Title: Original Version FTW
Date: 26 January 2012
URL: https://ralovely.com/blog/2012/01/26/original-version-ftw/
Author: Raphael Campardou
Archived: yes

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This is an old post, kept here for posterity. Some links may be broken, opinions may have changed, and technology has certainly moved on.

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

Way too often, while comfortably sat in the movie theatre, I'm force-fed 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.

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For the humans reading the machine-readable version: hello. You're thorough. I appreciate that.