Language discussion thread

[Parrulo]

in Portugal we also use subtitles instead of dubbing. i think that dubbing something like a movie or tv show just ruins it because all acting performance is lost

 

[hrotha]

Actually I think dubbing is quite rare in Europe. Other than in Spain and Germany, I don't know where else they do it.

 

[The Hitch]

Actually I think dubbing is quite rare in Europe. Other than in Spain and Germany, I don't know where else they do it.

They do it in Poland. On a massive scale. Even for cartoons sometimes rather than just taking out the English voices and putting in Polish ones.

 

[Parrulo]

They do it in Poland. On a massive scale. Even for cartoons sometimes rather than just taking out the English voices and putting in Polish ones.

you mean subbing then

cartoons and anime get dubbed when they are aired on kids programs. other then that they usually aren't dubbed.

italy and france also dub everything iirc

 

[Swabian Lass]

I hate dubbing and we have it on a massive scale here. I would much rather watch something in the original language even if I have to use subtitles. It sometimes leads to amusing translations though, for example "House" here is "Dr House" because heaven forbid that someone could be a doctor and not use his title. He's even sometimes referred to as "Dr House" which never fails to reduce me to fits of laughter, it just seems so inappropriate.

The French dub major releases, but the original language versions also get wide release whereas in Germany they don't. If you live in the sticks (like me) it's really difficult to see original language versions, I had to go to Munich to see True Grit in English. I had already seen it in German, but somehow Matt Damon and Jeff Bridges speaking Hochdeutsch doesn't do it for me.

 

[Parrulo]

I hate dubbing and we have it on a massive scale here. I would much rather watch something in the original language even if I have to use subtitles. It sometimes leads to amusing translations though, for example "House" here is "Dr House" because heaven forbid that someone could be a doctor and not use his title. He's even sometimes referred to as "Dr House" which never fails to reduce me to fits of laughter, it just seems so inappropriate.

The French dub major releases, but the original language versions also get wide release whereas in Germany they don't. If you live in the sticks (like me) it's really difficult to see original language versions, I had to go to Munich to see True Grit in English. I had already seen it in German, but somehow Matt Damon and Jeff Bridges speaking Hochdeutsch doesn't do it for me.

you have the internetz right? then download all the way

 

[flyor64]

you mean subbing then

cartoons and anime get dubbed when they are aired on kids programs. other then that they usually aren't dubbed.

italy and france also dub everything iirc

The stuff for the kids is about the only thing that is dubbed here in Norway, which is nice (for me especially) and it's often tied to the time of day.

For example animated movies shown during the daytime are often dubbed and one normally can see the same film in its original language during the evening times. My son really enjoys the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoon these days, and he sees them regularly in English and Norwegian depending on the channel and time of day.

 

[Swabian Lass]

you have the internetz right? then download all the way

Oh sure we have the internet, but the speed isn't great, takes ages to download, I have difficulty watching YouTube clips.

Anything I really want to watch in the original language I get DVDs, it's really only when it's a new film and I'm really keen to see it that it's a pain.

 

[Offtheback]

French was a compulsory subject in Engliwsh schools but I never used it after school except to ask a Cop directions in Paris.
I was told if I ask in English he would send me the wrong way.
I did learn a bit of Flemish which got me around.
I never had isues comunicating in Europe almost everyone was able to understand me but when arriving in Australia they couldnt understand my accent.

When I arrived in OZ, the first day I went to a Deli and ordered a sandwich. I was asked " Ed her oh takawaih". It took 3 pardon-mes before I grasped the OZ/Italian question of whether I wished in dine in their fine establishment or munch it on the street. Dialects, I love them.

 

[The Hitch]

you mean subbing then

cartoons and anime get dubbed when they are aired on kids programs. other then that they usually aren't dubbed.

italy and france also dub everything iirc

No. I meant what i said. Voiceover

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The stuff for the kids is about the only thing that is dubbed here in Norway, which is nice (for me especially) and it's often tied to the time of day.

For example animated movies shown during the daytime are often dubbed and one normally can see the same film in its original language during the evening times. My son really enjoys the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoon these days, and he sees them regularly in English and Norwegian depending on the channel and time of day.

Being able to see the same thing in both languages is very helpful for learning the languages too.

One thing that amused/baffled me when I was in Norway - South Park, unedited, at 16:00 on TV2 Zebra.

 

[craig1985]

Actually I think dubbing is quite rare in Europe. Other than in Spain and Germany, I don't know where else they do it.

I've seen Family Guy and The Simpsons in Spanish, I have to say it was weird hearing it not in English.

 

[Swabian Lass]

Being able to see the same thing in both languages is very helpful for learning the languages too.

One thing that amused/baffled me when I was in Norway - South Park, unedited, at 16:00 on TV2 Zebra.

I'm not sure whether that's very funny or deeply shocking!

The showing it at 16.00 I mean. Of course South Park is very funny.

 

[craig1985]

There is something that has been bugging me for a while, every now and then I see Spanish words after some sort of upside down exclamation mark like this '¡', where did it originate from?

 

[nobilis]

There is something that has been bugging me for a while, every now and then I see Spanish words after some sort of upside down exclamation mark like this '¡', where did it originate from?

in Spanish, when a sentence ends with an exclamation mark, it should start with an upside down exclamation mark. The same goes for the the question mark. But I don't know from where it originated.

 

[Maxiton]

OMG, I just read this entire thread. Absolutely fascinating.

 

[El Pistolero]

To the Dutchies on here, how old were you guys (and girls!) when you first started learning English and how long did it take to become fluent in English, and was it easy/hard?

To Libertine, I'm sure with your line of work you're familiar with Michel Thomas and the Michel Thomas Method, what has your experience of this been, and in your opinion, is it effective or not?

I never had any problems with English at school. I never learned for my exams and still got around 80%. I learned it first from those Pokémon red/blue games I think, but can't remember anymore. So I could always speak it I guess.

It's incredibly easy.

French on the other hand... I hate... I can speak it, but I hate it sooo much.

 

[craig1985]

What's with the hate of speaking French (I'm assuming you are from Flanders)?

 

[auscyclefan94]

I never had any problems with English at school. I never learned for my exams and still got around 80%. I learned it first from those Pokémon red/blue games I think, but can't remember anymore. So I could always speak it I guess.

It's incredibly easy.

French on the other hand... I hate... I can speak it, but I hate it sooo much.

Roughly, what percentage of people in Belgium can speak English?

 

[The Hitch]

Roughly, what percentage of people in Belgium can speak English?

I haven't met a Belgian who can't speak English and I haven't met a Dutchie that can't speak English better than the average person in England.

 

[thirteen]

Roughly, what percentage of people in Belgium can speak English?

I would say a very large majority, thank god!

I haven't met a Belgian who can't speak English and I haven't met a Dutchie that can't speak English better than the average person in England.

Some of the older generation cannot, though, and I've run into them in shops (like bakeries) and/or asking me questions on the street... Fortunately, most of them will speak/understand French as my Dutch/Flemish sucks.

 

[Tank Engine]

They do it in Poland. On a massive scale. Even for cartoons sometimes rather than just taking out the English voices and putting in Polish ones.

I just hated the Polish system. It's not dubbing. They have what they call a lektor. You hear the first couple of world in the original and then some guy reads the Polish translation almost without intonation (and the same guy for all the characters in the film ). In wildlife films, it's normally a woman. I knew a bit of Polish before I went there. Luckily, I had teletext and basically watched all the programmes which had subtitles available, which helped me learn a lot.

English and Polish are the only languages I speak well. I have learned French, Spanish, German and Welsh to some degree in the past, but my knowledge of them now is passive. On the basis of these languages, I can more or less understand simple newspaper articles in the majority of European languages.

Like Libertine, when learning a language I initially put a great stress on the grammar. Maybe, it makes it harder at first, but in the medium term, it definitely pays off. I also try to understand the way in which words are built. German and Polish are more structured than English in this way (I guess because English borrows from so many sources). In Polish prefixes are very important, e.g. from robic - to do, you get zarobic - earn, dorobic - to gain extra income, rozrobic - to misbehave etc.

I've started learning German again, as I'm going to be in Vienna for several months next year.

 

[hrotha]

What's with the hate of speaking French (I'm assuming you are from Flanders)?

You don't need to be Flemish to hate French. I consider the French language my arch-nemesis.

 

[frenchfry]

Actually I think dubbing is quite rare in Europe. Other than in Spain and Germany, I don't know where else they do it.

In France everything is systematicaly dubbed into French - on TV, on the radio, films. Even short interviews. This is very irritating, and is one major reason why the general level of English (and all other foreign languages) is extremely poor here. In the small city where I live it is almost impossible to see a film in any language other than French, and there are virtually no foreign language books in the library or bookstores. Grade 12 students can't understand simple statements in English unless thay have taken measures on their own to improve.

With TNT (numeric television) more and more TV shows and movies can be watched in the original language which is a major step forward, although very few take advantage of this. The passage from VHS to DVD was also a major breakthrough.

The political will has always been to attempt to impose French on the rest of the world and a fortune is expended on this objective, but this has been a losing strategy. It is also imagined that if English makes any headway that French will be lost - of course countries like the Netherlands have proven this wrong.

An irritating habit of cadres working in industry is to inject a lot of English words into their speech, often incorrectly and usually when an appropriate French word exists. They always seem pleased with themselves, I find them foolish.

I find it is almost to make any progress in native languages in northern European countries as everyone speaks such excellent English (and often French).

 

[frenchfry]

You don't need to be Flemish to hate French. I consider the French language my arch-nemesis.

Quite often I am impressed by the beauty of the language when someone expresses themselves well in French, this is rarely the case with English. Not that I don't appreciate English which I find a good language for communicating, but I don't find it as intrinisically elegant as French.