Some potential changes are not in fact changes yet and the question is: will they ever be?

As a foreigner in Spain used to read subtitles rather than listen to a voiceover in case of foreign languages -- you would certainly hope that they will. A change from dubbing to subtitles would be a welcome one.

Spain is not the only Country that favors dubbing:

• ...tradition plays an important role in the formation of the audience's taste; while moviegoers in certain countries, such as Germany, Italy or Spain, where dubbing has been employed for decades now, seldom accept the use of subtitles, even in modern media such as DVDs where both dubbing and subtitling may be available, other countries with a similar local-to-import ratios in TV and film production, such as Japan and Romania, have historically favored subtitles and dubbed screenings are considered childish. writes Wikipedia.

Changes normally are incentivated by a trigger, either an external one or a internal one. Globalisation could provide such a trigger, again on wiki:

Globalization refers to the worldwide phenomenon of technological, economic, and cultural change, as brought about by expanding facilities for intercommunication and interdependency between traditionally isolate cultures...

One reason why the dubbing process might end one day is the English Language problem that Spain faces. Parents spend fortunes on private tutors for English and other foreign languages. (Although this situation is also changing with the introduction of language projects on schools). Foreign language exposure would certainly benefit (not only) children.

But will this language reason be strong enough ot produce a change? It is difficult to predict a change, but to give it a go, you should focus on the resistance. Where should that come from?

It's the economy, stupid Where subtitles can be produced in a semi-automated way, dubbing is a manual process and if you just think about the number of movies and daily commentaries that require manual elaboration, you will know enough. Behind the dubbing hides a complete (dubbing) industry.

So in order to produce a change in this area, you would need more triggers. Or just take to dubbing for granted as you are only representing a minority group in Spain, no real stakeholder in the change process.

Hans Bool

Hans Bool has worked for many companies in many countries in different (mainly) management positions.

Recently he started Astor White. A company that offer a new approach in management advice and consulting.