Dubbed foreign programmes

When I was in Spain last month, on Digital Terrestrial, most US/UK TV was dubbed into Spanish, but via audio selector, you could default back to English. Best way to do it.

I remember that as a kid, never realised it was dubbed :S

I agree regards dubbed drama though, it rips the life out of it and its just horrible to watch.

The fast show did a nice little parody of some of the hideous shows you'd get from abroad that were always terrifyingly dark and never quite made any sense.

Wasn't there a show from Denmark or somewhere like that not that long ago, that was really popular here in the UK which had English subtitles. I'm sure it was called Killing or something like that.

The Killing was a subtitled drama on BBC4. BBC4 actually show quite a lot of subtitled shows (not dubbed) as they tend to be unusual in that they suspect their audiences brains may be able to process such information without it exploding.

Coincidently last night there was a documentary on the BBC2 last night about Volcanoes in Iceland with archive footage - and dubbed dialogue.

The BBC Producer Guidelines are that non-English dialogue in general productions should be dubbed rather than subtitled, unless there is a strong reason to here the original delivery (and thus be subtitled) However, if dubbing isn't used, the programme should ideally be structured such that the main thrust of that sequence is conveyed in other ways.

Very simple reason. People watching with a visual impairment (blind and partially sighted) - or those with a condition that makes reading difficult (like dyslexia), can't read subtitles, but can hear English dialogue. If you are watching/listening to a documentary that is mainly in English, subtitling sequences can exclude a section of the audience.

Those watching who are hard of hearing will get subtitles anyway.

Foreign acquisitions are treated differently.

Incidentally, in Scandinavia, since digitla switchover some broadcasters have stopped burning in subtitles into English language programmes that are shown, and instead only broadcast them as optional subtitles that you enable in your receiver. (All receivers will be capable of displaying them - and DVB subtitles can be very nicely rendered)

Presumably this is because English is close to being universally spoken and understood in most Nordic countries - and many Swedish, Danish and Norwegian viewers don't need the subtitles and find them annoying?

I believe in Finland a contributing reason was that they wanted to provide subtitles in both Finnish and Swedish (specifically to make the Swedish programming accessible to Finnish viewers). SVT are still using burnt in text for foreign languages and teletext for Swedish subtitles, while DR implemented DVB subtitles for everything earlier this year. (Don't know about NRK). AIUI, most private channels are carrying on with burnt-in subtitles.

Although much of the foreign acquisitions shown on Scandinavian PSBs is in English, they also show plenty of programmes in other languages that aren't as widespread. And although Scandinavians understand English very well. most will probably find it easier to follow the programme if they have subtitles to support them.

Yep - there is a significant population of Finns who speak Swedish as their first language - so it's not ideal to burn in Finnish subtitles and then overlay Swedish subtitles over the top. Better to have two streams either of which can be selected over a clean broadcast.


NRK are a mixed economy - but are doing clean broadcasts with optional Norwegian subtitles on some broadcasts. (I was there in early 2011)


Though pan-Nordic Viasat and Canal Digital Pay-TV have been doing optional subtitles with none burned in for years on the channels that broadcast to more than one Nordic country.

Yep - lots of non-English European drama broadcast.


Think that very much depends. I know a lot Swedish and Norwegian people who get annoyed by burned in subs because their English is more than good enough to watch without. (And often will be better than the subtitles...)

BBC Four are doing all of Europe a great service by introducing the UK to the best of Scandinavian drama series. The fact that the BBC are showing them is increasing their appeal in other countries, which will hopefully make other European broadcasters pick them up.

Perhaps we'll get something decent from France, Germany, the Netherlands or Spain that can also air successfully on BBC Four, and we'll get a bit closer to a point were language is less of an issue when sharing great drama within Europe.

Sky could also help out by letting Sky Atlantic jump the bandwagon. There's still a back catalogue of good Danish drama that hasn't aired on UK television.



They seem to treat that as a necessity more than a feature. For example, once a Pan-Nordic channel gets divided into local versions for different countries, they are usually quick to burn in the subtitles.



For those who are curious, here's a table showing from which countries acquired programmes shown on SVT came from:

http://i47.tinypic.com/oghybn.png

From here.

Would love to see the same table for the BBC.

I was there in April this year, and yes 'clean' English programmes, with optional English and Norwegian subtitles via DVB options.

It's not just Scandinavian drama on BBC4. They have already shown three series of the brilliant Spiral which is French and Inspector Montalbano from Italy since 2008. I believe they have a German drama to show soon.