With ABC now delivering many of its primetime shows such as Desperate Housewives in Spanish, a website took a peek into the dubbing process of the show.

"We have to make sure the line has the same number of syllables, the labials match, and the pacing has to match," Ruben Veloso, head of CCI Digital which dubs Desperate Housewives and Lost, told Sun Sentinel. "Spanish is usually longer." In particular its the 'labials' that cause most difficulty when dubbing. "The Bs, Ps, Ms—we call them labial consonants. You have to match them, otherwise it starts looking rubbery."

Veloso said that they can't just translate the script word-for-word, and some changes do have to be made, so they end up "massaging the script to be true to the story line. At times we do take some liberties in dialogue." Their intention is to keep the innuendo and double-entendres intact where possible. But the slightest mistake can be catastrophic. One example cited in the article was how the word for caramel means different things in different Spanish dialects—so an advertisement for some sweets in fact ended up talking about women's genitals.

One key thing about the translation of the show was that Marc Cherry had a say in the casting of the voice of Mary Alice. "They brought in the five best candidates, put them on DVD against the picture with her narration," said associate producer Stephanie Hagen. "I just listened to the voices and found Malavena [de Villar]. She shares that nice rich, warm feeling that Brenda [Strong] brings."

Meanwhile, India is going one step further. Television Point reported that Star India has acquired the format rights to create its own version.

The full report on dubbing shows can be found at Sun Sentinel. The report on the Indian version of Desperate Housewives can be found here.

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