Avatar in Spanish, or French, or German: How dubbing works

Published in Slate

James Cameron's Avatar has earned over $440 million at the domestic box office but has raked in more than twice that much internationally. The viewing experience in many non-English-speaking countries is naturally quite different—since audiences hear dubbing artists read Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver's lines. While Americans generally associate dubbing with out-of-sync martial arts B-movies, the technique is no joke for audiences around the world, where most of the big-budget films are from the United States. How does dubbing work?

First, pick your languages. Big Hollywood movies are always dubbed into French, German, and Spanish, since those respective countries all have sizable film-going communities. There are often two Spanish versions, one for Spain and one for Latin America. Otherwise, the decision depends on the type of film and its perceived market value in a given country. Animated films are dubbed into more languages than live action, since animation is primarily aimed at children who may not be able to read subtitles. Disney's The Princess and the Frog, for instance, will be dubbed into 38 languages, while the studio's live-action offering The Sorcerer's Apprentice is only scheduled for nine.

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Comments

[Ratiih]

Of course you are right that dubbnig is a strange thing. To some extent I even think that one takes a bit of air off the movie because actors are also chosen because their voice fits the concept of a film. It's of course not the only requirement but part of it. But it is not really true that a TV station wouldn't be profitable if it broadcasts movies or TV shows in their original language. First of all there is arte and actually has ever been as far as I can think back. Secondly there are loads of guys in Germany who would like to have access to that kind of thing. Just have a look at all the small cinemas in the country showing movies in the original language. Not just english, but in general. They are also very popular, although with a smaller community. At least I would be very happy about such an option, but I am even tuning into the US army military radio transmission from time to time. Well, I at least hope that some form of original language TV would be of a higher standard, which is of course a totally different question.;)