This post is going to be all about translating of series and movies. First of all you need to know that I like it a lot to watch them and usually also loads of them. (except when I have to study for some big exam/s). Accordingly, I have already seen some mistakes in translating (that is my opinion, maybe other people do see it differently) like:
- wrong usage of "Sie"-form in German movies and series which have been translated from the English. As we all know, there is nothing like the polite phrase in the English language but in the German language there is. As a result there are a lot mistakes happening in translation all the time. For example:
- Breaking Bad: Despite the fact that Jesse and Walter White know each other for a long time, he is still calling him “Mr. White” like in former times at school. Therefore, it should be “Sie, Mr White” and not “du, Mr. White” because if we speak to our teachers in school in Austria or Germany we always say “Sie”. That is the reason why this combination does not work for me. It is like a combination of the personal and the impersonal form of address.
- I have seen this problem also in a lot of movies and books, where the people are still saying “Sie” even though they know each other already some time. That is why it would sound better and also more personal in the German version if they would already say “du”.
- As well as that I have noticed this mistake the other way round. The people say “du” even though it would sound more polite to say “Sie”.
- “native” languages: Another thing that seems very funny to me is, when I am watching a series in English and then they are suddenly speaking German which is supposed to be “native German” but the grammar is not correct and there are also some English words mixed by. For example:
- Scrubs: On of the main characters - Elliot speaks German with a “native German” patient (link). The grammar of the patient and his brother is completely wrong, there are some English words mixed by and they are hard to understand. It seems to me like the main point for the director of the series was to make it just sound like native German for non native speakers. Elliot is speaking better German than the “native Germans” and also the grammar is correct. Be that as it may, it is still very entertaining to see the Scrubs characters talk German. Here are some other links of Elliot speaking German:
- Scrubs (German): Another aspect I would like to focus on is that Elliot can speak Danish in the German version of the series. I think they have done it very well in this example because it would definitely feel weird if they all would be talking in German but still the colleagues would ask Elliot to translate what the patient is saying. If this translation and dubbing sounds native tor Danes is a question I cannot answer. Do you speak Danish? Does it sound native to you?
For sure, I could give you plenty more examples of mistakes I have noticed over the past few years watching all kinds of series and movies but I hope that these examples gave you an overview. Bye. -J
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