The films shown in non English speaking countries

[Rosolas]

I have often wondered how the films are shown in countries where English is not the first language.<P>Are they shown as we see them but with sub titles in the relevant language shown on the screen, or are they dubbed into the language of the Country they are being shown?<P>If it is the latter, have the "actors" who are dubbing the voices, found fame because of the dubbing roles they play?

[HCIsland]

The non-special edition FotR was sold in Canada with both French and English dialogue. There is a French sound track with actors overdubbing the English actor's words.<P>H.C.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

In Germany, the movies are dubbed. The German actors who speak the roles are fairly well chosen; most voices fit their roles. Some magazines report on the speakers, but for the most part, they are not known for their work. I still prefer to hear the original voices, so try to go when the movies are shown in English, a rare occurrence.

[Guinevere]

I come from Zürich, which is in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. At the moment Lotr is shown in 3 cinemas, in two of them it's in English, with German and French subtitles, and in one Cinema it's dubbed. But I believe in smaller towns it may be only shown in the dubbed version. I' m ever so glad I can see the English original! <P>(The Harry-Potter movie was shown in English with subtitles only the first few weeks, afterward only dubbed in German, because it's more aimed at kids who have no knowledge of English yet.)<BR> I think many Tolkien fans are also fond of his wonderful language. If they're not too good at English, they can always peep at the subtitles. That way, they actually learn something!

[Diamond18]

<A HREF="http://forum.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=17&t=000375" TARGET=_blank>Take a look at this.</A>

In México we have a lot of movie theaters, that's mexican's main entertainment. In the day of the premiere they showed it in 10 theaters in my city and 2 of them were dubbed in spanish and the others, thankfully, were subtitled. We like to see movies with their original audio and voices. They just do the dubbing ones for children and illiterate people.

[HCIsland]

This all sounds very similar to foreign language films that are shown in North America. Most are dubbed and it can be tough to see one with subtitles. Ironically, the more popular they are, the more likely they are to be dubbed rather then subtitled. I guess most folks like to avoid the reading. <P>H.C.

[Anunia]

Well, in Romania we have many cinemas as well, but <B>all</B> the movies are subtitled... Romanians like very much to go to the cinema, and also appreciate the real voices and sounds... To dubb a movie is a crime, i think... <P>Actually, I don't really know why the movies aren't dubbed like in other countries, but i think this is better... <p>[ January 22, 2003: Message edited by: Anunia ]

[Vardadurwen]

I have a friend who's living in Thailand right now, and he told me that the movies there are in English with subtitles in Thai.

[The Saucepan Man]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> Romanians like very much to go to the cinema, and also appreciate the real voices and sounds... To dubb a movie is a crime, i think... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Sounds like you Romanians have the right idea, Anunia.<P>Unfortunately, the link to the Bootleg Captions on the thread to which Diamond gave the link doesn't seem to be working anymore. Shame, because they were very funny indeed.

[mollecon]

In Denmark, movies are usually subtitled - if not for any other reason economical ones, being a small country it would be impossible to have Danish actors dubbing all those foreign movies. & I'm quite happy about that! The only exeption is regular kids movies like, say, "Ice Age" - those usually come out in both a dubbed & a 'original' version.<P>Speaking of the Germans dubbing the movies - sometimes I catch a glimpse of some English language movie on one of the german TV-channels. It's quite distracting - imagine some old western type movie; first John Wayne opens his mouth with a fluent german - but <I>then</I> the Indian Chief comes along... I guess you get the idea

[Guinevere]

I agree with you, Mollecon!<BR> Here in Switzerland (at least in Zürich, where I live) the movies in the cinemas are usuallally shown in the original, with subtitles. But on TV all foreign movies are dubbed in German which I think is silly. Some time ago I spent a year in Norway, and there, same as in Denmark, all the movies on TV were shown in the original language. I think people learn a lot and get used to the proper pronounciation if they have this opportunity! <P>On the DVD of FotR, fortunately, we have the possibility of choosing the language (English or German, with or without subtitles) But the films on Video cassettes (VHS) are available only in the German dubbed version. Another reason why we have recently bought a DVD player!<P>BtW, I have started a thread in "books" about Tolkien translated in other languages. I would appreciate your opinions on that subject as well. Thank you!

[Vorrothiel]

Here in Norway we only have subtitles, and I know that there are only used subtitels here in Scandinavia, if I'm correct.. I can't imganine watching LOTR in german for example.. must be terrible...

[akhtene]

In Russia both movies were dubbed. As for the actors doing the dubbing, I don't care who they are, and the voices imho fit rather well. However I hate the way some of the names are pronounced or translated(eg. Shadowfax became Grey-mane if back translated). I like more the English version I got on the cassette.

[Nenya]

Uh, the thought of seeing a dubbed LotR just makes me want to cry...I am SO glad that we here (in Finland, that is) don't use voice-overs. Seriously, how can one NOT laugh out loud when hearing Gandalf speak, say, japanese...?! And same goes for any other movie as well. I once watched Beverly Hills in spanish, and I tell you, it was <I>very</I> entertaining. <P>By the way, what about the lines in elvish? Are they dubbed too, or do they use sub-titels there?

[Guinevere]

In the German dubbed films, the Elvish lines are not dubbed, but subtitled. At least that!<BR>One thing I enjoyed particularly when watching the original was the beautiful English . (Galadriel, Gandalf etc.)

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> I have a friend who's living in Thailand right now, and he told me that the movies there are in English with subtitles in Thai. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>My friend has family in South Korea, and I went with her on a trip there and we saw FotR in Korean. Everything was with subtitles, which was good for me, since I don't speak Korean fluently enough to understand a movie. FotR is just so much better in English to me. But then again, TTT and FotR would sound strange to the non-english speakers, wouldn't it?<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> Seriously, how can one NOT laugh out loud when hearing Gandalf speak, say, japanese...?! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I'd love to see the movie dubbed in Korean, it would have been very, very entertaining .<P>Aylwen<p>[ January 31, 2003: Message edited by: Aylwen Dreamsong ]

[Nevvasaiel]

I live in Hong Kong, and as it is a very diverse city in terms of language and culture, most of the foreign movies here come in 3 versions:<P>1) English, with chinese subtitles<BR>2) Cantonese (local chinese dialect), with chinese subtitles<BR>3) Cantonese, with english subtitles<P> the cantonese versions are dubbed (YUUUUUUCK), and the actors they find to do the voiceovers are generally ok-sounding, although much of the magic and beauty of Tolkien's language is lost in the translation. There are certain lines that when translated come out all wrong, with Tolkien's original meaning misinterpreted. Most of the voiceovers are done by local celebrities.<P>I always watch the english versions of movies, anyway, even though i speak chinese and english fluently. The original versions are definitely much better, there's a certain atmostphere that cannot be recreated through dubbing.

[Baran]

In Norway, where I usualy live, dubbing is shunned. Most childrens movies are dubbed though, mostly by tv and theater celebreties, but thats it. Why dub when you can use subtitles? <BR>I'm an exchange-student in Thailand now, and at the cinema they usualy play the movies with the original soundtrack and thai-subtitles. On TV everything is dubbed though. Which doesn't really botter me since they NEVER send anything worth watching.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> In Denmark, movies are usually subtitled - if not for any other reason economical ones, being a small country it would be impossible to have Danish actors dubbing all those foreign movies <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>I think you are wrong when you say it's beacuse of economical reasons Denmark being one of the richest countries in Europe and everything. I would love to see Danish dubbing though <BR> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> But then again, TTT and FotR would be strange for the non-english speakers, wouldn't it? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>No, why should it?

[Melephelwen]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> In Denmark, movies are usually subtitled - if not for any other reason economical ones, being a small country it would be impossible to have Danish actors dubbing all those foreign movies <BR>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<P><BR>I think you are wrong when you say it's beacuse of economical reasons Denmark being one of the richest countries in Europe and everything. I would love to see Danish dubbing though <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Denmark being richest... hehe. We probably are, but... you wouldn't think when you hear people complaining about taxes, schools, government, hospitals, etc. etc. etc. Anyways, back on topic.<BR>As mollecon already said, we (luckily) have our films subtitled. I have troubles capaping Harry Potter speaking German, and Frodo or Gandalf in Danish?!? <BR>The dubbing I hear is usually bad, (and bad timed) but I think the big deal about Danish dubbing is, that there simply aren't enough Danish actors who would bother doing it, and also have the required 'talent'.<BR>I think I'm way off topic, so I'll just stop

[Beruthiel]

In Malaysia they have little Malay and Chinese sub-titles. I've never seen a dubbed film here thank goodness! The subtitles are REALLY annoying though because they usually cover up the elvish translation so in the two towers I had no idea what Aragorn and Arwen were talking about!

[Magician of Nathar]

I know here in Canada it has a French version in DVD that's dubbed. But I find it OK. I used to live in China(mainland), and as far as I know in theatre they dubb all the English movies. So I will wager they probably dubbed LOTR too. Which would NOT be good thing... I guarantee you, LOTR in Chiness is a VERY scary thought...

Finland. Yeah, subtitles.

[Melephelwen]

This might be a bit off the topic, but still in dubbing/subtitling ways...<BR>One of my friends once had bought "Coyote Ugly" and, as she didn't know much about her dvd-player, managed to watch it in Russian with Swedish subtitles. What an experience that must've been! I am so trying it, when I get a copy of LotR, that actually works! *wanders of giggling and imagining Aragorn talking Russian*<BR>Just had to share it...

In the Netherlands it is just shown in English with subtitles, because of the age limit, the government figures that the vieuwers are smart enough to follow it. English is varely well known under the dutch population anyway. I think dubbing would really ruin the movie, because I can't imagine the horror of the wonderfull Ian McKellan having a dutch voice. Poor, poor Gandalf. <P>~Potatothan

[Olorin_TLA]

I saw FotR in the cineam in Spain once...the voices were greatly done! It was like they were meant to be done by the Spanish acotrs...and they sounded as if they were trying to be like the characters/actors would sound, yet it didn't come across badly at all! <P>One other thing: translations were really good...for isntance, "Baggins" was changed to "Bolson," like in the Spanish editions of LotR.

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

Here in Finland a movie has it's original dialogue (I misspelled that, didn't I...) and there are subtitles in Finnish and Swedish. Children's movies like Disney animations are dubbed (very well, in my opinion).

To dubb a movie is a crime, i think...

I agree.

[Orominuialwen]

I've never seen LotR in another language, but I do know that as far as I've seen in France, where my grandma lives (well, only for part of the year now, the rest of it she's in the US, but she used to live there year round) they dub stuff. When I was there a couple years ago, I was watching an old episode of this tv show I watched at home in english and that waas dubbed. It was really weird because I knew what the people were supposed to sound like. Also it was very strange because at one point, someone started singing, but they didn't dub that into french, or even put subtitles. My mom wants to watch LotR in french with our DVD, though, with english subtitles (she speaks french really well, and I'm okay, but my vocabulary is small). That will be a frightening experience!

[Kalimac]

When I was in Russia, they dubbed *everything*, and I've heard from my friends over there that they did it to LOTR as well. The annoying thing was that the English soundtrack wasn't quite gone, so you could hear whispers of the English dialogue underneath the Russian dubbing. The really bad specimens were the dubbed bootleg editions, when they had one person doing everyone's voice. Confusing as all get-out it was, especially to a non-native-speaker.<P>In Puerto Rico, they had it half-and-half - some shows were dubbed, some were subtitled. I saw TTT there and it was OK for the most part, I stopped noticing the Spanish subtitles after a while. The only part that threw me was that they cut out the English subtitles for the Elvish dialogue, so I had to keep nudging my husband and asking for a translation from the Spanish titles.<P>Also, if my brother is to believed, ROTK has made it to Iraq. English-only, bootleg, as far as I know.<p>[ 6:34 PM December 31, 2003: Message edited by: Kalimac ]

[TheBladeThatWasBroken]

In Taiwan, the movies are shown with original voice and subtitles, but animated ones have an original version and a dubbed version

[Idunn]

In Poland, films are shown in original versions, with subtitles, except animated films. The latter are dubbed. Probably it's due to the fact that most of them are certainly aimed at children. Although I wouldn't stand films with actors being dubbed (it sounds artificially to me), I must say that dubbing in Poland is very good.

Here in sweden they show the original version with subtitles.

[Finwe]

Iraq???? Wow. <P><BR>While I was fiddling around with my DVD player, I managed to watch FotR and TTT in Korean with Spanish subtitles. I couldn't stop laughing whenever one of the characters got angry. It was hilarious! (No offense to all Korean-speaking people on the Downs!)

[stickifinger]

In Costa Rica, both FotR and TTT were seen in the theaters in English with Spanish subtitles. Apparently, the distributers realized that there were lots of kids interested and issued RotK in 2 versions: English with Spanish subtitles and in Spanish. Since all TV shows are dubbed, people here seem to be used to it, but it drives me crazy. I think some people here agree with me. Though Harry Potter was in Spanish, an English version could be found in some theaters if you looked hard enough.

[Elrond of Rivendell]

In Luxembourg, we get the original with French subtitles. This is exactly the way I like it.

[Noxomanus]

Here in the Netherlands,all movies are subtitled,except those made for children (though for all a subtitled version can be seen and bought on video).As I live close to the border with Belgium and there is a much better cinema there,me and my parents went to see the LotR films there for the first time.Those films are also subtitled but have both a subtitle in Dutch and in French.

[Balin999]

Here in Austria (or at least in the city i Live in) ALL movies are dubbed in the bigger cinemas, which is really a shame, because sometimes they are translated very badly. <BR>But the German voices were quite fitting, as Estelyn said allready. I think that "Gandalf's voice" is from Austria But the guy doesn't even look like a wizard. <BR>Sometimes, they choose the voices of German actors, but that wasn't the case with LotR.

[Melephelwen]

Just a question, Noxomanus. You say the movies in Belgium are subtitled in both French and Dutch - hopefully not at the same time?!?!?! One subtitle is bad enough, can't imagine how annoying it would be with TWO different languages at the same time...

[Guinevere]

Well, in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, where I live, the Original version movies have always subtitles in both German <B>and</B> French! (Yes, at the same time, Melephelwen)

In Estonia - original version with subtitles (both estonian and russian)