Dear Controller of Canal Plus
Why oh why do you insist on programming quality British dramas like Prime Suspect dubbed into French? ‘Spooks’ and ‘24’ are shown in both languages, so why not this? It is unwatchable in French. For your information, Jane Tennison is not supposed to sound like a French version of Hyacinth from Keeping up Appearances and your beautiful language does no justice whatsoever to her wry comments.
I beg you to accept the assurance of my most distinguished salutations…etc.
petite anglaise
I’m sure I’m not the only English speaker who detests watching dubbed television. I mean, it stands to reason that the quality of the original acting is lost entirely when a failed actor professional ‘dubber’ reads the lines into a microphone in a studio in Saint Denis.
Don’t even get me started on the rendering of non-speech sounds: you only have to listen to the moans and groans in a dubbed porn film…
Seemingly child labour is not permitted in the dubbing profession, as the voices of children are mimicked by adult women (regardless of whether the child is male or female). Designed to make Maman, j’ai rate l’avion an even less pleasurable experience.
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petite anglaise 
Hello,
You don’t need to be an English thirtysomething in order to hate french dubbing.. I’m French and I perfectly agree with waht you said.
Dubbing is probably among the things we are the worse at.. the only time I got out of a cinema at the very beginning of the film was during Reservoir Dogs.. that by mistake I went to sse in French version.. Harvey Keitel speaking with a young boy voice is an experience I don’t recomend even to my favorite enemies…
Comment by Luc — October 4, 2004 @ 8:45 am
one of the bestest superest wonderfullest things about living in Portugal is that unlike the French, Spanish, German and Italian, tv/film companies dub almost nothing; usually they only dub stuff for kids who are too small to read, but only the really baby stuff. All this means that most people here have a really good grasp on other languages, and most of them probably speak better than me, innit!
And reading subtitles when they’ve got the translation wrong can be very entertaining.
Vitriolica Webb | 07.28.04 – 1:55 pm |
Comment by Vitriolica Webb — October 8, 2004 @ 8:44 pm
A standing ovation for Portugal. I LOATHE dubbed films. Ugh!
Although, there is one single film that I enjoyed more dubbed in French, than in its orginal version: Big with Tom Hanks. I saw it again not too long ago and I understood why – there is only one guy dubbing the kid and Tom Hanks, so the transition is seamless. Hmph.
lolotte/TheGreenPlant | 07.28.04 – 5:40 pm |
Comment by The Green Plant — October 8, 2004 @ 8:44 pm
Watching ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ dubbed into French while on holiday recently, completely ruined it for me and I couldn’t understand a word anyway. I completely lost faith in my ability to understand French and refused to even attempt it for weeks.
Ruth | 08.05.04 – 10:06 am |
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Comment by Ruth — October 8, 2004 @ 8:45 pm