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“Ahhh voice-overs!”
Top Gear. By far my favorite show on television. The only British show I can stand. The only motor show I can stand. And unfortunately, a show to avoid because it’s not dubbed in German, and German is my main language for media nowadays (remember?). And still I can’t get the three fuglies Jeremy, James and Richard out of my head.
So I caved. Yes, I’m weak. Don’t worry, I’ve still got the German version… more or less. Hm… okay I need to talk about this.
Some idiot in Germany thought it was a good idea to put a voice-over track in the German version of Top Gear instead of professionally dub the show like every normal human being would do. Maybe they sniffed too much glue or something.
I hate voice-overs. When my father-in-law switches over to Polish television (he’s Polish, obviously), everyone flees. Seriously, they flee, run like hell, an exodus starts. Every normal human being hates voice-overs. It’s cheap, it’s confusing, it’s just plain wrong. Only glue sniffers and Poles can stand it.
It’s… a horror to watch the German version of Top Gear. But… must… watch. Yes, yes, YES Ramses! BE STRONG!
Where was I? Ah yes, the horror. It’s not all horror, there’s actually a bright side to voice-overs. Not for me, but I can see it benefit some people out there.
When you speak absolutely zero German (not me, I rock, I’m Dutch so I understand a buttload), watching reality shows, Mythbusters, Top Gear, etc. will help you a lot. No subtitles are needed but you can still pick up a lot from the things they say right before the voice-over starts and right after it ends. Often just one or two words are needed to understand what they’re saying.
Is it confusing? Hell yes! But I know your brain is strong and will eventually adjust. It’ll be fine, it’ll stop rejecting the voice-over and give in if you feed it enough. The pain is worth it if you speak no German at all, because soon you’ll be able to watch dubbed shows in German and soon after that it’s original shows all the way.
Don’t believe me? I don’t care! Just try it out.
Latest posts by Ramses (see all)
- Accents: What the fudge is your problem? - March 30, 2013
- The Problem Is Not The Problem - January 18, 2013
- The Horror and Greatness of German Voice-Over - January 8, 2013
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8 Comments…
I discovered that horror the first time I tried to watch Mythbusters in Spanish. I just can’t tune out the English! I can hear English underneath the Spanish! It was totally unwatchable and I’m not going to try it again. There’s too much out there that I can listen to completely en español.
This drives me nuts when I’m trying to watch the news in French. The second English comes on, even if it’s at 50% volume and buried by French, it’s still all I can hear.
Que HOROR!
Listening to overdubs as a high level learner is slightly more painful than getting neutered with a cheese grater.
what is the difference between voice overs and dubs exactlly?
With dubs, they remove the original dialogue so you only hear the L2. With voice overs, they play the L2 on top of the L1, so you hear both at the same time.
oh dang that would suck.
.. like the ones done in news broadcasts? the voice over? yes it would suck if done in a movie indeed