Dubbing (filmmaking) - Dubbing The Same Language Several Times

Dubbing The Same Language Several Times

In the case of languages with large communities (like English, Chinese, Portuguese, German, Spanish or French), a single translation may sound foreign to some groups, or even all of them. This is why a film may be translated to a certain language more than once: for example, the animated movie The Incredibles was translated to European Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Venezuelan Spanish and Rioplatense Spanish, although people from Chile and Uruguay clearly noticed a strong porteño accent from most of the characters of the Rioplatense Spanish translation. However, almost all media are dubbed only twice: into Spanish (Spain) and Neutral Spanish (which is Mexican Spanish but avoiding local phrases). Another example is the French dubbing of The Simpsons, which is entirely different in Quebec and France, the humor being highly different for each audience (see Non-English versions of The Simpsons). Audiences in Quebec are generally critical of France's dubbing of The Simpsons, which they often do not find amusing. The French-language Télétoon network once aired the Quebec Simpsons dub, as well as Parisian French dubs of Futurama and Family Guy, which were both similar to the Parisian Simpsons dub. The two latter shows have since been taken off the network (probably due to a lack of popularity), while The Simpsons continues its run on Télétoon. The Quebec French dubbing of films, while generally made in accent-less Standard French, often sounds peculiar to audiences in France, because of the persistence of some regionally neutral expression that may not sound quite natural to all audiences, and because Quebec French performers pronounce Anglo-Saxon names with an American accent, while French performers do not. Occasionally, for reasons of cost, American direct-to-video films, such as the 1995 film When the Bullet Hits the Bone, are released in France with a Quebec French dubbing, sometimes resulting in what some members of French audiences perceive as unintentional humor.

Portugal and Brazil also use different versions of dubbed films and series. Because dubbing has never been very popular in Portugal, for decades children films and television series were distributed using the good-quality Brazilian dub. Only in the 1990s dubbing began to gain importance in Portugal, thanks to the popularity of dubbed series like Dragon Ball. The Lion King became the first Disney feature film to be completely dubbed into European Portuguese, and subsequently all major animation films and series gained European Portuguese versions. In recent DVD releases, most of these Brazilian-dubbed classics were released with new Portuguese dubs, eliminating the predominance of Brazilian Portuguese dubs in Portugal.

The German-speaking area—which includes Germany, Austria, the German-speaking part of Switzerland, and Liechtenstein—share a common German dubbed version. Though some differences exist, concerning local words or pronunciations, there's no need to dub multiple versions because all films, shows, and series are dubbed into a single German version that avoids regional variations in the German-speaking audience. Most voice actors are primarily Germans and Austrians, since here there has been a long tradition of dubbing films. Switzerland which has four official languages (German, French, Italian, Romansh) generally use the dubbed versions made in its respective countries (except for Romansh). Liechtenstein uses German-dubbed versions only.

Sometimes films are also dubbed into several German dialects for example, (Berlinerisch, Kölsch, Saxonian, Austro-Bavarian or Swiss German), which concerns especially animated films or Disney films. It is rather made for amusement and as an additional "special feature" for making the audience buying it. Popular animated films dubbed into German dialects include Asterix films (in addition to its standard German version, every film has a particular dialect version), The Little Mermaid, Shrek 2, Cars (+ Austrian German) or Up (+ Austrian German). Also, some live-action films or TV-series have an additional German dubbing: Babe and its sequel Babe: Pig in the City (Germany German, Austrian German, Swiss German); Rehearsal for Murder, Framed (+ Austrian German). TV-series: The Munsters, Serpico, Rumpole (+ Austrian German); The Thorn Birds (only Austrian German dubbing).

Before the German reunification, East Germany also made its own particular German version. For example: Olsen Gang or the Hungarian animated series The Mézga Family were dubbed twice. So you got the opportunity to see a quality comparison.

The many martial arts movies from Hong Kong that were imported under the unofficial banner Kung Fu Theater were notorious for seemingly careless dubbing that included poor lip sync and awkward dialogue. Since the results were frequently unintentionally hilarious, this has become one of the hallmarks that endear these films to part of the 1980s culture.

While the voice actors involved usually bear the brunt of criticisms towards poor dubbing, other factors may include script translation and audio mixing. A literal translation of dialogue typically contains speech patterns and sentence structure that are native to the foreign language but would appear awkward if translated literally. English dubs of Japanese animation, for example, must rewrite the dialogue so that it flows smoothly and follows the natural pattern of English speech. Voice actors in a dubbing capacity typically do not have the luxury of viewing the original film with the original voice actor and thus have little idea on how to perform the role. Also, on some occasions, voice actors record their dialogue separately, which lacks the dynamics gained from performing as a group.