[JITF2020] What Is the Voice-Over Translation Style? –The History of Japanese-Dubbed Video Contents–

Naomi Okawa Iwasaki

She was a TV kid from a tender age, growing up watching re-runs of samurai dramas and dubbed foreign dramas.

As a young adult, she learned the joy of translation through her work as an employee of an aircraft manufacturer.  She joined a video translation school wishing to try her hand at translation of movies and TV dramas.  After studying translation of subtitles and voice-over scripts, she debuted in a CS broadcast drama series and became a video translator specializing in voice-over scripts.

She is presently in charge of Japanese voice-over scripts for movies, dramas, animations and nature documentaries.

■Main works

(Movies) “Inugashima (Isle of Dogs),” “Incredibles 2,” “The Big Short,” “Gone Girl” and “Last Knights.”
(Dramas) “Twin Peaks Returns,” “Person of Interest.”
(Animation) “Peppa Pig.”
(Documentaries) “BBC Earth Series.”

What Is the Voice-Over Translation Style? –The History of Japanese-Dubbed Video Contents–

It has been roughly sixty years since the first Japanese-dubbed versions of overseas TV dramas were made.

Since then, the demand for audio-visual media and contents as well as voice-over script translation has changed dramatically as the technology has evolved. Looking back on the trends from the 1960’s to the present day, the origins of so-called “voice-over-style theatrical elocution” and how it has changed over the years will be considered.