In the U.S. and U.K., foreign films are usually subtitled. But in the rest of the world dubbing, or providing dialog in another language, is the norm. With demand for Hollywood films rising all over the world, the dubbing industry is working under unprecedented pressure to release foreign language versions of films under short deadlines .
“In the past, overseas box office was a minor ancillary in the big picture of the film biz, and Hollywood pics were dubbed into the local language quickly and cheaply,” writes Nick Vivarelli in an August 10th, 2007 article for Variety.com. “But now overseas box office is big business, scoring $4.65 billion for this year's first half (up 13% over last year).”
Russia, which used to be content with basic voiceovers, now represents a major film market and Russian film fans are demanding state-of-the-art dubbing. Regional and national dialects are also becoming an issue. For example, in the past film studios released just one Spanish dub of a film. Now audiences in Latin America can enjoy Latin Spanish versions of foreign films, whereas their Spanish counterparts continue to watch movies in Castilian Spanish.
Once again, it is clear that consumers all over the world prefer to buy products and services in their native language. If your company wants to reach out to international markets, you will need quality translations or interpretation services from a professional translation agency such as Language Translation Inc. in San Diego. “We speak your language…and theirs.”
Betty Carlson
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