A comparative analysis of English-Chinese dubbing approaches used in animated films : Coco as a case study

Abstract

This paper studied the approaches adopted in the English-Mandarin dubbing of animated films. The central question of the study was “How do dubbers cope with extensive use of multilingual expressions and third-culture specific references when they dub for young viewers?” A qualitative descriptive approach was used to study the case of the animated film entitled Coco, in which the English original language and Mandarin dubbed dialogues produced by Mainland China and Taiwan dubbers were analysed. Culture-specific references relating to the three distinct and languages and the related cultures featured in this film were analysed. Findings, based on the framework proposed by Dias-Cintas & Remael, suggested that strategies used to cope with the use of L3 and cultural references resulted in Mandarin dubbings that were considerably more domesticating compared to the English original language dialogue lines. Implications for the research community include the need to develop reception studies to test audience preferences for translation strategies as well as areas to facilitate children’s comprehension of unknown cultures.