Ever seen My Little Pony... in another language? (overdub-versions)

[MandelSoft 29]

Everyone knows here the series MLP:FIM in the original English version. However, since it's a kids series, it's deemed to be overdubbed in foreign languages, since ya know, not all kids know English.

 

I know that there are over a dozen translations out there, including German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish, Italian and Finnish. All of these differ in quality in overdubbing. I've once tried the dutch version and I'd like to share my verdict about that version.

 

The voice acting

When watching the dutch version, I discovered what an effect good voice acting has to the series. The English version has an excellent cast that just get it right. The dutch version is way less. Notably, there's a 50/50 amount of dutch and flemish actors, because of ... you know, less discrimination and stuff, so get voice actors from both Belgium and the Netherlands (though I haven't heard an Antillain or a Suriname voice actor yet).

 

Let me emphrase the problems I have with the voice acting with the Mane 6:

• Twilight Sparkle: she over-pronounciates words and she sounds someone from the high-class society, something that doesn't seem to fit her well. This makes her appear more like a snob than she really is.
• Pinkie Pie: good heavens, she sounds really annoying in the dutch version! Her voice is 20% more squeaky and high pitched. You can barely stand listening to it.
• Applejack: she's half-decently done. She does have a flemish accent, which makes her a little more country-like, but she could have so much better accents, like Limburgian, Branbants, plat-vlaams or Frysian. Just not awesome enough.
• Rarity: what striked me the most is that Rarity in the Dutch version has the very same accent as Applejack! In the English version she sounds like a high-class pony, which suits her. In the Dutch version she has none of that; she sounds the same as Applejack, which is her opposite. An Gooi-ish accent would fit way better.
• Rainbow Dash: no idea what's really wrong with her voice. It doesn't sound like she's energetic or (may I say so) manly. Her accent could also be better, for instance, an Amsterdam or a The Hague-accent might have worked better.
• Fluttershy: only her voice has been done right: soft and kind, just like her.
• Spike: oh my, his voice sounds a bit like Gollem! Great nightmare fuel for your kids!
• Princess Celestia: her voice is OK, nothing to mention here...

Pronounciation and names

Something that also bothers me is pronounciation and the names. The fact they have not changed any name of the main characters makes them sound like nonsense in dutch, because the names don't mean anything in dutch. Also, they pronounce the names in a overly English way, which sounds totally off. They didn't even bother to change the title into "Mijn Kleine Pony" (though they have translated the sub-title to "Vriendschap is Magisch), while this translation doesn't sound half bad...

 

This is something that occurs more often in kids series here, but some of them translate half of the names and use dutch pronounciation instead of English, which oddly enough sounds less off (Spongebob Squarepants, Danny Phantom, heck, even Pokémon did this). However, in the way they've done it in the dutch version of MLP:FIM is very obvious and sounds annoying.

 

The Singing

Here's where they totally loose it. The signing is off-key and the lyrics don't sound that catchy. It sounds like a cheap translation and the off-key singing makes it hard to listen through.

 

Other things to mention

Oh yeah, they also scratched at least one episode, and you're not gonna like it, because it breaks continuity. SE02EP01 and EP02 are scratched for being too scary, while I find these episodes one of the best just because they were dark and they did challenge the main characters. It's a shame that such a good episode is thrown away (and I was curious who would do his voice in the Dutch version). It also breaks continuity with SE03EP10, where Discord returns...

 

The intro is the same sequence as in the English version (as far as I know, only the Italian version has another, long intro)

 

So, anyone else have experience with other language versions of MLP:FIM?

 

Best,

Maarten

[Leafeon 2,702]

I've seen Spanish

 

Twilight - Sounds fine

Spike - Sounds pretty perfect

AJ - Ugh.. her voice has no attempt at an accent, and it's too high pitched. Awful,

RD - Rainbow's is quite good, but it lacks voice cracks... which is meh. Rainbow's could sound a bit more burly.

Rarity - Rarity.... are you okay? You just sound so... not fabulous.

Pinkie - Pinkie's is very good. Could be a bit higher, but that's it.

Flutters - She sounds more tired then sweet. While a soft voice is nice, she sounds like she is just going to yawn.

 

The songs - meh. The singing isn't the best. But the voice actors probably did the songs as well. Could be better.

 

It is actually quite good, but obviously the original english is the best.

 

EDIT: The European Spanish is better, then the one I watched, which is Mexican

Edited January 26, 2013 by Firebolt

[Yourmomsponies 444]

in german.

Characters.

Its a hit or miss. 

 

Singing. Insufferable, off key half the intro song dosent even translate that well.

 

I dont like the german dub.

Most german bronies dont like it either. That's why they watch the original english version even if their english isn't even that good. 

 

Heres an example.

 

[MandelSoft 29]

Haha, knowing some German, I've listened to the german dub fragment and it sounded funny But for regular listining, not advised...

[Colt 555]

AJ - Ugh.. her voice has no attempt at an accent, and it's too high pitched. Awful,

 

The thing is that accent is the "stereotypical" way latinamerican people think peasants speak like.

 

I like a lot the Latin American version (In almost all cases Latin > Castilian)the voices are good but they had 2 big flaws I agree Fluttershy is out off chara bit (but that will not change cause the dub director is the actress on her)and the other FATAL terrible flaw was luna’s voice on Nightmare Night, itsounds like an old lady trying to speak like a young one… it was sad Y.Y.

 

The other thing that could be better are the songs, the voices are verygood when singing but the translations are far from good. I think is not their fault is hard to bring words that fit so well in English like mare to itstranslation “yegua” that it doesn’t matter the context it sounds AWFUL!!!. So aldough the job on the songs is not bad, they lose must of their charm on the translation.

Edited January 26, 2013 by Colt

[Veylon 255]

MLP in another language? I think I'm obligated to post the Italian Opening:

Unlike all the other languages, the Italians actually came up with an original (much lengthier) song and completely changed how the intro works. Have a watch!

[Fox 5,330]

I thought the French version of find a pet song was great. The singing to me was superb, I enjoyed it very much while only understanding a little French.

Edited January 28, 2013 by Fox

[Fluttermena 1,223]

I thought the French version of find a pet song was great. The singing to me was superb, I enjoyed it very much while only understanding a little French.

Count yourself lucky you only know a little french, Dash and Fluttershy have decent voice acting in french, but trust me you don't want to hear the rest of the mane 6, Twilight sound retarded, Rarity and AJ have no accents and Pinkie sounds like she's on a crapton of Ritalin.

[Kamarat 103]

I watched Turkish version once, never again. Everyone sounds like each other and it is obvious that, that dub was only made for kids. Maybe they would improve it in time but I'm not sure. I think that they could because in the first dubs they didn't even try to dub the songs but then they started to. Also I remember that the gala song was cut. Somepony's singing was missing but I can't remember who, Rarity maybe?

[Sepraxian 36]

I watch Russian version now and then, the local channel finally got their hands on season 2. Woohoo, we get to see A Canterlot Wedding tomorrow. Part 1. With a day gap before Part 2. Something I wish Hub did, but they didn't.

 

Voice acting and overall translation of season 1 is abysmal. I watched a couple of episodes for laughs, and to hear butchered versions of the songs (and they occured, oh boy). At least they tried.

 

But season 2 is localised pretty damn well. It still suffers from the disease known as "if a character is present in shot, they HAVE to emit a sound", but not as severely as season 1.

 

Twilight Sparkle, Bic Mac and Rainbow Dash for some reason have their names literally translated. According to Google Translate and its amazing digital voice, they're Sumerechnaeia Iskorkah, Bolshoy Mahkee and Radooga (Rainbow Crash is Radooga-duga) respectively. Everypony else remained untouched. Mostly.

Mare-do-well became the Mysterious Defender. Okay.

Luna is called just Princess, sometimes Princess of the Night for extra regal effect. It's still miles better than generic Moon Pony in season 1.

Starswirl the Bearded transformed into Swirl the Bearded.

Sweetie Belle is now Baby Belle.

Cheerilee is pronounced rather odd, perhaps Chee-rally is the closest version.

Rarity is, ugh... Rahrity, I guess.

Zap apples are no longer Zap. Just apples. Or Magic Apples.

Timberwolves? Nah, they're Lessniee Volki now.

Cutie marks are Marks of distinction. Uh, sure.

Wing power is measured in Wings. Makes no sense, but works anyways.

The MMMM is now MMMB, because there's no synonym for "Madness" that starts with an "M" in Russian. Ruins the Mmm joke.

Wonderbolts were literally translated in season 1 (Choudo Molniee), but not in season 2 for some reason.

 

Character voices are good, overall, but:

Applejack, of course, lacks her accent.

Rarity's voice is high-pitched.

Twilight delivers every single line like she's surprised of something.

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy seem to be spot-on. Especially Pinkie Pie.

Zecora still speaks in rhymes.

 

Songs, oh dear lord, the songs.

Actually, Russian versions of season 2 songs are surprisingly well translated. Singing voice is also nice. I love how they didn't use singing voice for Cutie Mark Crusaders theme song is season 1, can't tell if it was a nice touch or lack of professionalism.

 

Intro sequence is instrumental version with russian lyrics ontop. The main difference is: because it's based on the instrumental version, it unintentionally has those kickass guitars in it.

 

Gustave's cake murder scenario has its text captions translated, that's shocking. Russian TV show localisations usually don't translate text.

Since nobody here knows what the hell Blue Ribbon is, Applejack is hunting for golden medal instead. Fair enough.

Unfortunately, "Party of One" is simply called "Birthday". "Read it and Weep" became "Read it and Enjoy". "The Last Roundup" is too hard to translate, so, hey, whatever, let's just call it "The Loss".

And yes, it has the original version of the Derpy scene, with dem eyes.

Edited January 28, 2013 by Sepraxian

[RWB 229]

 

 

SWEDISH.

 

The voice acting

 

Sadly, the swedish group tasked with translating the series is mostly made up of complete newcomers(at least 3 of the mane 6 have this as their very first voice acting credit)- The only Mane 6 member with some experience is Fluttershy's actor.

 

This is espescially sad when you consider Sweden tend to have exceptional dubs, and that there are several "Voice Actor Dynasties"(families who have voice acted the last three generations or so) here.

 

The Jennefors, Smedius, Wahlberg, Ekborg, Ardai... and more.

 

Even outside these dynasties, there are exceptional VAs. Many of these are also very professional singers(Anna Book, the voice actor of Misty from Pokemon, is a very skilled one).

 

As a result, FiM suffers a lot in the Swedish version. It not utterly terrible, but it's far below standard Swedish dubbing fare, which is a shame. Pokémon has managed to snag exceptional dubbers at time(in fact, the swedish James is Donald Duck's swedish VA!), so it is sad to see FiM gets thrown at newbies who really should start out with background roles rather than what we get here.

 

 

Actually, one of the dynasty members did get into the series. Joakim Jennefors, the greatest of the Jennefors actors, who has done great VA work before(as Quasimodo, for example) and was a grand Enjolras in the Swedish version of "Les Miserables". His role in this series....

 

Big Macintosh. *Headdesk*

 

Actually, he seems to be the only credited Male VA at all. He also does Mr. Cake. Quite possible that he will be Swedish Discord- which would be bloody awesome, since Jennefors is a miraculous VA.

 

 

Do note that I've only seen 4 of the early episodes, and that the acting will almost certainly improve over the series.

 

Twilight Sparkle: Lina Hedlund.

 

Twilight is one of the best dubbed- actually really well done. Hedlund has dubbed a few films since 2008, and is a well-known member of Pop Band Alcazar. For an example of her singing, check out Stay The Night. I don't have any problems with her performance. Not quite as good as Tara Strong, but very solid nonetheless.

 

 

Pinkie Pie: Amanda Renberg.

Amanda does some weak work here. She has some experience as a VA, and is actually a solid actress in general, so it does annoy me somewhat. She might better herself, though.

 

Applejack: Emma Lewin

AJ is mediocre to bad in the dub. The biggest problem is her lack of a Scanian accent- Scania is essentiallly THE farmland of Sweden, and scanian accents are very notable(they sound nearly danish). Her voice actor does have a few dubs behind her, but almost all of them have been pretty bad- but she is one of few G4 ponies who are voiced by a G3 voice actor- Lewin was Oola Roola.

AJ is a decent singer in the swedish version, owing to being a pop band member from the group Caracola, now called Sheelah. Check out Sheelah's "The Last Time" to hear her sing.

 

Rarity: My Bodell

My Bodell is a very experienced actor AND director... on stage and in live action(she's been working since 1995). This is her first VA Job, and it is pretty obvious. She sounds like she's on stage. It does fit Rarity to an extent, but I do hope it wears down a bit with later episode. She has gone to the most prestigious acting school in Sweden. Surprisingly does Rarity's singing voice, despite not being a professional singer nor schooled in it.

 

 

Rainbow Dash:

 

TV: Jill Wrethagen. SINGING: Anneli Heed(Spike's actress)

 

Terrible. Her voice actress displays far to little emotion, and instead of laughing, essentially speaks out the sound. Hee. Hee. To be fair, Wrethagen is completely new to the biz, so I can somewhat forgive it, but still.

What really is bad about this is that she was actually a redub! The TV version redubbed RD because they felt a more masculine voice was needed, but instead, we just get a much worse RD.

 

DVD: Frida Sandén. SINGING: I suspect Frida, who has competed in multiple song competions, sang on her own.

The Original DVD voice for RD, and far better than Jill. She's overall decent, perhaps slightly too high-pitched for RD. Much like Jill, she has very little experience as a VA. Sad to see this change happen.

 

 

Fluttershy: Lizette Pålsson.

Lizette is the oldest of the voice actresses, at 45. She's a great singer(but then again, she has been competed in big musical competitions since the early nineties), but a bit weaker in the voice acting parts(though still arguably the strongest actress). Considering her far greater experience as a voice actress, this should have been expected. She's been VAing since 1981, and is the Swedish Minnie Mouse!

To hear her sing, check out the swedish song "Som om himlen brann" on youtube.

 

 

Spike: Anneli Heed

Anneli Heed does a decent job as Spike. She has a few titles behind her before, so not surprising. Spike does sound slightly to girly, and a bit too "hip". Sounds a bit to similar to Coop from Kid vs Kat(another of her character roles). But compared to the original, it doesn't measure up at all.

 

Princess Celestia: Jennie Jahns.

Exceptionally well done, but considering Jahns is a very experienced VA and has some very good work behind her... yeah. As a funny little detail... she dubbed some of the background characters in the Iron Giant- which Faust was an animator for!

 

 

Pronounciation and names

 

My Little Pony: Vänskap är Magisk

As you can see, they kept the main title(but that was a given, considering earlier series), but translated the Subtitle. The translation means Friendship is Magical, Magic in swedish is Magi.

 

All names are still in english, and pronounced like that.

 

The Singing

 

The intro is a sorry thing to listen too- mostly due to the voice actors that aren't TS turning in pretty shoddy work. Especially sad since it's well translated, even being pretty clever.

 

As for the singing(checked these out in advance)

 

Pinkie is pretty weak- I can't believe the most common character to burst into song got a non-singer VA... and no extra vocal artist like TV Rainbow did.

 

The rest of the songs are decent or better, really.

 

 

 

 

Overall, the Swedish dub is quite decent, and will increase in quality as the VA accustomize themselves more to the characters. But compared to the great dubs Sweden usually does, it's pretty lackluster. And some bad choices(no actual, experienced singer as Pinkie, RD's horrible redub) do put a wedge in the wheels.

Frankly, despite swedish Bronies complaining about the dub, it's not at all bad- it's just that as swedes, we are used to top quality dubbing.

 

 

 

Want bad swedish dubbing? Go watch Avatar. Despite three seasons of work, neither Aang nor Katara grew into their roles, Sokka was decent at best, and Toph was horrible- Mikaela Ardai-Jennefors really isn't up to the standard of her mom(Charlotte Ardai-Jennefors) nor dad(Joakim Jennefors)... one of her few earlier roles is Hannah Montana. The only saving graces were the adult characters- Stephan Karlsén(Goof Troop Pete, Katz from Courage, Mewtwo) was arguably a better Long Feng than Clancy Brown, and Torsten Wahlund's Roku absolutely dominates the english one.

[An Old Head 4,816]

Just don't watch the Polish over-dub versions. Yeah, you know why, the Polish voice actor crew mistook Spitfire for a male:

 

*shudder*

[Rainbow Dash Loyalty 1,275]

I've heard a few languages on some youtube videos, I'm not quite fond of them >.< Although it's quite amusing just to listen to other languages.