Original Version FTW January 26, 2012

Spoiler alert: this is a useless (but harmless) rant.

Way too often, while comfortably sat in the movie theatre, I’m force fead a movie trailer dubbed in french. How can anyone ever watch a movie dubbed in a foreign language, and still consider to have lived an experience remotely comparable to the original one ?

Dubbing is done by second-hand no-name artists, whose talent is no match with hollywood stars ; post production mix is expedited, and don’t even get me started about the grave mistakes in the translation.

You don’t have to understand any of the original language to enjoy a movie. Subtitles–once you get used to, I must admit–are very effective.

Performance of great actors or the very different sonority of languages, like japanese or spanish for instance, cannot be translated.

I like to compare that with music. Would you listen to a translated version of a hit song, sung by a no-name artist ? Not a cover song, just a dubbed one. Imagine the video clip of, say Billie Jean, with MJ dancing and running around, but with the voice of a French teenager unheard of (and for a reason).

Nonsense.