Translation Isn't Neutral: How Lithuanian Dubbing Changes Children's Heroes

The way children's animated films are dubbed into Lithuanian can fundamentally change the characters and the stories they tell, according to new research. Jurgita Astrauskienė, an associate professor at Vilnius University's Faculty of Arts and head of Audiovisual Translation programs, has found that the translation process can be more than just linguistic adaptation.

Astrauskienė's studies suggest that Lithuanian dubbing sometimes acts as a transformative process, altering the original meaning and reshaping how characters are perceived. This can impact everything from a character's personality and motivations to their relationships with others.

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Can translation from one language to another change the essence of an animated film? Or even recreate characters?

Furthermore, the research highlights that Lithuanian dubbing can influence the presentation of gender roles within these films. What might be a neutral portrayal in the original language could be subtly or overtly modified through the translation, affecting how young viewers understand societal expectations and character dynamics. This raises questions about the faithfulness of translated media and its potential to shape cultural understanding.

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Lithuanian dubbing sometimes becomes not just a transfer of the original into another language, but a meaning-transforming process – one that can change the image of characters, their relationships, and how gender roles are presented to the viewer.