Page 1 of 1 [ 11 posts ] 

Atom1966
Toucan
Toucan

User avatar

Joined: 19 Feb 2014
Age: 57
Gender: Female
Posts: 272
Location: Sombrero Galaxy

19 Apr 2014, 4:45 pm

Since I live in Holland I can also receive several german tv channels but I find it impossible to watch them.

Just like the dutch channels the germans broadcast a lot of foreign movies and tv series, mainly english and american ones. Both german and dutch are languages that are limited to relatively small areas of the world, unlike the english language for instance, which means that translation for german and dutch viewers is a necessity. The dutch always use subtitles but that is not the case in Germany! All the german tv channels use german voice overs for non german tv programmes and that totally and utterly destroys every foreign tv series and movie that is being broadcasted on german tv. It's horrendous, ridiculous and funny at the same time. It makes me wonder if the germans are able to read or not. What is wrong with subtitels? The voices of the german voice overs don't even sound like the originals voices of the actors. Skills that took profesionnal actors years to master are going to waste because of this weird phenomenon. It's just not the same movie or tv series anymore. Another problem is that the same german voice over artists are being used over and over again. Everything sounds roughly the same and that has been going on for more than thirty years. Please, there must be a better solution. It's atrocious! I only watch german television when I want to have a laugh really.



Last edited by Atom1966 on 19 Apr 2014, 10:28 pm, edited 3 times in total.

GGPViper
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Sep 2009
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,880

19 Apr 2014, 6:14 pm

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-2EaW4L_GM[/youtube]
Image



Atom1966
Toucan
Toucan

User avatar

Joined: 19 Feb 2014
Age: 57
Gender: Female
Posts: 272
Location: Sombrero Galaxy

19 Apr 2014, 7:31 pm

What am I supposed to get?



Marky9
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Mar 2013
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,625
Location: USA

19 Apr 2014, 8:12 pm

That would be a bummer for me. I like movies with subtitles because it helps me learn other languages.



Kraichgauer
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 47,739
Location: Spokane area, Washington state.

19 Apr 2014, 11:56 pm

A German history professor I had once taken a class from had told us that there's nothing quite so funny as seeing Bonanza dubbed over in German.


_________________
-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer


GGPViper
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Sep 2009
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,880

20 Apr 2014, 5:55 am

It is not strictly a German phenomenon.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf5iDCY8UO4[/youtube]
Actually, I think the Spanish ( at 0:08 ) and French ( 0:16 ) versions are pretty menacing.



Eccles_the_Mighty
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Age: 64
Gender: Male
Posts: 591

20 Apr 2014, 4:47 pm

Annoying, isn't it? Then again I'm not used to German TV at all and I find a number of things odd:

1) They present the news standing up.

2) 23 minutes per hour of adverts, they even manage to shove a ten second advert for a hardware store between the news headlines and the start of the programme itself.

3) Weird music, especially on the RTL channels. If you're watching a drama there will be a scene change and then ten seconds or so of pop music totally unrelated to the programme.

4) Odd scheduling. Most countries start programmes at (say) 8pm, or 9:15am, or perhaps 11:45 but in Germany they do things like start a programme at 8:04 or 12:23.

5) Every time there is a TV advert for a medical product it's immediately followed by a warning read at breakneck speed to consult a doctor before heading to the pharmacy.

When I moved here I brought my DVD recorder with me, I've just sold it because in five months I haven't found a single programme worth recording.


_________________
Eccles


FragMichNichtWiesMirGeht
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 12 May 2015
Posts: 54
Location: England

12 May 2015, 4:05 am

It's not so bad with cartoons because it allows for a bit more creativity. Some of my favourite dub performances sound nothing like the originals.

With TV though it's a little more jarring.



trollcatman
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Dec 2012
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,919

13 May 2015, 3:08 am

It is hilarious for films like James Bond, or The Simpsons.

James Bond: "Danke, Sir" :x




shlaifu
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 May 2014
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,659

14 May 2015, 6:25 pm

about the 'languages spoken in only small parts of the world' thing....
yes, dutch is only spoken by 22 million people, 16 million of them in the netherlands, so dubbing things in dutch doesn't make much sense economically.
For the Dutch, it makes sense to learn foreign languages.

German however is the most widely spoken language in Europe, with 90 million native speakers. (French second, then English, then Spanish.)
And apparently, it makes sense, economically, to dub films, so more people are willing to watch them.
Don't forget that most of TV-stations earn money with commercials, so gaining a wider audience through making shows as accessible as possible is important. And if at some point, redubbing a film costs less than what you can earn through gained market share,it just makes sense.

Let alone, people of higher education (i.e. bilingual, or at least willing to read) are a bad target audience for most TV-advertising anyway.

That said, ever since I spent time in England and became fluent in English, I'm finding it hard to go to German cinemas.
I don't watch TV at all anymore, for precisely the reason that either the dubs are bad, or worse, the translation distorts the meaning, or destroys the jokes.

the simpsons and futurama are the most famous examples of horrible translations, while the voices actually aren't sooo bad.
in one episode, groundskeeper willy uses the word 'bloody' as a curse, and the translator translated it literally into 'covered in blood'.
yeah. subtitles would be better. but dubs sell more beer.


_________________
I can read facial expressions. I did the test.


FragMichNichtWiesMirGeht
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 12 May 2015
Posts: 54
Location: England

30 Jan 2017, 9:41 am

I recommend any German dub cartoon with Santiago Ziesmer in it. Any dub he's in is usually good. Ren and Stimpy, Spongebob and Animaniacs are particularly well done.