Subtitles make me nervous

Originally posted by Aelfgifu   Yes, but in Italy, all the men have suddely very deep voices that do not fit character at all, and the female voices are... hilarious. They have this little upwards moan at the end of each sentence that makes any movie sound like soft-porn.

It's just our is a sexy tongue

well, as for dubbign vs subtitles. at once i woulds ay subtitles any day, but on second thought, i prefer dubbign in some/most cases. subtitles i prefer for japanese movies, or east asian in general, mostly because the dubbign is usually way off. but dubbign comes in handy for movies were i don't just want to spent the whole afternoon reading subtitles but just watch for the entertainement. if i'm like reading, i read a book and not freakin movie subtitles! also, some movies have so much dialogue, you cna hardly follow the plot and you're busy reading subtitles and miss the subtle parts. so for pure entertainment reasons, or for difficult plots, dubbing is king, but if the dubbign is bad (japanese movies) or comedy gets lost in translation (monty python), subtitles are to be prefered.

oh, i wanted to post these to back up my claims of good subtitling:

Darth Vader german:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OoL4EOYQges

Full Metal Jacket german:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VoMlD2bzIJ8


Edited by Temujin - 31-Aug-2007 at 13:27

Subtitles are fine when we want to learn a different language. Actually, the only valuable things I find in Gibson's movies like The Passion or Apocalypto, is that his actors speak in Latin, Aramaic and Mayan.

Now, dubbing is OK for me for daily TV. I don't care much although I preffer english speaking movies in English.
Hovewer, I only accept dubbing in neutral Spanish and I consider Mexican and Argentinean to be very professionals in that art. In fact, the Simpsons in English sound almost identical in Spanish.
On the other hand, I hate the dubbing made in Spain becuase I can't stand that Batman speaks like Zorro!

Pinguin

Originally posted by zeno   ps. can anyone explain the danish/swedish language problems the characters have, as i cant distinguish the two

A bit late but here goes. Written Swedish and Danish is basicly the same, but the pronounciation differs quite a bit. In Swedish ears the Danes slur so much it almost becomes indistinguishable. What Swedish sounds like to a Dane I'll let the Danes answer. There's also a few words which have different meanings in the two languages. For example, the Danish (or was it Norwegian?) word for corporatation means intercourse in Swedish.

Originally posted by Sparten Its not the dubbing or sub-title as such, translations are oftentimes such that the original context is difficult to convey. You are in deep trouble really either way, if you try to go the litral route, the translation would be problamatic since every langauge has a different style, if you go for explanation type translation, then you can be accused of putting words in peoples mouths.    I remember once trying to explain the verses of a highly poetic militray song to a foreigner. One verse which caused particular difficulty was,             "Hum garh apni bahino kay,            Hum Chadar apni Maunh kay|"   Literally, "we are the forts of our sisters and the shawls of our mothers". though it actually means something like "we are the defenders of our sisters and the honour of our mothers," even then the meaning is still not fully conveyed.

Indeed. You can never fully understand the meanings of another language unless you learn it completely. It's ashame translators gets lousier and lousier these days - at least in Sweden, where everyone and his aunt think they speak really good English when they certainly don't (including myself).

BTW, Luther's "A Mighty Fortress is our God" was used as a Swedish battle hymn for centuries, I suspect the fort metaphor is somewhat similar to that in your song there.


Edited by Styrbiorn - 04-Sep-2007 at 10:39

Originally posted by Aelfgifu Especially in movies where people talk fast or indistinct,

well thats the point. i've no problem with watching movies in English language even without subtitles, but if i don't understand a word of what they are saying it gets really dull.


Edited by Temujin - 04-Sep-2007 at 15:44

Originally posted by Paul I think dubing is as close to barbarism as you can get.