|
|
|
| ||||
Country or region | Well known films | Dubbing or subtitles? | ||
NORTH AMERICA | ||||
USA | You've probably seen Star Wars, ET, Home Alone, Casablanca, and Snow White. If you're under forty, add Blazing Saddles, Terminator, Jaws, and 2001; otherwise, add Gone with the Wind, A Night at the Opera, Psycho, and Citizen Kane. | You'd rather a film be subtitled than dubbed (if you go to foreign films at all). | ||
ALASKA | You've probably seen Star Wars, ET, Home Alone, Casablanca, and Snow White. If you're under forty, add Blazing Saddles, Terminator, Jaws, and 2001; otherwise, add Gone with the Wind, A Night at the Opera, Psycho, and Citizen Kane. Speaking of movies, you're probably rather irked that most films taking place in "Alaska" are actually made in Canada. | You'd rather a film be subtitled than dubbed (if you go to foreign films at all). | ||
LONG ISLAND, USA |
| None of the theatres around here show foreign films, except that place in Huntington you've never been to. You might be willing to see one if it were dubbed instead of subtitled the way snobs prefer it. | ||
LOUISIANA, USA |
| You don't see many foreign films outside of French class in high school; so it doesn't matter whether they're dubbed or subtitled. | ||
TEXAS, USA |
|
| ||
CANADA | You hardly watch anything but Hollywood movies. You know of Canadian directors, but you are more concerned with Canadian actors who went to the US to become stars, and you like to tell Americans about all of them (like Jim Carrey). British movies are more popular than in the US, but overall you don't watch anything that isn't American. It is exciting for you when Canada is mentioned in an American movie (or even a British movie). | You'd rather see a subtitled movie than a dubbed one, especially if it's a French movie. | ||
BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA | You've probably seen Star Wars, ET, Home Alone, Casablanca, Titanic, Blazing Saddles, Terminator, Jaws, and 2001. | You'd rather a film be dubbed than subtitled (if you go to foreign films at all). | ||
ONTARIO, CANADA | American moviemakers often film in Toronto and try to pass it off as a American city. You see mostly American movies, and although there is an international film festival in Toronto every year, you wouldn't bother to go to it, especially if you don't live there. If you live in a small town or village, you might not be able to see current movies until a few weeks or months after they have been released, unless you go to a bigger theatre in a bigger town. Canadian movies set in Ontario are made by people you've never heard of, or the National Film Board, and in either case you probably won't see them. |
| ||
QUEBEC, CANADA | You see every French-Canadian movie, and many of the imports from France. | American movies are dubbed in Québec. Many Québécois have never heard Tom Cruise's real voice. If your English is good, however, you prefer to see the original version. | ||
LATIN AMERICA | ||||
BRAZIL |
| You see foreign (mostly American) films subtitled, never dubbed, except for children's movies. | ||
COLOMBIA | You've probably seen Star Wars, ET, Home Alone, and Snow White. If you're under forty, add Terminator, Jaws, and 2001; otherwise, add Gone with the Wind, The Sound of Music, and several Mexican Ranchera movies. A European Movie might be a foreign movie but a Hollywood movie is just a movie. A Colombian movie is a national movie, and you probably remember La Estrategia del Caracol and Golpe de Estadio from the recent times, and the movies of Carlos El Gordo Benjumea from a little while ago. | You'd rather a film be subtitled than dubbed, except for the most popular films aimed to young publics. You won't call a Hollywood made film a foreign film. | ||
MEXICO (URBAN) | If under 25, you've probably seen El crimen del padre Amaro, Sexo, pudor y lágrimas, Jackass The Movie, Resident Evil, Titanic, Jurassic Park, The Phantom Menace, The Attack of the Clones, The Fifth Element, Goldeneye 007... | You prefer watching a captioned movie instead of a dubbed one, since most films you see are American and the dubbing is often awful-- or sometimes because you prefer to listen to Pierce Brosnan's true voice and not someone else's. | ||
EUROPE | ||||
AUSTRIA |
| You'd rather a film be dubbed than subtitled, unless it's something more intellectually challenging than the latest Hollywood "let's see if we can explode Kuwait's entire annual oil output in just one movie" type of film. You love to complain about the quality of subtitle translations, if you watch such films that is. | ||
FINLAND | You've probably seen Casablanca, Sound of Music and/or ET, perhaps something by Ingmar Bergman and Aki Kaurismäki. If under 40 (and maybe in other cases, too), add a lot of American action and romance, from Terminator and Rambo through Star Wars to Titanic. If not (and maybe even if yes), add several films directed by people like Teuvo Tulio, Valentin Vaala or Hannu Leminen -- or Jörn Donner, or Spede Pasanen, for that matter. If you consider yourself an intellectual, you have seen some French and Italian films, maybe even German ones! | Films are subtitled, never dubbed (except those for young children). | ||
FRANCE | You've probably seen La Folie des Grandeurs, Les Visiteurs, Casablanca, ET .... If under 40, add Terminator, Rambo #n, and other Hollywood junk. If not, add several films with Bourvil, Gabin, Fernandel, ..., Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, ... | You'd rather a film be dubbed than subtitled (but enough people disagree that films are often available both in VF (version française) and VO (version originale). | ||
BRITTANY, FRANCE |
| All foreign movies are dubbed, excepted in some "cultural" programs, where they can be subtitled. Breton language programs are subtitled | ||
GERMANY | You've probably seen Casablanca. If you're under forty, add Star Wars, ET, Terminator, Das Boot and Jaws; otherwise, add Gone with the Wind, Feuerzangenbohle and Psycho. | You'd rather a film be dubbed than subtitled, except for some art films. If you're an intellectual or a dedicated fan of a particular foreign film or TV series, you complain about the quality of the translations. | ||
GREECE | You're familiar with Thanasis Veggos, Aliki Vougiouklaki, G. Dalianidis' films, and a whole series of black and white films dating from the late '50's to the early '70's. | On television, films are usually subtitled. In movie theaters, they are also subtitled. Latin-American soap-operas are dubbed though. | ||
ITALY | You've probably seen Guerre stellari, ET, Ladri di biciclette, Titanic and La vita è bella. If you're under forty, add Lo squalo, Rocky/Rambo #N, and 2001: Odissea nello spazio; otherwise, add Via col vento, Psycho, Poveri ma belli, Don Camillo and I soliti ignoti. | Foreign films are dubbed by real actors. You often recognize who is doing the dubbing by his/her voice. | ||
NETHERLANDS | You've probably seen Turks Fruit, Flodder, All Stars, De Lift and Soldaat van Oranje. If you're under forty, add Lang Leve de Koningin and most Disney movies. Otherwise, add Fanfare, Ciske de Rat en De Aanslag. | Dubbing is for kids. All movies and TV series are subtitled, except for the Dutch ones. | ||
POLAND | You've probably seen Star Wars, ET, Home Alone, Casablanca, and Snow White. If you're under forty, add Blazing Saddles, Terminator, Jaws, and 2001; otherwise, add Gone with the Wind. Then add Kapitan Kloss, Alternatywy 4, Czterej Pancerni i Pies, Psy, Ogniem i Mieczem, Nad Niemnem, Potop. Most of these films are about wars and uprisings. | Films are subtitled in cinemas. Films on TV have the script read by an announcer over the actors' voices. Many people think this is silly. Dubbing is for cartoons. | ||
SWEDEN | You have probably seen the Hollywood films that were fit to export and then again some. You will have seen several films by Ingemar Bergman and, for laughs, films by Lasse Åberg. Lasse Hallström made a few films here before he went to Hollywood. | Foreign films are subtitled. Dubbing is for children. | ||
ENGLAND, UK | You have a slightly chauvinistic pride in the success of British films like Four Weddings, The Full Monty and the Nick Park animations. You disapprove of Hollywood distortions of history, a la Private Ryan. You've seen and enjoyed all the old American movies like Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Psycho, The Great Escape and (for the grandmothers) Gone with the Wind, but you thought that Titanic was pathetic. |
| ||
YORKSHIRE, UK | You have a slightly chauvinistic pride in the success of British films set in Yorkshire such as Brassed Off, The Full Monty and Calendar Girls. You disapprove of Hollywood distortions of history, a la Private Ryan. You've seen and enjoyed all the old American movies like Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Psycho, The Great Escape and (for the grandmothers) Gone with the Wind, but you thought that Titanic was pathetic. |
| ||
SCOTLAND, UK | You've probably seen Braveheart and Trainspotting, and maybe Local Hero, Gregory's Girl, and that one about the two teenage boys who rob coaches from a motorbike (update: it was called Restless Natives). Most of the films you've seen have been American. | You'd rather a film be subtitled than dubbed (if you go to foreign films at all). | ||
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND | ||||
AUSTRALIA | You've seen Picnic at Hanging Rock, Mad Max, Gallipoli, Crocodile Dundee, Young Einstein, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Muriel's Wedding, The Castle, Strictly Ballroom and maybe even 40,000 Horsemen. | You don't watch foreign (non-English language, that is...) films. | ||
NEW ZEALAND | You're familiar with all the US and British pop culture references relevant to your age group. Most of the movies you watch come from either the US or Britain. You have a slightly sheepish pride in the success of the New Zealand film industry. You're familiar with Came a Hot Friday, Once Were Warriors, The Piano, Bad Taste, Heavenly Creatures, Goodbye Pork Pie, Sleeping Dogs, and The Navigator. |
| ||
ASIA | ||||
INDIA | The main characters of popular culture are gods of Hindu mythology. Depending on your demographic, you may also be familiar with movie stars such as Amitabh Bacchan, Rajesh Khanna, Madhuri Dixit, Hrithik Roshan, Rajanikanth, Mohanlal or any of many others. | You do not watch any foreign films. | ||
CHINA | You've probably seen ShaoLin Temple, Red Jowar, East Bubai, Telephone, and Hero. If you are under forty, add Dàhuà Xiyóu, Bet Deity, Story of Policeman, Feihóng Huáng, New Longmen Inn; otherwise, add Love Story on Lu Shan, Guest from Ice Mountain, Grazier, and Lightning Storm. | You'd rather a film be subtitled than dubbed (if you go to foreign films at all). | ||
JAPAN |
| Foreign films are always subtitled, except for films for children. On television, though, they're always dubbed, except for those artsy European films shown in the small hours. Japanese films aren't all that bad, but their low budgets show through, and you can see the same stars in TV dramas anyway, so why bother? | ||
AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST | ||||
NIGERIA |
| All your films are dubbed. | ||
SOUTH AFRICA | You've probably seen The Gods Must Be Crazy, The Mummy, everything Charlize Theron has been in, the Star Wars films, Titanic, The Matrix and The Sixth Sense. If you're over 30 you've probably also seen Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, Rebel Without a Cause, Superman and E.T. You know who Marilyn Monroe was, even if you've never seen one of her movies. | You'd rather a film be subtitled than dubbed, but you're used to dubbing from the 'old days' and brag about South African dubbing being very good. Generally, however, you don't watch 'foreign' films (for 'foreign', read, 'Anything that doesn't come out of Hollywood'). | ||
ISRAEL | Movies are a treat, and you go occasionally. | You'd rather a film be subtitled than dubbed, and the best films are foreign ones, specifically American ones. | ||
TURKEY | You've probably seen Star Wars, Top Gun, Home Alone, the Doors. Chances are you have not seen a domestic movie in years. | On television, films are usually dubbed. In movie theaters, they are subtitled-- and usually mistranslated. You think that reading subtitles is an ordeal. | ||
SUBCULTURES | ||||
FIRST GENERATION IMMIGRANT |
| Thankfully foreign films are either subtitled or dubbed depending on your magnet country. That being said, in the first weeks / months / years even, while you are learning the vernacular of your new home, you try to see films in your mother tongue (lucky for those who speak English since Hollywood represents >70% of the films screened in most countries) |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|