Ideological aspects of dubbing into Arabic for children : with special reference to language variety

Ideological Aspects of Dubbing into Arabic for Children - with Special Reference to Language Variety The linguistic duality of Arabic means that the choice between the high variety of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and the lower variety of Colloquial Arabic has been at the centre of ideological debate since the Arab renaissance in the 19th century. The deliberate choice of the target language variety can be used to promote a certain ideology when translating for the media, as audiovisual translation has always been influenced by cultural and ideological factors, and in turn translation has influenced its target audience. This study, which draws on the polysystem theory and the concept of norms, investigates the ideological and non-ideological factors that lie behind the choice of MSA or Colloquial Arabic in dubbing children's programmes. In order to achieve this aim, an empirical and descriptive approach within the discipline of translation studies has been adopted. In order to obtain the required data several interviews were conducted with producers, children and their parents in a number of Arabic speaking countries, in addition to the analysis of selected dubbed material and source versions. The results of the empirical study show that the commercial and the educational factors were the main motivations behind the preference of the producers for MSA in dubbing children programmes, whereas the educational factor plays the main role for the viewers. Other factors include religion, pan-Arabism and regionalism. The study concludes that complex ideological and commercial factors are at play when dubbing for children, which sheds light on the status and role of translators and the Arabic language today.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo