German voice overs on tv

Post Reply New Topic

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.

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

What am I supposed to get?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

James Bond: "Danke, Sir"

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 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.