Dubbed versions of American or British movies?

I remember Conchita saying that she learned English mainly (or at least partly) by watching American movies. Now, most Germans watch American movies on a regular basis. However, they watch a dubbed version. I think Germany is among the top markets when it comes to dubbing films the vast majority are made in Hollywood of course.
So, what is the situation with you? How many films do you watch in the original (English) version? Do you watch DVD’s in English with subtitles? If so, what language are the subtitles in?
Thanks for sharing your experiences here.
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, talks: Stadium announcement inviting fans to stay for after game party[YSaerTTEW443543]

Hi,
I try always to have subtitles on, right now I am using English and because of this my subtitles are since few months also overwhelming English.
Any native English speaker mostly complain about subtitles on.
It kills some fun of the movie for them.
This is the reason why, if I watch a movie I like to do this alone.
Recently I experience funny story I had chosen some DVD
to watch and gone for Coke, underway some colleague inquired me about movie (the name of it). It was Constantine I said Constantine he has corrected my pronounciation. “It should be Constantine” (with sounds like “Constantaine”). Fine why not movie switched on and guess what …?
They pronounce just Constantine without any “ai”.

Doodle Bugger nothing more just Doodle Bugger.

But … somewhere in the middle of the movie the beautiful actress make a wink and change her mind (at least about saying her name) well they had started to use in the movie Constantine saying “ai” at the end.
I had gone up calmly and wish all English an intensive Chinese course from now up to the end of Holy British Empire.
If they don’t want to learn Esperanto they may enjoy Chinese.
No mercy my Lord , no mercy.
Jan

There You go!
This is the problem with my country!
Everybody would speak better english in Hungary, if the movies were subtitled instead of dubbed.
The most of I know I learnt from movies, 'cause in Canada there’s no Hungarian channel.
My Mexican friends had their own channel in Spanish, so they didn’t have much motivation.
Since I’ve got back home, I can’t stand if someone else speaks instead of Ross (for example) in Friends, and even his mouth moves different too.
So I decided not to watch dubbed movies any more, and I do the same with books as well.(I mean I read only in English)
I think it’s working out so far,'cause although I haven’t read about any grammar rules, and I have no clue what prepositions,or adjectives are, I sound like I do speak this language.
If I don’t know the words you are saying, it’s not a big deal,I pretend to understand them.
I’ve got used to acting so good,you’ll never notice. :slight_smile:
Spencer

Most Americans hate movies with subtitles, but they hate dubbed movies even more. Sometimes we even act out humorous imitations of the actors in dubbed films.

I’ve never minded it when I was watching an English film and a friend needed the subtitles on. I’d rather they enjoy the movie than miss all the dialogue because of some subtitle or other.

I understand that on Czech TV people now have the option of listening to either the dubbed or the original soundtrack just by programming the set from their remote.

I would like to use TV to improve my comprehension in several languages, and it should be possible with satellite TV. However, marketing prevents it. The satellite TV providers here sell everything in "packages’. I can’t get a German station, a Russian station, a French station and a Chinese station. Instead, I have to order “the German package”, “the Russian package”, “the French package”, “the Hispanic package”, “the Asian package”, etc. Each package has several channels, and it’s too expensive to get two or more. On the other hand, they also make it prohibitively expensive to order individual foreign channels ? la carte.

Some German TV stations had this option when I first came to Germany. I used to record the films and then watch them in German. Whenever something was particulary difficult to understand, I just rewound a bit and then changed over to the English track. Of course, it’s usually not a one-to-one translation, but the sense is the same. I found this very useful for my German. Nowadays most DVDs have two or more selections for language. So, using movies for language learning has become even easier.

What I’ve noticed, though, is that it’s usually easier for me to understand a movie dubbed in German than to understand a movie where the original language was German.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that the translations of idioms and slang from the original version can sometimes be hilarious in the dubbed version (because the translation is so bad). Sometimes the original meaning is totally lost due to a direct “one-to-one” translation.

I’m curious, Spencer. Did you mean only subtitled? Or subtitled AND dubbed?

Amy

American detective shows in the Czech Republic have a mysterious, high-ranking military officer lurking around whose name is “General Attorney”. He’s always sending papers for people to sign, etc. Of course it’s just that the translators have been confused by the American term “attorney general”, which indicates the highest legal offical in the state and federal governments.

In shows that are translated well, the expressions can often be very imaginative. One of my favorite cartoon shows is Angela Anaconda. One of her friends has a sock puppet he calls “Lord Ducksworthy”. In French the puppet is called “Signor Canardini”. Both names give the impression of a very courtly foreign gentleman who happens to be a duck.

Hi Yankee,
Subtitled,and dubbed?
What do You mean?
I like to whatch the movies in English, with English subtitles, if I can’t then with Hungarian subtitles or without subtitles. If I watch an American movie I’m mostly all right without subtitles, but if it’s English English then I need it,because they use a lot of words I don’t know, and I need time for realising the words I know.
Would You explain me how could a movie be subtitled and dubbed at the same time?
Spencer

Hi Spencer

OK, now I understand. I wasn’t thinking very clearly when I asked my question. Sorry. :smiley:

Amy

I’s too late!
Who’s the smarter?
:slight_smile:

Have you notice which national satellite channel transmitting since 1990 world wide and had English subtitles almost for 95% of programs (maybe even more),free of charge,24 hours a day, national culture exporting to the word.

now possible are some more but it lasts awful long it was just one

I was always disappointed when I had found something nice to watch on satellite and in completely not understandably for me language.

regards
Jan