As the Arab world is opening up to the international market, dubbing in MENA has become more important than ever. In this article we’re going to shed some light on some of the aspects that might interest content creators to dub their work into arabic.
What is dubbing?
Dubbing is a post-production process in which voices and other sound effects in a video or a movie are substituted. This helps in delivering the content to audiences in their native or most commonly-spoken language. In fact, good dubbing makes the audience feel like they are viewing the original content, not substituted voices.
History of dubbing in MENA
Everywhere in the world, life has become a combination of the local and the global, Increasing the need for localization. Dubbing has become a necessity in MENA countries, due to the unfortunate levels of illiteracy, which renders subtitles inaccessible to a big demographic in some of these countries.
Dubbing in MENA countries was first introduced in the early 1970s. Since then, it has evolved and expanded to include both the media and cinema.
Its significant success over the years called for more attention to the process, leading more countries including Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon to resort to dubbing in order to meet the increasing demands for dubbed programs.
The importance of film dubbing in MENA
- Eliminating the need to read
Film dubbing is a great solution for those who find it difficult to read something at the bottom of the screen as well as enjoy the content. Therefore, dubbing would enable these people to enjoy the full experience solely by listening to audio in their language of preference.
- Elevating the sound quality
Dubbing helps in improving the sound quality of films. Most producers choose to dub in the original language of the film during the post-production phase. That’s to obliterate pronunciation mistakes and ensure the clarity of the audio from actors’ voices and dialogues to sound effects.
- Making foreign films less foreign
Film dubbing allows the audience to watch and enjoy foreign shows produced in a language different from their own, without the need for subtitles.
- Increasing the outreach of your film
If you want your film to be released in a different location from where it was produced, and reach a wider audience, the best way is to dub your film into your audience’s native language.
- Attracting more audiences
Accurately dubbed content is crucial to the attempt of reaching and attracting audiences from various corners of the world.
- Ensuring localization
The process of dubbing films into various languages creates a foundation upon which we can build our content around a more personalized experienced. This allows viewers to be more comfortable and familiar with the content, all of which fall under the concept of localization.
Things to keep in mind
- Your content must always evolve to adapt to viewers’ changing preferences and align with their cultural differences.
- When dubbing in a different language, dialogues must be translated in a way that reflects the local environment, maintains the context, and delivers the meaning behind it (ex. Jokes, wordplay, etc.), whilst applying minimal changes to the original script.
- Dubbing is significantly similar to writing content, for it requires interpreters and content creators who are qualified to convert the language of the film in an artistic manner that preserves every context.
- Being in an extremely competitive industry, you must always aim to deliver high-quality content and accommodate it with new concepts and cultures.
- Dubbing your content enables you to shine better in the entertainment industry by delivering these new concepts to global viewers.
Having trouble starting the process? You can most assuredly turn to us for help! Here at NOON, we have professionals that are more than experienced to deliver high-quality dubbing.
Contact us and get a free sample.
