Turning Knight Rider into Arek Suroboyo: An Analysis on Audio Visual

Translation Product

Abstract:

The present article examines the Javanese dubbing language, especially Surabayan dialect, from the point
of view of its extreme adaptation. This study is a comparative analysis of dubbed and real dialogue in
Knight Rider movie series broadcast by JTV. The aim of this article is to highlight the freedom and
creative skills of the dubbing team in adapting the source text into the target culture. It is very interesting
to analyze how an American television movie series turned into local Surabaya context, in a bid to
maintain a local language. This paper focuses on the extreme example of both manipulative and
effectively creative practices in audio visual translation.

Keywords: Dubbing, Audio Visual Translation, Adaptation, Surabayan dialect..

Introduction
Jawa Pos Media Television (JTV) is the pioneer of local television stations in Indonesia. It is
established to accommodate the wants and needs of East Java residents. With its tagline ‘Satus Persen
Jatim’ or one hundred percent East Java, JTV prioritizes and accommodates three big clusters which are
Surabaya area (Javanese Suroboyo dialect), Madura area (Madurese) and Mataraman area (fine Javanese)
through its programs. Yet, despite its local tendencies, JTV coverage includes all East Java, all areas of
Indonesia, even all Asia through satellites television disk.
Actually, Javanese Suroboyo dialect is one variation of Javanese spoken in Surabaya area. It has
thick tones and unique characteristic which differentiate it from other dialects. In addition, it has specific
vocabulary which is somehow unknown to people who never live in Surabaya. Unfortunately, this
Suroboyo dialect is rarely used in formal situation since we have Bahasa Indonesia as our official
language. As a consequence, people start forgetting this dialect and even facing difficulties in using it
properly. JTV, as a television station that accommodate East Javanese residents, including Surabaya
areas, tries to revive Suroboyo dialect through news programs and dubbed movies and television series.
It is already mentioned that JTV maintains local languages, especially Javanese Surabaya dialect
as its identity. One unique way of popularizing this dialect is by dubbing movies and television series into
the respected language dialect. Since 2005, JTV has dubbed dozens of movies and television series either
from America, China or India. According to JTV President Director, Imawan Mashuri, this is a fresh,
funny and exciting program that is able to attract people’s attention.
According to Canu (2012), dubbing can be seen as an effective tool for linguistic transmission
which also means cultural transmission. In addition, Basnett-McGuire (2002) point out that dubbing
means replacing the original cultural references in order to make the target version understood easily by
the recipient. They added that domestication is a common practice in dubbing because there is a need to
adapt and neutralize foreign contents. Further, Danan (1991) asserts that the use of dubbing reflects an
assertion of a language and its unchallenged political, economic and cultural power within certain
boundaries.
One of the television series dubbed into Javanese Surabayan dialect is Knight Rider. Produced in
1982, this series is starred by David Hasselhoff and a sophisticated car called Kitt. Yet, in the Javanese
Surabayan dialect dubbing version, this American hero becomes a local hero whose dialect is thick and
culturally fluent. In addition, the characters, the places and the story are twisted to suit the dubbing
language used. It is interesting to measure the transformation of American Hero to Surabayan Hero
through the language used.
It is obvious that Knight Rider dubbed into Javanese Suroboyo dialect experienced extreme
adaptation to the target culture. Some extreme adaptations include changing name of characters, name of
places, story and, of course, the dialogues. This study is focused on twisting the story and the Other than
the dialog, extreme adaptation
Chaume (2006, 5-12), a scholar in Audio Visual Translation, lists dubbing standards as follow:
good lip-sync, credible spontaneous dialogues, coherent translation, equivalence to the source text,
credible acting, technical rigour. Thus, it is intriguing to see whether those standards are met in dubbing
Knight Rider on JTV.

METHODOLOGY
Chaume,

Dubbing can definitely be considered as an effective tool for linguistic transmission. And
as language is, in Sapirian terms, “a social guide to reality”, language transmission is
undoubtedly cultural transmissionIn fact, JTV can be considered as the trend setter among other local
television stations which mushroomed following the establishment of JTV. Some of its programs that
use Javanese or Madurese instead of Indonesian as the language of communication have set a new trend
among other local television stations.

As a local television station owned by local media moghul

Academic proposals of dubbing standards, as far as translation quality is concerned, can also be
understood as a globalising trend attempt-ing to make this type of translation homogeneous. As
well as Dries’ guide-lines (1995), I presented an open list of dubbing standards which can be
summarised as follows (Chaume 2006: 5-12):

• good lip-sync (‘good’ depending on the degree of tolerance in each dubbing culture);

• credible spontaneous dialogues (but not too spontaneous, since while the language of dubbing
pretends to be spontaneous,it is very norma-tive indeed);

• coherent translation (coherent as a global text, that is, coherent from a linguistic point of view,
but also coherent with the visuals);

• equivalence to the source text (equivalence as defined by Toury 1995);

• technical rigour, for example, avoiding noises in the recording, hearing clearly audible and
distinct voices, etc.;

• credible acting, i.e., neither overacting, nor underacting.

Reference: Dubbing practices in Europe: localisation beats globalisation

Frederic Chaume

Universitat Jaume I

Dubbing is a colonial device because of the tendency to produce a sense-for-sense translation

(Basnett-McGuire 2002), replacing the original cultural references so that the target version is
more easily understood by the recipient, in particular when his/her culture is different from the
SC. This process of domestication is common in dubbing and its origins may be linked to the
need for adapting and neutralizing foreign contents.

For this reason, the two realizations of AVT, dubbing and subtitles, have been analysed and
labelled the former as being closer to the target culture, whereas the latter stresses and maintains
the distance between the two cultures.

Reference: THE ITALIAN TRANSLATION OF CULTURE-BOUND JOKES AND

CULTURAL REFERENCES IN AMERICAN TV CARTOONS

PIETRO LUGI IAIA

Dubbing can definitely be considered as an effective tool for linguistic transmission. And as
language is, in Sapirian terms, “a social guide to reality”, language transmission is undoubtedly
cultural transmission and this alone can enable the socio-anthropological function of dubbing. In
fact, two different cultural contexts can be distinguished through dubbing, as the usage of a
target language ensures the signs of a source culture are perceived as useful information, rather
than portions of the target culture.

After all, as the British sociologist Anthony Giddens affirms, «globalization is political, cultural,
and technological, as well as economic, and it is diffused especially through communication
mass media» (Giddens 2000: 23).

the only way to resist the cultural supremacy subtly spreading through audiovisual channels is
the use of dubbing.

After all, given the fact that anyone who does not belong to the culture that dominates the
audiovisual market becomes “local” – «confined (and sometimes effectively imprisoned within)
particular localities» (Fairclough 2006: 21), dubbing presents itself as a useful tool to overcome
these difficulties. Spectators can take the signs and information concerning the Other culture,
while still maintaining the local identities. They can be a part of the international community and
learn about other cultures, without being “globalized”, or “Americanized”. In conclusion,
dubbing allows for the adaptation and spread of cultures, thereby creating a global means of
effective communication.

Reference: Lidia Canu, Dubbing: adapting cultures in the global communication era, Between,
vol. II, n. 4 (Novembre/November 2012