Comments on: “The words should roll out of the mouth” – On the dubbing of “The Wire” in German http://blog.babbel.com/the-words-should-roll-out-of-the-mouths-on-the-dubbing-of-the-wire-in-german/ Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:51:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Stefan http://blog.babbel.com/the-words-should-roll-out-of-the-mouths-on-the-dubbing-of-the-wire-in-german/comment-page-1/#comment-276 Stefan Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:07:58 +0000 http://blog.babbel.com/?p=307#comment-276 "When one is otherwise paying attention to synchronization in dubbing, it’s a straight speech, that means no throaty voices, nasaly voices, “spuckeklacker” (stuttering/lisping). You really try and make sure this doesn’t happen or you simply don’t end up using these kind of takes." Un-fucking-believable. They are actually doing that on purpose all the time. Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised because that's what it has to be, but the extent to which they try is still somewhat astounding. That's exactly why dubs are so horrible and unwatchable. They are sterile, boring and simply unnatural. No one talks like that in real life. Most things that make the language and speech interesting are systematically removed. Of course a lot just can't be translated, but they can at least try more to save some authenticity by not having everyone speak perfectly. They seem to try here, but "The Wire" is just one of those shows that's impossible to translate. Just as with "Friday Night Lights" or "Battlestar Galactica" for example, it's so dependent on the characters and performances that it simply doesn't work any other way. And it's doomed to fail on German TV. It will be completely forgotten on PayTV and no free TV station will even consider touchich it. The show is very niche and ignored even on US television. It's just too intelligent and unusual to survive on commercial TV - anywhere, but especially in Germany where all good shows burn. “When one is otherwise paying attention to synchronization in dubbing, it’s a straight speech, that means no throaty voices, nasaly voices, “spuckeklacker” (stuttering/lisping). You really try and make sure this doesn’t happen or you simply don’t end up using these kind of takes.”

Un-fucking-believable. They are actually doing that on purpose all the time. Maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised because that’s what it has to be, but the extent to which they try is still somewhat astounding. That’s exactly why dubs are so horrible and unwatchable. They are sterile, boring and simply unnatural. No one talks like that in real life. Most things that make the language and speech interesting are systematically removed. Of course a lot just can’t be translated, but they can at least try more to save some authenticity by not having everyone speak perfectly.

They seem to try here, but “The Wire” is just one of those shows that’s impossible to translate. Just as with “Friday Night Lights” or “Battlestar Galactica” for example, it’s so dependent on the characters and performances that it simply doesn’t work any other way.
And it’s doomed to fail on German TV. It will be completely forgotten on PayTV and no free TV station will even consider touchich it. The show is very niche and ignored even on US television. It’s just too intelligent and unusual to survive on commercial TV – anywhere, but especially in Germany where all good shows burn.

]]> By: thomas http://blog.babbel.com/the-words-should-roll-out-of-the-mouths-on-the-dubbing-of-the-wire-in-german/comment-page-1/#comment-272 thomas Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:00:21 +0000 http://blog.babbel.com/?p=307#comment-272 german dubbing fucks up every single decent tv series and film and with this one it won´t be any different. agree in each and every point with pinaceae. german dubbing fucks up every single decent tv series and film and with this one it won´t be any different. agree in each and every point with pinaceae.

]]> By: pinaceae http://blog.babbel.com/the-words-should-roll-out-of-the-mouths-on-the-dubbing-of-the-wire-in-german/comment-page-1/#comment-269 pinaceae Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:01:55 +0000 http://blog.babbel.com/?p=307#comment-269 and yet, nobody in their right mind watches german dubbed versions. they are, too be frank, pure and utter shite. here in vienna the cinemas showing the original versions are drawing more crowds than ever. people download more stuff directly, people buy dvds to watch the undubbed versions. the most horrible thing on earth is humour and wit, translated and dubbed into german. they literally KILL tv shows like House. the problem is the dubbing. simple subtitles allow far greater deviations from the original mouth movements and leave more space to actually translate meaning and sense. dubbing is one of the biggest cultural crimes at present times. and yet, nobody in their right mind watches german dubbed versions. they are, too be frank, pure and utter shite.

here in vienna the cinemas showing the original versions are drawing more crowds than ever. people download more stuff directly, people buy dvds to watch the undubbed versions.

the most horrible thing on earth is humour and wit, translated and dubbed into german. they literally KILL tv shows like House.

the problem is the dubbing. simple subtitles allow far greater deviations from the original mouth movements and leave more space to actually translate meaning and sense.

dubbing is one of the biggest cultural crimes at present times.

]]> By: Infovore » Bookmarks for December 9th through December 10th http://blog.babbel.com/the-words-should-roll-out-of-the-mouths-on-the-dubbing-of-the-wire-in-german/comment-page-1/#comment-267 Infovore » Bookmarks for December 9th through December 10th Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:01:08 +0000 http://blog.babbel.com/?p=307#comment-267 [...] “The words should roll out of the mouth” - On the dubbing of “The Wire” in G... The Wire has started airing on German TV, in a dubbed version; fascinating interview on how to translate it whilst keep the flavour of the original show. (tags: wire dubbing translation german tv thewire language slang ) [...] [...] “The words should roll out of the mouth” – On the dubbing of “The Wire” in G… The Wire has started airing on German TV, in a dubbed version; fascinating interview on how to translate it whilst keep the flavour of the original show. (tags: wire dubbing translation german tv thewire language slang ) [...]

]]> By: Christian http://blog.babbel.com/the-words-should-roll-out-of-the-mouths-on-the-dubbing-of-the-wire-in-german/comment-page-1/#comment-266 Christian Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:28:20 +0000 http://blog.babbel.com/?p=307#comment-266 I'm sure that nobody says wegen dem FahrradS; perhaps dem Fahrrad, like in the German version of this text. I’m sure that nobody says wegen dem FahrradS; perhaps dem Fahrrad, like in the German version of this text.

]]> By: Translating ‘The Wire’ to German « N 40° 35.567′ W 122° 24.112′ http://blog.babbel.com/the-words-should-roll-out-of-the-mouths-on-the-dubbing-of-the-wire-in-german/comment-page-1/#comment-265 Translating ‘The Wire’ to German « N 40° 35.567′ W 122° 24.112′ Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:09:53 +0000 http://blog.babbel.com/?p=307#comment-265 [...] Here [...] [...] Here [...]

]]> By: The Signifier http://blog.babbel.com/the-words-should-roll-out-of-the-mouths-on-the-dubbing-of-the-wire-in-german/comment-page-1/#comment-264 The Signifier Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:28:21 +0000 http://blog.babbel.com/?p=307#comment-264 [...] German interview translated to English on the challenges of translating The Wire from English into German. Proving [...] [...] German interview translated to English on the challenges of translating The Wire from English into German. Proving [...]

]]> By: Ronnie Brown » Blog Archive » The words should roll out of the mouth http://blog.babbel.com/the-words-should-roll-out-of-the-mouths-on-the-dubbing-of-the-wire-in-german/comment-page-1/#comment-263 Ronnie Brown » Blog Archive » The words should roll out of the mouth Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:40:13 +0000 http://blog.babbel.com/?p=307#comment-263 [...] Babbel (via Coudal) comes this interesting article on how German TV went about dubbing the voices for The Wire. Here and there we’ve borrowed some things from German drug slang. Overall the whole story with [...] [...] Babbel (via Coudal) comes this interesting article on how German TV went about dubbing the voices for The Wire. Here and there we’ve borrowed some things from German drug slang. Overall the whole story with [...]

]]> By: Lorenz http://blog.babbel.com/the-words-should-roll-out-of-the-mouths-on-the-dubbing-of-the-wire-in-german/comment-page-1/#comment-135 Lorenz Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:11:23 +0000 http://blog.babbel.com/?p=307#comment-135 Hi Brian, thanks for the comment. I didn´t ask about black voice actors. It would have been a good question, if they used voice actors from the turkish community, because it's the biggest minority group in Germany and their dialect/slang is widely known and recognised. Hi Brian, thanks for the comment. I didn´t ask about black voice actors. It would have been a good question, if they used voice actors from the turkish community, because it’s the biggest minority group in Germany and their dialect/slang is widely known and recognised.

]]> By: Brian Smith http://blog.babbel.com/the-words-should-roll-out-of-the-mouths-on-the-dubbing-of-the-wire-in-german/comment-page-1/#comment-131 Brian Smith Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:59:44 +0000 http://blog.babbel.com/?p=307#comment-131 That was very interesting, thank you for talking to them. I'm curious to know if they used tried to black voice actors wherever possible too? That was very interesting, thank you for talking to them. I’m curious to know if they used tried to black voice actors wherever possible too?

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