only 19% of Poles supports the switch to subtitling in television.
The most notable readers are Janusz Szydłowski, Maciej Gudowski, Tomasz Knapik, Stanisław Olejniczak and Piotr Borowiec.
, voice-over translation is also common, but each film (or episode) is normally voiced by at least four 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 speaking in the film for some time, the original sound is turned up. Recently, as more films are distributed with separate voice and noises-and-music tracks, some voice-over translations in Bulgaria are 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 dialogs over the credits).
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
technique in which, unlike in dubbing
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
, 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 documentaries
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
and news reports to translate words of foreign-language interviewees. In some countries, most notably in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, it is commonly used to translate all kinds of movies
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
.
Voice-over translation of movies
A typical voice-over translation is usually done by a single male voice artistVoice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
. It is fast paced, though fully intelligible, usually trailing the original dialogue by a few seconds. The original audio can thus be heard to a large extent, allowing the viewer to grasp the emotions in the actors' voices, as well as hear the actors' musical performances if the film contains singing. The dubbing usually contains only a hint of emotion, as many of the interpreters have stated that they try to follow the narrow path between sounding monotonous and "overacting
Overacting
Overacting is the exaggeration of gestures and speech when acting. It may be unintentional, particularly in the case of a bad actor, or be required for the role. For the latter, it is commonly used in comical situations or to stress the evil characteristics of a villain...
". A significant drawback of such dubbing is the ambiguity as to which character is speaking at a given time, as the interpreter usually makes very few changes in intonation to distinguish between different participants in a dialogue. Any text appearing on the screen is also read out by the interpreter.
Due to the imprecise nature of simultaneous interpretation, as well as the difficulties faced by non-native speakers in understanding foreign-language vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
, idioms, and culture references, voice-over translations are often riddled with errors in translation. Dmitriy Puchkov has been very outspoken about the issue, stating that simultaneous interpretation should be abandoned in favour of a more precise translation, with thorough efforts to research and find Russian equivalents in cases of lexical gap
Lexical gap
A lexical gap or lacuna is an absence of a word in a particular language. Types of lexical gaps include untranslatability and missing inflections.-Untranslatability:...
s, and maintains numerous lists of gaffes made by interpreters, including highly experienced ones such as Mikhalev. However, others have commented that the creativity of good interpreters can make the film more enjoyable, though deviating from the filmmaker's original intentions.
In Russia
Called Gavrilov translation ( perevod Gavrilova pʲɪɾʲɪˈvɒd̪ ɡɐˈvɾiːlɐvɐ) or single-voice translation , the technique takes its name from Andrey Gavrilov, one of the most prominent artists in the area, but the name used to refer to single-voice dubs in general, not necessarily those performed by Gavrilov himself. Such dubbing is ubiquitous in Russian-speaking countries on films shown on cable televisionCable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
and sold on video
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
, especially pirate copies
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
, and are sometimes included as additional audio tracks on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s sold in the region, along with dubbing performed by multiple actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s.
During the early years of the Brezhnev
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
era, when availability of foreign films was severely restricted, Goskino
Goskino
Goskino USSR is the abbreviated name for the USSR State Committee for Cinematography in the Soviet Union...
, the USSR
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
State Committee for Cinematography, held closed-door screenings of many Western films, open mainly to workers in the film industry
Film industry
The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew...
, politicians, and other members of the elite
Elite
Elite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...
. Those screenings were interpreted simultaneously by interpreters who specialised in films, where an effective conveyance of humour, idioms, and other subtleties of speech were required. Some of the most prolific "Gavrilov translators" began their careers at such screenings, including Andrey Gavrilov himself, as well as Aleksey Mikhalyov
Aleksey Mikhaylovich Mikhalyov
Aleksey Mikhaylovich Mikhalyov was a Russian translator and lately a well-known home video voice-over translator from English. Among numerous films and cartoons, translated by him into Russian, are The Jungle Book, The Witches of Eastwick, Apocalypse Now, Pretty Woman and The Silence of the Lambs...
and Leonid Volodarskiy
Leonid Volodarskiy
Leonid Veniaminovitch Volodarskiy , Russian translator, writer and weekly radio show author.Graduated from Maurice Thorez Moscow State Institute of Foreign Languages...
. Their services were also used at film festival
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
s, where Western films were accessible to a larger public, and allowed the interpreters to gain further recognition.
With the introduction of VCR
Videocassette recorder
The videocassette recorder , is a type of electro-mechanical device that uses removable videocassettes that contain magnetic tape for recording analog audio and analog video from broadcast television so that the images and sound can be played back at a more convenient time...
s in the 1970s, and the subsequent boom in illegal pirate videocassette sales, which were the only means of seeing Western films available to the general public, the same interpreters began to lend their voices to these tapes. Many of their voices had a distinct nasal
Nasal voice
A nasal voice is a type of speaking voice characterized by speech with a "nasal" quality to it. It can also occur naturally because of genetic variation...
quality, most pronounced in Volodarskiy, which led to the rise of an urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
that the interpreters wore a noseclip
Noseclip
A noseclip is a small bent piece of wire covered in rubber worn by some swimmers . It is designed to clasp the nostrils closed to prevent water from getting in or air from escaping during activities such as synchronized swimming...
so that the authorities would not be able to identify them by their voice and arrest them. Interviews with many of the interpreters revealed that this was not true, and that authorities generally turned a blind eye to them, focusing their efforts on the distributors of the tapes instead. This was also due to the lack of specific law forbidding the work of these interpreters, and they could only be prosecuted under the relatively minor offence of illicit work
Illicit work
Illicit work is an illegal employment. The working contract is made without social security costs and without paying income taxes. Illicit work is part of the informal economy or so called "shadow economy".-External links:*...
.
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. Many of these dubs were made using simultaneous interpretation, due to time constraints caused by competition among the distributors to be the first to release a new production, as well as the sheer volume of new films. Whenever possible, however, the interpreters preferred to watch the films a few times first, making notes on the more difficult parts of the dialogue, and only then record a dub, which also allowed them to refuse dubbing movies they didn't like. While each of the interpreters dubbed a wide range of films, with many films being available in multiple versions done by different interpreters, the big names usually had specific film genres that they were known to excel at. Gavrilov, for instance, was usually heard in action film
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
s, including Total Recall
Total Recall
Total Recall is a 1990 American science fiction action film. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Ronny Cox & Mel Johnson, Jr.. It is based on the Philip K. Dick story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale”...
and Die Hard
Die Hard
Die Hard is a 1988 American action film and the first in the Die Hard film series. The film was directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. It is based on a 1979 novel by Roderick Thorp titled Nothing Lasts Forever, itself a sequel to the book The Detective, which...
; Mikhalev specialised in comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
and drama
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
, most notably A Streetcar Named Desire and The Silence of the Lambs; while Volodarskiy, who is most readily associated not with a particular genre, but with the nasal intonation of his voice, is best remembered for his dubbing of Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
. It is unclear why the term "Gavrilov translation" came to bear Gavrilov's name, despite Mikhalev being the most celebrated of the interpreters, though the popular nature of films dubbed by Gavrilov may be the most likely explanation. Other notable names of the period include Vasiliy Gorchakov, Mikhail Ivanov, Grigoriy Libergal, and Yuriy Zhivov.
After perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
and the collapse of the Soviet Union, when restrictions on Westerns films were lifted, movie theatres
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
, the state television channels, and eventually DVD releases primarily employed multiple-voice dubbings done by professional actors. However, cable television and the thriving pirate 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 pirate groups and the lack of available funds resulted in releases with non-professional in-house dubbing. 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 alternate career paths. Numerous well-regarded newcomers took their place, including Alexey Medvedev, Petr Glants, Petr Kartsev, Pavel Sanayev, Sergey Vizgunov, and most famously Dmitry "Goblin" Puchkov
Dmitry Puchkov
Dmitry Yuryevich Puchkov , also known as Goblin and Starshiy Operupolnomocheniy Goblin, is an English-to-Russian movie and video game translator, script-writer, and author...
. The latter is notorious for his direct translation of profanity
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
, as well as alternative "funny translations" of Hollywood
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
blockbusters
Blockbuster (entertainment)
Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry...
.
Recently, the use of Russian mat (profanity) in the dubbings has been a great source of controversy. While many pirate recordings do not shy away from translating expletives literally, Gavrilov, Mikhalev, and Volodarskiy have all stated that they feel that Russian mat is more emotionally charged and less publicly acceptable than English obscenities, and would only use it in their dubs when they felt it was absolutely crucial to the film's plot.
In Poland
Voice-over is the traditional translation method in PolishPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
television and DVDs (which most of the time provide the original audio track), except for children's material, especially animation, which is often fully dubbed. The word lektor ("reader") is used to refer to the voice artist.
Voice-over is the preferred form of dubbing among Polish viewers, and attempts to introduce full dubs to Polish television met with viewer protests and ultimately failed. It is also preferred over subtitles; an opinion poll conducted in 2008 shown only 19% of Poles supports the switch to subtitling in television.
The most notable readers are Janusz Szydłowski, Maciej Gudowski, Tomasz Knapik, Stanisław Olejniczak and Piotr Borowiec.
In Bulgaria
In BulgariaBulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, voice-over translation is also common, but each film (or episode) is normally voiced by at least four 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 speaking in the film for some time, the original sound is turned up. Recently, as more films are distributed with separate voice and noises-and-music tracks, some voice-over translations in Bulgaria are 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 dialogs over the credits).