Investigating Expectancy Norms in Dubbing in Iran: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Although dubbing has always been Iran’s preferred mode of audiovisual translation, the recipients of dubbing have not yet received much attention from researchers in academia. By addressing this gap in the literature, this study ventured into the relatively uncharted territory of dubbing reception and tried to offer a number of insights into the expectancy norms in dubbing into Persian among professional viewers of dubbing. In doing so, the comments and attitudes of 15 professional viewers of dubbing were qualitatively gathered and were analyzed and coded through the grounded theory technique. Five categories emerged from the data analyses, namely; voice-talents, translation, translators, dubbing directors and other norms. Additionally, the results suggested that professional viewers paid a special attention towards dubbing in Iran; thus, the outcomes of this research could promote the quality of dubbing in Iran. In the light of the findings, the present study has a set of pedagogical implications for teaching translation and dubbing at universities and institutes.