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Film & Television vocabulary · Sound and Music

Dubbing

Meaning in film & television, with examples

/ˈdʌbɪŋ/nounCore term

In film & television, dubbing means: Replacing the original dialogue of a film or series with a recorded translation in another language, performed by voice actors.

In Turkish: dublaj, seslendirme

How it is used

A film is dubbed into Turkish; viewers choose between the dubbed and the subtitled version. Dubbing directors, translators and voice actors work together to match lip movements. Turkey, Germany, Italy and Spain have long dubbing traditions.

Example sentences

  1. Most children's films in Turkey are released only with Turkish dubbing.

  2. The dubbing is so good that many viewers forget the series is foreign.

Common collocations

  • Turkish dubbing
  • dubbing studio
  • dubbing artist
  • dubbed version
  • dubbing director
  • subtitlesWritten text at the bottom of the screen that translates or shows the dialogue, so viewers can read what is being said.
  • voice-overA voice heard over the images that does not come from someone speaking on screen, such as a narrator or a character's thoughts.
  • ADRAutomated dialogue replacement: re-recording an actor's lines in a studio after the shoot while they watch the scene, to replace bad or changed dialogue.
  • distributorA company that buys the rights to show a film in a country or region and handles its release, marketing and delivery to cinemas or platforms.

More terms: Sound and Music

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