Mexican soaps could soon start airing in Kiswahili

By Mark Mutahi

As the battle for Kenyan television audiences gets stiff, various television industry lobby groups  from the source countries of most of Kenya’s television content  are strategising on how to strengthen their stranglehold. The Friends of Kenyan Viewers (FKV) based in Latin America, for instance, is planning to teach their actors Kiswahili  a move that could see the Latino soaps acted and aired in Kiswahili.

This is expected to come as a big shock to viewers since for once, the lips will be in sync with the dialogue.

Lip synching

“We know hearing and seeing different things has been a big problem for Kenyans... it’s so obvious that you can detect it even on an old television set that has rain-like reception ... But we are proactive... we will deal with it once and for all and the best way is to have our actors speaking in Kiswahili for our Kenyan audience ... As you know, Kenya is one of our biggest markets. Or to put it differently, Kenyans are some of the largest employers of Latino soap actors,” explained Carlos Rodriguez, the chairperson of Friends of Kenyan Viewers.

When pressed on why they chose to undertake the lengthy and costly route of teaching Spanish speakers a foreign language instead of just using local actors who are native speakers of Kiswahili in their productions, Carlos Rodriguez was quick to defend their position. “Seriously! And give away jobs just like that?” He posed. “We will create jobs for your Kiswahili teachers of course ... Until we train our own!”

 The other two countries, one in Africa and the other in Asia (famous for a first lady who had more pairs of shoes than a Bata warehouse), are equally putting in place their own measures of fighting for a bigger piece of the Kenyan television pie.

 

Translations

The one in Africa is believed to be considering sub-titling their film and television productions into Kiswahili. It will be interesting to see how common phrases in Pidgin English like ‘she is pregnant for him’ and ‘he (sic) asked her to marry him’ and ‘abomination’ would translate in Kiswahili.

To further strengthen their stranglehold on their Kenyan audience, there is speculation that some of these countries might pay tribute to Kenyan audiences and even bestow a collective honorary award.

Not everyone, however, received this news with excitement.

 “What would be interesting to know is what we would call the awards... For me, anything with dumping ground in it will do!” A Nairobi resident offered.

If the actions of these TV lobby groups to continually seek new ways of engaging their audiences are anything to go by, then local TV producers would be advised to learn from them if they hope to compete effectively. But Caroline Saura, a Matuu resident, begs to disagree.

“I don’t think that’s the secret to their success... My hunch is that it’s something to do with religious practices ... I mean, two are predominantly Catholic and the other predominantly black magic!” quipped