At last. It was about time! - English-Thread #1

[drunken monkey]

Well, I rarely go to the cinema at all, so this doesn't really bug me that much. I do prefer the original version (OK, only as long as it's English, of course.), too, though. But mostly watching films on DVD or … *cough* other OV channels … => problem solved. ^^"" When I do go to the cinema, it's mostly for the company, and then I get overruled to watch the German version in most cases anyways. <__<"
So, yeah, original versions >> dubs, but I don't really have that problem. I tend to have the discussion more often than actually having to watch a dubbed film in the cinema. XD
Oh, and the situation isn't really that much better in Vienna, I guess. We have a few cinemas dedicated to original versions, but apart from that there's also very little offered by the other cinemas in that respect.

[~Jack~]

I don't really care about watching movies in english unless they're heavy on jokes (like Discworld where many translations sound way too ridiculous ... Jonathan Teatime - Jonathan Kaffeetrinken ... seriously?)
In a way I actually prefer german because many english movies tend to have a music track that sometimes nearly drowns out the voices so I have a hard time understanding what's being said.
Witnessed this again while watching watching movies with Byder a few days ago.

But there's one medium where I will always prefer english and that is games because I've heard way too many bad synchros. It's like they're not even trying to make it sound good.

[Moyaccercchi]

Concerning movies I had a shocking experience yesterday... as some of you know I participate in couchsurfing, like, a lot. A LOT! So right now I'm having a German and a Japanese guy sleeping over at my place, and yesterday we decided to watch a movie. I suggested Lilya 4-ever, due to it being totally awesome and amazening and stuff like that. =)
Well, I put the DVD into my computer, I click on languages... and... WTF? This is, I think, the only movie that I actually ever bought on DVD. And now I see the fucking reason: On this stupid German DVD are only German subtitles. Way to go if you want to watch a movie in Russian and Swedish with a Japanese person who doesn't understand a word of German. >__>''
I mean, seriously, I paid money for that (!!!), and then they don't even manage to put fucking English subtitles on the disc? I'm not talking about dubbing the whole thing, but there should be enough place for a textfile. GNAAAH.

(Oh, and university is killing me... who again was that genius having the idea of studying maths? ...)

[Turgon]

Its back from page 3, the English-Thread!!
@last topic:
I like to watch movies in english. Some jokes are just better, for example in How I Met Your Mother.
Some good movies aren't translated, so you have to watch them in english, like Honeydripper, which I havent seen, but the trailer is just pure awesomeness for me
The Sons Of Anarchy series seems to be good too and its not translated, although it was aired in 2008 O.o
I think, I start watching this series...
Whatever...I'm too tired to write much in english^^

[Ryo Descard]

Watching movies in English is usually pretty awesome. I like the sound of the english language way more than that of the german language.
However, for a series, I usually stay with the language in which I first encountered it. Animes in Japanase, with english subtitles, series I know from the internet usually in english and TV-Series preferable in german.

Also: Why the heck was this thread on page 3? Didn´t even know of it´s existance. Way to go Qfrat :/

[Karl]

I usually prefer the original language of most books or movies, but I dont mind german localisation too much (except, of course, when its loveless or downright stupid). What seems to be a big problem in adapting movies, book, whatsoever to anouther country, is the fact, that most of the voice actors just try to copy the style of the original voice. While some succeed, most of them fail - for example (female) german voice actors who try to copy the japanese ones. It just dont work out.

This week I read the novel 'New York' from Edward Rutherfurd. Normally I prefer fantasy, but in preparation for my abitur I started to read the historical novel, since one topic is 'new york' (under the greater topic of 'living in the metropolis'). First I though, I wouldnt handle a 1000 page chunk about an american city without exploding mechas or at least farting dragons. But I really like it, I even stared to think that most of the novels I read and loved before are just better chunk.

[BDraw]

I tend to stick to whatever language I read the book or watched the movie in first, simply because it makes it easier to understand references. The last time I noticed that was when I read the last volume of Harry Potter. Due to the great localization in German, I recognized next to none of the spells or made-up words at first. (Even though "to disappear" made a whole lot of more sense than "disapparrieren". Well, duh.) ._.
However, I prefer Sitcoms in their original language. Especially the ones like How I met your Mother oder Big Bang Theory, because there are so many puns that are hard to translate that they tend to get lost in the process of localization, even though I think that the dub is actually quite good.

What seems to be a big problem in adapting movies, book, whatsoever to anouther country, is the fact, that most of the voice actors just try to copy the style of the original voice. While some succeed, most of them fail - for example (female) german voice actors who try to copy the japanese ones. It just dont work out.

...

That's something I only found in anime localizations thus far. I think it wouldn't be so bad if they chose a certain style and stuck with it at least, but in a lot of cases, every voice actor pronounces names differently. :/

By the way, did anyone of you read Eragon in English? I noticed that the last volume had a few chapters that sounded really odd in German, as if someone translated them simply word-for-word without paying attention to the style. I'd really like to know whether it really was the translator's fault or simply Paolini's writing being beyond words. :/

[Olman]

By the way, did anyone of you read Eragon in English? I noticed that the last volume had a few chapters that sounded really odd in German, as if someone translated them simply word-for-word without paying attention to the style. I'd really like to know whether it really was the translator's fault or simply Paolini's writing being beyond words. :/

...

I read parts 1-3 in English. Haven't bothered with the latest volume yet though. Would you recommend reading it?
I usually make a point of finishing a series of novels once I've started it, since otherwise all the time spent on reading (and, in my case, re-reading the first volumes) seems wasted if you don't find out how it all ends. But in the case of Inheritance, I'm not keen on reading it if it turns out to be a total let-down, as some people have said...

[BDraw]

If you're really keen on knowing how it ends, then read it. I wouldn't recommend buying it for any other reason, though. :/
Well, it's vastly different compared to the series' beginning, mainly because of Roran getting lots of action and Eragon doing nothing. It's a bit like volume 3: Lots of war and tactics, but only little interaction between the main characters. If you enjoyed Brisingr, there's a good chance you'll like this one as well.
However, the ending is easily the most anti-climatic thing I've ever read. So if you're mainly interested in just how Eragon will manage to finally defeat Galbatorix and don't care about the rest - stay away from the book.
Just about every single plottwist was also beyond bad. Deus Ex Machina seems to be the author's middle name.
Angela plays an important role, however, and she's great. Stupidly broken in terms of power and completely irrelevant to the story for the most part, but great none the less.

Angela: "Oh noez, these bloody shackles are unbreakable! But incidentally, I've got this totally awesome sword with me that can cut through virtually everything except it's own scabbard! My, aren't we lucky today!" *ca-tching!*

[Turgon]

The only book I read in english, was the fourth book of "The Runelords", because the first three were published in german, but the fourth not.
So I had to read this one in english to know how the first saga ends.
I also read the the first "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"-Comic and Watchmen, which are really good!
If you like the Watchmen movie, you like the comic too, I think, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is completely different to the movie, but also a lot of fun to read.
Well ok, I had to use an online dictionary very often, but it was worth it

[Glannaragh]

First book I read in English was "Lord of the Rings"... during my English advanced course, while wie were made watching movies in German. Best A-level preparation imaginable . Well, my teacher was a bloke. Honestly.

[Turgon]

When I read Lord of the Rings in german, I thought it's hard to read(well I was pretty young then).
So I don't want to know how difficult the english version is^^'
A friend of mine watched the movies in english in preperation for his english abitur.

Edit: Well I have to add that those three books, I mentioned, were the first books I read by my choice.
Which book was the very first I dont remember. The only thing for sure is that it was some boring book, we had to read in the english class...