Polish dubbing in movies; why is it so that on polish television all the films are dubbed?

For example when I hear lector on a Russian channel (I don't know Russian btw.) I find it annoying but when I hear lector in my native Polish it's neutral for me, actually unnoticable. That might be the reason why you perceive it as being awful. If it was in English you'd probably find it neutral too.

I don't like watching movies with subtitles because reading them distracts me from enjoying fully the movie. When there is a lector I can focus on details such as set, background. However I can't imagine watching a serious movie in a cinema without the subs. It would be cheap indeed. But in the tv it's ok. It works when you watch serials and other programmes - you can just listen it like a radio, while doing something else.

I hate dubbing I think it sounds silly and doesn't work when you see a famous actor speaking somebody's else voice. The magic of a lector's flat, neutral voice is that your perception makes it as if all the actors were speaking their own voices. I really don't percept it as lector's voice.

You are used to it. Its totally crap though, its impossible to hear the English underneath. Sub titles are better for learning, note that illegal downloads are better for this. The lecktor also wipes all the verbal cues and sound effects (which cost a lot of money).

An interesting subject, I travel a lot so I get to experience a little of everything, subtitles, dubbing and every now and then I hear what you call the "lector" and what I call the voice from hell. :-)

I like it the way Scandinavia handles it, subtitles only with the exception of children movies which get dubbed. Personally I think changing a person's voice, be it a different language or not, is equivalent to violating an artist's rendition of his/her creation. Many years ago I was vacationing on the Tenerife island (Spain) and got the dis-pleasure of watching a re-run of "Dallas" where J.R. spoke Spanish with a very high-pitched, female sounding voice. His voice totally ruined my perception of the movie series.

There's also something else to consider; not too long ago, while in Sweden, I read an interesting article about subtitle usage in one of the English language magazines. It mentioned that on average people who lived in countries where dubbing movies is very common (Spain, France, Italy, etc.) score fairly low in English comprehension and the ability to communicate in that language. Whereas for example the average scores are much higher in the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries. Granted, since English is a Germanic language it is indeed easier for people who speak other Germanic languages such as Dutch, Swedish or Norwegian than those who speak French or Spanish for example. Nevertheless, I think listening to a foreign language while reading subtitles in your own tongue helps a person to process languages much better.

In the US people hate subtitles too and I think it's too bad. I noticed that very often when we're in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur or Almaty and people speak English with a very heavy accent I'm usually one of the first guys in my group who picks up on what's being said. The "no subtitles" crowd struggles with anything that sounds "different". Of course, I have no scientific proof for any of this but it's my belief that dubbing movies impedes on people's linguistic abilities. I'd imagine using a lector has the same, negative effect as it's very hard to follow a movie in the native language.

To me watching a Japanese/Chinese/Brasilian, etc movie means being able to follow it in the local tongue. Some subtle expressions simply cannot be translated and then dubbed to by an English speaking inposter. Of course, the same applies to other languages. At least that's my opinion.

Of course it helps. You don't need any proof because it's the common knowledge. But look, watching a movie should be also a fun, at least from time to time. You know something relaxing, which one doesn't need to focus on too much ;)


You hear first word and last ones. Defenitely one can pick up some short expressions, I learn a few words that way, but only a few.


You need to know those languages on at least basic level. I see no point in watching Bergman's The Seventh Seal in original language version. Of course I'd like to hear the melody of the language, that's why I find the lector a good solution :)

I disagree. And many filmmakers disagree with you too. Clint Eastwood went against the norm when he insisted that large portions of Letters from Iwo Jima were filmed in Japanese. The movie became a huge success and I cannot fathom watching the Japanese soldiers' tribulations in English rather than in their native tongue. When I go to a gourmet French restaurant I don't ask for ketchup. Likewise, when I watch a foreign movie I watch it in the native tongue, the way THEY made it.

Besides, I learned how to read when I was about 6 1/2, I'm pretty good at it by now. ;)

Maybe it's the simultaneous capacity thing but I have no problem doing two things at the same time and I enjoy the movie in the original language so tremendously more whether I actually speak the language or not.

Of course but it's not the case! Lector alows usage of many language in a movie and not to challenge the viewers too much ;) You can hear lector in many Polish (yes Polish!) movies. For example the parts in Ukrainian in Ogniem i mieczem are voiced over.

Ok, I'm lazy but at least agree with me that lector is better than dubbing ;)

Both suck,it has to be subtitles for me too.
Best stuff on UK TV at the minute is some subtitled Euro Crime Dramas, Spiral from France ,Wallander Sweden and The Killing from Denmark, the US remake of the latter just seemed, and proved to be ,pointless.

The fun game with subtitles ,when translated into english is spotting when say a Frenchman says " Magnifique" and it gets translated as "Splendid" rather than "Magnificent", or a Swede says "Hallo" and thats turned into "Good morning".....that sort of thing.....

Hands off the lektor! for Poles his voice is absolutely transparent (exactly the reason why it should - and does - sound so monotonous; the more monotonous the better.) We don't really hear him, all we hear is the tone of voice and intonation of the actors, even if some original words get blurred. But I guess it only works for native speakers of Polish.

I hate dubbing, unless it's Shrek. Somebody has already mentioned the German passion for dubbing everything. Well I tried to watch a German-dubbed Bond once... no way. It all sounded like a washing powder commercial. Every time Bond turned around, I half expected him to get back to the screen with a 5 kilo bag of Persil.

As for the subtitles, not a bad idea, but I, for one, am not particularly good at multitasking and when having to read the subtitles I miss part of what's going on on the screen. Lektor is the best :)

Well, if you want me to choose between pest and cholera I guess I'll choose ...neither. Yeah, lektor or the secret Stasi voice might be better than dubbing but in my view changing actors' voices should be illegal, I look at it as an intellectual property rights issue.

You wouldn't dream of changing the ingredients of an exquisite French wine just because it's meant for the German or for the Polish market, how is this any different?? The linguistic intricacies ARE a big part of any great movie, no matter which language it was recorded in, the original is always best. Everything else is a dumbified, cheapo version of the original. A linguistic fake if you so will.

...and strzyga, if you discard all your other reasons for your preference, don't you feel like forcing people to listen to a "lector" is somehow demeaning to the public? As if they simply weren't intelligent enough to read and comprehend max 2 sentences at a time? Really? Is that where we're heading as a society? What's next? A "taste" lector? Someone who can chew our food and let us know in our own language what the filet mignon "really" tastes like?

Now, Sky, the thing is that with lektor you don't change anything, the original voices are still there. The lektor's drone gives you the meaning of what they're saying and you subconsciously put that meaning into the actor's voice. With a good (monotonous and droning) lektor's voice this process is seamless. It really works so once you don't have to concentrate on the Polish sentences trying to gather what the hell they're supposed to mean.

What you say about changing the ingredients is very true about dubbing.


Of course the original is always best (or at least truest to itself), but hey, how many languages can you understand enough to appreciate all these intricacies? Every

translation is in a way a fake or a counterfeit, there's no way around it, translattore traduttore; still, it doesn't have to be a dumbefied cheapo.


Frankly, I can't see much difference between reading and hearing out these 2 sentences except that when reading them I have to constantly shift my focus between the script and the picture, which is irritating, it's like shifting gears in a car every 5 seconds. Maybe my mind is just not flexible enough. And every translation is a way to tell you in words what fillet mignon tastes like, or trying to make a chicken filet mignon. While never the same, the results can be quite interesting. And we translators need to feed our kids somehow ;)

No they are not. My first language is English and you cannot hear 50% of what is being said. Polish speakers think that becuase they can understand what is being said that they are listening to the English and the lektor is 'enhancing' it. Not true.

My Polish family were surprised when I said I could watch Polish programs, they genuinely thought I could hear the English.


Virtually every other country in the world can use subtitles with no problem, English speaking countries too. Maybe the real problem is that illiteracy (in the past) would have prevented many Poles from understanding films in the past.


Agreed.

It's not about hearing what's being said but about hearing an actor's original voice.

The effect of a lector I would describe with such a metaphor:
if you paint a dot in blue and a dot in yellow from a distance you'll see a green dot. If you put on actor's voice a lector's voice you won't hear a lector's voice put on actor's voice, but a voice of an actor who speaks with a language you can understand. That's how in general Polish people percept it. If you ask me whose voice I heard in a movie I won't be even able to say if it was Tomasz Knapik's voice or other lector's. I just don't focus on that. But I will be surely able to say what's Al Pacino's voice like.

Of course there are sometimes some botched voice-over jobs - some movies with lector have too silent background then a voice of an lector is dominating, also I hate when the original sound is set lower each time the lector's voice is coming in.


Now tell me how many foreign language movies do you see on tv? :)


Illiteracy?!

I think it's a crime against the quality and comfort of watching. It also makes me put the volume up too much in order to try to hear bits that are not translated/badly translated. Also, more Polse would be able to handle a conversation if they had to read Polish meaning while hearing English - effortless learining killed by this stupid reading of dialogue lists.

Only if the movie was American. I can't even repeat what British or Australian actors are saying.

Dubbing simply destroys the movie, let's face it! Subtitles are surely the way to go if cultural enrichment is intended simultaneously with relaxed entertainment.

I don't think there was any TV before the WW II.

There weren't even a lot of television receiver in the 60s...

A lot. They always have subtitles, even Polish films in the UK (I've seen one or two there). I often watch films and TV with subtitles even in English.

The key point, of course is its OPTIONAL. You can switch it off.


Cinema?

Because it's not common because it's not broadcast anything foreign in original in Poland. You wouldn't have those problems, even with the British English, which is better English.

The BBC started broadcasting in 1932.

Poland also had tv before the war.

The lektor however is used for one reason and one reason only. Nothing to do with the artistic integrity of the original or ease of understanding etc. They are used because it is cheaper than dubbing.

and theres only that one guy, so not much competition within the market either.

Tomasz Knapik, he indeed does most of the voice from the box. But there is also a famous woman's voice - Krystyna Czubówna. She does mostly animal and enviroment documentaries :)

I doubt the BBCs first TV broadcast in 1936 reached Poland TBH, even German TV which carried on during the war wouldnt have been seen in Poland....

My theory regarding the lector is....have a loud Polish voice dronning on over western TV allows complete control over the script, subtitle it and nasty capitalist ideas might have slipped through to those who understood English............again,just a theory and one that pre supposes that the Lektor fella was around pre 1989.

In 60s there was Bonanza in tv. I doubt that reading subtitles on black and white convex monitor could be a pleasent experinece, that's why I'm pretty sure that's where an invention of lector derives from :)

That too then :) ( I always prefered High Chapperal myself ;0 )

depends on the age of the film, which company worked on it, quality of translation. the lektor/narrator is also allowed to adjust the text sometimes.

i know because i've done it.

i usually listen to films in english and am able to ignore the lektor. however, it is getting more difficult as the timing of the lektor can be adjusted by computer to completely cover the original voice..

Is that so? That's like saying Norwegian is better than Swedish, which of course is a bunch of nonsense.
...and if you bring it up because British English is the "original" version of the English language well, the "original" picture box was black and white. It doesn't mean it's "better" than a modern color TV.

"Original" doesn't have to mean it's "better."

Things (and languages) can improve.

PS. Chill folks, I'm keedin' here, let's get back to the subject...

Would't that be English English.

Let's just call it "the-first-draft" English, shall we? LOL