TV Home Forum

Foreign drama thread (BBC4, C4's Walter Pres, Sky Arts etc)

(October 2014)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Dubbed or subtitled? I guess it being selectable through the language option in receivers is too much to ask
DV
dvboy
Dubbed or subtitled? I guess it being selectable through the language option in receivers is too much to ask


Subbed I would assume, as per all other foreign drama on C4.

UK broadcasters don't really use the language option apart from S4C. It's more widely used in other countries.
DV
dvboy
Next on BBC 4 is French drama The Disappearing, starting Saturday 28 May.

French thriller series. Lea Morel celebrates her 17th birthday by attending the local Lyon music festival with her friends. When she has not returned by next morning, her desperate parents contact the police where Lieutenant Molina, freshly transferred from Paris, is about to learn about areas of Lea's life that the Morels know nothing about. (In French with English subtitles).
NG
noggin Founding member
Dubbed or subtitled? I guess it being selectable through the language option in receivers is too much to ask

Subtitled I'd expect. Luckily we don't dub drama in the UK.

I remember Channel Four imported a French drama series when it launched, and they experimented with showing it both dubbed into English and subtitle into English. They quickly dropped the dubbed version.

I do have dim recollections of some of the Brazilian telenovelas on Channel Four on saturday mornings possibly being dubbed (Dancin' days was one I think) - but I also have memories of listening to the Portuguese language so they were either shown in both ways or were just subtitle...

Subtitling is a much more cost effective solution than dubbing, and also preserves the original actors' performances. I remember buying a US DVD of a French movie that wasn't available in the UK at the time - and was amazed that it included an American-voiced dub. It was hilariously bad...
BA
bilky asko
Subtitling also means that (with sufficient knowledge of the source language), you can circumvent poor translation, or simply the limitations of translation, and get a better feel for the original material, whilst you don't end up getting lost in the more complex areas of the language.

I also find that reading subtitles, whether alongside material you have a good understanding of, or little or no understanding of at all, becomes second nature after a little while.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Good that it should have the original audio, but I have real difficulty finding Spanish content with reliable Spanish subtitles, which might help my efforts to improve my Spanish. Would be nice if the original language subs were selectable, but I understand that's quite niche.
NG
noggin Founding member
Subtitling also means that (with sufficient knowledge of the source language), you can circumvent poor translation, or simply the limitations of translation, and get a better feel for the original material, whilst you don't end up getting lost in the more complex areas of the language.

I also find that reading subtitles, whether alongside material you have a good understanding of, or little or no understanding of at all, becomes second nature after a little while.


This is true. The quality of subtitles - even on BBC Four dramas - is incredibly variable.
DV
dvboy
I think the worst ones I've seen were on 1992 on Sky Arts, some of the translations from Italian were a little dodgy and the sentence structure was sometimes difficult.
NG
noggin Founding member
dvboy posted:
I think the worst ones I've seen were on 1992 on Sky Arts, some of the translations from Italian were a little dodgy and the sentence structure was sometimes difficult.


Some of the Nordic series are pretty bad too.

8 days later

GL
globaltraffic24
Delighted to see that Walter Presents has picked up Dicte from TV2 Danmark. I've been hoping it would make an appearance. It'll be interesting to see how it does in the viewing figures. It's more of a run-of-the-mill crime drama - less dark and moody.
NG
noggin Founding member
Delighted to see that Walter Presents has picked up Dicte from TV2 Danmark. I've been hoping it would make an appearance. It'll be interesting to see how it does in the viewing figures. It's more of a run-of-the-mill crime drama - less dark and moody.


Wonder if someone will pick up Unit 1 and The Protectors. (Aka Reijseholdet and Livvakterna) Suspect Unit 1 is probably a bit old and the production values a bit too low. Similarly The Eagle (aka Ørnen) and Anna Pihl.

10 days later

DV
dvboy
Watched the first episode of The Disappearance last night and noticed the subtitles couldn't decide if the town was called Lyon or Lyons. According to Wikipedia, "The correct spelling in French is Lyon, but the spelling Lyons is sometimes specified in English, particularly in newspaper style guides."

Newer posts