It really gets me how incredible bad people in the European countries south of Scandinavia are at english. I believe they have just as many english lessons in school as we have, but they don't hear the english language near as often as we do. Why? Because they are dubbing all the American movies and TV series into their own languages. The Scandinavian countries on the other hand are always using undertexts on TV instead of dubbing, and that's why we are so good at english. I can say for my own part that at least 80% of my english comes from watching TV.

I think that EU should restrict the use of TV dubbing to a maximum of 50% in all the member countries. Doing that would really benefit the communication, tourism and economics in the whole European Union.

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It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

I say no. Let market forces dictate what the broadcasting companies do. When I want to read, which I usually do rather than watching TV, I read. If I don't feel like reading, I just want to get mindlessly absorbed into a program and not have to read subtitles and I bet many people feel the same way. Most people look towards TV as an outlet and not a source of education.

It's not just the Scandinavian countries that do not use dubbing. Holland and the flemish part of Belgium use subtitles, as does ARTE. French speaking Belgium and France use dubbing all the time though.

I agree dubbing is a horrible thing. Not only for the reasons you mentioned but also because it takes away from the experience of the movie. You should hear the French Gandalf

I disagree though that this should be addressed by the EU. Each channel should decide for themselves based on the reaction of their viewers.

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"Say not, 'When I have free time I shall study'; for you may perhaps never have any free time"
Hillel the Elder

It isn't always bad. It has gotten much better over the years and technology will continue to improve it and make it even more seamless.

Whoever did the German dubbing of the Simpsons did a good job of bringing the character's personalities out in their voices.

For cartoons, that might work, yes.
But a class actor like Ian McKellen (or whomever) with a voice other than his own, no. That's half of the acting gone from the performance.

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"Say not, 'When I have free time I shall study'; for you may perhaps never have any free time"
Hillel the Elder

We are only dubbing cartoons and children movies in Scandinavia because its necessary for the kids, not the Simpsons and the good old WB cartoons. It would really be horrific to hear them speak danish.

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It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

The quality of dubbing aside, legislation such as this is beginning infringe on free speech, and that is something that is under no circumstances desirable. Once you start telling how TV stations can broadcast their material, you are setting precedent which could allow the EU to ban certain material.

I don't think the widespread nature of English is a good thing. This is how languages and cultures die out.

In Britain, languages are becoming a smaller and smaller minority interest, as the Government and populace arrogantly assumes that everyone in the world can, and should, speak English.

People in the UK should be made to learn other languages, instead of expecting to hear English everywhere.

I know the domination of US culture and media shows is mostly to blame, but i don't see why foreign language programmes shouldn't be shown in the UK at least, and say, French and German at least being given a level footing on signs etc., as they are in Europe.

I personally prefer the original version if I understand it. But I don't have a problem with dubbing. Today, people should be free to choose which version they want to see. That's the great advantage of most DVDs. Though it's kind of odd to hear Tony Soprano speaking German, at least if you know the original version.

There is a language thread running I believe already on "English should become the official language of the EU", now we have a thread running "EU should restrict the use of TV dubbing" so that people speak better English ...

Unless somedy knows, the EU is actually promoting multilingualism in Europe.

"Our policy of official multilingualism as a deliberate tool of government is unique in the world. The EU sees the use of its citizens’ languages as one of the factors which make it more transparent, more legitimate and more efficient.

At the level of culture and of enhancing the quality of life, too, the EU works actively to promote the wider knowledge and use of all its official languages throughout the Union."

http://europa.eu/languages/en/home

Regarding dubbing, it is an economic decision of the broadcaster. It is very costly. Even sub-titling is very costly. Only films with a slight chance to be sold abroad get sub-titles, with a higher chance get dubbing.

Usually if broadcasters chose the most expensive option, it is because they actually want their shows to be looked at ! And they know their market. Only in Scandinavian countries is it uneconomical to do so because the markets are much too small and the Scandinavian languages so close to English that it is easy for most people to learn it as a "foreign language".

The same goes in publishing and translations. The Scandinavian markets are so small that even some school books are in English. Really, English is the second language in these countries.

Because, if this is very true that the Scandinavian countries are very good at english, it is equally true that they are bad at all other 17* official languages of the Union.




(* not English, not Swedish, not Danish ... Norwegian not being part of the EU)

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______________________Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.”___________________Alexander Solzhenitsyn

I dont see a link between free speech and the TV channels right to dub everything. Especially not if they are still allowed to dub 50% of everything they show.

__________________

It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

It is defacto censorship. If the public wants to watch American programming, but don't speak english well enough to fully understand, and broadcasters are not permitted to broadcast as much as they want in english, you are installing restrictions on what can be broadcast.

Encouraging english language broadcasting will not encourage people to learn english. There are millions of people in the U.S. who don't speak english yet television is probably 99% english.

There should be no political decisions on whether anything should be dubbed or have subtitles. It is simply not a thing which the politicians have any reason to decide upon.

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President Josiah Bartlet: Sweden has a 100% literacy rate. 100%! How do they do that?
Leo McGarry: Maybe they don't and they can't add.

Well, the costs of dubbing may have played a part decades ago, but these days, broadcasting companies whose market is Scandinavia would not want to broadcast dubbed programmes even if it would be much cheaper than subtitled. People in Scandinavia are used to subtitles and believe it takes away less of the original film etc. than dubbing, so they want everything subtitled rather than dubbed. It does not matter whether a film is in English, French, Chinese, or any other language, people in Scandinavia rather see it with subtitles than dubbed.

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President Josiah Bartlet: Sweden has a 100% literacy rate. 100%! How do they do that?
Leo McGarry: Maybe they don't and they can't add.

In the hypothetical event dubbed programmes would become cheaper, I don't know what the broadcasting companies would chose to do ... These companies are by no means philantropic, they have their profit in sight, not culture, not protection of minority languages, not dissemination of knowledge ... If the EU, let say, were financing dubbed programmes, why would they refuse ??? If the people in Scandinavia have got "used to it" one way, they would surely get used to it the other way, wouldn't they ..?

It is sadly so that most people simply chose the easiest way.

In fact, unwillingly, you have just proven my point. That languages are very weak beings. It is not so that they survive on their own by general usage, on the contrary they are extremely easy to kill by political measures. This may not be apparent within one generation because they die "à petit feu", very slowly, yet very surely, "minor" languages replaced by prestigious languages ... Why is it important, why should we care by the way ?

English is becoming the second language in Scandinavian countries.* Programmes in English, undubbed films, insufficient book translations, use of English textbooks at school, Abba sings in English ... When will Stinberg only be read in English in order to[this will be the reason given] "improve the Student's English written skills" ? The Scandinavians, by the way, have a lot to gain from this overtake : an opening to the outside world, a participation as small countries in the world of the Mighty.

(* ps. In contrast, French and Chinese are what you can call "foreign languages".)

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______________________Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.”___________________Alexander Solzhenitsyn