# Why do other countries dub English language movies/tv? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 22, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941 "2012-06-22T14:35:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/21 "2012-06-22T18:00:41Z")
One which immediately springs to mind is the French film and Jean Reno vehicle Wasabi. And I believe in that one the principals also did their own dubbing, which is doubly funny because the lead actress spoke English but not French! ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/22 "2012-06-22T18:03:54Z")
> [@Blakeyrat](#): > > If you’re watching on DVD, keep in mind that the dubbed track might be off _by default_, and so you’ll get subtitles unless you manually go in and selected the English audio channel. How do you do that? With Netflix, anytime I find a good (NOT Godzilla) foreign film, I go to Details and Language. They give the languages that are available for subtitles, but I have never, ever seen any that offered English dubbing. Am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/23 "2012-06-22T19:19:28Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > How do you do that? > > With Netflix, anytime I find a good (NOT Godzilla) foreign film, I go to Details and Language. They give the languages that are available for subtitles, but I have never, ever seen any that offered English dubbing. Am I missing something? Netflix does what it do. I was talking about DVDs. But what you’re missing is that Netflix doesn’t post an exact steam version of exactly what was on the DVD release. They pick-and-choose what content to put up. Which just means whoever was working the Netflix digitizing system that day decided you didn’t want the dubbed version. (For the longest time they were posting videos without even including the _subtitles_… there’s a class action suit over this, I believe.) “Good (NOT Godzilla)”? Philistine. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/24 "2012-06-22T19:30:36Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > It certainly was! > > This is a bizarre one not to know about, because–very unusually–the principal actors were all bilingual in German and English and rerecorded their own parts for the American release. So the dubbed version in this case is kind of acclaimed. In fact, Das Boot was shown on an airplane flight I was one - clearly dubbed. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/25 "2012-06-22T19:35:38Z")
> [@Victor\_Charlie](#): > > Well, there you have it. I stand corrected. > > But, still an outlier. Another example - the Japanese Iron Chef was dubbed when it was shown of the Food Network - except for Kaga. I first saw it on a local foreign language station where it had subtitles. As **KlondikeGeoff** , more foreign films used to be dubbed. However it has always been the case where subtitles are considered to be classier than dubbing. Given that they are also cheaper, and don’t run the risk of pissing off people by using inappropriate voice talent, it is not surprising subtitles are more common now. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/26 "2012-06-22T19:40:10Z")
> [@furdmort](#): > > The thing I’ve never figured out is why so many countries show american produced TV shows and movies on TV and in the movie theaters. If I go to the theater here in Germany, the odds are very high that ALLof the movies being shown were produced in the US. Not just Germany. I was just in Copenhagen, and there was a gigantic flashing sign for Prometheus overlooking Tpwn Hall Square, and Saint Petersburg was full of signs advertising American movies. And in 1996, as far as I could tell, the only thing on German TV was Baywatch and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Both dubbed. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/27 "2012-06-22T20:03:59Z")
> [@furdmort](#): > > Seriously, how many non-american films or movies have you seen? Most of the German made ones that I’ve seen don’t seem like they’d be interesting to americans. If a foreign-language movie is popular enough, “art house” theatres in North America will show it. The last German-language movie I saw was “Good Bye, Lenin!” (subtitled). ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/28 "2012-06-22T20:14:08Z")
When I lived in Spain, I asked this exact question of my Spanish friends. Their explanation was that a large portion of the older Spanish population is illiterate and thus would not be able to read subtitles. I found this hard to believe in a developed country like Spain, but they claimed it was true. Also, a vast majority of television shows and movies shown in Spain are American. I imagine it would get annoying for most people to read every single thing you watch all day long. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/29 "2012-06-22T21:18:26Z")
> [@Blakeyrat](#): > > Really? I think you simply don’t watch enough foreign films-- they’re almost always dubbed. Right off the top of my head, Godzilla, Gamera, Dragon Wars, and other kaiju movies are always dubbed. Japanese horror movies, Uzumaki, Dragon Head, are dubbed. Shaolin Soccer, Big Man Japan, both comedies, were dubbed. Immortal, from France, was dubbed. You missed a few “mainstream” movies, such as The Man With No Name trilogy, and Mad Max. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/30 "2012-06-22T21:21:55Z")
I _LIKE_ subtitles but sometimes even I seek out english dubbed version of foreign films. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/31 "2012-06-22T21:42:30Z")
English-language movies are so ubiquitous here that my video library has a foreign movie section, an Israeli movie section, and the remaining 95% of the store is in English (which is not considered “foreign”). Also, AFAIK, there are no non-Hebrew or non-English TV shows on the major channels. Only cartoons are dubbed, though. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/32 "2012-06-22T21:52:51Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > It certainly was! > > This is a bizarre one not to know about, because–very unusually–the principal actors were all bilingual in German and English and rerecorded their own parts for the American release. So the dubbed version in this case is kind of acclaimed. That’s not dubbing. That’d be like saying when Nina recorded “99 Luftballoons” in English, it was dubbed. It wasn’t, it was just sung in English. ---
**Author:** ![Victor\_Charlie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7ea924/32.png) [@Victor\_Charlie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victor_Charlie)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/33 "2012-06-22T22:00:30Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Another example - the Japanese Iron Chef was dubbed when it was shown of the Food Network - except for Kaga. Oh, yeah, I forgot about Iron Chef. Although, I’d suggest the dubbing was as much for campiness as anything else. At least, that’s how it always came across to me. ---
**Author:** ![Victor\_Charlie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7ea924/32.png) [@Victor\_Charlie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victor_Charlie)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/34 "2012-06-22T22:09:07Z")
> [@Blakeyrat](#): > > Really? I think you simply don’t watch enough foreign films-- they’re almost always dubbed. Right off the top of my head, Godzilla, Gamera, Dragon Wars, and other kaiju movies are always dubbed. Japanese horror movies, Uzumaki, Dragon Head, are dubbed. Shaolin Soccer, Big Man Japan, both comedies, were dubbed. I’ll admit, I don’t watch much, if anything, from Japan. But I’ve seen a fair amount from Europe. Never saw a dubbed version on DVD (but haven’t necessarily always looked) and have never seen one in a theater. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/35 "2012-06-22T22:41:50Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > That’s not dubbing. That’d be like saying when Nina recorded “99 Luftballoons” in English, it was dubbed. It wasn’t, it was just sung in English. If the words don’t match the lip movements, it’s dubbing. ---
**Author:** ![Vicullum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/6de8d8/32.png) [@Vicullum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicullum)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/36 "2012-06-23T01:23:18Z")
I prefer subtitles myself. I can see why people say constantly reading them can distract you from what’s going on screen, but eventually you get used to. I watch a fair amount of Japanese anime and can’t stand listening to dubs, because they’re usually _terrible._ Most sound like they just dragged some mopes off the street and paid them scale to read the lines. The weirdest dub I’ve seen was a foreign porno I watched where all the lines were overdubbed in a monotone male Russian voice–including that of the actresses. More hilarious than erotic, plus it makes you wonder…are pornos really the kind of thing you need translated? Afraid they won’t be able to follow the highly cerebral storyline otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/37 "2012-06-23T02:01:49Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > Also, a vast majority of television shows and movies shown in Spain are American. I imagine it would get annoying for most people to read every single thing you watch all day long. And many people ‘watch’ television without really watching the screen all the time. You can do that with a dubbed film; it won’t work with a subtitles one. Also subtitles have problems with the different screen ratios: sometimes a subtitled film shown on TV has part of the subtitle words cut off on the edges of the screen, which makes it very hard to follow. That’s not a problem with a dubbed film. So dubbing gives you better chance of selling your film to the secondary market of TV & cable than subtitles would. And my guess is that the cost is roughly the same? ---
**Author:** ![BleizDu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@BleizDu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BleizDu)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/38 "2012-06-23T11:01:20Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > And many people ‘watch’ television without really watching the screen all the time. You can do that with a dubbed film; it won’t work with a subtitles one. This. I’m French, I have no idea why nearly all movies are dubbed, but I know that although I can understand English fine if I concentrate, I can’t do something else, let my mind wander, and still be able to understand what I hear, like I can in my native language. From this article: > **[Pourquoi la France double-t-elle tout le monde?](https://www.slate.fr/story/18195/pourquoi-la-france-double-t-elle-tout-le-monde)** > > Les séries diffusées sur le PAF sont proposées principalement en VF. Si la version multilingue progresse, le doublage reste un véritable sport… The guy who handles dubbing in the main French tv channel says broadcasting a subtitled movie can brings down audience by 30%. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/39 "2012-06-23T11:18:32Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Here in Korea, Western movies in theaters are English with subtitles, but DVDs tend to give you the option of dubbing in one language and subtitles in another. Many if not most Koreans understand a little English, but not enough to enjoy a movie without subtitles. A few channels in South Korea also show some popular American TV series with the soundtrack in English and subtitles also in English. The rationale for that is to help people learn English. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941/40 "2012-06-23T13:38:13Z")
> [@furdmort](#): > > The thing I’ve never figured out is why so many countries show american produced TV shows and movies on TV and in the movie theaters. If I go to the theater here in Germany, the odds are very high that ALLof the movies being shown were produced in the US. Regarding movies, one of the reasons is that European countries don’t have much of a movie industry left (with the exception of France because it protected it in many ways : free loans for first movies, tax privileges, mandatory funding of movie production by TV channels, etc… Note that several movies in your German list are french rather than British or Spanish). That includes countries that used to produce a lot of movies, especially Italy. This also mean that even if they are produced, European movies tend to have a significantly lower budget, which limit the options. And that even a famous European producer will envision working with American studios rather than local ones. Besides, of course, people like Hollywood-style movies and Hollywood is pretty good at producing Hollywood-style movies. Also, there’s a kind of inertia : American movies have been watched for years or so by the European public, so people are accustomed to the cultural setting, know the actors, etc… As a result a Spanish (for instance) movie paradoxically appear more “exotic” to the public than an American one. TV series are a different issue : with some (American) exceptions, the public appears to prefer local ones. However, as mentioned previously for Greece, it’s much cheaper to buy an existing American serie (already amortized on the large American market, while smaller countries might not be able to have enough viewers to be worth the cost of producing one). Small countries won’t produce them at all, and medium-sized countries will use American series as “filler” while the locally produced serie will almost always be broadcasted at prime time (of course, as already mentioned, a number of famous and already “tested” in the US series will be shown at prime time too). Regarding series, I would note that non-American productions seem to be concentrated in a small number of countries anyway. For instance, the Arabic world is inundated by Egyptian productions, and Brazil sells its telenovelas everywhere. In France I noticed that if a crime serie is neither American nor French, then it’s German 90% of the time. I don’t know if it’s true in other European countries as well (I mean, are German crime series broadcasted too in Spain for instance, or is this preference for German series a French phenomenon?) As for the OP question, people seem to not like having to read subtitles. In France at least, subtitled movies seem to be targeted at “sophisticated” audience. For instance on TV, you’ll see a dubbed American movie at prime time on a main channel while the “artsy” channel will show at a latter hour a movie that is not only subtitled but also a German classic from the 50s as well, rather than a “mainstream” movie. In movie theaters, there’s more variety, and even recent blockbusters can be seen either in subtitled or dubbed version. That would be because in theaters, a significant part of the customers are cinephiles (again more “sophisticated”) who wouldn’t watch a dubbed movie if they were paid to do so. Personnally, I prefer subtitled movies, and the more time pass, the least able I am to suffer through dubbed ones. Even though voice actors are typically quite good (and, as I only realized recently, “tied” to a specific actor, so for instance John Wayne was always dubbed by the same voice actor in France, making “his” voice recognizable), I can still notice that there’s generally a loss in quality. Most actors aren’t famous for no reason, and they tend to be better at delivering their lines than voice actors. I won’t understand a word of what a Norwegian actor is saying, but still his voice will often have more “punch”, or more emotion, in a noticeable way. Also, there’s of course things “lost in translation” if you can understand the original language and are vaguely familiar with its country’s culture. Still, the majority of my friends will have a more enjoyable experience watching a dubbed movie. I suppose reading the subtitles either is perceived as “work” or simply prevents them from being fully immersed in the experience (because reading detracts them from watching what’s happening onscreen). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-other-countries-dub-english-language-movies-tv/625941.md?page=3)