Rant about dubbed American TV programs

why is the german television effing up classic shows like south park and american dad??? they even try to emulate Eric Cartman's voice...they need to realize that THEY SUCK AT IT. AAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH...ok thats it...thanks for listening.

I know, the dubbing is so painful it made me go looking for alternative ways of getting my US sitcom fix on the net . They basically make me do it.

That's my official story and I'm sticking to it.

You just figured that out USCBum?? Part of the reason I don't even bother with TV at all.

To be fair i also watched Das Boot with English dubbing and that was fucked up too. All media tends to be better in it's original form by default i reckon.

i just saw it for the first time yesterday...i don't have a TV

As I edited above, neither do I. In cases of severe lack of funny bone tickling, I rent series from the english video shop.

yeah, it's outrageous
they should show all the programs in the original english, and the germans should be forced to all speak english, too
just for the duration of your stay, though, obv

are they not capable enough to come up with stuff like that own instead of effing up the good stuff?

anything that stops people watching South Park is surely a good thing isn't it?

Strangely, it works the other way around too. I used to watch King Of Queens dubbed in German. When I finally got to hear the original, I thought their voices where all wrong. What is annoying about dubbed voices is that you continually recognise the same dubbed voice for different actors. Dont know how many times I've heard Mulders voice since x-files started way way back.

Yes its true, Tom Hanks always has the same German dubbing him, its makes me crazy when i hear him in other programmes.

Overly sensitive are you? Talk to me after you have been here at least a year and actually watched the shows more than once.

My German boyfriend has watched The Nanny for years with German dubbing, and now having seen the English version a few times just can't stand Fran Drescher's voice, and wonder how anybody can watch it and actually like the show with that voice. The German voice-over is apparently a sexy voice.

Frans real voice is like "scraching your nails down a blackbord"

I hate it when the original movie obviously refers to somewhere in the USA and when it gets dubbed suddenly the place refered to is Berlin or somewhere like Munich.

Check out the brain on your boyfriend. I have wondered that myself for years. The show sucks and so does Fran's voice.

ever wondered why swedes are such cunning linguists? because all their programs are shown in original language with swedish subtitles. very good for improving my swedish too!

When I was in Munich, I saw the Simpsons episode where Mark Hamill says "use the fork!" and the dumb dumbs actually translated it literally to Gabel. Doh!

German dubbing is sometimes awful making shows like Buffy nowhere near as good (a lot of German friends always get it in the original version as the humour comes through). Stargate Atalntis also has strange voices.

To be fair though dubbing things in English often does not work. See the old Water Margin series and you will realise how bad dubbing can get. Also look at Brotherhood of the Wolf. Superb film (french) but the English dubbing is awful. Even with my poor German I still prefer to watch it in German (possibly with English subtitles).

I love DVD's having the ability to switch language/subtitles.

The funniest thing I heard on German TV is that the guy who does Homer Simpson also does The Thing a.k.a. Ben of the Fantastic 4!

The South Park movie is classic, the bit where Cartmans mum does German sheiser porn, and they go what the fuck is wrong with german people. The German version translate it so its english porn and he says what the fuck is wrong with english people or something like that.

when i first came here and heard scully's voice, i thought why are they trying to put some sex appeal in x-files?

I've gotten so used to German dubbing it doesn't bother me that much anymore. The Simpsons is the only one that I really can't watch in German.. all the voices suck.

What bother me a lot more is the dubbing over interviews or shows when you can still hear the English in the background. My brain can't concentrate on one or the other.

German dubbing sucks and German subtitles aren't that mich better tbh.
But maybe some colloquiallisms don't translate well ?

i for the first time heard how david beckham sounds! so unmanly. all this time i thought he was hot! but that voice...eek.

He's been having voice coaching recently in an attempt to make him sound a bit more butch. Obviously hasn't worked.

The Beckham household must sound like an episode of The Clangers what with that screeching harridan and two pre-pubescent boys..

It got to the point where I couldn't watch american sitcoms in German because the dubbing was just plain AWFUL. It always loses something in translation and is never as funny as it is in the original english. I know Germany is another country that has another language and blah blah blah but there should be some balance. Someone mentioned "The Nanny" and how shocked they were when they heard Fran Drescher's real voivce and how annoying it was. THAT"S THE WHOLE POINT! Her voivce is supposed to be annoying. That's what makes her funny. It just isn't as funny hearing her speaking Hochdeutsch.

If you're German and grow up with German dubbed shows it's really ok (Don't forget this is Germany they speak a different language here). I wouldn't say they suck at it have you been to Spain or Italy and watched original TV there recently?

Of course they try to emulate voices they're trying to keep it close to the original.

Who cares if Germany is another country? It's not dubbing vs. watching it in English. It's dubbing vs. subtitles. Dubbing sucks, no matter what language it's in.

Sorry, that's a matter of opinion, I have never heard Germans complain about dubbed TV and they are the majority here who have to live with it!

What about children's programs? They can't read, and those who can certainly can't read as fast as adults.

While I hate dubbing, it helped me learn the language by force. Still, it would be nice to have the choice of subtitles.

woof.

I have to say I don't mind dubbing...in fact I got so use to Buffy in German that when I saw the English version I found it strange. it also happened with Sex and the City. Now you are laughing at my choice of programmes!!!

It's a state of Mind - I tune in and let the force be with me.

PS. I even go and watch Hollywood movies in german and again doesn't bother me - saw that excellent recent movie with Jody Foster and Clive Owen...and even kept up with it.

Yes, of course it's fine for children's programs.


I personally get more out of reading the language than hearing it. Seeing German subtitles with English (or whatever language) in the background is just as good for me. But what about the Germans learning English? In the Netherlands, everything is subtitled, and the average person there speaks excellent English. I wasn't really referring just to expats watching English movies dubbed in the native language - I was talking about in general. I have no interest in watching a German film dubbed into English; I'll choose subtitles every time. IMO, films are always much better in the original language.

Reading doesn't help much with pronounciation though. Hearing the language while simultaneously viewing subtitles in the same language is the best way to learn.

Yeah, but in Germany we hear the language around us all day every day, and pronunciation is the easiest part of the language, since there are strict rules for it. Anyway, my main point wasn't about learning the language but about watching films for fun - which is what I think most people do.

I think your german improves by immersing yourself in original German language situatins not by watching dstuff dubbed into German. What dubbing DOES do is give Germans, however well they learn English a much heavier "foreign accent" than (say) the Dutch or the Scandinavians.

THAT'S the point!
Dubbing is OK for people who want to have it as an option, but I'm annoyed by the fact that in German TV there are hardly any programmes where you have the choice between the dubbed version and the original resp. original with subtitles.
This is the main reason that I hardly watch German TV, although I'm German.
I prefer to watch DVD - where I DO have the choice - or Sky.


Learning by doing is always the best way to learn I think. If you're forced to speak German cos nobody around you speaks English you will learn it much quicker.
Conc. the heavy foreign accent that's an interesting theory. Think you have a point there.
On the other hand I know a lot of Germans who have an Irish or English accent - from working in an Irish bar, having Irish partners etc. - an Irish friend of mine said the Germans tend to swallow accents...
And in Denmark and NL you can get a lot of German programmes via cable TV, not dubbed, but still the Dutch and Danish people I know all have a heavy accent, even after many years of living in Germany.
However, I find that charming.

Rambo II was the best. When Stallone is captured and forced to radio back, he says in English: FUCK YOU !!
dubbed German: verpiss dich !

It sucks.

It does - but I think in the US you wouldn't hear any of it, you would hear a beep...

not sure about that. There are plenty of Scandinavians with heavy accents

Definitely not heavier, just different.

People are forgetting that for smaller countries the relative costs of having an whole industry to dub films and programmes is too expensive making subtitles the easiest option but sorry a country of 80m and more speakers outside can justify having a dubbing industry.

Also, if the dubbing industry is too small you end up with the same actors doing everyone's voice. In Russia, 10 years ago, I saw how they would have one women and one man dubbing the whole film/programme. It may have changed now...

Anyhow, I do disagree that you don't learn from the TV...I used it to great effect in Spain...of course it will normally only give you passive understanding but it does help...

For those that are so hard on the idea...your loss...since for me I get to watch german TV and enter to some extent german pop culture. And Pop culture is very important since that's what the average person talks about...

I can't very well go on about Dr Who or Billie Piper to a German...!!!

Edited: (Pop Culture) I suppose that doesn't make sense since if it's a foreign film you can watch the English version! Silly me - but it means I don't shy away from watching german TV

I do think that the dutch speak better english than the germans. Mainly because most programmes are not dubbed. Small children learn english from english programmes with dutch untertitles. Germans just dub the programmes into german.

Just look at 'allo'allo
we evan dub ze dschermans wiz a dscherman akzent.
Oh, end ze fwrench speak wiz a fwrench aksont.

Germans just don't do that !!

I would like to see maybe 1 or 2 channels show everything in original language whether it be English, German, French or whatever and subtitle it. Would be interesting to see how well they would fare on the viewing figures. I don't see why all channels should show original language but it would be nice to give people the choice.

The only channel I can think of on free to air that shows programmes in another language is Arte and I believe it is a joint German/French channel, hence the dual languages.

@Wibble,

In Spain there were TVs that allowed you to switch to the original version. Never understood how that worked or what technology it was based on. So I'd accept something like that but as for effectively an English channel...naja I want to feel like I'm living in Germany...so like hearing deutsch...

However, having said that the EU could do itself a favour and set-up an EU wide channel that would interesting to have German Comedies, English Cooking programmes, French Sports, Italian War Movies and Spanish Soaps...

I'd defo watch that channel...

I definitely prefer subtitles but must admit that the Germans seem to do a pretty good job of dubbing, in my opinion (though if you know what the original actor's voice sounds like it can be off-putting). I

If I'm not mistaken, films and TV are generally subtitled in Portugal but not in Spain (at least not when I lived there in the 90s) and I've always assumed the Portuguese were generally better at learning languages because of this.

I like the subtitling on the French films on TV 5 Monde (regardless of whether they're subtitled in German or French) .

The same system exists in Germany, too. Think by now almost every TV set has this option for "Zweikanalton" - only the stations do not provide the service very often. If you have a closer look at a TV guide you'd be lucky to find one film a day, and if you find one, it will be most likely on Arte...

Why on earth would German TV broadcast imported shows in a language other than that of the country they are being shown? I know its hard for Americans to understand that there is such a thing as countries other than the US of A, and that people from outside the USofA speak languages that are different!

We can always have a go back at the standards of American TV dumbing down a generation, or, how they take classic British programmes and ruin them, such as Ricky Gervais "The Office", and a ground breaking gritty drama "Queer as Folk". Yes, I know its not dubbed, and any shows the US imports from the UK they have to have subtitles or publish phrase books in order the viewing public can follow the plots! Yes, the Americans speak English, but badly.

Lets not start on culture, in London there are stores older than the USA, and lets face it, the only culture there is in the US, is the stuff growing between their toes (sorry, I suppose we should mention Cola, McD's and Disney, but this would just add strength to my agument).

Films on Arte always have that option because Arte is a joint French/German channel.

I think you'll find that a lot of the people complaining about dubbing on this thread are not from the US but in fact from Britain.

If you wish to be blatantly prejudiced it would really help your case if you at least informed yourself first.