“I don't understand, but it makes me laugh.” Domestication in contemporary Polish dubbing

Abstract

Despite being (in)famous for its use of voice-over in fiction films, Poland also has a longstanding dubbing tradition. Contemporary Polish dubbing is largely domesticated: culture-bound items from the original are often replaced with elements of Polish culture, which is supposed to increase viewers’ enjoyment of the film. In this study, we examined whether Polish viewers can identify references to Polish culture in the contemporary Polish dubbing of foreign animated films and whether they enjoy them. With this goal in mind, we conducted an online survey and tested 201 participants. Given that many references relate to items from the near or distant past, we predicted that viewers may not fully understand them. The results show that, paradoxically, although viewers do not fully recognise references to Polish culture in contemporary Polish dubbing, they welcome such allusions, declaring that they make films more accessible. The most difficult category of cultural references to identify in our study turned out to be allusions to the canon of Polish literature, whereas the best scores were achieved in the case of references to social campaigns and films. Younger participants had more difficulties in recognising cultural allusions dating from before the 1990s compared to older participants. The vast majority of participants declared they enjoy domestication in contemporary Polish dubbing.