Back in Vienna after having spent two years in the UK, I have not experienced a serious culture shock yet – until last night, that is. It caught me unprepared. Watching “Lost In Translation”, I kept asking myself how I could ever bear watching dubbed films on TV before my stay in England. I am not used to it any more, it just does not sound right. Blame the war in Iraq, Guantánamo, or whatever you want for all that stupid anti-americanism in Europe, I blame badly dubbed American films.
Scarlett Johansson sounds a bit stupid, Bill Murray talks like an idiot, and then – I know the translators also have to worry about things such as lip sync and so on, but still, “Do you drink? – As soon as I am outta here." → “Trinken Sie? – Nur nach der Arbeit.” – you have to change the meaning, okay. But do you really have to make it that dull?
As far as I know, the Italians are the best dubbers in the world – professional dubbers also have more public visibility, they are perceived as artist rather than mere professionals, at least this is the impression I got during my stay in Italy as an exchange student. Some films actually get better in the Italian version. But in German – don't get me wrong, it usually sounds professional, very professional, extremely professional, far too professional. It's always got that “I am a professional voice talent from Northern Germany” factor, and to me it just sounds – dubbed. We should have this Italian kind of proper dubbing culture, or at least TV stations that are decent enough to offer two language channels (only very few channels do that even though, technically, it should be easy).
I have a great deal of respect for the voice talents and the translators involved in dubbing “Lost In Translation”. It's not baldy dubbed at all. What I take issue with is the entire philosophy of dubbing in the German-speaking world. It appears that great emphasis is placed on technical professionalism, especially on lip-synch, with less attention paid to artistic expression. Thus, the German version of “Lost In Translation”, a film that I quite enjoyed at the time when I watched the English version at the cinema, was literally lost in translation. In my opinion, this is a film that takes much of its drive and originality from the fantastic and subtle acting of the two main protagonists which makes dubbing particularly crucial.
That being said, even if boringly dubbed, Scarlett Johansson is still Scarlett Johansson.
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Keywords/tags: dubbing lip-synch translation film Lost In Translation Scarlett Johansson
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Dubbing/Subtitling are integral part of cultural transfer between all countries.
Though the debate is always between preference of dubbing or subtitling each of it requires high level of artistic/technical input to ensure the final output is more local in every sense.
Dubbing brings more life to characters of a film than subtitles though a bad dubbed film can be a nightmare to watch.
Most Scandivian countries prefer subtitling over dubbing but now it is most preferred also for Deaf community.Same language subtitling(SLS) is one of essential way to educate people.
Lawrence Vishnu
CEO
Media Movers, Inc.
Posted by mediamovers | Sunday, 26 November, 2006