'Lion King' is master of 26 languages
snopes
When "The Lion King" roars, he will do so in 26 languages. As the film rolls
out internationally this summer, Walt Disney Pictures intends to dub its
potential animated blockbuster into languages ranging from Icelandic to Zulu.
The film opens domestically in limited release today.
"Every year, starting with 'Little Mermaid' and continuing with 'Beauty and
the Beast' and 'Aladdin,' we have added two more (dubbing) markets," said Mark
Zoradi, "We are now up to 26 different dubbed versions."
As staggering as the number of foreign-language dubs is -- believed to be
the most for a theatrical motion picture -- perhaps even more remarkable is the
fact that Disney will go out this month virtually day and date in eight
languages.
"The most we've ever done before simultaneously was four languages," Mark
Zoradi, president of Buena Vista International, said.
While Disney and its hugely successful animated films do represent a
special situation, international theatrical distribution executives say the
dubbing of American films into foreign languages is on the increase. And not
just for animated product.
"If you want to market films worldwide, you'd better start dubbing," said
MGM/UA director of foreign theatrical distribution Tony Cost.
"We now dub from time to time in Czech, half the time in Hungary and more
than half the time in Thailand," said Tony Manne, executive vice president of
Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International. "Those decisions (on whether
or not to dub) are based on the commercial potential of each film in each
territory."
Traditionally, animated films are much more frequently dubbed than live
action. Dubbing accomplishes two things for an animated film, say distributors.
It helps the film reach a broad-based audience going down to small children who
cannot read subtitles. And it localizes the film.
"Dubbing makes an animated movie feel like a locally produced movie," said
Zoradi.
Live-action movies in the past were usually dubbed only in four basic
territories, known as the FIGS -- that is, French, Italian, German and Spanish.
This is no longer the case.
The resurgence in family films has increased the need for dubbed prints to
reach non-reading family members. More importantly, political changes have
opened up markets in Eastern Europe, South Africa and Russia. Buena Vista just
released its first live-action film in Russian, "The Three Musketeers."
And the Indian government only recently changed its protectionist policies
to permit the dubbing of American films into local languages.
"The agreement has opened up to us a huge non-English-speaking market in
India from which we were barred by law in the past," Manne said.
The first film to test the waters was "Jurassic Park," which was dubbed into
Hindi.
"That was a pioneer effort that we hope to expand on," said Michael
Williams-Jones, president of UIP, which releases films from MCA/Universal,
MGM/UA and Paramount.
Similarly, negotiations are ongoing with the Mexican government to drop that
nation's prohibition against the dubbing of foreign films other than animation
and children's films into Spanish.
"In most of the world," Manne said, "if we don't dub it's for economic
reasons -- in other words, the cost of dubbing is not economical with the size
of that market -- or the audience in a market prefers subtitles in the original
versions to dubbed films. In Scandinavia our feeling is most audiences prefer
the original versions with subtitles."
Many foreign audiences are much more accustomed to seeing Hollywood
live-action product in subtitled original-language versions.
"As an experiment we dubbed 'Free Willy' into Swedish and two other
languages with mixed success," said Wayne Duband, president of Warner Bros.
International. "The minute you dub a picture in nontraditional dubbing
territory, you label it a kiddie or family movie and you limit its audience."
Nor are all native film industriesdelighted about competition from
"localized" Hollywood product.
The success of the Hindi-dubbed version of "Jurassic Park" raised concerns
among Indian filmmakers and critics.
The Associated Press quotes film critic Khalid Mohammad as saying, "If the
dubbing becomes a trend, we are going to see a lot of oddball films ... It is a
kind of cultural imperialism by the Americans."
Cost estimates on dubbing a feature -- especially an animated film with
music, where lyrics must be translated and performers found to sing -- can run
as high as $ 100,000 per language. By contrast, subtitles or "overlays" might
cost $ 10,000 to $ 15,000 per language.
Of concern to all executives interviewed was quality control over the
foreign-language dubs.
"I am passionate about maintaining equally high standards for the dubbed
version as for the English-language version," Williams-Jones said. "Hollywood
movies in the English language are acted by top talent creating emotional and
dramatic values. If we are unable to ensure for dubbed versions the same
standard, we have failed. A lot of films have hit the brick wall over the years
for that reason."
Disney again is a unique situation as the studio controls foreign-language
dubbing from its Burbank headquarters, although local general managers in the
territories play key roles.
Jeff Miller, vice president of Buena Vista International Dubbing Prods. --
which handles all theatrical and television dubbing -- figures he handles 7,000
foreign-language recordings across 35 different languages in a year.
"The whole process is totally tied to translation," he said. "We prefer
having local guys in the field who know the right writers and translators. They
usually are native to the local language but have lived in the U.S. for years
and understand the meaning of the original and can adapt it into the local
language. Often they are guys with language degrees."
The next step is casting vocal talent. "We have local people deal with the
talent pool, but we still cast out of L.A.," Miller said. "We send the (vocal)
tests back and forth over digital phone lines.
"The voice of Mickey Mouse must be the same everywhere, so that when the
child in Norway goes to Euro Disney in France, Mickey must have the same type
of personality and performance," Miller said.
Other studios do not have dubbing departments in the United States. UIP, for
instance, maintains a management team in London to coordinate dubbing efforts
in the territories.
"You need a lot of people to supervise 26 languages," said Warners' Duband.
"Disney consistently dubs its movies. For us it's different -- no huge
department does this for a living."
At least not at the moment.
"If we continue to make family movies and it is viable to dub non-animated
movies outside the four dubbing territories, clearly we will need to have a
department to handle that," Duband said.
Sometimes films not dubbed for theatrical release get dubbed when they go on
to such ancillary markets as airline versions or home video. However, such dubs
are often not as closely supervised as theatrical dubs.
"On airlines people aren't as picky," Cost said. "On the wide screen you
notice more than on a TV monitor. So the lip sync (for airlines) may not be as
precise -- or as costly."
"In Japan live action is subtitled but video is dubbed," said Miller. "So it
depends on the market. There are so many formulas."
And then there is the really big question -- what happens when Hollywood
invades China?
"When we go into China -- and I guess it will happen soon -- films will
presumably be dubbed in Mandarin," Manne said. "But we don't know the market
there yet."
Joe Navratil
In a previous article, sno...@netcom.com (snopes) says:
> When "The Lion King" roars, he will do so in 26 languages. As the film
>rolls out internationally this summer, Walt Disney Pictures intends to dub
>its potential animated blockbuster into languages ranging from Icelandic to
>Zulu. The film opens domestically in limited release today.
So, when it's released in Africa, will the chants be dubbed in English?
(Speaking of the chants, does anyone have a translation? I've heard
they're everything from an application to be Paul Simon's new backgrouund
singers to Howard Stern's acceptance speech for Mayor of New York. But I
started doubting *that* source when it told me that _Return of Jafar_ would
be more PC than the original :-) )
-Joe
FwDgdwfahtFDC Mad Hatter
(Future (when David gets done with finals and has time) Future Disney
Cabinet Mad Hatter)
Knut Hunstad
> Traditionally, animated films are much more frequently dubbed than live
>action. Dubbing accomplishes two things for an animated film, say distributors.
>It helps the film reach a broad-based audience going down to small children who
>cannot read subtitles. And it localizes the film.
The first of those beeing the only really good reason for doing such a
dreadful thing!
> "In most of the world," Manne said, "if we don't dub it's for economic
>reasons -- in other words, the cost of dubbing is not economical with the size
>of that market -- or the audience in a market prefers subtitles in the original
>versions to dubbed films. In Scandinavia our feeling is most audiences prefer
>the original versions with subtitles."
YES, YES AND ONCE AGAIN YES! And I am not speaking only for myself here...
Dubbing is the most horrible thing you can do to any movie. After a while
seeing many dubbed movies you _do_ get used to the lips movements not fitting
quite in with the text (and that is an impossible task if the text isn't the
same as when the lips where filmed). But you loose the whole personality of
the actor/actress on the way. I have seen James Bond dubbed in german, that
was plain awful ("Mein name ist Bond. James Bond.")!
And the worst things are all the sounds people make that are not speech. Like
a sigh, moan, groan and whatever they're all called in english. Love scenes
dubbed are really horrible!
But I must admit most of this isn't true for animations. The reason I prefer
those in the original is that they're simply better. Especially because
animations is considered a kid's thing and the translators don't seem to put
much into getting good translations. I know the Jungle Book almost by heart
(we have the _old_ record at home, where you have most of the conversation
from the film) and when I saw the norwegian dubbed version last year I could
find better translations (or point out missing points) on the fly about 20% of
the time (made my girlfriend crazy of course...)! And the song lyrics reminded
me of those "personalized" lyrics you can buy for weddings!
Having seen: "Rescuers down under" in America before seeing it here I also
noticed several phrases that simply dropped perfectly translatable gags.
We have the same problem in comics, BTW. Seems the producers don't care too
much about the overall quality, they think you can translate each sentence on
it's own and get a good result. This results in many characters in Disney
comics have ended up with different names in different stories.
Luckily they have started showing _both_ the original and the dubbed version
at the local theatres. A sign they are starting to recognize that not only
kids like animation movies.
> Many foreign audiences are much more accustomed to seeing Hollywood
>live-action product in subtitled original-language versions.
That's the way we have them here, and I'm sure that has improved the average
understanding of english in Norway quite much!
> "As an experiment we dubbed 'Free Willy' into Swedish and two other
>languages with mixed success," said Wayne Duband, president of Warner Bros.
>International. "The minute you dub a picture in nontraditional dubbing
>territory, you label it a kiddie or family movie and you limit its audience."
That one wouldn't have made it big in Norway anyway (see .sig).
First norwegian translator of comics or animation movies I see should better
hope there is no bucket around when I see him/her!
Knut Hunstad
kh...@veg.sintef.no
FDC Entertainer at Norway Pavillion, EPCOT Centre
Application in for FDC shootaround Moby Duck (where is the opera?)
lar3ry gensch
>Dubbing is the most horrible thing you can do to any movie.
Non-Disney-Alert:
My WORST experience with dubbing was with a movie made down under
"Picnic at Hanging Rock." All the actors and actresses spoke English
(or what passes for it down under), but it was shown WITH ENGLISH
SUBTITLES.
This has to be some 'merican "superiority" thing...
--
(void) lar3ry(); lar...@world.std.com
The Blue Fairy was all set to turn Pinocchio into a real boy when she
discovered that a puppet named `Ingrid' was carrying his acorn.
Amberle S Ferrian
Knut Hunstad <kh...@veg.sintef.no> wrote:
>Dubbing is the most horrible thing you can do to any movie. After a while
>seeing many dubbed movies you _do_ get used to the lips movements not fitting
>quite in with the text (and that is an impossible task if the text isn't the
>same as when the lips where filmed). But you loose the whole personality of
>the actor/actress on the way. I have seen James Bond dubbed in german, that
>was plain awful ("Mein name ist Bond. James Bond.")!
>
>And the worst things are all the sounds people make that are not speech. Like
>a sigh, moan, groan and whatever they're all called in english. Love scenes
>dubbed are really horrible!
>
>But I must admit most of this isn't true for animations. The reason I prefer
>those in the original is that they're simply better. Especially because
>animations is considered a kid's thing and the translators don't seem to put
>much into getting good translations.
While I agree that a lot can get lost in translation, Disney at least is
one studio that does put considerable effort into their dubbing. Even
the voices sound like the original actors. They are far from the other extreme
I can think of--the Godzilla-type and kung fu-type B-movies with some truly
God-awful dubs..."Why you [silent pause where the actor was swearing in
Chinese]....I'll kill you!" <break into kung fu fighting>
Though I for one also prefer subtitled foreign-language films.
>First norwegian translator of comics or animation movies I see should better
>hope there is no bucket around when I see him/her!
They're in trouble now, Knut--here, catch!
begin 644 gigabucket
MDFSD#@*($&SFSDJFL@()*#$&SFSLDKFJSLKDJR()*#@&RFSL:DKJVLKSDFJW....
:-)
---
Amberle Ferrian <amb...@epx.cis.umn.edu>
Writer/Not Ready For ToonTown Player
for upcoming "Disney Channel Improv Nite" show
theme-park walkaround Belle
and general Sherri Stoner fan/wannabe in the Future Disney Cabinet
Peter Olbach
> "Every year, starting with 'Little Mermaid' and continuing with 'Beauty and
>the Beast' and 'Aladdin,' we have added two more (dubbing) markets," said Mark
>Zoradi, "We are now up to 26 different dubbed versions."
What languages were TLM, Batb and Alladin dubbed into? (Aside from the
"standard" ones, that is)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Olbach
Department of Chemistry
University of Waterloo
Tim Pickett
>> "Every year, starting with 'Little Mermaid' and continuing with 'Beauty and
>>the Beast' and 'Aladdin,' we have added two more (dubbing) markets," said Mark
>>Zoradi, "We are now up to 26 different dubbed versions."
"Every year" indeed. 1990 just didn't happen, did it? :)
Who remembers when Disney said that the reason they didn't made
simultaneous worldwide releases was that they couldn't dub it into
enough other languages fast enough? Who remembers some of us saying we
didn't believe this for one second?
--
Tim Pickett que...@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au
"Oh, she's got it bad." tbp...@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au
t...@mermaid.apana.org.au
Knut Hunstad
>What languages were TLM, Batb and Alladin dubbed into? (Aside from the
>"standard" ones, that is)
As you might have guessed: they have all been dubbed to norwegian (and I'm
quite sure they have been dubbed to swedish, danish and finnish, too).
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Peter Olbach
>Department of Chemistry
>University of Waterloo
Knut Hunstad
FDC Sailaround Moby Duck