Culture is our way of life. Everything comes back to culture.

If you are
bewildered about why your friend is pressing his forehead on the ground while
muttering praises to his God, you must know and understand his culture. Culture is
everything. Culture is what makes a country. Culture defines people.
As it was first proposed by an American linguist and anthropologist, Edward
Sapir (1884 1939), and his student, Benjamin Whorf (1897 1941), culture and
thinking are reflected and influenced by the power of language. The SapirWhorf
hypothesis stated that our cognitive process and our perspective of the world are
determined by our language (Anderson & Lightfoot, 2002; Crystal, 1987; Hayes,
Ornstein, & Gage, 1987).
In media and in society, language is one of the most basic ways of
communicating. The effectiveness of the message being received by the
audience/receiver is determined by what language is being used. If the language
used is foreign, then the message wont get through effectively as much as it
would if it was completely understood by the audience, which is why they go
through the process of converting one language into its equivalent target-language
text. Nowadays, translation is commonly used for the syndicated programs in the
media industry.
There are two ways of delivering translations: Dubbing and Subtitles. In the
Merriam Webster Dictionary, dubbing is defined as (1) to add (sound effects or
new dialogue) to a film or to a radio or television production usually used within;
(2) to provide (a motion-picture film) with a new sound track and especially
dialogue in a different language; (3) to make a new recording of (sound or
videotape already recorded); also: to mix (recorded sound or videotape from
different sources) into a single recording.
Danny L. Mandia, a veteran in the industry of directing various forms of art
performances including that of voice actors for 23 years, described dubbing as
an art in itself. You give life to the character itself, but that the character is
based on the existing video from a different country; it is in another language so
you make it into Tagalog. So, in giving life to the character only by voice, it is very
different from acting.
On the other hand, according to Wikipedia, a subtitle is a textual version of
a film or television program's dialogue that appears onscreen. They can either be
a form of written translation of a dialogue in a foreign language, or a written
rendering of the dialogue in the same language, with or without added information
to help viewers who are deaf and hard of hearing to follow the dialogue, or people
who cannot understand the spoken dialogue or who have accent recognition
problems.
In Pinoy boob tube, dubbing is the widely used method of translation for
foreign TV shows and films. The Taiwanese drama Meteor Garden was first aired
in Filipino-dubbed language in ABS-CBN in 2001, wherein the series was very
popular especially among the teenagers and the main actors were sensationalized.
The Korean drama series Full House, in turn, was aired in GMA in 2004. It was
also trendy among girls of various ages. Japanese animated cartoons or anime
were the most popularly dubbed TV productions aside from Asianovelas and
Western-based cartoons.
However, there were always exceptions when it comes to dubbing. It is
understandable that media has to translate a foreign show or movie if we dont
understand it - like Japanese, Chinese, or Korean. The exception lies in the
English language. There were many children-based programs used for
educational purposes in English: Sesame Street, Blues Clues, Dora the Explorer,
Barney and Friends, Teletubbies, Bananas in Pajamas, and Bear in the Big Blue
House. Children and their parents loved it. Those TV shows gave way for young
audiences to understand and speak the English words they hear and learn from
them.
According to Mark Aspiras, a voice actor for 9 years from Alta productions
a subsidiary of GMA syndicated programs were shown as it is whether it may be
in English or in Filipino because those were the only programs in the Philippines
then in his younger years.
The influence of the Americans to the Pinoy mentality provided basis for the
standards of programs being made in the early beginnings of mass media. In the
Philippines, English (or more specifically, standard English) is the marker of and
the gatekeeper to a privileged socioeconomic class (Hau & Tinio 2003; Tollefson
1991; Tupas 2004b).
The researchers chose the Tagalizing English TV shows and movies as the
focus of the study because the said dubbing has received a lot of negative views,
comments, and critizisms in the online forum threads. People accustomed to
watching syndicated TV shows and movies retaining their original language have
been culture shocked by the sudden storm of tagalized programs. Many
questioned the networks of the necessity of dubbing English programs into Filipino.

Why do networks insist on dubbing English TV shows and movies into Filipino?

This study aims to identify the reasons behind the networks insistence on dubbing
English TV shows and movies into Filipino.

This research will aim to help TV Networks understand why some people
have negative views and comments on their dubbing of programs. This will also
help the TV Viewers understand the implications and benefits of having tagalized
foreign programs.

The researchers used the Uses and Gratifications Theory by Elihu Katz,
Jay Blumler and Michael Gurevitch. This theory puts emphasis on the why and
how there are differences of effect of media on each media consumer. The
choices that people make in choosing which media they would be exposed to lies
on the gratifications that they want to get from that media. Two people may watch
the same show, but their reasons for watching that show are different from each
other, thus the effect of that show to each of them is also different.
The theory also suggests that the people are active in consuming their mediums.
They are aware of the reasons why they expose themselves on a particular
medium and the expectations they have of that medium.
In the same way, there are various people with equally varying reasons as
to why they choose (or not) to watch the syndicated programs, and whether they
prefer the tagalized one over the original language and vice-versa.
The relatively older generation of viewers may repel the tagalized dubbings the
most because they have been accustomed to viewing them in their original
languages. The fact also remains that English was put to more emphasis then
when the Philippine era was closest to the influence of the Americans. Hence, the
effect of these programs for them resulted to hardly any gratification at all because
they were seeking gratification in something else.
It must also be taken into consideration the fact that the tagalized programs
are aimed mainly on the illiterate and young audiences. As it was said by Danny
Mandia, dubbing brings people closer to the tagalized show. Not everybody
understands English. The targeted audiences watch the programs more attentively
because they are more able to grasp the context of the shows that are dubbed into
Filipino for them. Networks and dubbing agencies bring these foreign programs
and localize them into our own language. They are doing this to further broaden
the people especially children view and understanding of our own language.
The TV networks should still take in consideration the part of their audience
that views and looks at their dubbing of English programs as cheesy. There are a
lot of words in English that doesnt have an equivalent meaning in Filipino, and in
vice versa.
Thus adding oil to the huge issue that the Netizens or the internet people
have emphasized, What about the learning of the English language via television
that used to work before?
Mark Aspiras said, Dubbing everything including English hinders the
viewers to understand and learn the English language.
On the contrary, Danny Mandia said, We are forgetting the Filipino
language. How many students nowadays know how to speak in True Filipino
language? ...We are losing focus. Its like were rejecting our own language and
prioritizing the English language We should focus more on our own language
before we should learn other languages. I dont care if my English is wrong; its not
my language We should give more importance to our language as Filipinos
because language is culture. It is your identity as Filipino.
What the media is doing now is exactly what Rizal wants us to do: To love
our own language. Since the modern day era began, media is trying to reach out
to children who have chosen internet over television, thus being more exposed to
a wider array of content but are inevitably straying from the basics.
It all comes back to culture. We should go back to what our national hero
said. He who does not love his own language is worse than an animal and smelly
fish. - Jose Rizal.
The researchers propose subtitling as an alternative way to translate if
dubbing doesnt gratify the needs of the audience. When using subtitles for
translating foreign programs, not only do you retain the original language of the
program but you will also have less problems with the synchronizing of the
equivalent target-language text and the video.






REFERENCES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtitle_(captioning)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dub
http://www.academia.edu/1456772/The_grip_of_English_and_Philippine_language_policy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation
http://www.education.com/reference/article/culture-language/
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/usegrat.html
Encyclopedia of Communication Theory
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jose_rizal.html#XKF00gFZ6cZ8wEsz.99
A RESEARCH ON WHY THE LOCAL MEDIA IS
DUBBING ENGLISH TO FILIPINO TELEVISION
SHOWS AND MOVIES


By


EUGENIO, ROWENA C.
MEEZ, JODIE ANNE G.
YU, SARAH LYN D.


In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the subject BC1: Broadcasting
principles in Communication Arts







Mr. Babsie Morabe
Professor