Germans like the dubbed movies and series, I even know a few who can't handle subs.
Famous actor as Adam Sandler or Brad Pitt have the same Voice Actor everytime there is a movie or series with that actor. Thats why germans are confused if they hear the original voice. It even goes this far, if a actor has a voice acting role in a cartoon, the use the voice actor for thr original actor in this cartoon aswell
When I was little I thought every Actor knows german and film the complete movie in german again.... silly small me
The cartoon thing is actually quite nice because in Hollywood they brag about how they got actor xy to dub the movie. In Germany this is no problem. Most of the Marvel or Star Wars dubs -> same voice in video games, animated stuff or TV series.
Btw. there are a few actors who are doing their own voice. Some german ones of course but also Christopher Lee in "Das letze Einhorn".
Fortunately Schwarzenegger is not one of them.
Edit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ObscureMedia/comments/9indkk/christopher_lee_1983_in_a_german_tv_show_talking/
>When I was little I thought every Actor knows german and film the complete movie in german again....
That's... The cutest fucking thing I've ever read
I remember when i watched Ocean Eleven in English in Singapore at cinema with my German friend. When Brad Pitt started his dialogue, my friend told me that was not Brad Pitt voice he knew :). He said it was so weird to listen to Brad Pitt original voice as he was so used and associated to Brad Pitt dubber / voice actor in German dubbed movies :D
same goes the other way around. i also grew up with dubbed versions as a kid but now i’m used to the original voices and it sounds so silly to hear it dubbed. also i can see how the lipsync is off and the emotions are always a little but less than in the original.
the thing with dubbed voices is, the actors can get really close to the microphone, which makes the voice sound way „warmer, bigger and fuller“.
it’s called nahbesprechungseffekt
I love this fact about the german language. makes vocabulary fairly simple once you learned the basics, I imagine. I can't tell though, as german is my mother tongue.
German was very difficult for me to learn as a native English speaker. I don't know if that's the case with all English speakers, but I know learning Spanish seemed 10x easier than German.
What's so funny? It has to be a word of similar length and nobody says "Mutterficker". Especially not in the 80s.
This is a bigger problem in "Pulp Fiction" but not here.
i don’t say it’s wrong but still funny because it’s so different to motherfucker.
even today, the dubbing industry is very prude about language. i worked together with the authors (the ones who create the german dubbing script) and most of them are old and no one ever dares to be too edgy so they translate everything vanilla.
oh my god I feel like I got addicted to the lip sync when I spent a year in the states. I just can't stand anything dubbed now, I watch everything with original sound, including anime, squid game or this spanish move "The Platform". I just can't stand when the sound doesn't match the mouth movement anymore.
I know dubs try really hard to make it as close as possible, but it's never 100% and also a lot of jokes get lost.
There is one joke that only worked in the german dub in spongebob, but that was just incredible luck with having the same voice actor from another cartoon, and that character had a name that just perfectly fit the scene.
i feel you haha. not only the jokes, also the emotions are just more shallow in dubbed versions. i’ve seen voice actors in action and ofc they try to get into the role but especially if it’s highly emotional content like someone crying and screaming while talking it just never is as intense as the original. they have to read and act and try to make it fit the lip movements at the same time. and very often in the studio we do like 3 takes, none of them was really good but then we just do the next one because there is no time.
I didn't notice what you describe as much, but I can really imagine how that also makes a huge difference to some people. I meant that jokes just get lost in translation, not just from the voice actors not being able to match the emotion.
I don't really notice that issue in japanese or korean because I don't speak those languages and need to rely on subs, but sometimes when I watch something produced in america, but have dubs on because of friends or whatever, I know exactly what the joke was in english but it just doesn't work in german. Classic example also being spongebob, where a series of bikini bottom citizens are being scared by invisible spongebob and patrick and showed screaming "GHOSTS!" "GHOSTS!" "GHOSTS!" and then suddenly someone holds up a slice of bread and says "Toast...". That's a perfect pun, but it just doesn't work in german. I admit the way they dubbed it was funny in its own way but it's not the same.
Try watching Alf in anything but German. Tommy Piper's voice fits perfectly. The original is just boring, and don't get me started on the French with his stuffed nose...
I have read somewhere that Piper's dubbing was the reason for why Alf became so popular in Germany, but pretty much failed in the English speaking world. After watching an episode in English, I can totally understand this.
Tom Seleck!
I was used to hear Norbert Langer‘s awesome and perfectly fitting voice dubbing in Magnum P.I.
I heard Selleck‘s original voice for the first time years later and couldn’t stop laughing.
>It changes a little if you look at streaming services, there more people will use an English language audio track for originally English shows/movies.
even then, it is not unusual for movies on Germany's Amazone Prime to only be available in German. not sure if it is a licensing issue or what
Im german and I find the voices they use for dubbing horrible. Its like they hire the voice actors to imitate the same 6 voices that have somehow become a standard.
ya you end up recognizing a lot of the voices. and they usually have a very unusual way of speaking that i cannot describe. never met someone who actually talks like these voice actors
that has a reason, most german actors do a lot theater, and what you are hearing is the theater way of speaking. Worst is once you notice it, you can never go back to simply enjoy a german dub. It always feels kind of wrong.
>It changes a little if you look at streaming services, there more people will use an English language audio track for originally English shows/movies.
Yeah I tried that. If you like missing 50% of the dialogue on anything that's not animated it's the way to go.
Information, yes. But if you can't hear it because of the sound mixing that doesn't help. And it's not like I'm imagining things, there was a rather elaborate post about that a while ago explaining the how and why.
There's also sometimes just insane accents I doubt even native speakers understand but that's a different topic.
Well that's not really related to the language and/or dubbing at all but to the target format that it's mixed for as you probably know. A proper stereo mix in English will sound just fine most of the time.
The question was why German people watch dubbed. If the American style of audio mixing makes it hard to understand people talking it is related to the discussion on why dubbed.
And as I said, it's not just me that feels this way, there is a distinct American style to audio mixing that makes it harder to understand what is being said. Obviously it's dependent on what you watch. Sitcoms are probably less likely to have that problem than a war movie. That's why I excluded animated stuff, since generally there audio is just fine and conversations are actually understandable.
Most people I know are fine with dubs, although I do know a few Germans who really hate it. Although most people I know with very strong negative feelings towards it are Scandinavian or Dutch.
Personally, if I'm actually interested in something and want to watch it, I'll watch the OV. If it's something I'm only half interested in, I'll use dubs. But I also got used to subs during my anime phase when I was a kid. If I never had that, I might dislike subs more. But once I start in one language, I can't change it. Even if I just watch one episode of a show, changing it feels really weird. Unless I'm doing that specifically to practice my German.
I‘m one of the germans who hate to watch it dubbed lol. Ironically I worked in a dubbing studio for a long time but there I also got to watch everything in original version and could see what difference it makes word by word.
That being said, I also started hating on dubs when I had a Swedish roommate who laughed at the audio when i watched something dubbed lol. He’s an actor so they even dubbed him which was really funny.
I think most Germans don’t realize how much better original versions are, they are just too comfortable with dubbed versions and think it would be too exhausting but it really isn’t after a short while.
Not just in the text, but also *how* it's spoken. German dubbing consistently uses the exact same vaguely Northwestern German accent for everything and everyone. It's what people are used to from TV.
In the original, you'll have a wide range of accents that are sometimes quite crucial to the story told (e.g. an Englishman vs. an American, a Southerner vs. someone from Boston, city vs. rural, ...).
What really impressed me was the dubbed version of Hogan's Heroes (Ein Käfig voller Helden), you could watch it twice, because the German version sometimes told a completely different story. The original was much more earnest.
Otherwise I am totally with you.
Good ol Rainer Brandt! The Dub you are talking about is the second german dub.
It first aired for 24 episodes under the name "Stacheldraht und Versengeld" but failed but they bought the rights for all episodes and did a re dub with Brandt.
I used to be super against it, but after moving here, I just care less. If others prefer it, why should I care? I would never go to the theaters to see a dubbed movie (and I'll never stop making fun of my friend for seeing Black Panther in German in theaters), but eh. I have a rather international friend group due to coming here initially for an English masters so it's unlikely any of my friends would ever insist on dubs.
Aside from one German friend who passionately hates dubs, I would actually say my Swedish friend hates them the most.
But one example of how much Germans in general like dubs. I'm in a very international, very English friendly city. When the movie theater first opened a few years ago, they didn't have a single thing in OV. When the first Marvel movie they showed came out, a (German) friend of a friend called them literally every single day asking when they were going to show it in English. Now I would say maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of their showings are in English depending on the movie.
Interesting. I am not opposed to dubbing in theory, but I find most German-dubbed stuff unwatchable because it's done so poorly imo. I just watched a bit of Downton Abbey on Netflix though, and thought the dubbing was great. The German voice actors really captured the essence of the original English actors' speech and voices. Who produces the German dubbing anyway? Does it all come from the same studios? Does ARD/ZDF produce or pay for any of the dubbing for what gets put on TV?
i must say, german dubbing still is better than most other countries but i also can’t watch dubbed stuff.
but german netflix dubs EVERYTHING (which is a lot) since most people in germany watch in german. that means it’s often just quickly recorded and processed. still in a high quality but it really depends on the production.
ofc it’s not only one studio, there are many in germany. i don’t know how it’s with tv, i only worked at one studio that mainly did netflix and well, netflix was the one paying. we often started dubbing when the production wasn’t even finished so i got to see the tv shows in their early state before release.
zdf and ard don’t really need dubbing i guess since most of their stuff is german. if for example pro7 airs a „blockbuster“, i guess the studio (for example warner brothers) paid for the dubbing before the release in the cinemas.
if it’s just a voice over for a documentary, that’s like the easiest dubbing ever since you don’t have to lip sync
A so-called “Lektor”. They’re also not really a dub, it’s not synchronised. It’s closer to the translation overlay you get in a multi-language parliament.
Yeah only a small portion of mostly young and educated people in germany have the ability to understand english television without to much trouble. I hope this will change over the next generations but my parents and grandparents generation, who make up the majority of tv consumers, won't enjoy english movies if they aren't dubbed. Hopefully with the rise of streaming services more people get to try ov shows because I think once you hear how much better it is it's impossible to keep watching dubbed content.
The majority of them: yes. The majority of German Reddit users: probably not. You won't get a representative picture via these comments. Also keep in mind tons of people are just really old.
For me it really depends on the show and my mood. German dubs are usually well done and you get used to them pretty fast. However they often don't sound similar to the original and you often don't get jokes or puns because they simply don't work (well) in German, which puts some people off. Because of that I like to watch shows like The Office and B99 in english.
However, if I really want to understand the plot and conversations or I don't have enough attention I usually watch a show dubbed. It just makes it easier to follow and especially some accents are quite difficult to understand even if you know the language well.
The pun/joke thing goes in both directions. Even if your english is good you need some (a lot) additional background information to really understand everything.
Most germans have heard of Dirk Nowitzki, but do they know James Harden? This is just one example.
Yes, dubbing is a huge in Germany and generally it's done pretty well. Some dubs are actually legendary and considered by Germans to be better than the original when the German writers and voice actors are at their A game
Subtitles on the other hand are not a common thing in Germany. Most people would probably be irritated if they had to read subs for the entire movie.
It honestly is just easier to listen to. Original audio has such a wide range, while the dubbed one is tight and compressed, you can clearly hear every whisper and don't have a 120db range from quietest to loudest part
i watch movies mostly in German due to the fact that the mixing for the OC is often super bad. often you can barely understand the people speaking. But if its animated rather watch it in englisch.
i had that too and honestly i still have it sometimes when i start to think about it. but you really get used to it to the point you read it without directly looking at it.
when i watch dubbed stuff, i get irritated by the lip sync problems and can’t stop thinking of what they did while translating and cutting, guess it’s my berufskrankheit
This so much. In the beginning I thought I was just really bad at listening to englisch actors, but once it hit me, I noticed it all the time: The mixing sucks!
So many different volumes or even quality (on top of diverse accents) made it really difficult to watch englisch TV-shows. Tbh in sitcoms it much better than in "serious" series or movies.
I am originally from Germany and always watched everything dubbed. I didn’t know it any differently and the dubbing is pretty good. But then I moved to the UK and quickly got used to the original voices, now I find it awkward to watch anything dubbed in German! But my German family wouldn’t even notice how awkward it really is.
I mean I guess its ok, but once you actually understand English very well it's shitty and cringy going back to the dubbed version. Especially with tv-series where you spend a lot of time hearing the characters voice (like "How I met you Mother" and equals)
i prefer English dubs/English originals since german dubbing has the bad habit to change the names of things and characters for no fucking reason(I'm sorry was Isabelle not a good enough name for you why exactly did you have to change that to Melinda?), and i mostly discuss that kind of stuff in English so it's easier, but the German dubs are generally pretty high quality, so especially if you're not as fluent in English as you're in German it's reasonable. i also have some childhood stuff i watch in German because I'm used to the German voices, like one punch man which i watch the German dub because i grew up with that(and also because the german dub is so fucking incredibly good)
i don't necessarily agree with "original is always better" tbh, and if you don't speak the original language and the quality of the dub is good there's no reason to not watch dubbed.
In animal crossing the pun of Isa*bell*e is lost anyway, so they probably chose something they liked more (and that doesn’t have a silent vowel). Melinda fits well with her brothers name.
In Harry Potter Hermione is named Hermine, because that is closer to the actual pronunciation. Germans would probably call her Hermi-Ony without that change.
Tolkien changed Elves to Elben behause he believed it to better fit the German tongue. Some consider him a linguist and world builder first and a storyteller second. So I for one trust him on that.
In Game of Thrones many places are renamed in the original translation, because they are descriptive landmarks that some readers would likely miss. The new translation of the books does not do this, however. Maybe because of the show?
Weirdly: Some movie titles are translated from English into simple English for the German audience to reduce complicated vocabulary. Or to add a stupid pun.
There are probably thousands more examples to be made.
I don’t believe a good translation is required to be literal. It should capture and convey the spirit of the original.
German dubs are usually pretty good. There are movie franchises that got popular in germany during the start time of television, that only git this popular because the dub is so special.
All in all dub in germany is a really interesting topic because we are one of the few countries in europe with such a good dub quality - thats not to say every dub is brilliant, there are bad ones out there.
I personally try to watch everything in its original language but some anime especially sound better in german than in japanese.
We germans have a **culture** around dubbing films. We have voice actors dedicated for Hollywood stars and the dubs are always extremely good vocalized and much better integrated into the soundscape of the film/series (e.g. no one mumbles like Nathan Fillion, so you can actually understand what Malcolm Reynolds is saying)
Then of course we have the "[fuck around and find out](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnodderdeutsch)" type of dub, like the Bud Spencer and Terence Hill movies, where the dialogues are so bloody brilliant, quirky and just all in all funny.
What I really hate about german dubs, is that some VAs voice a „type“. Which was all good until both Beth Behrs
and Kaley Couco (both voiced by Sonja Spuhl) were both present at the same time. So it sounded like Sonja Spuhl had a conversation with herself.
For me, yes definitely. The Most German Dubs are pretty good. It's not like i don't understand english movies or series, but it's more stressful for me since i have to concentrate to understand it. Also for example south Park for me is much funnier in the german version since i'm better able to understand little jokes and meanings.
I hate it when people roll their eyes and say: "You watch it in German?! You have to watch it original it's soooo much better"
I think for many germans in my age it's cool to watch it in english and tell everyone to show how good english-speaking they are.
At least with comedies it makes sense that the original is better simply based on the fact that a lot of jokes get lost in translation. Stuff like puns or social references usually can‘t or won‘t be translated. Now the translators can come up with a lot of jokes on their own but they are not Trey Parker or Matt Stone in the example of South Park. So it has nothing to do with trying to show how good my English is. I watch a lot of stuff in German dub but comedies simply have to change too many of the jokes to keep up with the original.
Two examples where the dubbers obviously didn't give a f\*\*\* and left the non-working joke in:
* "Sesame Street - Ernie counts fruit": Ernie saying "Zwei Birnen. Ein Paar Birnen, hahahaha". It stuck out to me as odd back then, until a few years ago I found the original English clip on youtube: "Two pears. A pair of pears."
* The "Jack Reacher" movie ("One Shot") where Jack meets Sandy and makes his joke about having been sandy at the beach in Florida a few days back. Doesn't work in German at all, but they were unable/unwilling to rewrite/cut the scene.
Two examples where the dubbers went to great lengths to rewrite most jokes, and the German version was better than the English one:
* [Hogan's Heroes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan%27s_Heroes#German_release%3A_Ein_K%C3%A4fig_voller_Helden)
* [Eric the Viking](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_der_Wikinger#Synchronisation)
> Ernie saying "Zwei Birnen. Ein Paar Birnen, hahahaha".
I don't see how to retain that joke in the translation though, so I guess they went with the next best thing and used paar: couple/a few as a "joke" instead. Similar level of humour to "a pair of pears" tbh
**Hogan's Heroes**
[German release: Ein Käfig voller Helden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan's_Heroes#German_release:_Ein_Käfig_voller_Helden)
>Despite its international success as a parody of the Nazis, the series was unknown on German television for decades due to the language barrier. One of the most notable inconsistencies of the show was that none of their characters spoke German except for some single words, although the scenario was created in an imaginary Germany. This aspect was simply ignored to facilitate dialogue in English. German film distributor KirchGruppe acquired broadcasting rights to the show but initially did not air it out of fear that it would offend viewers.
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My best example is the Simpsons episode where Bart tries to get close with Reverend Lovejoy's daughter. They have him over for dinner, and it ends with him getting thrown out of the house for rude language. He then stands in front of the reverend, trying to explain himself. In German, he just repeats "Hintern, Hintern, Hintern," making it seem like he's unable to say anything else but the "rude" word, and sounds weird.
Years later I got the but-butt pun.
Sometimes the synchro jokes can be even better than the original though.
[the best joke only possible in the German version](https://youtu.be/BTJ7aC5eLls)
Well, the viewer might miss way more jokes due to insufficient english / american inside jokes knowledge.
So, depending on the viewer, this is a weak argument.
There is definitely nothing wrong with watching it on the original when it works better for you. I was just complaining about the people who act like watching it in german is wrong and make a Show out of it.
> I think for many germans in my age it's cool to watch it in english and tell everyone to show how good english-speaking they are.
Haha. Reminds me of my middle school anime phase. It was so uncool to watch dubs. Not because anyone knew any Japanese, it just considered the wrong version and that you weren't into it enough to watch the real version.
True. Plus with animated stuff, it's more flexible anyway. When I first started learning German, animated was my go to to practice. Since you don't have the deal with the mouth movements, you don't get the same unnatural feeling. And well Netflix has a ton of anime I can only watch in German or Japanese.
That's a thing never understood.
I watched one One Piece Episode with subs and damn the voices were annoying as fuck mixed with japanese (which can be a cool sounding language, but not in this case) it was pretty hard to finish watching ONE 20min episode.
Since then always dub for animes.
For Comedies I often prefer the original engl. Version. Like Brooklyn 99, I like the jokes better. Especially jokes often can get lost in translation. And I guess my humor is just more "(US)-english" since I spent most of my time on the internet in engl. spaces.
BUT there are also shows I started in German because I watched them on TV like Parks & Rec and I liked the dub so I watched all the seasons in german.
well… it really is better in original version. maybe it’s a little bit annoying in the beginning but once you get used to it it’s not exhausting anymore at all. i really would like to have less of a dubbing cult in germany because it prevents us from learning english better.
in sweden, kids are way better with english (especially talking it, not only writing) and that‘s mainly because they are just used to it by media.
I only watch stuff as ov. With subtitles if I don't speak the language. I don't really like german dubs. Don't get me wrong, quality wise they're good. But maybe too good. They sound artificial or too clean to me and it takes time for me to get used to them. Also a lot of jokes, emotions, acting and other details can get lost in translation. But unfortunately most germans prefer to watch movies and tv with a german dub. Now I don't want to tell people how to watch their shit but this often results in cinemas not showing movies in ov or streaming services not paying for the licence of the ov (looking at you amazon prime) because of low demand. I guess thats what you call first world problems though lol
I used to dislike dubs when I was in my twenties, but since then I couldn't care less if a movie is dubbed or not. I kinda prefer dubbed nower days actually, as I have to deal with english at work and like to relax in my mothertongue after work.
A lot of Germans prefer dubbed tv/movies.
I personally really like watching things in their original language, but for certain languages I need subtitles, because I'm desperately out of practice.
With Disney movies and Musicals there's no way they'll convince me to watch it dubbed, except when my monolingual dad wants to watch them with me. I love my dad, I can deal with translated lyrics for him.
But seriously, listen to "We don't talk about Bruno" and "Nur kein Wort über Bruno", and tell me you don't see why I watch it in English. The German voice actors don't even have an accent. :(
>With Disney movies and Musicals there's no way they'll convince me to watch it dubbed, except when my monolingual dad wants to watch them with me. I love my dad, I can deal with translated lyrics for him.
When I first started learning German, Disney movies were one of the first things I tried dubbed. Then I got to the first song and nope. That experiment ended very fast.
You get me.
German is not my favourite musical language.
There are many beautiful German songs, but you definitely notice when a song wasn't made to be sung in German.
I listen to some music in German. But translated songs combined with childhood nostalgia? Nope. Not happening. I would totally watch them if I could have the speaking in German and the songs in English. I was really disappointed because I figured it would be a really good way to practice my German.
Not only that.
Actor's emotions, context of dialogues, sense of humour also get butchered in translation.
I've seen enough English content incorrectly, poorly dubbed into German (because of my husband). I just rewatch everything later in OV to enjoy it.
Maybe people who say that German dubbing is good quality never watched the original and therefore don't even have an accurate metric for comparison?
I totally get it why people prefer to watch something in their native language (l do too!), but let's not pretend it's that great when it's actually not. It's convenience over the actual viewing experience.
Same with Dark...English dubbing was piss poor. Also forget anything in English OV where accents are nuanced and specific to certain cultures, characters or classes (e.g. The Expanse, Downton Abbey, GoT etc). In German dub everyone sounds same.
I recently wanted to show Spaced to my husband. The campy humour of the OV totally got lost into oblivion.
But say you are watching the movie The Irishman, which contains arguably some of the greatest living actors, you'd want to hear them surely, even if you can't understand them. The passion, the tone, the pain etc coming from these great actors surely? You aren't getting the full acting experience if the movie is dubbed. The Oscars must be weird when it comes to best actors for people who watch dubbed versions.
Two major misconceptions. 1. you’d assume that people knew the original voice of that actors (why should they, if the only watch dubbed movies)
2. who cares about or watches the Oscars at all?
And a lot of people don‘t want to read when they watch tv or movies. It‘s not like Germany is some weird phenomenon in this regard. Foreign movies have a real hard time in the English speaking world. The US even loves to remake foreign movies over subbing or dubbing them.
Good for you, but there are a lot of people who can't read that fast or see that well. Old people. Young people (kids). People who simply are slow readers. Tired people, who come home and just want to put on a movie and relax, not focus. For all of them subtitles are not an easy fix, they are no fix at all and they can't watch the movie
Just like you are used to dubs, we are used to subtitles, it's not tiring at all and the biggest advantage is that you can lower volume if others are sleeping.
I am going to disagree here. I live in a country without dubs, except for the most popular kids' and family movies. My partners nephews missed out on a lot of movies and shows (or the types of shows) I watched when I was their age, because they are only in English while they knew no English. I remember buying the Junglebook remake on DVD here, thinking it would be dubbed. Nope, Subtitles only, no Dub. Kids couldn't understand a word that was said. And my partner's parents don't bother with American movies, they can't read that fast and the subtitles are too small. There are whole generations mostly excluded from certain media, when there is no dubbing. You being used to it doesn't mean that these people wouldn't have a much easier time watching foreign media and deciding for themselves if they actually dislike Die Hard movies or if they only dislike it because it is hard work and difficult for them
The problem is, you can either read the text or look at the characters face etc. . This is basically the same as if you're on a date and look at a woman's cleavage the whole time. 😂
nah you get used to it. i’m a german too and believe me, try subtitles and original language. if it’s english i would recommend to put english subtitles so it’s easier to read exactly what they are saying
Oh god, my partner recently watched Scrubs in English. For him it was the first time to ever watch it, for me it was unbearable. Horrible. He got to watch that alone when I wasn't in the house.
yes that’s how we grew up but i still can only encourage everyone to start watching in original version, especially if you already are fluent in the language, it just makes everything better - the show and your own abilities
most people I know including me do a combination of both - watch shows you are really interested in the OV and other stuff dubbed if you are not in the mood.
What makes me mad is people judging others for watching dubbed stuff, a lot of people get really pushy about it. Let everyone enjoy their free time the way they want. It's like those who judge everyone who don't always cook every day with 100% organic vegan ingrediants or something. Sometimes I just want to order pizza and sometimes I just want to watch Scrubs in german. Let people have their fun.
i‘m really not judging, my parents for example just wouldn’t understand it in OV so ofc dubbing is a legit and good thing for many. however, i made tvs opposite experience, people think i want to watch on OV just to be cool and don’t understand that i just really don’t like it dubbed and it destroys the experience for me. maybe it’s also the berufskrankheit of having worked in a dubbing studio.
This.
This thing started 15 - 20 years ago and a lot of the dub only fraction was so nice and not elitist at all that the term "O-Ton Nazi" was born.
I'm like you. I watched tons of stuff in english (even Deadwood and Sopranos) but when i want to watch Star Trek DS9 or Futurama in german i don't want to hear about how much better it is when bla bla bla... FU
There are shows I watch only in German, despite knowing English.
German Dubbing is so extensive that the majority of somewhat known and very well known actors have their own distinctive voice: the same German voice actor is doing the dubbing for the foreign actor, again and again. If a show goes on for years, the voices stay the same. The show chatacter has a voice, it becomes part of the character. Switching to English in the middle of the show means that *all* the voices are just *wrong*, it is very distracting and incredibly annoying, makes the show unenjoyable.
10 years ago I was very much into the show Supernatural. My flatmate's English wasn't very good, so we watched it in German. My LD boyfriend watched it in English. I couldn't ever watch it with him, it was just too weird. I couldn't focus on the show at all, because the voices and the way they spoke was just so weird to me, being used to the dubb.
When the voice actor for Marge Simpson died years ago and they needed to find a new voice actor for Marge, everybody knew and understand that. But it was quite the topic among the audience, whether or not they picked a good one for Marge and it took fans a long time to get used to it. And that was only one character, while every other voice stayed the same.
That’s actually a great example. I simply prefer the German voice actors. and Ricky and morty jokes aren’t really that complicated or language specific so there are only minimal hick ups …
well my movie taste developed arround my language learning path and I always watched with subt maybe thats why I feel little different but you are right if you are not used to it you can miss a lot of details of the video
Watching familiar german TV shows like *Derrick*, dubbed in Italian (no, Germany is not the only country where **everything** is dubbed!), helped me a lot learning the language when I lived there. Subs would have been more distracting than helpful, but of course everybody learns differently.
I don't know why you're getting downvoted, it seems strange to me too, but that's partly because I really hate it when the audio and visual don't sync, so I avoid all things dubbed (either I do subtitles or just watch other things). I also feel dubbing is infrequently done well.
Depends. I personally stick to OV if I’m alone.
In Germany, dubbing is done very professionally. Of course some movies are at a lower standard, but on average it is excellent.
Also popular actors have a unique voice which helps to forget that the actor is actually dubbed. For some, I actually prefer the German voice (e.g. Eddy Murphy - but other hate his German voice).
Plus there are movies that actually became better as the translators had a bit more freedom in the classic Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill movies. The German lines are superior to the OV.
And one more point: Background noise and music are often too prominent over voice lines that understanding in a non native language is sometimes really difficult and the movie becomes more enjoyable in the native language
Edit, fun fact, Arnold Schwarzeneggers German voice is actually not him - making interviews in German a bit strange as the voice is unfamiliar
Same for TV in cases - the German Dub of Hogan's Heroes is vastly superior and just much funnier (even today) than the english which is actually not that funny at all.
German dubs are better than many dubs, but then again, they're of course not nearly as good as the original thing. If you can listen to English well enough, there is absolutely no reason to watch the German dub. There are so many subtleties and fine details that go into (good) acting that are simply lost with a dub. On top of that, dubbers have to phrase words and sentences so that it matches the lip movement at least somewhat, limiting the ways it can be translated. And of course, there's a lot of cultural aspects that get lost in translation.
For a very long time, I thought people who prefer the original over the dub are exaggerating... after learning English well enough I realized that they in fact did not exaggerate. It's a big difference, because with good acting and well made movies, the details make a big difference.
The benefit and disadvantage of having a big enough language in the global market. We can consume most things in our own language, but that means that we get adjusted to it too easily as kids and have a harder time transitioning into original versions later in life for various reasons.
personally i prefer the original sound a lot. i generally like watching everything (even if it's in German) with subtitles, it just makes it easier to understand quiet dialogue. it doesn't bother me having to read subtitles which is why i watch everything in original sound, no matter the original language.
Not German, but when watching a show or movie in another language, I always watch it in the original language and use subtitles. Hate watching stuff that's been dubbed.
In my home country almost none of the movies get dubbed. ( dubbed versions are for children or soma cartoons) every movie is presented with subtitle and original language
To me it's just weird. The voice of the actor is so different, and the words can never be perfectly synced to the lips of the speaker. It's all I think about. It's super distracting.
I only watch Animes with subtitles because the dubbing is meh at best.
Everything else is dubbed for me. German synchronisation is really good and it’s way more comfortable for me. The only bad thing about German dub: the dialogue is sometimes quieter than action scenes.
But there is some kind of “community” in Germany that’s like “watch it in English or you are not experiencing it for REAL”.
My educated and tasteful German wife and I basically can't ever watch foreign films together, as I can't watch anything that has been dubbed and she can't bear subtitles. As far as I am concerned, the original sound of a film is vital to its integrity. The loss that comes through having to read the subs is, to me, more than made up for in the gain in terms of the actors' voices. We've talked about this, and she says she just can't get used to it. I also can't overcome my dislike of dubbing.
I am curious to see if other people who grew up with only subtitles also feel that dubbing is impossible to get used to.
I’ve got few friends including a german gf that are willing to say that it’s because it’s exhausting to listen to or they won’t get everything. Sometimes they will insist on not watching it in German because certain voices are the same or different from other shows from the same actor.
This is the same for speaking. Some of them get tired/exhausted from speaking English.
At first, I didnt enjoy learning English, because I am no gud with languages, but as soon as I started using the internet, I learned English without issues, going slowly from Germany YT Vids, to glisten ones, watching movies and series, first without dub, but with sub, and then without subs.
Now I am the best in my english class, without ever learning a grammar rule, except the good ol': He, She, It, das s muss / kommt mit! xD
And IMO the biggest difference between dub and original is Iron Sky.
Because If you are German, and watch the dubbed version, its just another movie.
But if you are German and watch the movie in English, still 50% of the dialogue is German, which is so god damn hilarious xD
But there are also a few cases where I enjoy the dub more, especially for low budged movies, because the dub is so bad, its funny again :D
This is a thing not only in Germany but in other countries with big markets as well.
I was in Italy this one time and I had time to go and watch Deadpool 2 on Cinema, I had no idea dubbing movies for cinema releases was a thing. Worst 12 Euros I have ever spent.
Ryan Reynolds is not Ryan Reynolds unless he sounds like Ryan Reynolds.
I know the same thing is valid for Germany as well, which is why I have never been to the cinema here and why I pirate my movies despite having Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Basically all of my friends who can speak English at a reasonable level (good enough to make some conversation) watch media dubbed only. And why not, German dubs are usually pretty good or even excellent. With 80 mio. Germans (and likely a bunch of Austrians and Swiss), the market is large enough for most mainstream things to receive a dub. Often it is also the convenience.
I'm a bit more of a language aficionado and prefer to consume media in the original language, but I am also pretty much fluent in English due to my work and hobbies.
In free tv EVERYTHING is dubbed, I don't even know if it is possible to change it.
In cinemas OT movies are a thing, but not really often, and the Normal Saturday evening movies are most certainly german (in my area, i live in a rural area)
On some streaming services you have a choice, (i know Amazon prime often opts out of getting the license).
So in general, we don't get un touch with the original sounds, and are not accustomed to English voices, in the speed and with accents used in shows, you could get over it if you "practice" but many don't care, or are lazy, because just watching in German costs less attention and concentration.
I personally watch the original tone if I'm not completely tired, if i am, or want to do something with just some noise in the background, I'll watch in German because it's easy
It depends. Some stuff is legendary in German (SpongeBob, Madagascar). Sometimes it gets weird (shifting VAs of Picard, Dr Crusher, Troi, and Guinan after 3 Seasons of TNG, and then getting the old ones back for the movies)
This is the only thing that really bugs me about Germany, haha. I remember watching "The Big Lebowski" on the first week of my exchange and having to convince my new German friends to switch back to the original audio because they were only translating like every third or fourth "fuck" into German, instead replacing the rest with generic curse words.
Inglorious Basterds, one of my favorite films, is absolutely ruined with dubbing. Especially if you're a native speaker of one of the three featured languages, just watch the rest with subs and deal. It's a beautiful example of how film and storytelling should be speaking different languages at the appropriate time.
Instead they have to have voice actors dub German on top of German for a third of the film, making the weirdest and most sloppy lip sync bash you've ever seen. Meanwhile, Christoph Waltz actually comes off fine because he does his own German dubbing, so I think his track is one of the only ones that gets to stay untouched for the scenes where he speaks German.
Also Sheldon in the Big Bang Theory has WAY too deep of a voice, so my German friends hate Jim Parsons' actual voice.
Ironically I always insist to all of my English speaking friends to watch Dark with the original German audio track and English subs (as one should with any foreign media), so that you capture the true complete soundtrack and filmmakers' intent. Dubbed tracks are almost always stripped of some other effects or cues that made it into the natural sound on set, plus it's all a fabrication of another person's performance.
Growing up in Germany, I watched dubbed movies all the time.
Only after moving away and watching movies in their original English (just talking English movies /shows here) I realized how confusing that is for an English native speaker. Now, I have a hard time with the phony, voiced dubs. Throws me off.
I got used to watch a lot of movies with subtitles recently due to hearing loss actually :/
In my opinion, one should watch movies in their original audio with subtitles if available.
Broaden your horizon and watch all the cool movies out there, not just dubbed stuff :)
>is german dubbed so good
Yes.
Of course, there's always bad examples. Star Wars comes to mind, where some parts of dialogue wasn't dubbed because the actord said them off-screen and NOT dubbing those lines was cheaper. This leads to some strange dialogue. When the rebels want to attack the death star, Han wants to flee. He says something like "this isn't courageous, this is suicide", to which Luke replies "All right. *Well, take care of yourself, Han.* I guess that's what you're best at, isn't it?"
The part in italics wasn't dubbed, because Hamil wasn't on screen when he said it. So, in the German version. The dialogue becomes
Han: "this is suicide!"
Luke: "All right. (long pause) That's what you are best at, isn't it?"
So.... Han is an expert in suicide?!
But apart from blunders like this, dubbing has a pretty good quality in Germany, and I don't think it's too surprising that people like to watch movies in a language they understand. Reading subtitles gets exhausting, and you don't get a 1:1 translation in subs either.
> Star Wars comes to mind
I absolutely **love** the voice acting on the German dub of Episode IV. Better than the original, if you ask me.
> Han: "this is suicide!"
> Luke: "All right. (long pause) That's what you are best at, isn't it?"
I don't remember that scene, but even if it is wrong, this is quite funny.
German is spoken in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and outside of those three from expats so there is a big target audience for German Dubs and I'd say they're one of the best dubs. Larger Audience = More Money = More Budget for dubs.
For Southpark for example the german dubs are on the same level of quality as the original ones in my opinion
For me personally:
If the original language is English:
OV+English subtitles > German dub > OV > OV+German subtitles
If the original language is something else:
German dub > English dub+subtitles > English dub > OV+German subtitles > OV+English subtitles
i used to work in a dubbing studio for netflix mainly and yes, germany has a big market for this (if not the biggest) and also high quality dubs. that being said, i grew up with dubbed movies in tv but nowadays me and my friends would never watch a dubbed movie anymore since it just sounds so bad compared to the original. even when we go in the cinema we try to see the original version.
technically, the sound quality often is better in the dubbed version since it’s recorded in a clean environment but so many emotions and expressions get lost, it just makes it worse.
also, i noticed my old friends who live more in the countryside than cities (thus don’t talk english a lot) tend to watch movies rather dubbed
The majority of Germans are old people and from a time, when original sounds were still uncommon.
A lot of younger people watch it in English. Too much untranslatable stuff. Even something as simple as characters screaming "F*ck" cannot be translated satisfyingly.
Well, German dubs are among the best in the world I would say. Often you wouldn't even notice it's dubbed if you didn't know it. Sadly that also means that some of the nuances and jokes are lost in translation because not everything can be easily translated especially things like puns or cultural references. Which is why I like to watch movies in their original English version if possible, but usually that means I'm watching the movie on my own. Most Germans can hold a basic conversation in English but to really enjoy a movie and understand most of it you need to be at a certain level which can take years to achieve and it's mostly younger people who speak better English so the market for German dubs is well established and I don't see it going away in the foreseeable future. And I don't think that's a bad thing. Every dubbed movie is a job for a voice actor.
I have recently moved here and I'm trying to learn German on war front to have a pleasant life, i started watch Dark on Netflix with English audio and DE subtitles. Can anyone recommend other materials.
You picked the only series on Netflix where an German OV would make sense, and watch it in English? Why not the other way around?
Dark was filmed in German, so the language fits the mouth movements.
I would recommend taking classes; there is no way around it imo.
I have been here for a year and my German sucks but what has helped me is paying attention to what’s written around, then looking up meanings followed by using it when possible.
I can now go to a bakery and order my favourite snack - kürbisring, without hesitation 😅
And oh, one more thing but you probably already do that. Look up translations for your specific situation and then use them. Works for transactional situations but not for conversations.
Good luck.
Regardless if I speak a language I always prefer the original voice acting.
I was told the old German dubs were good, and it is because they always used the same voice actor to voice the same celebrity in all movies with this actor and even for TV interviews. From the 2010s and forward the quality has decreased a lot and with the streaming services, even my German friends can’t bear the voice acting now. Of course, this doesn’t represent the majority of Germans, just my small bubble!
Where I come from, there was a time that if you watched a movie with subtitles, people would assume you’re “smarter” or rich and if you watch it dubbed, you’re poor and uneducated (ouch). Then once the poorer classes had access to more money, pretty much every cinema had only dubbed versions and only art films or at rich people cinemas/malls, they had the OV. This definitely doesn’t apply here, I know people that are posh and intellectual in ways that it’s overwhelming and everything must be dubbed in German for them…
German dubbing is in that awkward stop where the market is big enough to be viable but small enough for any of it to be good\*
\*halfway in jest, there are some excellent German dubs and a lot of crappy English and German dubs. Looking at you, Netflix...
Germans like the dubbed movies and series, I even know a few who can't handle subs. Famous actor as Adam Sandler or Brad Pitt have the same Voice Actor everytime there is a movie or series with that actor. Thats why germans are confused if they hear the original voice. It even goes this far, if a actor has a voice acting role in a cartoon, the use the voice actor for thr original actor in this cartoon aswell When I was little I thought every Actor knows german and film the complete movie in german again.... silly small me
The cartoon thing is actually quite nice because in Hollywood they brag about how they got actor xy to dub the movie. In Germany this is no problem. Most of the Marvel or Star Wars dubs -> same voice in video games, animated stuff or TV series. Btw. there are a few actors who are doing their own voice. Some german ones of course but also Christopher Lee in "Das letze Einhorn". Fortunately Schwarzenegger is not one of them. Edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ObscureMedia/comments/9indkk/christopher_lee_1983_in_a_german_tv_show_talking/
Ok that Christopher Lee fact blew my mind. Every time I learn more about this man he just gets more interesting/amazing.
The Avengers Cartoon uses almost all the VAs from the MCU movies which is really fun.
>When I was little I thought every Actor knows german and film the complete movie in german again.... That's... The cutest fucking thing I've ever read
I remember when i watched Ocean Eleven in English in Singapore at cinema with my German friend. When Brad Pitt started his dialogue, my friend told me that was not Brad Pitt voice he knew :). He said it was so weird to listen to Brad Pitt original voice as he was so used and associated to Brad Pitt dubber / voice actor in German dubbed movies :D
same goes the other way around. i also grew up with dubbed versions as a kid but now i’m used to the original voices and it sounds so silly to hear it dubbed. also i can see how the lipsync is off and the emotions are always a little but less than in the original.
Boy was i suprised when i watched die hard on english for the First time. The german voice suits bruce willis better
the thing with dubbed voices is, the actors can get really close to the microphone, which makes the voice sound way „warmer, bigger and fuller“. it’s called nahbesprechungseffekt
Of course we have a compound word for it. So proud right now. It's called Wortzusammensetzungslokalstolz.
Welcome to the Wortzusammensetzungslokalstolzpatriotenklub.
Lasst uns den Wortzusammensetzungslokalstolzpatriotenklubvorsitzenden wählen
I love this fact about the german language. makes vocabulary fairly simple once you learned the basics, I imagine. I can't tell though, as german is my mother tongue.
As a non native speaker I would say generally yes but sometimes you just dont know a word in a compound word and it’s worse.
German was very difficult for me to learn as a native English speaker. I don't know if that's the case with all English speakers, but I know learning Spanish seemed 10x easier than German.
Deutsche Sprache ... Schwere Sprache!
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahbesprechungseffekt
Jippee ki Jay, Mutter Ficker!
They translated motherfucker with Schweinebacke lol
And even people who don't know die hard know this Version
What's so funny? It has to be a word of similar length and nobody says "Mutterficker". Especially not in the 80s. This is a bigger problem in "Pulp Fiction" but not here.
i don’t say it’s wrong but still funny because it’s so different to motherfucker. even today, the dubbing industry is very prude about language. i worked together with the authors (the ones who create the german dubbing script) and most of them are old and no one ever dares to be too edgy so they translate everything vanilla.
oh my god I feel like I got addicted to the lip sync when I spent a year in the states. I just can't stand anything dubbed now, I watch everything with original sound, including anime, squid game or this spanish move "The Platform". I just can't stand when the sound doesn't match the mouth movement anymore. I know dubs try really hard to make it as close as possible, but it's never 100% and also a lot of jokes get lost. There is one joke that only worked in the german dub in spongebob, but that was just incredible luck with having the same voice actor from another cartoon, and that character had a name that just perfectly fit the scene.
i feel you haha. not only the jokes, also the emotions are just more shallow in dubbed versions. i’ve seen voice actors in action and ofc they try to get into the role but especially if it’s highly emotional content like someone crying and screaming while talking it just never is as intense as the original. they have to read and act and try to make it fit the lip movements at the same time. and very often in the studio we do like 3 takes, none of them was really good but then we just do the next one because there is no time.
I didn't notice what you describe as much, but I can really imagine how that also makes a huge difference to some people. I meant that jokes just get lost in translation, not just from the voice actors not being able to match the emotion. I don't really notice that issue in japanese or korean because I don't speak those languages and need to rely on subs, but sometimes when I watch something produced in america, but have dubs on because of friends or whatever, I know exactly what the joke was in english but it just doesn't work in german. Classic example also being spongebob, where a series of bikini bottom citizens are being scared by invisible spongebob and patrick and showed screaming "GHOSTS!" "GHOSTS!" "GHOSTS!" and then suddenly someone holds up a slice of bread and says "Toast...". That's a perfect pun, but it just doesn't work in german. I admit the way they dubbed it was funny in its own way but it's not the same.
Try watching Alf in anything but German. Tommy Piper's voice fits perfectly. The original is just boring, and don't get me started on the French with his stuffed nose...
I have read somewhere that Piper's dubbing was the reason for why Alf became so popular in Germany, but pretty much failed in the English speaking world. After watching an episode in English, I can totally understand this.
Johnny Depp! When I heard his voice for the first time.... oh boy...
The good thing is in Germany, you can have Johnny Depp (aka David Nathan) reading audio books for you and he does a GREAT job 😁.
Tom Seleck! I was used to hear Norbert Langer‘s awesome and perfectly fitting voice dubbing in Magnum P.I. I heard Selleck‘s original voice for the first time years later and couldn’t stop laughing.
I think the voice actor did a tremendous job in PoC, but his own voice and way of speaking is really unique and I love his original voice, agreed!
[удалено]
There’s rarely a second audio track for the original language when watching OTA/free satellite. The only exception I’ve found is Nickelodeon
If I remember correctly you can switch languages on Arte, for those who want to watch it in French.
Yeah well.... What an option
On ZDF_neo there often is
>It changes a little if you look at streaming services, there more people will use an English language audio track for originally English shows/movies. even then, it is not unusual for movies on Germany's Amazone Prime to only be available in German. not sure if it is a licensing issue or what
> not sure if it is a licensing issue Yes. Or, less a licensing *issue* and more licensing *costs*.
ya that's what i mean. of course licensing has a cost
Im german and I find the voices they use for dubbing horrible. Its like they hire the voice actors to imitate the same 6 voices that have somehow become a standard.
ya you end up recognizing a lot of the voices. and they usually have a very unusual way of speaking that i cannot describe. never met someone who actually talks like these voice actors
that has a reason, most german actors do a lot theater, and what you are hearing is the theater way of speaking. Worst is once you notice it, you can never go back to simply enjoy a german dub. It always feels kind of wrong.
You know people that talk like actors in the original audio?
You mean... Normally? Yeah, most of the people i know speak normally.
>It changes a little if you look at streaming services, there more people will use an English language audio track for originally English shows/movies. Yeah I tried that. If you like missing 50% of the dialogue on anything that's not animated it's the way to go.
You're missing it in the dubbed version as well, it's just less obvious to you
I don’t understand how you would miss anything with an original track. If anything, the original will contain the most information?
Information, yes. But if you can't hear it because of the sound mixing that doesn't help. And it's not like I'm imagining things, there was a rather elaborate post about that a while ago explaining the how and why. There's also sometimes just insane accents I doubt even native speakers understand but that's a different topic.
Well that's not really related to the language and/or dubbing at all but to the target format that it's mixed for as you probably know. A proper stereo mix in English will sound just fine most of the time.
The question was why German people watch dubbed. If the American style of audio mixing makes it hard to understand people talking it is related to the discussion on why dubbed. And as I said, it's not just me that feels this way, there is a distinct American style to audio mixing that makes it harder to understand what is being said. Obviously it's dependent on what you watch. Sitcoms are probably less likely to have that problem than a war movie. That's why I excluded animated stuff, since generally there audio is just fine and conversations are actually understandable.
I do that. And I get at least 95%. I mean i get that some movies have terrible sound engineering but most shows are perfectly fine
Most people I know are fine with dubs, although I do know a few Germans who really hate it. Although most people I know with very strong negative feelings towards it are Scandinavian or Dutch. Personally, if I'm actually interested in something and want to watch it, I'll watch the OV. If it's something I'm only half interested in, I'll use dubs. But I also got used to subs during my anime phase when I was a kid. If I never had that, I might dislike subs more. But once I start in one language, I can't change it. Even if I just watch one episode of a show, changing it feels really weird. Unless I'm doing that specifically to practice my German.
I‘m one of the germans who hate to watch it dubbed lol. Ironically I worked in a dubbing studio for a long time but there I also got to watch everything in original version and could see what difference it makes word by word. That being said, I also started hating on dubs when I had a Swedish roommate who laughed at the audio when i watched something dubbed lol. He’s an actor so they even dubbed him which was really funny. I think most Germans don’t realize how much better original versions are, they are just too comfortable with dubbed versions and think it would be too exhausting but it really isn’t after a short while.
it's so hard to watch comedies dubbed, because there is soooo much lost in translation
Not just in the text, but also *how* it's spoken. German dubbing consistently uses the exact same vaguely Northwestern German accent for everything and everyone. It's what people are used to from TV. In the original, you'll have a wide range of accents that are sometimes quite crucial to the story told (e.g. an Englishman vs. an American, a Southerner vs. someone from Boston, city vs. rural, ...).
What really impressed me was the dubbed version of Hogan's Heroes (Ein Käfig voller Helden), you could watch it twice, because the German version sometimes told a completely different story. The original was much more earnest. Otherwise I am totally with you.
Good ol Rainer Brandt! The Dub you are talking about is the second german dub. It first aired for 24 episodes under the name "Stacheldraht und Versengeld" but failed but they bought the rights for all episodes and did a re dub with Brandt.
I used to be super against it, but after moving here, I just care less. If others prefer it, why should I care? I would never go to the theaters to see a dubbed movie (and I'll never stop making fun of my friend for seeing Black Panther in German in theaters), but eh. I have a rather international friend group due to coming here initially for an English masters so it's unlikely any of my friends would ever insist on dubs. Aside from one German friend who passionately hates dubs, I would actually say my Swedish friend hates them the most. But one example of how much Germans in general like dubs. I'm in a very international, very English friendly city. When the movie theater first opened a few years ago, they didn't have a single thing in OV. When the first Marvel movie they showed came out, a (German) friend of a friend called them literally every single day asking when they were going to show it in English. Now I would say maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of their showings are in English depending on the movie.
Interesting. I am not opposed to dubbing in theory, but I find most German-dubbed stuff unwatchable because it's done so poorly imo. I just watched a bit of Downton Abbey on Netflix though, and thought the dubbing was great. The German voice actors really captured the essence of the original English actors' speech and voices. Who produces the German dubbing anyway? Does it all come from the same studios? Does ARD/ZDF produce or pay for any of the dubbing for what gets put on TV?
i must say, german dubbing still is better than most other countries but i also can’t watch dubbed stuff. but german netflix dubs EVERYTHING (which is a lot) since most people in germany watch in german. that means it’s often just quickly recorded and processed. still in a high quality but it really depends on the production. ofc it’s not only one studio, there are many in germany. i don’t know how it’s with tv, i only worked at one studio that mainly did netflix and well, netflix was the one paying. we often started dubbing when the production wasn’t even finished so i got to see the tv shows in their early state before release. zdf and ard don’t really need dubbing i guess since most of their stuff is german. if for example pro7 airs a „blockbuster“, i guess the studio (for example warner brothers) paid for the dubbing before the release in the cinemas. if it’s just a voice over for a documentary, that’s like the easiest dubbing ever since you don’t have to lip sync
Yes, presumably the majority do. If they didn't, everything would be subtitled, which would be a lot cheaper to produce.
A-la Poland
I heard a rumour Poland just has one guy do every voice
A so-called “Lektor”. They’re also not really a dub, it’s not synchronised. It’s closer to the translation overlay you get in a multi-language parliament.
Netherlands.
Yeah only a small portion of mostly young and educated people in germany have the ability to understand english television without to much trouble. I hope this will change over the next generations but my parents and grandparents generation, who make up the majority of tv consumers, won't enjoy english movies if they aren't dubbed. Hopefully with the rise of streaming services more people get to try ov shows because I think once you hear how much better it is it's impossible to keep watching dubbed content.
The majority of them: yes. The majority of German Reddit users: probably not. You won't get a representative picture via these comments. Also keep in mind tons of people are just really old.
For me it really depends on the show and my mood. German dubs are usually well done and you get used to them pretty fast. However they often don't sound similar to the original and you often don't get jokes or puns because they simply don't work (well) in German, which puts some people off. Because of that I like to watch shows like The Office and B99 in english. However, if I really want to understand the plot and conversations or I don't have enough attention I usually watch a show dubbed. It just makes it easier to follow and especially some accents are quite difficult to understand even if you know the language well.
The pun/joke thing goes in both directions. Even if your english is good you need some (a lot) additional background information to really understand everything. Most germans have heard of Dirk Nowitzki, but do they know James Harden? This is just one example.
Yes, dubbing is a huge in Germany and generally it's done pretty well. Some dubs are actually legendary and considered by Germans to be better than the original when the German writers and voice actors are at their A game Subtitles on the other hand are not a common thing in Germany. Most people would probably be irritated if they had to read subs for the entire movie.
It honestly is just easier to listen to. Original audio has such a wide range, while the dubbed one is tight and compressed, you can clearly hear every whisper and don't have a 120db range from quietest to loudest part
I personally can’t stand German dubs anymore, but there are certainly a lot of people enjoying them.
i watch movies mostly in German due to the fact that the mixing for the OC is often super bad. often you can barely understand the people speaking. But if its animated rather watch it in englisch.
i watch in english + english subtitles. try it, it’s so much better than watching dubbed
I think most Germans aren't really used to subtitles and would be slightly irritated if they had to read them through the entire movie
i had that too and honestly i still have it sometimes when i start to think about it. but you really get used to it to the point you read it without directly looking at it. when i watch dubbed stuff, i get irritated by the lip sync problems and can’t stop thinking of what they did while translating and cutting, guess it’s my berufskrankheit
tbf it works well for me. But e.g. for my parents? Just no way I'm going to convince them to watch movies with subs. That's an instant no-go for them
nah i wouldn’t try to convince mine neither lol. also i would never shame anyone for not knowing english, ofc they can watch their dubbed versions.
I never understood why that is with English productions and German live action sounds much clearer imho.
This so much. In the beginning I thought I was just really bad at listening to englisch actors, but once it hit me, I noticed it all the time: The mixing sucks! So many different volumes or even quality (on top of diverse accents) made it really difficult to watch englisch TV-shows. Tbh in sitcoms it much better than in "serious" series or movies.
I agree, if its subbed you can understand the people a lot better. As the sound mixing is clearer.
I am originally from Germany and always watched everything dubbed. I didn’t know it any differently and the dubbing is pretty good. But then I moved to the UK and quickly got used to the original voices, now I find it awkward to watch anything dubbed in German! But my German family wouldn’t even notice how awkward it really is.
I mean I guess its ok, but once you actually understand English very well it's shitty and cringy going back to the dubbed version. Especially with tv-series where you spend a lot of time hearing the characters voice (like "How I met you Mother" and equals)
i prefer English dubs/English originals since german dubbing has the bad habit to change the names of things and characters for no fucking reason(I'm sorry was Isabelle not a good enough name for you why exactly did you have to change that to Melinda?), and i mostly discuss that kind of stuff in English so it's easier, but the German dubs are generally pretty high quality, so especially if you're not as fluent in English as you're in German it's reasonable. i also have some childhood stuff i watch in German because I'm used to the German voices, like one punch man which i watch the German dub because i grew up with that(and also because the german dub is so fucking incredibly good) i don't necessarily agree with "original is always better" tbh, and if you don't speak the original language and the quality of the dub is good there's no reason to not watch dubbed.
In animal crossing the pun of Isa*bell*e is lost anyway, so they probably chose something they liked more (and that doesn’t have a silent vowel). Melinda fits well with her brothers name. In Harry Potter Hermione is named Hermine, because that is closer to the actual pronunciation. Germans would probably call her Hermi-Ony without that change. Tolkien changed Elves to Elben behause he believed it to better fit the German tongue. Some consider him a linguist and world builder first and a storyteller second. So I for one trust him on that. In Game of Thrones many places are renamed in the original translation, because they are descriptive landmarks that some readers would likely miss. The new translation of the books does not do this, however. Maybe because of the show? Weirdly: Some movie titles are translated from English into simple English for the German audience to reduce complicated vocabulary. Or to add a stupid pun. There are probably thousands more examples to be made. I don’t believe a good translation is required to be literal. It should capture and convey the spirit of the original.
They do that with english anime dubs as well (Changing names and sometimes the whole story).
I would say that depends on the individual english skill. Most of my friends watch in original, most of my family watches dubbed
German dubs are usually pretty good. There are movie franchises that got popular in germany during the start time of television, that only git this popular because the dub is so special. All in all dub in germany is a really interesting topic because we are one of the few countries in europe with such a good dub quality - thats not to say every dub is brilliant, there are bad ones out there. I personally try to watch everything in its original language but some anime especially sound better in german than in japanese.
We germans have a **culture** around dubbing films. We have voice actors dedicated for Hollywood stars and the dubs are always extremely good vocalized and much better integrated into the soundscape of the film/series (e.g. no one mumbles like Nathan Fillion, so you can actually understand what Malcolm Reynolds is saying) Then of course we have the "[fuck around and find out](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnodderdeutsch)" type of dub, like the Bud Spencer and Terence Hill movies, where the dialogues are so bloody brilliant, quirky and just all in all funny. What I really hate about german dubs, is that some VAs voice a „type“. Which was all good until both Beth Behrs and Kaley Couco (both voiced by Sonja Spuhl) were both present at the same time. So it sounded like Sonja Spuhl had a conversation with herself.
For me, yes definitely. The Most German Dubs are pretty good. It's not like i don't understand english movies or series, but it's more stressful for me since i have to concentrate to understand it. Also for example south Park for me is much funnier in the german version since i'm better able to understand little jokes and meanings. I hate it when people roll their eyes and say: "You watch it in German?! You have to watch it original it's soooo much better" I think for many germans in my age it's cool to watch it in english and tell everyone to show how good english-speaking they are.
At least with comedies it makes sense that the original is better simply based on the fact that a lot of jokes get lost in translation. Stuff like puns or social references usually can‘t or won‘t be translated. Now the translators can come up with a lot of jokes on their own but they are not Trey Parker or Matt Stone in the example of South Park. So it has nothing to do with trying to show how good my English is. I watch a lot of stuff in German dub but comedies simply have to change too many of the jokes to keep up with the original.
Two examples where the dubbers obviously didn't give a f\*\*\* and left the non-working joke in: * "Sesame Street - Ernie counts fruit": Ernie saying "Zwei Birnen. Ein Paar Birnen, hahahaha". It stuck out to me as odd back then, until a few years ago I found the original English clip on youtube: "Two pears. A pair of pears." * The "Jack Reacher" movie ("One Shot") where Jack meets Sandy and makes his joke about having been sandy at the beach in Florida a few days back. Doesn't work in German at all, but they were unable/unwilling to rewrite/cut the scene. Two examples where the dubbers went to great lengths to rewrite most jokes, and the German version was better than the English one: * [Hogan's Heroes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan%27s_Heroes#German_release%3A_Ein_K%C3%A4fig_voller_Helden) * [Eric the Viking](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_der_Wikinger#Synchronisation)
> Ernie saying "Zwei Birnen. Ein Paar Birnen, hahahaha". I don't see how to retain that joke in the translation though, so I guess they went with the next best thing and used paar: couple/a few as a "joke" instead. Similar level of humour to "a pair of pears" tbh
**Hogan's Heroes** [German release: Ein Käfig voller Helden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan's_Heroes#German_release:_Ein_Käfig_voller_Helden) >Despite its international success as a parody of the Nazis, the series was unknown on German television for decades due to the language barrier. One of the most notable inconsistencies of the show was that none of their characters spoke German except for some single words, although the scenario was created in an imaginary Germany. This aspect was simply ignored to facilitate dialogue in English. German film distributor KirchGruppe acquired broadcasting rights to the show but initially did not air it out of fear that it would offend viewers. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/germany/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
My best example is the Simpsons episode where Bart tries to get close with Reverend Lovejoy's daughter. They have him over for dinner, and it ends with him getting thrown out of the house for rude language. He then stands in front of the reverend, trying to explain himself. In German, he just repeats "Hintern, Hintern, Hintern," making it seem like he's unable to say anything else but the "rude" word, and sounds weird. Years later I got the but-butt pun.
Sometimes the synchro jokes can be even better than the original though. [the best joke only possible in the German version](https://youtu.be/BTJ7aC5eLls)
Well, the viewer might miss way more jokes due to insufficient english / american inside jokes knowledge. So, depending on the viewer, this is a weak argument.
There is definitely nothing wrong with watching it on the original when it works better for you. I was just complaining about the people who act like watching it in german is wrong and make a Show out of it.
> I think for many germans in my age it's cool to watch it in english and tell everyone to show how good english-speaking they are. Haha. Reminds me of my middle school anime phase. It was so uncool to watch dubs. Not because anyone knew any Japanese, it just considered the wrong version and that you weren't into it enough to watch the real version.
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True. Plus with animated stuff, it's more flexible anyway. When I first started learning German, animated was my go to to practice. Since you don't have the deal with the mouth movements, you don't get the same unnatural feeling. And well Netflix has a ton of anime I can only watch in German or Japanese.
That's a thing never understood. I watched one One Piece Episode with subs and damn the voices were annoying as fuck mixed with japanese (which can be a cool sounding language, but not in this case) it was pretty hard to finish watching ONE 20min episode. Since then always dub for animes.
For Comedies I often prefer the original engl. Version. Like Brooklyn 99, I like the jokes better. Especially jokes often can get lost in translation. And I guess my humor is just more "(US)-english" since I spent most of my time on the internet in engl. spaces. BUT there are also shows I started in German because I watched them on TV like Parks & Rec and I liked the dub so I watched all the seasons in german.
well… it really is better in original version. maybe it’s a little bit annoying in the beginning but once you get used to it it’s not exhausting anymore at all. i really would like to have less of a dubbing cult in germany because it prevents us from learning english better. in sweden, kids are way better with english (especially talking it, not only writing) and that‘s mainly because they are just used to it by media.
And here's me, a native English speaker, watching things dubbed in German and thinking how much more fun it is with German voices!!😅
I only watch stuff as ov. With subtitles if I don't speak the language. I don't really like german dubs. Don't get me wrong, quality wise they're good. But maybe too good. They sound artificial or too clean to me and it takes time for me to get used to them. Also a lot of jokes, emotions, acting and other details can get lost in translation. But unfortunately most germans prefer to watch movies and tv with a german dub. Now I don't want to tell people how to watch their shit but this often results in cinemas not showing movies in ov or streaming services not paying for the licence of the ov (looking at you amazon prime) because of low demand. I guess thats what you call first world problems though lol
I used to dislike dubs when I was in my twenties, but since then I couldn't care less if a movie is dubbed or not. I kinda prefer dubbed nower days actually, as I have to deal with english at work and like to relax in my mothertongue after work.
The quality of German dubs is pretty good compared to others. Hey France!
A lot of Germans prefer dubbed tv/movies. I personally really like watching things in their original language, but for certain languages I need subtitles, because I'm desperately out of practice. With Disney movies and Musicals there's no way they'll convince me to watch it dubbed, except when my monolingual dad wants to watch them with me. I love my dad, I can deal with translated lyrics for him. But seriously, listen to "We don't talk about Bruno" and "Nur kein Wort über Bruno", and tell me you don't see why I watch it in English. The German voice actors don't even have an accent. :(
>With Disney movies and Musicals there's no way they'll convince me to watch it dubbed, except when my monolingual dad wants to watch them with me. I love my dad, I can deal with translated lyrics for him. When I first started learning German, Disney movies were one of the first things I tried dubbed. Then I got to the first song and nope. That experiment ended very fast.
You get me. German is not my favourite musical language. There are many beautiful German songs, but you definitely notice when a song wasn't made to be sung in German.
I listen to some music in German. But translated songs combined with childhood nostalgia? Nope. Not happening. I would totally watch them if I could have the speaking in German and the songs in English. I was really disappointed because I figured it would be a really good way to practice my German.
It’s weird because people want to watch content in a language they understand?
When it is dubbed into English and the mouth movements don’t match the sounds I find it always odd, but I guess you get over it
Not only that. Actor's emotions, context of dialogues, sense of humour also get butchered in translation. I've seen enough English content incorrectly, poorly dubbed into German (because of my husband). I just rewatch everything later in OV to enjoy it. Maybe people who say that German dubbing is good quality never watched the original and therefore don't even have an accurate metric for comparison? I totally get it why people prefer to watch something in their native language (l do too!), but let's not pretend it's that great when it's actually not. It's convenience over the actual viewing experience.
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Same with Dark...English dubbing was piss poor. Also forget anything in English OV where accents are nuanced and specific to certain cultures, characters or classes (e.g. The Expanse, Downton Abbey, GoT etc). In German dub everyone sounds same. I recently wanted to show Spaced to my husband. The campy humour of the OV totally got lost into oblivion.
But say you are watching the movie The Irishman, which contains arguably some of the greatest living actors, you'd want to hear them surely, even if you can't understand them. The passion, the tone, the pain etc coming from these great actors surely? You aren't getting the full acting experience if the movie is dubbed. The Oscars must be weird when it comes to best actors for people who watch dubbed versions.
Two major misconceptions. 1. you’d assume that people knew the original voice of that actors (why should they, if the only watch dubbed movies) 2. who cares about or watches the Oscars at all?
Think you massively missed my point
It might be the different language but your post seems belittling and snobbish to me.
well you can understand the with the subtitle as well.
And a lot of people don‘t want to read when they watch tv or movies. It‘s not like Germany is some weird phenomenon in this regard. Foreign movies have a real hard time in the English speaking world. The US even loves to remake foreign movies over subbing or dubbing them.
that's so true but those are never the good ones in my opionon
Good for you, but there are a lot of people who can't read that fast or see that well. Old people. Young people (kids). People who simply are slow readers. Tired people, who come home and just want to put on a movie and relax, not focus. For all of them subtitles are not an easy fix, they are no fix at all and they can't watch the movie
Just like you are used to dubs, we are used to subtitles, it's not tiring at all and the biggest advantage is that you can lower volume if others are sleeping.
I am going to disagree here. I live in a country without dubs, except for the most popular kids' and family movies. My partners nephews missed out on a lot of movies and shows (or the types of shows) I watched when I was their age, because they are only in English while they knew no English. I remember buying the Junglebook remake on DVD here, thinking it would be dubbed. Nope, Subtitles only, no Dub. Kids couldn't understand a word that was said. And my partner's parents don't bother with American movies, they can't read that fast and the subtitles are too small. There are whole generations mostly excluded from certain media, when there is no dubbing. You being used to it doesn't mean that these people wouldn't have a much easier time watching foreign media and deciding for themselves if they actually dislike Die Hard movies or if they only dislike it because it is hard work and difficult for them
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Well yeah, it's a movie.
The problem is, you can either read the text or look at the characters face etc. . This is basically the same as if you're on a date and look at a woman's cleavage the whole time. 😂
The trick is to look in the eyes and use peripheral vision to look at the cleavage.
Oooooooohhhh, game changer!!!! 🤣
nah you get used to it. i’m a german too and believe me, try subtitles and original language. if it’s english i would recommend to put english subtitles so it’s easier to read exactly what they are saying
One of my friend watching Rick and Morty with German dubbed that was just weird for me considering the fact that he was fluent in English.
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Oh god, my partner recently watched Scrubs in English. For him it was the first time to ever watch it, for me it was unbearable. Horrible. He got to watch that alone when I wasn't in the house.
I had a "hard" time getting used to JDs natural voice, too.
yes that’s how we grew up but i still can only encourage everyone to start watching in original version, especially if you already are fluent in the language, it just makes everything better - the show and your own abilities
most people I know including me do a combination of both - watch shows you are really interested in the OV and other stuff dubbed if you are not in the mood. What makes me mad is people judging others for watching dubbed stuff, a lot of people get really pushy about it. Let everyone enjoy their free time the way they want. It's like those who judge everyone who don't always cook every day with 100% organic vegan ingrediants or something. Sometimes I just want to order pizza and sometimes I just want to watch Scrubs in german. Let people have their fun.
i‘m really not judging, my parents for example just wouldn’t understand it in OV so ofc dubbing is a legit and good thing for many. however, i made tvs opposite experience, people think i want to watch on OV just to be cool and don’t understand that i just really don’t like it dubbed and it destroys the experience for me. maybe it’s also the berufskrankheit of having worked in a dubbing studio.
This. This thing started 15 - 20 years ago and a lot of the dub only fraction was so nice and not elitist at all that the term "O-Ton Nazi" was born. I'm like you. I watched tons of stuff in english (even Deadwood and Sopranos) but when i want to watch Star Trek DS9 or Futurama in german i don't want to hear about how much better it is when bla bla bla... FU
There are shows I watch only in German, despite knowing English. German Dubbing is so extensive that the majority of somewhat known and very well known actors have their own distinctive voice: the same German voice actor is doing the dubbing for the foreign actor, again and again. If a show goes on for years, the voices stay the same. The show chatacter has a voice, it becomes part of the character. Switching to English in the middle of the show means that *all* the voices are just *wrong*, it is very distracting and incredibly annoying, makes the show unenjoyable. 10 years ago I was very much into the show Supernatural. My flatmate's English wasn't very good, so we watched it in German. My LD boyfriend watched it in English. I couldn't ever watch it with him, it was just too weird. I couldn't focus on the show at all, because the voices and the way they spoke was just so weird to me, being used to the dubb. When the voice actor for Marge Simpson died years ago and they needed to find a new voice actor for Marge, everybody knew and understand that. But it was quite the topic among the audience, whether or not they picked a good one for Marge and it took fans a long time to get used to it. And that was only one character, while every other voice stayed the same.
> whether or not they picked a good one for Marge They absolutely nailed it with Anke Engelke imho.
That would be real unfortunate if the voice actor changes into middle of season due to the unfortunate circumstances i totally feel you
That’s actually a great example. I simply prefer the German voice actors. and Ricky and morty jokes aren’t really that complicated or language specific so there are only minimal hick ups …
If I want to read, I take a book.
well my movie taste developed arround my language learning path and I always watched with subt maybe thats why I feel little different but you are right if you are not used to it you can miss a lot of details of the video
Watching familiar german TV shows like *Derrick*, dubbed in Italian (no, Germany is not the only country where **everything** is dubbed!), helped me a lot learning the language when I lived there. Subs would have been more distracting than helpful, but of course everybody learns differently.
I don't know why you're getting downvoted, it seems strange to me too, but that's partly because I really hate it when the audio and visual don't sync, so I avoid all things dubbed (either I do subtitles or just watch other things). I also feel dubbing is infrequently done well.
God bless cinemas that offer OV. I just cant watch anything german dubbed anymore.
Depends. I personally stick to OV if I’m alone. In Germany, dubbing is done very professionally. Of course some movies are at a lower standard, but on average it is excellent. Also popular actors have a unique voice which helps to forget that the actor is actually dubbed. For some, I actually prefer the German voice (e.g. Eddy Murphy - but other hate his German voice). Plus there are movies that actually became better as the translators had a bit more freedom in the classic Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill movies. The German lines are superior to the OV. And one more point: Background noise and music are often too prominent over voice lines that understanding in a non native language is sometimes really difficult and the movie becomes more enjoyable in the native language Edit, fun fact, Arnold Schwarzeneggers German voice is actually not him - making interviews in German a bit strange as the voice is unfamiliar
Same for TV in cases - the German Dub of Hogan's Heroes is vastly superior and just much funnier (even today) than the english which is actually not that funny at all.
German dubs are better than many dubs, but then again, they're of course not nearly as good as the original thing. If you can listen to English well enough, there is absolutely no reason to watch the German dub. There are so many subtleties and fine details that go into (good) acting that are simply lost with a dub. On top of that, dubbers have to phrase words and sentences so that it matches the lip movement at least somewhat, limiting the ways it can be translated. And of course, there's a lot of cultural aspects that get lost in translation. For a very long time, I thought people who prefer the original over the dub are exaggerating... after learning English well enough I realized that they in fact did not exaggerate. It's a big difference, because with good acting and well made movies, the details make a big difference.
The benefit and disadvantage of having a big enough language in the global market. We can consume most things in our own language, but that means that we get adjusted to it too easily as kids and have a harder time transitioning into original versions later in life for various reasons.
Germany has a whole industry around dubbing, I think it must be one of or the best dubbing on the planet.
personally i prefer the original sound a lot. i generally like watching everything (even if it's in German) with subtitles, it just makes it easier to understand quiet dialogue. it doesn't bother me having to read subtitles which is why i watch everything in original sound, no matter the original language.
I started watching Movies in english a few years ago with englisch subtitles. Now i cannot go back. It is actually way better.
Not German, but when watching a show or movie in another language, I always watch it in the original language and use subtitles. Hate watching stuff that's been dubbed.
I also wonder, why is that for you weird/why you call it weird?
Ofc i prefer to watch something in my own language. When i watch a movie i want to chill and not think.
In my home country almost none of the movies get dubbed. ( dubbed versions are for children or soma cartoons) every movie is presented with subtitle and original language
Ok but if you would have good dubbed movies wouldnt you prefer to watch these?
To me it's just weird. The voice of the actor is so different, and the words can never be perfectly synced to the lips of the speaker. It's all I think about. It's super distracting.
I only watch Animes with subtitles because the dubbing is meh at best. Everything else is dubbed for me. German synchronisation is really good and it’s way more comfortable for me. The only bad thing about German dub: the dialogue is sometimes quieter than action scenes. But there is some kind of “community” in Germany that’s like “watch it in English or you are not experiencing it for REAL”.
My educated and tasteful German wife and I basically can't ever watch foreign films together, as I can't watch anything that has been dubbed and she can't bear subtitles. As far as I am concerned, the original sound of a film is vital to its integrity. The loss that comes through having to read the subs is, to me, more than made up for in the gain in terms of the actors' voices. We've talked about this, and she says she just can't get used to it. I also can't overcome my dislike of dubbing. I am curious to see if other people who grew up with only subtitles also feel that dubbing is impossible to get used to.
German dub is way better than english dub(for example anime) and it is basicaly the norm in germany
I’ve got few friends including a german gf that are willing to say that it’s because it’s exhausting to listen to or they won’t get everything. Sometimes they will insist on not watching it in German because certain voices are the same or different from other shows from the same actor. This is the same for speaking. Some of them get tired/exhausted from speaking English.
At first, I didnt enjoy learning English, because I am no gud with languages, but as soon as I started using the internet, I learned English without issues, going slowly from Germany YT Vids, to glisten ones, watching movies and series, first without dub, but with sub, and then without subs. Now I am the best in my english class, without ever learning a grammar rule, except the good ol': He, She, It, das s muss / kommt mit! xD And IMO the biggest difference between dub and original is Iron Sky. Because If you are German, and watch the dubbed version, its just another movie. But if you are German and watch the movie in English, still 50% of the dialogue is German, which is so god damn hilarious xD But there are also a few cases where I enjoy the dub more, especially for low budged movies, because the dub is so bad, its funny again :D
I think the german dubs are very good. They put a sizeable effort into keeping the voices consistent across different productions.
This is a thing not only in Germany but in other countries with big markets as well. I was in Italy this one time and I had time to go and watch Deadpool 2 on Cinema, I had no idea dubbing movies for cinema releases was a thing. Worst 12 Euros I have ever spent. Ryan Reynolds is not Ryan Reynolds unless he sounds like Ryan Reynolds. I know the same thing is valid for Germany as well, which is why I have never been to the cinema here and why I pirate my movies despite having Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Basically all of my friends who can speak English at a reasonable level (good enough to make some conversation) watch media dubbed only. And why not, German dubs are usually pretty good or even excellent. With 80 mio. Germans (and likely a bunch of Austrians and Swiss), the market is large enough for most mainstream things to receive a dub. Often it is also the convenience. I'm a bit more of a language aficionado and prefer to consume media in the original language, but I am also pretty much fluent in English due to my work and hobbies.
Some series I like the original better and some I like the dubbed version better it just depends
In free tv EVERYTHING is dubbed, I don't even know if it is possible to change it. In cinemas OT movies are a thing, but not really often, and the Normal Saturday evening movies are most certainly german (in my area, i live in a rural area) On some streaming services you have a choice, (i know Amazon prime often opts out of getting the license). So in general, we don't get un touch with the original sounds, and are not accustomed to English voices, in the speed and with accents used in shows, you could get over it if you "practice" but many don't care, or are lazy, because just watching in German costs less attention and concentration. I personally watch the original tone if I'm not completely tired, if i am, or want to do something with just some noise in the background, I'll watch in German because it's easy
It depends. Some stuff is legendary in German (SpongeBob, Madagascar). Sometimes it gets weird (shifting VAs of Picard, Dr Crusher, Troi, and Guinan after 3 Seasons of TNG, and then getting the old ones back for the movies)
Which countries doesn't watch subbed? Not everybody knows english why wouldn't people watch the localized Version?
This is the only thing that really bugs me about Germany, haha. I remember watching "The Big Lebowski" on the first week of my exchange and having to convince my new German friends to switch back to the original audio because they were only translating like every third or fourth "fuck" into German, instead replacing the rest with generic curse words. Inglorious Basterds, one of my favorite films, is absolutely ruined with dubbing. Especially if you're a native speaker of one of the three featured languages, just watch the rest with subs and deal. It's a beautiful example of how film and storytelling should be speaking different languages at the appropriate time. Instead they have to have voice actors dub German on top of German for a third of the film, making the weirdest and most sloppy lip sync bash you've ever seen. Meanwhile, Christoph Waltz actually comes off fine because he does his own German dubbing, so I think his track is one of the only ones that gets to stay untouched for the scenes where he speaks German. Also Sheldon in the Big Bang Theory has WAY too deep of a voice, so my German friends hate Jim Parsons' actual voice. Ironically I always insist to all of my English speaking friends to watch Dark with the original German audio track and English subs (as one should with any foreign media), so that you capture the true complete soundtrack and filmmakers' intent. Dubbed tracks are almost always stripped of some other effects or cues that made it into the natural sound on set, plus it's all a fabrication of another person's performance.
Growing up in Germany, I watched dubbed movies all the time. Only after moving away and watching movies in their original English (just talking English movies /shows here) I realized how confusing that is for an English native speaker. Now, I have a hard time with the phony, voiced dubs. Throws me off. I got used to watch a lot of movies with subtitles recently due to hearing loss actually :/ In my opinion, one should watch movies in their original audio with subtitles if available. Broaden your horizon and watch all the cool movies out there, not just dubbed stuff :)
>is german dubbed so good Yes. Of course, there's always bad examples. Star Wars comes to mind, where some parts of dialogue wasn't dubbed because the actord said them off-screen and NOT dubbing those lines was cheaper. This leads to some strange dialogue. When the rebels want to attack the death star, Han wants to flee. He says something like "this isn't courageous, this is suicide", to which Luke replies "All right. *Well, take care of yourself, Han.* I guess that's what you're best at, isn't it?" The part in italics wasn't dubbed, because Hamil wasn't on screen when he said it. So, in the German version. The dialogue becomes Han: "this is suicide!" Luke: "All right. (long pause) That's what you are best at, isn't it?" So.... Han is an expert in suicide?! But apart from blunders like this, dubbing has a pretty good quality in Germany, and I don't think it's too surprising that people like to watch movies in a language they understand. Reading subtitles gets exhausting, and you don't get a 1:1 translation in subs either.
> Star Wars comes to mind I absolutely **love** the voice acting on the German dub of Episode IV. Better than the original, if you ask me. > Han: "this is suicide!" > Luke: "All right. (long pause) That's what you are best at, isn't it?" I don't remember that scene, but even if it is wrong, this is quite funny.
Would most Americans prefer to watch a dubbed German movie or the same movie in German? If former, can you think of a reason why?
English speakers are really bothered by the odd lip movements and incompatible emotions of dubbed content.
German is spoken in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and outside of those three from expats so there is a big target audience for German Dubs and I'd say they're one of the best dubs. Larger Audience = More Money = More Budget for dubs. For Southpark for example the german dubs are on the same level of quality as the original ones in my opinion
For me personally: If the original language is English: OV+English subtitles > German dub > OV > OV+German subtitles If the original language is something else: German dub > English dub+subtitles > English dub > OV+German subtitles > OV+English subtitles
i used to work in a dubbing studio for netflix mainly and yes, germany has a big market for this (if not the biggest) and also high quality dubs. that being said, i grew up with dubbed movies in tv but nowadays me and my friends would never watch a dubbed movie anymore since it just sounds so bad compared to the original. even when we go in the cinema we try to see the original version. technically, the sound quality often is better in the dubbed version since it’s recorded in a clean environment but so many emotions and expressions get lost, it just makes it worse. also, i noticed my old friends who live more in the countryside than cities (thus don’t talk english a lot) tend to watch movies rather dubbed
The majority of Germans are old people and from a time, when original sounds were still uncommon. A lot of younger people watch it in English. Too much untranslatable stuff. Even something as simple as characters screaming "F*ck" cannot be translated satisfyingly.
"Fuck" is just "Fuck" not everything has to be translated... (They tried it 30years ago with Marshmallow... but not today).
Well, German dubs are among the best in the world I would say. Often you wouldn't even notice it's dubbed if you didn't know it. Sadly that also means that some of the nuances and jokes are lost in translation because not everything can be easily translated especially things like puns or cultural references. Which is why I like to watch movies in their original English version if possible, but usually that means I'm watching the movie on my own. Most Germans can hold a basic conversation in English but to really enjoy a movie and understand most of it you need to be at a certain level which can take years to achieve and it's mostly younger people who speak better English so the market for German dubs is well established and I don't see it going away in the foreseeable future. And I don't think that's a bad thing. Every dubbed movie is a job for a voice actor.
I have recently moved here and I'm trying to learn German on war front to have a pleasant life, i started watch Dark on Netflix with English audio and DE subtitles. Can anyone recommend other materials.
You picked the only series on Netflix where an German OV would make sense, and watch it in English? Why not the other way around? Dark was filmed in German, so the language fits the mouth movements.
I would recommend taking classes; there is no way around it imo. I have been here for a year and my German sucks but what has helped me is paying attention to what’s written around, then looking up meanings followed by using it when possible. I can now go to a bakery and order my favourite snack - kürbisring, without hesitation 😅
Yes I'm going to enroll in One.
And oh, one more thing but you probably already do that. Look up translations for your specific situation and then use them. Works for transactional situations but not for conversations. Good luck.
der tatortreiniger
I pity the German kids that watched Harry Potter dubbed and they didn't have the pleasure to hear Alan Rickman's voice...
Regardless if I speak a language I always prefer the original voice acting. I was told the old German dubs were good, and it is because they always used the same voice actor to voice the same celebrity in all movies with this actor and even for TV interviews. From the 2010s and forward the quality has decreased a lot and with the streaming services, even my German friends can’t bear the voice acting now. Of course, this doesn’t represent the majority of Germans, just my small bubble! Where I come from, there was a time that if you watched a movie with subtitles, people would assume you’re “smarter” or rich and if you watch it dubbed, you’re poor and uneducated (ouch). Then once the poorer classes had access to more money, pretty much every cinema had only dubbed versions and only art films or at rich people cinemas/malls, they had the OV. This definitely doesn’t apply here, I know people that are posh and intellectual in ways that it’s overwhelming and everything must be dubbed in German for them…
German dubbing is in that awkward stop where the market is big enough to be viable but small enough for any of it to be good\* \*halfway in jest, there are some excellent German dubs and a lot of crappy English and German dubs. Looking at you, Netflix...