Emília Perez – Zuzana Jánošíková
Department of Translation Studies
Faculty of Arts
Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia
eperez@ukf.sk, zuzana.janosikova@ukf.sk
Abstract
Analysis of the preferred AVT modes in Central European countries indicates that Slovakia can be categorized as a country with a strong dubbing tradition. The generally acknowledged preference for dubbing over subtitling seems to be supported mainly by the dominant position of dubbing in TV broadcasting whilst the number of programmes with interlingual subtitles on television is negligible. Does that necessarily mean that Slovakia is a dubbing country? Probably yes, especially when focusing on TV broadcasting. However, a certain shift towards subtitling in media other than TV broadcast has been observed in several European countries (see Cintas 2017), and our continuous research shows Slovakia might be one of them. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of current AVT strategies in the country, taking into consideration recent developments in cinema as well as VOD. This quantitative study offers a different perspective on how much dubbing (and under what circumstances) is available to a Slovak audience in various contexts, whilst evaluating the possible causes of the observed phenomena.
Introduction
According to a report carried out by Media Consulting Group (2007), Slovakia is one of few EU countries with a relatively clear national framework related to language policies in audiovisual media. It is classified as one of the 10 countries where dubbing is the preferred option in TV broadcasting, which is believed to be historically related to the promotion and preservation of language strategies in the country. Existing legislation requires all television programmes be translated into the national language, based on legal force of Law No 270/1995 and its later amendments regarding the utilization of the Slovak language.
Noteworthy is Section 5 of this Act, according to which Slovak does not need to be the only language of translation. The formulation states that television broadcasting must be either in Slovak or in another language which fulfils the requirement of basic intelligibility from the point of view of the national language – which in practical interpretation permits the use of Czech dubbing and Czech subtitles. It could be argued that both nations are historically and culturally entwined, which is indeed true. However, this issue has been a source for much debate and argument at times, often seen as an opportunity for Slovak broadcasters to use the more cost-effective option of simply buying and providing dubbing in Czech instead of producing dubbing in their own language (see Czwitkovics, 2006). The debate on the presence of Czech dubbing in Slovakia was supposed to be closed a decade ago with the adoption of Law No 318/2009 which specifies Slovak as the official language of broadcast and which requires Slovak language support for foreign audiovisual products1, with exception of programmes already released with a dubbing language intelligible to a Slovak recipient (i.e. Czech).
Updated national legislation refers to Slovak language support, and except for foreign audiovisual works for children under 12, which are explicitly required to be dubbed, it does not mention or demand dubbing in any significant way. Still, dubbing still has a dominant position in TV broadcasting, apart from a few documentary films usually screened with voice-over or a combination of voice-over and subtitles. Programmes with interlingual subtitles are on TV screened mainly in the case of so-called artistic production, where the anticipated audience is seen as one of a niche character. This relates to two aspects: on one hand the aesthetic impulse not to pollute the audiovisual work with a new dubbing track, on the other hand the pragmatic aspect related to the relatively high cost of dubbing and the profitability of dubbing a work believed to be watched by a significantly smaller number of viewers.
It is rather interesting to see the prevalence and endurance of dubbing in Slovakia, especially when considering the production costs of quality dubbing as well as the anticipated number of consumers. This issue has attracted the attention of the authors of this paper who decided to map the up-to-date situation in Slovak TV, cinema and VOD as well as to analyse the real state of AVT preference in the country. The paper provides an overview of the results of their research from the first quarter of the year 2018, observing the main media outlets in the country.
Slovak TV broadcasting: how much dubbing (or subtitling) is actually done?
The dominant position of dubbing in Slovak broadcasting can be related to several historical, cultural and social circumstances. The origination of Slovak dubbing in general must be clearly seen within the development of more systematic dubbing in Czechoslovakia, dating back to the period after the Second World War. The first Slovak dubbing studio was established in 1957, and from that date the presence of Slovak language support in Slovakia slowly rose. Czech dubbing in Slovakia had always been present until a later visible decrease after the aforementioned legislative changes. This section of our paper focuses on the present situation in Slovak TV broadcasting, mapping the number of translations and use of AVT modes on the four main TV channels: Markíza, Jednotka, Dvojka and JOJ, in the first quarter of the year 2018.
To clarify the structure of the provided analysis, we have decided to categorize TV programmes into groups according to their country of origin as a first step in identifying whether, and which, AVT modes were used. Altogether, we analysed 11,341 programmes and divided them into the following groups:
- TV programmes produced in Slovakia
- TV programmes produced in the Czech Republic /Czechoslovakia
- TV programmes of foreign origin
- TV programmes with production involving two or more countries including (Czecho)Slovakia.
Such classification enables us to identify whether and what amount of translation transfer was used – identifying the first two categories as programmes without additional language support and broadcast in their original language (Czech or Slovak). The third group of programmes is expected to be broadcast with dubbing or subtitles. The last group (rather common in Slovak broadcasting) is classified separately, since internationally co-produced audiovisual works use dubbing within their own process of production, in order to make the product available to designated audiences. We notify the reader about the presence of this particular group when applicable.
The first programming analysed was that of the Markíza channel. The number of programmes broadcast in the observed period was 1,803. Out of these, 70.72% were of Slovak production; 28.12% were of foreign origin, and the rest, 1.16%, was of Czech production. All of the foreign audiovisual works (except Czech) were dubbed.
Similar numbers can be observed in the case of channel Jednotka. Within the analysed time period, 64.85% out of 2,879 TV programmes broadcast were of Slovak origin. Foreign production was 33.00%, while only 0.76% of the total amount was Czech. This channel also broadcast programmes made in Czechoslovakia (1.11%) as well as ones made in cooperation with other countries (Czechoslovakia and Germany, 0.21%; Czechoslovakia and Austria, 0.07%). The utterly dominant position of dubbing can also be acknowledged in this case – none of the programmes was broadcast with interlingual subtitles.
Dvojka was the channel with the highest number of programmes broadcast – 4,370. As in all the other cases, Slovak production achieved the highest percentage of 63.96%. Foreign TV shows represented 31.99%, those of the Czech Republic 2.11%, programmes made in Czechoslovakia 1.35% and formats involving the participation of other countries achieved 0.60% overall (Slovakia and the Czech Republic, 0.30%; Slovakia and Austria, 0.02%; Czechoslovakia and Hungary, 0.14%; Czechoslovakia, Austria and Hungary, 0.14%).
Regarding the fourth main broadcaster – TV JOJ, the proportion of domestic production was the highest of all the channels: 83.65%, followed by only 16.05% of foreign production and 0.31% of Czech. In the observed period, all of the programmes that needed language support were screened with dubbing.
So how much dubbing (or subtitling) is actually done? The answer is that not that much. Altogether, we recorded 11,341 TV programmes broadcast within a three-month period on four Slovak TV channels – Markíza, Jednotka, Dvojka and JOJ. Our findings reveal that 69.22% of programmes were originally in Slovak. Moreover, more than 72% of all TV programmes broadcast were either in Slovak or Czech, hence without any need for further language modification. Another group of products without the need of language modification (since this was done within the production process as such) are co-productions involving Czechoslovakia and Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, Germany and Austria, each achieving 0.05%; those involving Czechoslovakia and Austria 0.02%; Slovakia and the Czech Republic, 0.11%; and Slovakia and Austria 0.001%. Only the rest can be classified as AVT products of foreign production in terms of identifying the need for further language modification (after given to distribution) in order to make them intelligible in the country. These results are shown also in the following Table:
| no need for further language modification | need for further language modification | |||
| number of programmes (100%) | SK original sound | SK/CZ original sound | co-productions including SK/CZ/Czechoslovakia | foreign production |
| 11,341 | 69.22% | 72% | 0.18% | 27.82% |
These results for now, however, show only tendencies in presentation of works that needed or did not need to be translated (subtitled or dubbed) into Slovak. The statistical information could also be influenced by the output in the first week of January, when programming varies from the usual because of the holiday season. Despite this fact we can confirm that dubbing remains the dominant mode of AVT transfer in Slovak TV broadcasting. What piques our interest are the volumes of dubbing production.
Dubbing vs subtitling in Slovak cinema: who wins?
The 2007 report by Media Consulting Group in general observed more subtitling than dubbing in cinema screening across the EU. It identified countries inclining towards dubbing (Hungary) as well as a tendency to prefer subtitled films among viewers in major urban areas (Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia). Regarding Slovakia, not much could be found in the legislation, and the aforementioned Section 1 of Law No 270/1995 on state language relates only to television and radio broadcasting. Legal requirements for Slovak language support in cinema are clearly stated only in the case of programmes for children under 12 (applying to all types of broadcasting), where a requirement for dubbing is explicitly formulated. Therefore we expect dubbing to be present in all children’s films and Slovak (or Czech) language support to be present in the form of dubbing or subtitles in other films of foreign production.
Our analysis provides information on the number of audiovisual works dubbed or subtitled as well as the ratio of AVT transfer modes used in the first quarter of the year 2018 at one of the major cinema chains in Slovakia. Listings were observed weekly, augmented by promotional materials published online. The results also reveal data on the use of Czech dubbing and Czech subtitles in Slovak cinemas – an interesting aspect in Slovak AVT, in this case legally acceptable, as pointed out at the beginning of this chapter.
In the first month of 2018 there were 25 programmes offered in the listings.2 Only three of these programmes were screened with original sound without additional language support, since they were programmes of Slovak or Czech origin. The remaining 22 programmes were screened with Slovak (or Czech) language support, meaning: 1 film with Czech dubbing or Slovak subtitles; 2 with English subtitles (European cinema); 7 with Czech subtitles; 3 with Slovak dubbing only; 7 with Slovak subtitles; and 1 with Slovak subtitles or Slovak dubbing. The programmes for children were always screened with Slovak dubbing. One interesting case was Star Wars: Last Jedi where a viewer could decide whether to attend a screening with Slovak dubbing or Slovak subtitling. From the data in this month, we can see that the provision of subtitles holds a quite strong position (for a dubbing country), and the viewer had a chance to see a film with Slovak subtitles in 9 cases, Czech subtitles in 7 cases, and English subtitles in 2 cases.
In February 2018, 29 films were screened out of which 2 were screened in their original language (Slovak or Czech). From the remaining 27 films, 2 were screened with English subtitles (European cinema), 5 with Slovak dubbing and 11 with Slovak subtitles. Czech dubbing was provided with 2 films and Czech subtitles with 7.
For March 2018, 20 films were screened, and 5 of them were broadcast in their original language (3 Czech films, 1 Slovak film, 1 opera screening). From the remaining 15 films, 3 were screened with Slovak dubbing – all of them were films for children under 12; 6 films were screened with Slovak subtitles and 4 with Czech subtitles. Czech dubbing was provided with 3 films, one of which could be watched either with Czech dubbing or Slovak subtitles.
The overall results are presented also in Table below, indicating the occurrence of observed AVT modes:
| JANUARY | FEBRUARY | MARCH | TOTAL | |
| Films | 25 | 29 | 20 | 74 |
| Orig. sound | 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| SK dubbing | 4 | 5 | 3 | 12 |
| SK subs | 9 | 11 | 6 | 26 |
| ENG subs | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| CZ dubbing | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| CZ subs | 7 | 7 | 4 | 18 |
Overall analysis of the observed period shows that from 74 films screened at the cinema network, more than 86% of programmes in the listings were of foreign origin and were provided to the viewer with dubbing or subtitles. The most common mode of AVT transfer was Slovak subtitles, and, interestingly, the second most common mode was Czech subtitles. Indeed, this is a very unique phenomenon that we haven’t observed in another European country which has only one official state language. Slovak dubbing was used everywhere where legally obliged – we didn’t note any violation regarding the provision of dubbing for children under 12. However, it is interesting to note that the amount of Slovak subtitling is double that of Slovak dubbing.
Has VOD changed anything?
Video on-demand (VOD) as a more recent technological means of broadcasting audiovisual products seems to be changing and influencing several aspects of audiovisual translation practice (Cintas, 2007). The ability to watch what one wants at a time of one’s choosing means a large volume of subtitles are being created and provided on a daily basis, which is drawing the interest of practitioners as well as academia towards this compelling area.
VOD services have been present in Slovakia for a certain period of time; however, until recently they have been provided mainly by the existing domestic TV broadcasters or their partners in the country (e.g. VOYO, HBO). In 2016, Netflix officially entered the Slovak market and started offering some of its programmes with Slovak language support – in the form of subtitles. However, the range of programmes with Slovak subtitles remained rather limited, for example in comparison with the neighbouring Czech Republic. By March 2018 almost 430 individual episodes of series were offered with Slovak subtitles. Unfortunately, after spring 2018 no more Slovak subtitles for Netflix have been produced and for now their production seems to have stopped. Only in the future will we see whether this state of affairs is permanent or whether other online providers enter the country. For now, the active ones provide audiovisual content analogous to the one broadcast on television – in original versions or predominantly dubbed.
So is Slovakia still a dubbing country?
Yes, it definitely is. However, we believe that subtitling as an alternative AVT mode should not to be neglected either in Slovak AVT research or training. Our research shows that dubbing still holds a dominant position in Slovak TV broadcasting, and based on the cultural tradition in the country one might predict this situation not changing rapidly. However, the tendency in Slovak media currently shows an inclination towards broadcasting but also producing more domestic programming which might be related to several cultural, social and of course economic aspects. The question that arises consequently is what will the volume of new dubbing production made for TV broadcasting be in future.
The situation in Slovak cinema is different. Contrary to Slovak TV broadcasting, the majority of programming is foreign, therefore needs to be provided with dubbing or subtitles. Subtitles turned out to be the dominant mode in cinema, and Slovak dubbing is used mainly in programmes for children under 12 (as is required by Slovak legislation). What is interesting is the re-appearance of Czech language support in larger volumes of Slovak broadcasting – mainly in the form of subtitles, less in the form of dubbing.
Another interesting finding is that occasionally the choice to view something with Czech language support in Slovak cinemas is also offered even if Slovak support is available. For now, the situation seems to be related to the preference for dubbing over subtitles (the choice of Czech dubbing over Slovak subtitles). It might be assumed that the debate on Czech vs Slovak languages in Slovak AVT will rear its head again, based not only on the results from the research conducted in cinemas but also anecdotal reactions to absent Slovak subtitles in VOD broadcast, where the expressed interest of Slovak viewers on internet forums was merely confined to getting access to Czech language support (instead of calling specifically for Slovak support). This phenomenon however must be observed more deeply, since our research doesn’t provide enough data to generalize in this aspect for now.
References
Czwitkovics, Tomáš. Dabing – áno či nie?. In: Film.sk. Vol 3 (10). Available at: http://old.filmsk.sk/show_article.php?id=5179
Díaz Cintas, Jorge. 2005. Back to the Future in Subtitling. In: Gerzymisch-Arbogast, Heidrun and Nauertm Sandra. MuTra: Challenges of Multidimensional Translation. Saarbrücken: MuTra. pp. 1-17.
Díaz Cintas, Jorge and Nikolic, Kristijan. 2017. Fast-Forwarding with Audiovisual Translation. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Díaz Cintas, Jorge. 2017. The Rise of Subtitling. [inaugural lecture presented on 6 June 2017, UCL]. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7kUuh-NQow
Maxa, Filip. 2018. Netflix ponúka v slovenčine už viac ako 400 epizód seriálov. Available at: https://zive.azet.sk/clanok/131113/netflix-v-slovencine-ponuka-uz-viac-ako-400-epizod-serialov/
Media Consulting Group. 2007. Study on dubbing and subtitling needs and practices in the European audiovisual industry. Available at: http://edz.bib.uni-mannheim.de/daten/edz-b/gdbk/07/ksj/study_dub_subtitle_en.pdf
The research is supported by VEGA, under grant No. 2/0200/15 Preklad ako súčasť dejín kultúrneho priestoru II. Fakty, javy a osobnosti prekladových aktivít v slovenskom kultúrnom priestore a podoby ich fungovania v ňom (Translation as a Part of the Cultural Space History II. Fact, Phenomena and Personalities in Translation Activities in the Slovak Cultural Space and the Forms of their Functioning) and by UGA, under grant No. III/17/2017 Poskytovateľská kompetencia vo vyučovaní audiovizuálneho a umeleckého prekladu (Translation Service Provision Competence in Teaching Audiovisual and Literary Translation).
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- The Act defined several exceptions; important for the scope of our paper is the exception related to audiovisual works first broadcast with Czech dubbing before 2008 – these are still allowed to be broadcast with Czech dubbing even today.
- The majority of programmes were screened with several repeats. However, we are not interested in the number of overall screenings, but in the forms of language support provided.