Understanding the why behind bad dubbing
yayou
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Livine Posted messages 6784 Status Membre -
Livine Posted messages 6784 Status Membre -
Hello friends,
I have rewatched Jackie Chan's masterpiece Drunken Master 2. Until now I had always watched the movie with the French dubbing (VFF) and this time I tried the French Canadian version (VFI), which is actually the VFQ. But to my great surprise, there are significant differences in meaning between the two versions. The VFI is much more coherent than the VFF, in which a lot of strange things are said. The only real flaw of the VFI is that it doesn't have the beautiful official theme of the film. I would really like to understand how it is possible to distort a work so much. On what basis do translators translate a work?
--
If someone does something good, imitate them. And when someone does something bad, look within yourself for how you imitate them. (Confucius)
I have rewatched Jackie Chan's masterpiece Drunken Master 2. Until now I had always watched the movie with the French dubbing (VFF) and this time I tried the French Canadian version (VFI), which is actually the VFQ. But to my great surprise, there are significant differences in meaning between the two versions. The VFI is much more coherent than the VFF, in which a lot of strange things are said. The only real flaw of the VFI is that it doesn't have the beautiful official theme of the film. I would really like to understand how it is possible to distort a work so much. On what basis do translators translate a work?
--
If someone does something good, imitate them. And when someone does something bad, look within yourself for how you imitate them. (Confucius)
1 réponse
Hello
I think there is the rule of propriety (vulgarities), then some puns are poorly translated and don't convey the same meaning, finally, the lyrics should more or less match the lip movements of the actor so as not to seem too "off." But I agree, some dubbing distorts the meaning of the film's dialogues.
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Could you mark your discussion as resolved when you have the right answer? Thank you.
I think there is the rule of propriety (vulgarities), then some puns are poorly translated and don't convey the same meaning, finally, the lyrics should more or less match the lip movements of the actor so as not to seem too "off." But I agree, some dubbing distorts the meaning of the film's dialogues.
--
Could you mark your discussion as resolved when you have the right answer? Thank you.
I would add that a literal translation of dialogues or movie titles can be risky.
For instance, the movie "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," a masterpiece of cinema. In French, there is no problem with the title, but in Canada, I believe the word 'gosses' is synonymous with "testicles," which gives a whole different meaning to this family film, to say the least.