Some sample dialogue from our favorite neighbor, Ned Flanders:
“Thankily-dank, Mayor, I shan’t disappoint. Har ye, har ye. I declare myself pinkled tink about Springfield’s Bicen-cidilly-ti-ten-toodly-rin-tin-tennial Day.”
“Well, if you’re talking about root beer, I plead guilt-diddily-ildly as char-didily-arged.”
If it’s nonsensical in English, surely it’s not a problem if it’s nonsensical in another language? What I want to know is how do they translate his dialogue in Flanders?
Well, here’s something interesting. There’s a page all about Ned. And here is the Italian equivalent referenced from it. Notice that the entire section on “Speech” from the English page is left out of the Italian page.
Sure, but it isn’t random nonsense; it’s a metrical, alliterative, sometimes rhyming sort of nonsense which is not unheard of in American English.
I’m wondering if other nations and languages have similar colloquial usages, and if it’s difficult (or easy) to match them up with Ned when they translate his dialogue.
In Italian Ned Flanders speaks with a bit of a high pitched voice that conveys a childish way of talking, and often sticks diminutive suffixes to words (which in Italian are used to convey smallness and cuteness), like he’s making an effort to make it sound cute. But there’s no equivalent to the diddly doddly thing.
In German his dialogue is similar but of course the exact words are modified so that they fit into his German sentences. He also often uses German diminutives.
Yes, a bit. Especially his “oo” and “l” aren’t typically German. It’s hard to describe but a proper German pronunciation of words like “doodly” or “hoodly” would not only sound different but it wouldn’t flow that well.
Ned isn’t as difficult to place in other cultures as some characters. I don’t know about other Brits on here, but to me and anyone I’ve talked to about it, Bumblebee Man just seems odd. No knowledge of Bud Man makes Duff Man a nonentity as well. And so on.
Oh, I dunno. Any country with advertising probably has inane brand pitchmen, so I think Duff Man would translate pretty well.
And Bumblebee Man is already an obscure riff on Spanish-language television. Most Americans (myself included) aren’t familiar with the source material and still think Bumblebee Man is funny.
It’s a reference to Mexican television (which you might not ever see in the UK) which apparently specializes in goofy variety shows featuring a lot of slapstick comedy and people in odd costumes shouting dopey catchphrases in Spanish. At least, that’s the way Mexican television gets parodied in the US. Bumblebee Man might be more of a riff on the parodies than on the thing itself.
at Bumblebee Man.