Basra youth creates English-dubbed videos gathering millions of views

BASRA – Anwar Mansour, a 26-year-old Basra native, has turned his language-learning passion into a viral sensation with his Instagram page “Nickatday8,” where he dubs popular Iraqi videos into English. Focusing on ensuring modest content, Mansour’s page has drawn millions of views, especially for clips featuring athlete Mohamed Shaaban “Janty” and media personality Hassan Shuwei “Al-Aziz.”

As a content creator for 964media, Mansour discussed his motivation: “Driven by my love for languages, I created a space to share popular video clips dubbed in English. Fluent in English and Spanish and currently learning Italian, I also teach English at a government school.”

Launched on Sept. 28, 2023, “Nickatday8” was inspired by humorously dubbed “Bab Al-Hara” series clips on TikTok. Mansour, opting to use his voice instead of artificial intelligence, initially posted videos without a microphone and was amazed to see his follower count hit approximately 100,000 on Instagram within just 10 days. What began as a hobby soon evolved into a mission to make learning English fun through trending clips.

Mansour, who manages all aspects of content creation and page administration alone, works on matching his voice to various characters, enhancing his proficiency in different English accents. Despite offers to dub series or movies, his teaching commitments have kept him from pursuing these opportunities full-time. He appreciates all feedback, noting minimal criticism and many messages of gratitude and encouragement, underscoring the positive impact of his work on young followers.

With a follower base primarily in Baghdad, Mansour’s content resonates with English learners, students, and teachers, placing a significant responsibility on him to curate his posts carefully. A video featuring Captain Mohamed Shaaban “Janty” is his most popular, boasting 4 million views.