Gavrilov translation

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A Gavrilov translation (Russian: перевод Гаврилова [perevod Gavrilova]) is the term commonly used for Russian language localisations of foreign movies where dubbing is done by a single, usually male, voice artist, and the original audio can also be heard.

It takes its name from Andrey Gavrilov, one of the most prominent artists in the area, and is used to refer to single-voice dubs in general, not necessarily those performed by Gavrilov himself. Such dubbing is ubiquitous in Russian-speaking countries on films shown on cable television and sold on video, especially pirate copies, and are sometimes included as additional audio tracks on DVDs sold in the region, along with dubbing performed by multiple actors.

The same technique is normal on Polish television and DVDs (except for children's material). There the word lektor is used to refer to the voice artist, and to the technique itself.

1 History
2 Characteristics
3 Sample
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

During the early years of the Brezhnev era, when availability of foreign films was severely restricted, Goskino, the USSR State Committee for Cinematography, held closed-door screenings of many Western films, open mainly to workers in the film industry, politicians, and other members of the elite^[1]. Those screenings were interpreted simultaneously by interpreters who specialised in films, where an effective conveyance of humour, idioms, and other subtleties of speech were required. Some of the most prolific "Gavrilov translators" began their careers at such screenings, including Andrey Gavrilov himself, as well as Alexey Mikhalev and Leonid Volodarskiy. Their services were also used at film festivals, where Western films were accessible to a larger public, and allowed the interpreters to gain further recognition.

With the introduction of VCRs in the 1970s, and the subsequent boom in illegal pirate videocassette sales, which were the only means of seeing Western films available to the general public, the same interpreters began to lend their voices to these tapes. Many of their voices had a distinct nasal quality, most pronounced in Volodarskiy, which led to the rise of an urban legend that the interpreters wore a noseclip so that the authorities would not be able to identify them by their voice and arrest them. Interviews with many of the interpreters revealed that this was not true^[1]^[2], and that authorities generally turned a blind eye to them, focusing their efforts on the distributors of the tapes instead. This was also due to the lack of specific law forbidding the work of these interpreters, and they could only be prosecuted under the relatively minor offence of illicit work^[3].

The three aforementioned interpreters, Gavrilov, Mikhalev, and Volodarskiy, were the leading names in film dubbing in the last decades of the 20th century, with dubs done by each of them numbering in the thousands^[1]^[2]. Many of these dubs were made using simultaneous interpretation, due to time constraints caused by competition among the distributors to be the first to release a new production, as well as the sheer volume of new films^[2]. Whenever possible, however, the interpreters preferred to watch the films a few times first, making notes on the more difficult parts of the dialogue, and only then record a dub, which also allowed them to refuse dubbing movies they didn't like^[4]. While each of the interpreters dubbed a wide range of films, with many films being available in multiple versions done by different interpreters, the big names usually had specific film genres that they were known to excel at. Gavrilov, for instance, was usually heard in action films, including Total Recall and Die Hard; Mikhalev specialised in comedy and drama, most notably A Streetcar Named Desire and The Silence of the Lambs; while Volodarskiy, who is most readily associated not with a particular genre, but with the nasal intonation of his voice, is best remembered for his dubbing of Star Wars^[5]. It is unclear why the term "Gavrilov translation" came to bear Gavrilov's name, despite Mikhalev being the most celebrated of the interpreters^[5], though the popular nature of films dubbed by Gavrilov may be the most likely explanation. Other notable names of the period include Vasiliy Gorchakov, Mikhail Ivanov, Grigoriy Libergal, and Yuriy Zhivov.

After perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union, when restrictions on Westerns films were lifted, movie theatres, the state television channels, and eventually DVD releases primarily employed multiple-voice dubbings done by professional actors. However, cable television and the thriving pirate video industry continued fuelling demand for Gavrilov translations. This period marked a significant drop in the quality of such dubbings, as the intense competition between the numerous pirate groups and the lack of available funds resulted in releases with non-professional in-house dubbing^[1]. This was further exacerbated by the death of Mikhalev in 1994 and fewer recordings being produced by many of the other skilled veterans of the industry, who pursued alternate career paths. Numerous well-regarded newcomers took their place, including Alexey Medvedev, Petr Glants, Petr Kartsev, Pavel Sanayev, Sergey Vizgunov, and most famously Dmitry "Goblin" Puchkov. The latter is notorious for his direct translation of profanity, as well as alternative "funny translations" of Hollywood blockbusters.

Recently, the use of Russian mat (profanity) in the dubbings has been a great source of controversy. While many pirate recordings do not shy away from translating expletives literally, Gavrilov, Mikhalev, and Volodarskiy have all stated that they feel that Russian mat is more emotionally charged and less publicly acceptable than English obscenities, and would only use it in their dubs when they felt it was absolutely crucial to the film's plot^[3]^[4]^[6].

[edit] Characteristics

A typical Gavrilov translation is very fast paced, though fully intelligible, usually trailing the original dialogue by a few seconds. The original audio can thus be heard to a large extent, allowing the viewer to grasp the emotions in the actors' voices, as well as hear the actors' musical performances if the film contains singing. The Gavrilov translation usually contains only a hint of emotion, as many of the interpreters have stated that they try to follow the narrow path between sounding monotonous and "overacting"^[4]. A significant drawback of such dubbing is the ambiguity as to which character is speaking at a given time, as the interpreter usually makes very few changes in intonation to distinguish between different participants in a dialogue. Any text appearing on the screen is also read out by the interpreter.

Due to the imprecise nature of simultaneous interpretation, as well as the difficulties faced by non-native English speakers in understanding modern English vernacular, idioms, and culture references, Gavrilov translations are often riddled with errors in translation. Dmitriy Puchkov has been very outspoken about the issue, stating that simultaneous interpretation should be abandoned in favour of a more precise translation, with thorough efforts to research and find Russian equivalents in cases of lexical gaps, and maintains numerous lists of gaffes made by interpreters, including highly experienced ones such as Mikhalev^[7]. However, others have commented that the creativity of good interpreters can make the film more enjoyable, though deviating from the filmmaker's original intentions^[4].

Although Gavrilov translations are generally viewed as inferior to professional multi-voice dubbing, they still maintain a large fanbase, who prefer them for the ability to hear the original actors' voices, as well as nostalgic reasons. Such fans have been known to have a favourite dubbing of a particular movie, sometimes trading films with different dubbings, and more recently, post dubbings online. The fan communities, in tandem with the pirate industry, where releasing a film as fast as possible is of great importance, are likely to be the main source of demand for Gavrilov translations in the foreseeable future.