Voice-over is widely used in the translation of documentaries in many countries including Iran. The technical factor of synchrony (adapting the length of the soundtrack, matching the original and target soundtracks, the soundtrack and visuals, and the soundtrack and body movements) raises the quality of voiced-over products. The reason for the double-voice hearing is proof of the products’ authenticity and translators’ faithfulness to the target viewers. Voice-over is a mode of transfer in the audiovisual translation in which the original soundtrack is heard simultaneously in the background. In Eastern Europe, despite the growing popularity of AVT studies, ‘little or no research’ is being done into voiceover practices (Grigaravièiûtë and Gottlieb 1999: 45–46). Unfortunately, only a handful of enthusiasts have registered an interest in this type of project to date.
It would require a joint effort from Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Georgian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian cartographers, exploring the norms of voiceover translation and delivery specific to each country, with single or multiple voice artists interpreting the lines with different levels of emotional involvement. Drawing a map of this territory would enrich both genre- and method-specific approaches to AVT. The post-Soviet voiceover translation of fiction still remains uncharted territory, however. This academic neglect has recently been diminished by the publication of the first monograph on this AVT modality, with its specific focus on non-fictional programmes (Franco et al. Despite its prevalence in news programmes and documentary channels, voiceover translation has long failed to make itself heard in audiovisual translation (AVT) studies (Franco et al.