# English language movies in non-English speaking countries **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904 "2011-07-21T20:39:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Premislaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f0a364/32.png) [@Premislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Premislaus)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/41 "2011-07-23T20:50:15Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Not only that, but the original dialogue isnt taken off, it is just a bit muted out so the Polish guy can talk over them. So you hear the guy doing all the voices in the movie (female ones included,) with the original voices chattering in the background. Very weird. > Last time I was in Poland (well, I was only there once to be honest), a few years ago, they still had that. Yes, it’s called voiceover translation and it’s practically a cultural feature. All the attempts to replace it with with dubbing failed (I remember watching dubbed Friends some 10 years ago and finding it cringeworthy). ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/42 "2011-07-23T20:56:19Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Correction, the first five had a dubbed version available (if it was five, it may have been four), there was also an English language version. > > The very first one not to have a dubbed version was a rather bad experience for me. I went to see it at Rigoletto on Kungsgatan in Stockholm and the woman directly behind me read out every single subtitle to her child, as he was unable to read them himself. I said something to her right at the beginning, before I really realised what was going on, but after that what are you supposed to do? You’ll only upset the kid and it isn’t the kid’s fault. > > I had words afterwards about how she had utterly ruined the film for me and in future she should really reconsider whether to take her child to subtitled movies if he couldn’t read. Yes, you are right, thanks for the clarification. I myself watched the series on DVD with the kids, so I had a similar experience as the lady you mentioned. Luckily, I could read the subtitles out loud withouth disturbing anyone else, being at home. When you need to read the subtitles of an Harry Potter film, by the way, you come to realize just how long they are. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/43 "2011-07-24T05:06:20Z")
> [@Premislaus](#): > > Yes, it’s called voiceover translation and it’s practically a cultural feature. All the attempts to replace it with with dubbing failed (I remember watching dubbed Friends some 10 years ago and finding it cringeworthy). I remember reading an article about this phenomenon years ago (in the WSJ?) IIRC Poland is the only country in the world to translate this way. It is only on TV, no? Or do they do it in theatrical releases too? ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/44 "2011-07-24T05:11:50Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > I remember reading an article about this phenomenon years ago (in the WSJ?) IIRC Poland is the only country in the world to translate this way. It is only on TV, no? Or do they do it in theatrical releases too? I used to have a Russian tv channel and I remember seeing the x files on it dubbed in a similar manner. I definitely could hear the original English speech, but I am not sure if it was just one guy doing all the voices. ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/45 "2011-07-24T14:53:31Z")
In Argentina most forreigner films are shown in theaters with subtitles. Th exception are movies for kids in which, generally, both versions are shown in theater. In Pay TV both series and films are shown with subtitles and in Open Tv, dubbed. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/46 "2011-07-24T14:56:47Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > (slight hijack) > > Similar to what others are saying: > When I watched _The Simpsons_ in Israel, they used Hebrew subtitles. When I watched it in Costa Rica and France, they were dubbed. I saw _Sister Act_ in Israel, and it was subtitled. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/47 "2011-07-24T15:23:51Z")
I remember flicking through the channels in a hotel in France and all I could find that wasn’t dubbed was, weirdly, South Park. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/48 "2011-07-24T15:37:35Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > I remember flicking through the channels in a hotel in France and all I could find that wasn’t dubbed was, weirdly, South Park. It don’t think it’s weird at all. As with the Simpsons, the complexity of the humor–except for the visual slapstick–makes it nearly pointless to dub. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/49 "2011-07-24T15:50:12Z")
> [@Estilicon](#): > > In Argentina most forreigner films are shown in theaters with subtitles. Th exception are movies for kids in which, generally, both versions are shown in theater. Yeah, I was just talking about this with an Argentine colleaugue. It surprised me for such a big country. She, like me, strongly prefers it this way. But I do appreciate it when they make an effort to match character to accent. For example in Italy, in the Asterix cartoons they give the Roman a Roman accent (i.e. a current accent from Rome) and the Simpons’ Groundskeeper Willie speaks Sardinian because all the cliché sheepshagging hick-jokes are Sardinian jokes in Italy. I’d interested in examples from other countries. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/50 "2011-07-24T16:05:40Z")
Not only are foreign-language movies subtitled in Israel, Hebrew movies are usually subtitled too, in Hebrew. I guess people like reading subtitles. I know I do when watching a show in English - it helps me follow the dialog. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/51 "2011-07-24T16:29:21Z")
I thought it odd when I lived in China back in '84 that Chinese songs were subtitled with Chinese characters, when the rest of the broadcast wasn’t subtitled. A Chinese friend told me that the tonal nature of the spoken language gets erased when the words are sung, because the melody becomes the pitch instead of the tone of the word, so Chinese speakers can have difficulty understanding sung Mandarin, therefore subtitles for songs. We were watching a woman sing a song about her brave soldier heartthrob who was off in Korea fighting the war. “Oh yeah,” I said. “My father fought in Korea.” As the words left my mouth I realized that my father would have been in Korea for the express purpose of _ **killing Chinese** _. Oops. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/52 "2011-07-24T17:10:41Z")
Just want to express my preference here, and that is totally subtitles. Dubbed movies often sound as if they’ve got just one person voicing all of the characters. And to make up for it he/she speak in some incredibly bizarre voices. (The old Kung Fu movies were notorius for this). Even when this doesn’t happen, quite often the voice doesn’t seem to match the visual appearance of the character, or match the emotion demonstrated by the character. A slightly bored speaking voice while the person on screen is appearing to be incredibly angry, upset or sad, whatever. With S.T.s you can understand whats going on while getting a more realistic impression of the scene because you can hear the actors voice. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/53 "2011-07-24T17:30:08Z")
In Italy(for the most part) all English is dubbed in Italian, even the Televison. There are some cinema’s who run English movies with Italian sub titles a couple times a week.( I’m looking at you Odeon Firenze) ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/54 "2011-07-24T18:57:12Z")
Dubbing movies is expensive. I believe I read that they will only dub movies if the market is large enough to pay for it. For instance, dubbing into German makes sense, as you can show that film in Germany, Austria and parts of Switzerland - a large enough market to pay for the dubbing process. They will dub some movies in smaller (language) markets, if they think the film will be a big enough hit to warrant paying the expense - my guess the most recent Harry Potter was dubbed into some languages that might not otherwise be “normal” to dub, knowing that audience would go out in force to pay for it. One of my favorite stories about dubbing films was “Harold and Maude” - a small film that became a cult hit in Germany, and in Berlin was shown every weekend - in English - in a Berlin movie theater. After many years, they finally dubbed this little film into German and it created a huge uproar! It seems Germans loved the original, the English was fairly easy to understand, and many claim to have bettered their English simply by seeing that film so often. The movie theater got so many complaints about the German version, they actually removed it and went back to the original English version! I think that was the first time a film was pulled because it was dubbed, and not in the original! I have also read that one of the reasons people in Sweden speak English so well is precisely because they don’t dub films there - and people not only learn the vocabulary, but also get the feel of the language and the accents and cadence. ---
**Author:** ![vdgg81](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@vdgg81](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vdgg81)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/55 "2011-07-24T20:24:58Z")
Here in Brazil most foreign language movies are shown with subtitles. Animation is almost invariably dubbed and big “action adventure” stuff, like superhero movies, which can appeal to both kids and adults are shown both ways. Sometimes the movie is shown dubbed during the day time and subtitled after 7 pm. In television all open channels are all dubbs all the time for everything. For cable channels it varies. Telecine, the biggest movie channel on cable tv has 4 channels for subtitled movies (new releases, action/adventure, comedy, cult/classics) and one channel that is all dubbs and shows a selection of whatever is on in the other four. Tv series etc… are showed dubbed or subbed depending on the channel, with most choosing subtitles. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/56 "2011-07-24T20:30:22Z")
The Wikipedia article on dubbing has [a section which explains which markets are more likely to dub and which are more likely to subtitle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubbing_(filmmaking)#Practice_of_dubbing_foreign_films_throughout_the_world). A nifty map is included. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/57 "2011-07-25T04:27:16Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > Part of the reason why most adults in Scandinavian countries speak English in the first place is that they grew up watching subtitled movies and TV-series instead of dubbed ones. > > That way, they (well – _we_) slowly but surely got to know the basic sound, rhythm and grammar of the language, plus picked up plenty of useful expressions and turns-of-phrase along the way, from everyone from Homer Simpson to Tony Soprano. Spent several years in Taiwan and the western movies were never dubbed. Was told that the government discouraged dubbing for educational purposes. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/58 "2011-07-25T05:53:33Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > my guess the most recent Harry Potter was dubbed into some languages that might not otherwise be “normal” to dub, knowing that audience would go out in force to pay for it. To take the Swedish example, kids movies are dubbed (or have a dubbed version available) because children cannot read subtitles very well. A five year old that struggles to read at his own pace is not going to get much out of a film with subtitles. This was the point about Harry Potter, as the series went on the films became less and less for children, to the point that the age rating/certificate changed and they decided to not offer a dubbed version anymore. Films that did not have a dubbed version in the cinema may offer a dubbed version as an alternative track on DVD. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904/59 "2011-07-25T09:12:22Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Dubbed movies often sound as if they’ve got just one person voicing all of the characters. > > And to make up for it he/she speak in some incredibly bizarre voices. > (The old Kung Fu movies were notorius for this). > > Even when this doesn’t happen, quite often the voice doesn’t seem to match the visual appearance of the character, or match the emotion demonstrated by the character. > > A slightly bored speaking voice while the person on screen is appearing to be incredibly angry, upset or sad, whatever. To some aficionados of Hong Kong Cinema (like myself :p), appalling dubbing is part of the appeal of B-grade Kung Fu movies… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-movies-in-non-english-speaking-countries/589904.md?page=2)