Writers on the 'net say the darndest things

[jessybxx]

I found a nice article dealing with Engrish and bad translations in media, especially dubs and subtitles.

However, there's a few things in it that I feel need rectification. Big time.

In Germany and neighboring countries, movies are dubbed. If an actor is internationally recognized, one person dubs all their roles for consistency. The interesting thing about this is that the voice actors often become celebrities themselves, and Demi Moore's official German voice actor is not the only one in the business to have her own fan club.

Woah, hold it right there, friend. Whatever wonderful alternate reality you're living in... um... lemme join?
No, seriously. What you're describing here is no more than an exception. A beautiful one, but still an exception.
99.7% of all Germans are unable to name even one "real" voice actor, apart from the celebrities strarring in most of the more recent CGI movies.
And while there is the occasional moment of "Where have I heard that voice?", for most people, the whole voice actor thing doesn't seem to matter at all. I guess we are ignorant like that. Well, I'm not, but that's mainly due to one guy who sparked my interest in the subject single-handedly. Kai, I hate you. Or not :P
Also, I'm not even sure there's anyone who can do voice acting only without having to starve. I mean, Kai (BTW, do I have to include his surname to avoid confusion?) does theater stuff (acting, music, directing, whatever), he's a musician, has been on TV a few times (too few, if you ask me...) and he also does directing and translating for dubs.

Then, the "one person dubs all their roles" thing? Simply not true. I wish there was as much consistency as the article seems to wanna make you believe, but there just isn't.
Example: Johnny Depp has at least two German voice representations. Who does which movie seems to be kind of determined by the genre.
So, David Nathan does the non-comedy ones. while Marcus Off (love him so much<3) mainly does the PotC movies.
Yes, it is that weird.

While most Europeans (except Germans and the French, who still insist their languages are world-dominant) speak and understand English to a certain extent...

Ouch. However - agreed. Like, totally.

>... not one single clerk was able to understand my grade school English...

Like I said a thousand times before, people like me are, terrible as it may be, a mere exception. The average German doesn't want to have anything to do with foreign languages whatsoever. And that includes young people. Don't think we're any better than you, Americans ;)
Kids do love listening to Gangsta Rap but who cares about the lyrics?
English seems to be the number two most skipped subject, apart from maybe math.
And I strongly believe most people would rather cut off a finger than touch the "language" setting in their DVD menues.

*sigh*

Well, I guess for me, there's only one option, and that is being glad I somehow avoided becoming like that. Even though Is till love dubs and stuff. But I feel they deserve some love, especially when they're good. Not to mention the voice actors themselves who tend to be underrated.

You'll see what I mean once I manage to complete that article about Kai Taschner (<3 <3 <3) I started what seems years ago ^_^;;;

Comments

[sorion.livejournal.com]

In Germany and neighboring countries, movies are dubbed.

Like they have their own dub in Austria and Switzerland...? *MUAHAHAHAHA*

That being said, subs are preferred in Switzerland. Not necessarily in kids' films - for obvious reasons - but generally (with exceptions), yeah.

So, uh, no dubs for us. (Thank GOD!)

If an actor is internationally recognized, one person dubs all their roles for consistency.

Not always, of course. But unlike in other countries, they actually try (and succeed, a lot of the times).
For example, they're in trouble, now, because the voice actor of Eddie Murphy died... (Can you imagine Eddie Murphy with a different German voice? Yep. Knew you couldn't ^_~)

While most Europeans (except Germans and the French, who still insist their languages are world-dominant) speak and understand English to a certain extent...

Well, the Swiss have no choice but speak several languages... With us having four of them in our own country ^-^''''
And while English isn't one of them, it's still the easiest to learn.
Which leads to funny meetings between Swiss German and Swiss French people. Since at times, neither really speaks the language of the other all that well, they use English ^_~ (And, again... The French parts of Switzerland - while bound to learn German in school - don't really bother... I speak moderate French, at least.)

[jessybxx.livejournal.com]

That being said, subs are preferred in Switzerland. Not necessarily in kids' films - for obvious reasons - but generally (with exceptions), yeah.

So, uh, no dubs for us. (Thank GOD!)
Yeah, I heard about hat. You lucky people, you ;P

For example, they're in trouble, now, because the voice actor of Eddie Murphy died... (Can you imagine Eddie Murphy with a different German voice? Yep. Knew you couldn't ^_~)
True. It's much the same as when "the German Marge Simpson" died. And even though Anke Engelke is incredibly close to the original, people (including me) were used th Elisabeth and sorely miss her ;_;

Well, the Swiss have no choice but speak several languages... With us having four of them in our own country ^-^''''
BTW, I tend to annoy people by making them tell me the four languages. They usually don't get any further than three cuz most of them have never even heard of Rhaeto-Romanic ^_~