Posted by tobeornot221b May 17, 2012 4:47 am | #1 |
Tonight, May 17th, 20.15 CEST, S2/E1 will finally air on Das Erste in Germany.
I'll try to approach it in an impartial and unprejudiced way…
And I'm afraid I won't be able to spare you my thoughts on it afterwards…
Last edited by tobeornot221b (May 17, 2012 11:28 am)
Posted by jenosborn May 17, 2012 5:35 am | #2 |
I really look forward to your comments on this version!
Posted by Davina May 17, 2012 10:17 am | #3 |
This might sound about weird but...I really like the German word 'scandal'! It just sounds so much more scandalous than 'scandal'.
Posted by Davina May 17, 2012 10:19 am | #4 |
Blinking auto-correct AGAIN! Should read 'skandal'.
Posted by m0r1arty May 17, 2012 4:21 pm | #5 |
Don't tease tobeornot,
I'm very interested in seeing how our walesc Teuton cousins receive the story.
Do tell!
-m0r
Posted by tobeornot221b May 17, 2012 6:06 pm | #6 |
10 minutes till Skandal.
I'd better be off here!
Laterz...
Posted by behie May 17, 2012 6:08 pm | #7 |
I am ready here to watch it (although I can't understand everything in German yet )
Posted by Davina May 17, 2012 6:25 pm | #8 |
Oh I am sure you will get all the important bits!
Posted by tobeornot221b May 17, 2012 8:33 pm | #9 |
After having "observed" rather than watched Skandal tonight (in my Bakerstreet shirt, with pencil and paper on my knees)
here's my first impression:
Very good:
Great value for TV licence fees
Absolute prime time slot (though on a bank holiday, maybe with lots of usual viewers off)
No editing due to adverts
No interruptions
Good:
The script in general
"I AM _ _ _ _ L O C K ED" thankfully wasn't translated into something German.
Surprising: "camera phone" = smart phone
"…it doesn't work" = " …das funktioniert nicht"
Bit not good:
DUBBING in general (but you can't escape dubbing on German TV; it's like being on the mercy of the weather)
Some translation mistakes: Mrs Hudson: "It stings" becomes "Das stinkt!" (it stinks…)
"Die Frau-Frau" doesn't feel right.
Irene's moan is dubbed: Now it doesn't sound erotic at all – it's so funny now, sounding as if someone has stepped onto Irene's toe.
Iceman = Eismann. That's also funny because Eismann in Germany is a well known supplier of deep frozen products.
A lot not good:
Sherlock and John continue in addressing each other formally – totally unworldly!
The dubbers sound all so similar. Mrs Hudson's and Molly's voices are really unpleasant. Lestrade has a voice that doesn't fit him.
The growing warmth and understanding in the relationship of Sherlock and John and Sherlock and Mrs Hudson can hardly be noticed. The whole atmosphere isn't true to the original.
Oh Benedict and Martin - I sooo missed your voices...!
All in all: Not as bad as I expected it to be.
But far from having addictive potential in German.
Viewer ratings to come.
Last edited by tobeornot221b (May 18, 2012 4:53 am)
Posted by behie May 17, 2012 9:27 pm | #10 |
tobeornot221b wrote:
Oh Benedict and Martin - I sooo missed your voices...!
So true!!
Posted by jenosborn May 17, 2012 10:02 pm | #11 |
But far from having addictive potential in German.
I wonder. It will be interesting to see how well it did in the ratings. And how many folks will be intrigued enough to check out the DVD original versions. I'll bet there are some German language speakers out there who were sherlocked anyway!
Thanks for the report! Wow for a show like this, with the sound and voices so key to its appeal, what's the harm in subtitles?
(Heck, I turn on the English subtitles anyway while watching it in English!)
Posted by Davina May 17, 2012 10:07 pm | #12 |
Warum? Why? Why? Did they dub Irene's moan. I am sure there are technical reasons but for the love of god...why? What's wrong with sub-titles? Or they assume like here in the Uak that people haven't got he patience and concentration for them. The error with translation for Mrs. Hudson is ridiculous! How much do the translators get paid? Die Frau Frau just won't come across the same. It's just like saying The Woman Woman.. The emphasis should be on 'Die' as in 'The' not on 'Woman' !!! In English this would change the whole intonation and therefore meaning of the phrase. It would become The WOMAN rather than THE woman. This then stresses her gender rather than her special individuality to Sherlock. Good translating is NOT just translating the words but to convey the original meaning etc.
As you expected the formal 'Sie' was kept, I really cannot understand why this was done. It is quite clear in the English version that John and Sherlock are now close friends, keeping their language formal is ridiculous and will unavoidably keep the tone of the piece formal too. This again comes down, in my opinion, to poor translation.
Such a shame that they couldn't have done a better job.
Posted by Irene Adler May 17, 2012 10:27 pm | #13 |
About the subtitle thing... here in Spain the main problem is that most people are too lazy or too slow reading and they don't like that and wouldn't admit it. I've got a lot of friends that say that reading distracts them a lot from the image and so on (I've never felt that way, but I've been a compulsive reader since my childhood and maybe that helps me a lot lo read and understand things fast).
On the other hand, most people say they can speak English but they really don't. And it's not only their fault. I can speak and write in English not thanks to what I learnt in school bust mostly thanks to watching movies and series in their original version and writing in forums like this one. I'm sure I make a lot of mistakes, but at least I try. If it wasn't for that, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to understand a word of Sherlock (or anyone for that matter).
I started with Spanish subtitles; when I got a bit more confident, I started watching things with English subtitles. And now I can watch a lot of things without subtitles and I get about a 90% of it without problems. And I enjoy the original voices (the only way you can truly know how good or not good is an actor's work) and the word-games, and all that stuff. Some things loose all their meaning when translated (the "I am Sherlocked" thing was pretty awful in Spanish).
Posted by m0r1arty May 18, 2012 1:30 am | #14 |
I'm doing the reverse of what you've done Irene.
My main 'problem' is that I have an accent like the people from the TV.
I'm not being rude, but sometimes it feels like I am.
I hope you understand
-m0r
Posted by Irene Adler May 18, 2012 8:41 am | #15 |
I'm sorry, mor, I don't really get what you mean... my beloved "language barriers" I guess...
When you say you're doing the reverse... do you mean you watch things dubbed? Or what is it you're saying? What's the problem with your accent?
And I don't think you're being rude, by the way.
Sorry for the question, but I really don't know what you're trying to tell me here (sorry, sorry, sorry...)
Posted by Davina May 18, 2012 10:41 am | #16 |
Well, viewing figures for Skandal in Belgravia were disappointing at only 2.76 million. Personally, I think it being on a Bank Holiday hasn't helped. Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and other Disney films shown on SAT1 seem to have done very nicely so it looks a bit like a demographic effect. It is worrying that the percentage of those under 50 wanting to watch it is so low.
Posted by tobeornot221b May 18, 2012 12:24 pm | #17 |
I officially apologize for my fellow countrymen and –women…!
I did my very best to talk everyone into watching – very often successfully.
Those who did watch really liked it a lot.
And there's no reason to give up now – two more episodes to come!
Ok, the airing will be on Pentecost holidays – many people will be out and about. Let's hope for an utmost terrible weather then (raining cats and hounds would be marvellous…! ).
Posted by m0r1arty May 18, 2012 1:19 pm | #18 |
(This is a reply to Irene about language - sorry about the 'relatively' poor figures, sure there's a strong fan base there from pirating though)
I'm learning Spanish with a one-to-one tutor, interacting with my local community and by watching TV.
Sometimes it's Spanish with English subtitles and other times it's English with Spanish subtitles.
My 'problem' (Or potential rudeness) is that I have a slight accent from things such as this.
Had my first dream in Spanish a couple of evenings ago- I didn't understand any of it but something must be going on upstairs.
Nosotros, los hablantes de español hacerse cargo de temas alemanes también! (Fox life!)
-m0r
Last edited by m0r1arty (May 18, 2012 1:21 pm)
Posted by Irene Adler May 18, 2012 2:00 pm | #19 |
m0r1arty wrote:
(This is a reply to Irene about language - sorry about the 'relatively' poor figures, sure there's a strong fan base there from pirating though)
I'm learning Spanish with a one-to-one tutor, interacting with my local community and by watching TV.
Sometimes it's Spanish with English subtitles and other times it's English with Spanish subtitles.
My 'problem' (Or potential rudeness) is that I have a slight accent from things such as this.
Had my first dream in Spanish a couple of evenings ago- I didn't understand any of it but something must be going on upstairs.
Nosotros, los hablantes de español hacerse cargo de temas alemanes también! (Fox life!)
-m0r
Ooooooooh!! Now I understand, ok... thanks for the explanation!!
I don't think I need to say, but if there's anything you need regarding your Spanish learning please, let me know. I'd love to return to any of you the help you're giving me with my English.
About the accent, don't worry. It's obviously a latin-american accent but any Spanish speaker will understand you without much trouble. And I have a similar problem, my first English teacher was an Irish man and I'm very often told that I speak with an Irish accent. And I find Irish actors easier to understand (in Sherlock's case, I didn't need subtitles to understand Andrew Scott but, i.e., I found a bit difficult sometimes to understand what Rupert Graves was saying).
Last edited by Irene_Adler (May 18, 2012 2:00 pm)
Posted by m0r1arty May 18, 2012 2:25 pm | #20 |
The little Spanish I did know prior to Argentina was from a student exchange I had done in the Asturias region of Spain as a child. I visited Murcia a few years ago and it held up well there. Over here though the 'th' sound doesn't exist and their double-L's make a 'ch' sound instead of the 'ya' sound - in fact there are lots of little things about learning 'gaucho' Spanish which are interesting. I suppose I am learning the equivalent of Texan English
On topic, I can sing a couple of lines of 'Beatles' songs in German 'Sie Liebt Dich' (Ya, ya, ya) and 'Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand' but, so far, as a language and culture it is to difficult for me.
-m0r