English cartoons that can't be dubbed....

[Xerus]

I was wondering, are there any English speaking cartoons that can't be dubbed in other languages?

The Electric Company's Letterman series deals with changing English words. So that would probably be hard to dub in other languages, not to mention changing the storylines.

And in Word World, all the characters and things are made of English words, so it would probably be hard to dub and change the characters' bodies into other languages.

 

[Drtooth]

You're thinking of things that can't translate correctly, right? There's a lot of stuff that can't translate due to lack of interest or unreliability. I can list so many Japanese and European shows and movies that we'll never get (that I've seen... Nyah nyah! )due to the complications of rights, what's acceptable in this country, and general lack of interest...

We DO have a lot of our shows translated and made for other countries, and they'd somehow find a way to translate things...

Here's something... check out this Spanish Ernie and Bert skit... apparently it barely makes sense in Spanish, so they FORCED it to work. Instead of a Ten Q (Thank You) pun, the joke litterally translates to
"Ten (part of a word)? Ten this, ten that or ten something?" all words that begin with that word fragment in Spanish.

Now, I'd see Word World translated, BUT for the soul intention of teaching English, and just saying the character names and the words they make in English... Electric Company? That's what a co-production would be for... though I have yet to see SW make a co-production of TEC, even though I think it could work... either to teach English OR to teach the native language.

 

[Xerus]

Yes, that's what I was thinking, Dr.Tooth and thanks for the Spanish dubbed Ernie and Bert link. I also remember the cartoon about a guy bringing in A words, but in the Spanish version, they had to replace apple with a heart, an apron with a towel, an arrow with a harpoon, and an ashcan with some kind of armor.

I was wondering if they would reanimate Word World for other countries. Like in Spanish, they would make Cat, Gato. And make Dog, Perro who lives in a Casa instead of a House.


I remember a very old Pokemon episode where Ash dressed up like a cow making some kind of cow joke in Japanese. When they dubbed it into English, Ash asked Misty if she was looking for a Cowterpie.

I was wondering, if someday my Rebusquest cartoon gets animated, it might be hard for that to be shown in other countries because the rebus puzzles they find are made from English words.

 

[mr3urious]

Obviously, the many gags and word puns in Asterix are difficult to translate, so new ones are made instead. This can work out beautifully, such as Asterix's catch phrase "Those Romans are crazy!" translating literally as "Sono pazzi questi Romani!" in the Italian version, a play on the Roman initialism SPQR. There's also Dogmatix, whose original French name (Idéfix) means roughly the same (idée fixe [fixed idea] and dogmatic, which is an obsession with something).

I remember a very old Pokemon episode where Ash dressed up like a cow making some kind of cow joke in Japanese. When they dubbed it into English, Ash asked Misty if she was looking for a Cowterpie.

Yeah, Misty shouts "mushi" (bug) while Ash thinks she meant "ushi" (cow).

 

[Drtooth]

I remember a very old Pokemon episode where Ash dressed up like a cow making some kind of cow joke in Japanese. When they dubbed it into English, Ash asked Misty if she was looking for a Cowterpie.

I almost felt sorry for the people who dubbed Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, but they manage to make EVERYTHING work, even if it was completely overAmericanized... Anytime I see a dead on subtitled translation of something, there's 5 editor's notes on the screen saying "This means that and sounds like something else." I think there was a move on Ultimate Muscle called a "Choke Sleeper" and one of the characters drew a chalk Slipper... can't remember if they kept that in or changed it or what.

 

[mr3urious]

Here's something... check out this Spanish Ernie and Bert skit... apparently it barely makes sense in Spanish, so they FORCED it to work. Instead of a Ten Q (Thank You) pun, the joke litterally translates to
"Ten (part of a word)? Ten this, ten that or ten something?" all words that begin with that word fragment in Spanish

The Dutch version changes up the lesson for "Grow High Grow Low" for some reason: They make it about plant colors instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXzTteiC3-E

 

[Yorick]

My friend told me about a pokemon scene with a riceball that became a donut in the american version. Sorry if I messed up the story of the translation, but if someone wants to explain, it was funny!

 

[Drtooth]

Ah, that's 4Kids being all "culturally ambiguous" again (actual words I was once told by one of their voice actors). Now, I'm not one of those anime fans that whine, complain, or moan about how evil that company is (mismanaged, yes... and it was just as much Toei's fault as theirs that Funimation didn't get One Piece until later)... besides, Harmony Gold... just the mere mention sends shudders down my spine.

But yes, 4kids has a history of making sure Japanese cartoons that kids know are from Japan and are even referred to as anime by the company not Japanese. Japanese food items are either relabeled (or even recolored digitally) to be American foods, like the infamous cookie touch up in One Piece.

That isn't so much a translation issue as a covering up the fact it's from another country issue... which STILL makes no sense.

 

[mr3urious]

Even worse is when 4kids blows all their Pokédollars on digital paint to erase Japanese and even English text on signs because "kids today don't read". Well, aren't you exacerbating the problem that way?

My friend told me about a pokemon scene with a riceball that became a donut in the american version. Sorry if I messed up the story of the translation, but if someone wants to explain, it was funny!

Also, notice the way Eric Stuart (Brock) delivers his line here, almost as if he's making fun of the writing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9Srh6pyyFs

 

[Drtooth]

Even worse is when 4kids blows all their Pokédollars on digital paint to erase Japanese and even English text on signs because "kids today don't read". Well, aren't you exacerbating the problem that way?

I dunno why the guy's even in charge of anything. That said, what they did for TMNT was a boon to turtledom (considering new He-Man was a flop) I'm at a loss to really dislike them.

That said, Nintendo made WAAAAAY more money than 4Kids did on the series.