The role of foreign ownership in dubbing

This article explores the presence of foreignization in dubbing. The author specifies that, in this context, foreignization refers to bringing out the foreign nature of the text through the creation of artificial dialogue. Focusing specifically on American films dubbed into Castilian Spanish, the author analyzes linguistic manifestations of this process such as vocabulary and syntactic structures that are too formal for the situation or simply unnatural in this variant of Spanish. It is suggested that this artificial language helps make these films more acceptable for the Spanish audience. There is an inherent contradiction in the portrayal of American characters in typical American situations speaking perfectly idiomatic Spanish. By having them communicate in a more formal, non-native manner, this contradiction is diminished, thereby making the representation more believable. It is argued, therefore, that foreignization, in the form of artificial dialogue, plays an important role in the success of a dubbed film.