Comments on: Lost In Translation http://edgeofeurope.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/lost-in-translation/ Letters from Southern Italy Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:53:14 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: shakespearepolitics http://edgeofeurope.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/lost-in-translation/#comment-94 shakespearepolitics Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:22:26 +0000 http://edgeofeurope.wordpress.com/?p=35#comment-94 I can't stand it either but it's all a question of habit. For Italian people who are used to it, dubbing is great - the sound is perfect, you don't have to struggle to read any of the small print, and if the jokes aren't funny so be it. It's worth noting that Italians even dub their own programmes and local tv commercials and it is rare for il suono in presa diretta to make it to the final version of any fim. Indeed, in great masterpieces like those of Fellini, Lino Banfi, and Spaghetti Westerns, many of the actors just counted off a series of numbers and their dialogue was dubbed in later (often by different people)! I can’t stand it either but it’s all a question of habit. For Italian people who are used to it, dubbing is great – the sound is perfect, you don’t have to struggle to read any of the small print, and if the jokes aren’t funny so be it. It’s worth noting that Italians even dub their own programmes and local tv commercials and it is rare for il suono in presa diretta to make it to the final version of any fim. Indeed, in great masterpieces like those of Fellini, Lino Banfi, and Spaghetti Westerns, many of the actors just counted off a series of numbers and their dialogue was dubbed in later (often by different people)!

]]> By: Sante Brun http://edgeofeurope.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/lost-in-translation/#comment-56 Sante Brun Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:17:12 +0000 http://edgeofeurope.wordpress.com/?p=35#comment-56 My children, who don't even have a knack for language, view all English language movies without subtitles and understand them perfectly, thanks to the internet. As for dubbing: it's of course terrible. I remember I had German neighbours for some time years ago. They were stunned to hear Stan Laurel's own voice. They said (though this is hard to believe) that they used to think that Stan Laurel en Oliver Hardy spoke German originally. Later on I saw the (very shallow) American tv series Holocaust, dubbed in German. One of the more mean German officers in Warsaw spoke with the (German) voice of Stan Laurel -- which made his part as ludicrous as possible... And as for news: what element does it add to see footage of say President Sarkozy imitating a fish and to hear someone you can't see reading in German or Italian a translation of what the fish is allegedly trying to say? My children, who don’t even have a knack for language, view all English language movies without subtitles and understand them perfectly, thanks to the internet. As for dubbing: it’s of course terrible. I remember I had German neighbours for some time years ago. They were stunned to hear Stan Laurel’s own voice. They said (though this is hard to believe) that they used to think that Stan Laurel en Oliver Hardy spoke German originally.

Later on I saw the (very shallow) American tv series Holocaust, dubbed in German. One of the more mean German officers in Warsaw spoke with the (German) voice of Stan Laurel — which made his part as ludicrous as possible…

And as for news: what element does it add to see footage of say President Sarkozy imitating a fish and to hear someone you can’t see reading in German or Italian a translation of what the fish is allegedly trying to say?

]]> By: Miss Havisham http://edgeofeurope.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/lost-in-translation/#comment-50 Miss Havisham Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:27:25 +0000 http://edgeofeurope.wordpress.com/?p=35#comment-50 In movies, I prefer subtitles, and I also like it when in the subs there is a note when something has no translation. I want to know, at least, that I am missing something. It won't take long with my own insatiable curiosity to track down the meaning or the joke. When the joke is about the particular language, as in the example you've given-who is going to be able to translate all that? It's impossible. In advertising, I want a VO. The likelihood of my curiosity being stimulated in the short format will not lead me to research. The message has just got to hit me more directly. In movies, I prefer subtitles, and I also like it when in the subs there is a note when something has no translation. I want to know, at least, that I am missing something. It won’t take long with my own insatiable curiosity to track down the meaning or the joke.

When the joke is about the particular language, as in the example you’ve given-who is going to be able to translate all that? It’s impossible.

In advertising, I want a VO. The likelihood of my curiosity being stimulated in the short format will not lead me to research. The message has just got to hit me more directly.

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