QuiteExtraordinary wrote:

It's probably deliberately chosen to point out the formal distance between the characters (so nobody gets a wrong idea and thinks they could be a couple ).
 

And it is, of course, absolutely necessary to keep it that way until the very end - even it's the grave where no-one would listen to your soliloqui.

I only watched a few scenes from the dubbed version but they already made me want to throw my laptop out of the window.
The scene where Molly talks to Sherlock in the lab - I just don't like the way they translated it at all.
To me "looking sad" means "traurig aussehen" (= the facial expression of the person indicates sadness), they translated it with "Sie gucken traurig", which just sounds so wrong. "Gucken" is an active verb, it indicates that Sherlock is looking (at something) in a sad way. Not that he himself is looking sad. And secondly "gucken" sounds somehow childlike - it's bit like "peeking", I think.
Maybe that's just my interpretation but it just sounds so wrong to me.
The same with Sherlock's note: When Sherlock says, "This phonecall, it's my note. That's what people do, don't they? Leave a note.", John replies with 'Leave a note when?'. The German equivalent of 'note' is a quite long word ("Abschiedsbrief" = "farewell letter"), so maybe they couldn't translate it properly without it being out of sync. But the translation they used it in the end just sounds utterly stupid. They let John ask, "Wie jetzt?", which is a very colloquial phrase indicating that you have no idea what is going on or that you simply can't believe what is happening. This phrasing is something I would expect teenager to use, not an itelligent adult.
These things make me think that the translators just don't understand this beautiful language that we hear in this show. The way the characters phrase things just sounds nice and eloquent. The translation makes it sound a bit... brassy? (Not sure if that's the right word.)
 

Last edited by Lily (February 25, 2013 10:39 pm)

I suppose the use of polite form of address is a kind of tradition and translators just follow the established rule. It takes some courage to propose a new approach and it could be not so easy for a translator to impose their idea if the broadcasting policy is different. Italian language became very informal over last decades (people will often use informal "tu" even in a shop or a restaurant - personally I am not all that happy about being addressed in this way be a waiter or a shop assistant but this is the trend) and Italian films also use it freely. In dubbing however, polite form is always predominant and of course it can have relevant influence on the entire perception of a character/situation. In Sherlock's case changing Holmes/Watson into Sherlock/John relationship was a deliberate shift operated by M&G and very importanto for the interpretation of their friendship. I am curious about Spanish and French version.
And what about the titles of the episodes? Some were easy, but the Reichenbach Fall and Hounds of Baskerville were very problematic: there is no way to use ambiguity of "Falls" and "Fall" in Italian and they just left "Cascate di Reichenbach" (Reichenbach Falls) which makes no sense whatsoever. HoB became "Demoni di Baskerville" (Demons of Baskerville), but Henry Knights talks about the footprints of "mastino" (mastiff): not really archaic word, but established in Italian translations of ACD (and quite similar to the dog we actually see in the end of the episode).

The whole German dubbing is tiring. I couldn't watch it with someone in German, I'd always try to explain what the more reasonable translation would be. I'm sure they did their best, but I'm so relieved that I'm able to understand English. Poor souls who don't!

Benedicts German voice is weird, the accent is so exaggerated.

I asked a friend to watch at least "Reichenbach" in English. She did and said the emotions are much more insistent, what a voice alone can do!

What really annoys me is that the on screen text on the German dvd can't be changed to English. So even when I watch it in English the texts are still in German. I didn't know that when I bought season one. I think I will sell the dvd some day and buy the English version instead.

Maybe it's not that bad but I just don't like dubbing in general.
I always feel like the people who are responsible for the dubbing don't do the show justice, like they don't put enough effort in it and make mistakes that would have been preventable. And that just hurts me because I really love this show and it's as if it was ripped to pieces.

Is there a web page where I could find German script? It would be really excting to read it.
I agree that formal/informal forms of address are very important and used deliberately in the film: for example in HoB John calls Lestrade "Greg" - obviously they moved to an informal friendship, while Sherlock doesn't even know Lestrade's first name and calls him "inspector" (It's his... Asperger speaking )

Jokes are always culturally contextualised they are therefore very difficult, if not impossible, to translate. Sometimes they are based on plays on words which just will not work in an alternative language. At other times they are based upon some kind of social norm or attitude which will not always apply in another country and another language.

True. Anyway, I've got no idea how to translate it more accurately... for me it seems like a typical slang you can't translate to german word by word, or am I wrong?

Okay, that would be a better translation imo, but I assume it wouldn't match the lips. Difficult thing.