Film translations. Discussed in the Caretaker podcast
Miscellaneous / / October 20, 2021
About polyphonic voice acting and dubbing, subtitles and obscene language.
The debate about whether to watch a movie in the original or in translation, it seems, will never end. It is important for someone to hear the original speech and it is not difficult to read the subtitles while watching the video sequence. Someone demands that all the characters speak strictly in his native language, even if the translation itself is not entirely accurate.
In this issue, the hosts of the "Watchman" Alexei Khromov and Mikhail Volnyh argue about the translations of foreign films and TV series, they figure out how best to deal with a play on words and whether it is worth literally transferring obscene vocabulary into Russian voice acting, as well as finding out whether the translation can surpass original.
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08:19 - about subtitles: do they interfere with the perception of the picture on the screen.
15:01 - swear words in translations: is it worth adapting foreign curses for the Russian audience.
20:14 - how best to deal with puns: sacrifice content for the sake of an interesting speech turnover or translate literally, but lose humor at the same time. Alexey gives an example from literature - translation “Alice in Wonderland"Boris Zakhoder.
26:43 - about "cassette" translations from the 1990s: today the author's "monophones" are relevant or not.
31:26 - about cases when translations, in the opinion of the majority, are superior to the original.
What to see on the topic
We have collected the films and TV shows mentioned in the issue:
- "Keepers", director - Zach Snyder, year 2009.
- Doctor Who, Created by Russell T. Davis, 2005 - present.
- Inglourious Basterds, director - Quentin Tarantino, year 2009.
- Maelstrom, Created by Damien Chazelle, 2020.
- 2001: A Space Odyssey, director - Stanley Kubrick, 1968.
- Stranger Things, Created by Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, 2016-Present.
- There Will Be No More Snow, directed by Malgorzata Šumovska, Michal Englert, 2020.
- Dexter, Created by James Manos Jr. 2006-Present.
- What Happened, Tiger Lily? - Directed by Woody Allen, Senkichi Taniguchi, 1966.
- "Brother", director - Alexei Balabanov, 1997.
- Finished, directed by Vaughn Stein, 2017.
- "Comrade Detective", creator - Alex Tanaka, 2017.
- "Clinic", creator - Bill Lawrence, 2001-2010.
- Borat, directed by Larry Charles, 2006.
- Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back 2001 directed by Kevin Smith.
- «Shrek", Directors - Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson, 2001.
- Madagascar 2005 directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath.
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Read also🧐
- 10 Useful Google Translate Features Everyone Should Know
- 12 films whose titles have changed the meaning in translation
- "Working with the voice is like fitness." Interview with Olga Kravtsova, co-founder of the "Cubic in a cube" voice acting studio