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Spoilers PRM: Ins Herz des Chaos / In the Heart of Chaos by Perplies & Humberg Review Thread

Rate Prometheus: In the Heart of Chaos

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Okay, I can't really tell the difference, since I don't know how the words are supposed to sound.

Chekov's phrase in the last scene with Uhura wasn't translated properly. In the German version he said, that he desperately needs some underwear....:D. As to the accent: it was a close approximation I would think.
 
Chekov's phrase in the last scene with Uhura wasn't translated properly. In the German version he said, that he desperately needs some underwear....:D. As to the accent: it was a close approximation I would think.
Arguably better than the English version :D

Also, he needs specifically warm underwear :D
 
Or it can be a matter of formal vs. vernacular usage. If the characters in the original language are using street slang or teenage slang, then you substitute whatever the cultural equivalent is in the target language

This seems like a reasonable compromise, but the obvious downside would be that you would be tacking cultural stereotypes onto a character due to the readers preconceptions about the substituted dialect. I can't help but imagine how an Edo period Kurosawa film would sound if the peasants sounded like Foghorn Leghorn and Mr. Haney from Green Acres or Pepe le Moko sounding as if he came out of a Damon Runyon story. Something will always be lost in translation, I suppose.

I honestly have a lot harder time understanding English Doctor Who than English Trek. It often takes some rewatches and Wiki consulting for me to fully get what the heck is happening, particularly during the Moffat era.


You aren't alone. I have a hard time understanding some British accents, too. As long as actors enunciate, I don't have any problems. It's when someone starts to mumble that I get lost. Irish and Welsh accents are particularly perplexing. I'm sure I would sound just as baffling to them.

I have to say, generally speaking, British actors are better at doing a southern accent than many non-southern American actors. Some of the BBC actors are fairly terrible at American accents. But I suppose we deserve it for Dick van Dyke's accent in Mary Poppins.
 
I have to say, generally speaking, British actors are better at doing a southern accent than many non-southern American actors. Some of the BBC actors are fairly terrible at American accents. But I suppose we deserve it for Dick van Dyke's accent in Mary Poppins.

The problem is, many English actors assume all American accents are Southern. They winked at this in a recent Legends of Tomorrow, where the Cockney-accented Charlie made a dreadful attempt to mimic an American accent and spoke in a really pronounced Southern drawl. (Ironic, because the actress, who's really English, had spent the previous two seasons of the show playing a different character who had an American accent, even though she was a native of Africa.)
 
This seems like a reasonable compromise, but the obvious downside would be that you would be tacking cultural stereotypes onto a character due to the readers preconceptions about the substituted dialect. I can't help but imagine how an Edo period Kurosawa film would sound if the peasants sounded like Foghorn Leghorn and Mr. Haney from Green Acres or Pepe le Moko sounding as if he came out of a Damon Runyon story. Something will always be lost in translation, I suppose.




You aren't alone. I have a hard time understanding some British accents, too. As long as actors enunciate, I don't have any problems. It's when someone starts to mumble that I get lost. Irish and Welsh accents are particularly perplexing. I'm sure I would sound just as baffling to them.

I have to say, generally speaking, British actors are better at doing a southern accent than many non-southern American actors. Some of the BBC actors are fairly terrible at American accents. But I suppose we deserve it for Dick van Dyke's accent in Mary Poppins.
I watch a ton of British shows, so the only time I have trouble is with the really, really thick rural accents.
I understand Irish and Scottish accents OK, I just have trouble telling them apart.
 
How are you able to translate accents into a new language? I have a southern accent. I drop the letter g from the end of some words, I end words that end in a long o sound with an "uh" sound, and several other little quirks. How the heck can you translate that into another language?

God help the man who has to translate Cockney rhyming slang.

@StefanM has just suggested to give McCoy, Uhura and Scotty Bavarian, French and Saxon accents accordingly. I think it would sound funny.
 
So a Bavarian accent sounds rural?

What would a Saxon accent indicate?
 
So a Bavarian accent sounds rural?

What would a Saxon accent indicate?

Problem is: most of the Germans - me included, and I live in Bavaria - would have difficulties to understand a real proper Bavarian accent. It is mostly associated with 'rural'. Maybe @rhubarbodendron could shed some light here, but I fear she doesn't frequent the Litforum.

I for myself would compare a Saxon accent with a Scottish accent. But I really can't fancy Scotty saying 'Ei verbibbsch' (=Gee! You don't say!) :D.

But all of it is nonsense of course. Translations/dubbings should be for the main audience, everyone should be able to understand it.
 
Due respect to James Doohan's performance, but I feel obligated to mention that Scotty's accent is painfully inaccurate.

So are a lot of accents in TV and movies. The point is that he was speaking with a different accent from the majority of the cast, accurate or no.
 
Problem is: most of the Germans - me included, and I live in Bavaria - would have difficulties to understand a real proper Bavarian accent. It is mostly associated with 'rural'. Maybe @rhubarbodendron could shed some light here, but I fear she doesn't frequent the Litforum.
I for myself would compare a Saxon accent with a Scottish accent. But I really can't fancy Scotty saying 'Ei verbibbsch' (=Gee! You don't say!) :D.
But all of it is nonsense of course. Translations/dubbings should be for the main audience, everyone should be able to understand it.
*shimmers into thread, Jeeves-like* You rang, Ma'am? :D
The prob with Bavarian is that literally every village has its own very distinct dialect and they differ so widely that people living 200 km apart can hardly understand each other. It's similar in other German languages, like Saxonian, but in Bavarian language it's most extreme. I've been living in Lower Bavaria for 26 years now and still encounter words I don't know (I'm an Upper Palatinan by birth - that's the neighbouring province, only 70 km away from my current location).
Bavarian is generally considered a rural language since the country is traditionally dominated by farming. Still, the same could be said of every country that produces its own food.
I agree that dubbings should be made so that everyone can understand them, yet the idea of different dialects is highly appealing. How about a compromise: don't dub the characters in the full local dialect but only with a general regional accent? A sort of "High Bavarian", "High Franconian", "High Saxonian" and "High Friesian" etc. like the pseudo-dialects they use in books and movies?
 
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I understand Irish [and Scottish] accents OK, I just have trouble telling them apart.

Northern Irish accents or those from the Republic of Ireland? One is part of Britain and thus a "British accent" and the other, well isn't.
 
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