MLP localizations opinion

[Kowaiser 30]

Hi guys, Did anyone of you see any localized version of Friendship is magic?

Originally i saw the original version, in it's original language, and i liked it. Both the voices and the script were to my liking. The thing is, I'm from Argentina, and the language spoken here is Spanish, so I got curious. I wondered if there was a version made in Spanish. Apparently, I missed the whole thing, because i discovered that "Discovery Kids" had been airing the first three seasons for a while now in neutral spanish.

 

So, as I started writing a fanfic, I had a good reason to rewatch the series, so I got the first episodes and watched them. I know there is always an awkward period while adjusting to languages, but there was something wronger than usual, something I could not put my finger on. Did anyone get that sensation?

[CornBreadGang 514]

I know that feeling. I watched the Spanish version once, and I think I may have put my finger on it.

Spanish and English have different ways of saying things literally. For example, if Twilight were to say "I'm sorry", in the English Translation from Spanish, she would be saying "I feel it". See what I mean?

Maybe it's just me, I don't know.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I guess the English and Spanish translations differ from one another where it feels like what they are saying sounds differently than what you would expect them to say. That's just me.

[Kowaiser 30]

Yeah, i thought of that, but i think there is something else. English and Spanish differ in a sense that English tends to be very genderless. When you say "Friend" you are not specifying if it's a male or female friend, It's just friend. In Spanish we don't have Genderless nouns. One of the things i liked about this incarnation of the series is about how genderless the plots of the episodes were. I could relate to the characters. Being unable to understand social interactions was something common for me several years in the past, so i could relate with twilight, being shy around new people is something that still happens to me nowadays, so i can relate to Fluttershy. That was a bit more disconnected now, It's more clear in the Spanish translation that this show is intended for girls.

 

 

There was something I found pretty... weird. Despite being a Spanish localization there are a bunch of things that were left in English. On the first episode you can hear some things like "La mítica Mare in the moon es Nightmare moon", and also several things like the cutie marks.

 

I did like the songs adaptations though, those were pretty good.

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

I've seen a small bit of the Japanese version and songs from the German version. Both of them were pretty good from what I saw. Enough so that I'd like to watch the whole series in German.

[zev_zev The outcast 415]

Russian localization is pretty weird, isn't too bad, but obviously not good. Twilight, Spike, and AJ has almost same voice. But Pinkie's voice is Ok. 

[Kowaiser 30]

One thing i liked about the spanish vocalization is that the voice actresses are the same during the regular show and in the songs, something that doesnt happen in the original version. While Tara strong is the voice for Twilight Sparkle, Rebecca Shoichet sings for her. The same happens with pinkie pie (Voice Andrea Libman, Singing Shannon Chan-Kent) and Rariry (Tabitha doing Rarity's voice, and Kazumi Evans singing)

 

In Spanish, the actresses that does the voices for the characters are both for normal voice and singing, and that makes it more voice-consistent. What i did NOT like, is the lower budget there was for the songs. It is most notorious on Smile, when pinkie sings with a chorus behind her that the chorus is not represented.

Take a look here at 2:43:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjo7BxUHXs0&feature=player_detailpage#t=163

Edited January 13, 2014 by Kowaiser

[Metemponychosis 1,261]

Living in Brazil, I have seen the cartoon in Portuguese about five times before I decided to never watch it again. The translation is atrocious. The names are not translated (thank Celestia), but they are spoken in an adapted manner that makes me want to kill someone.

 

Rarity becomes something like Hair-y-tee and Applejack sounds like "hillbilly" even though she is more like a southerner in the original, so she should be like a "gaucho" in the Brazilian version.

 

Not to mention that a lot of the jokes sound either stupid or completely lose their meaning.

Edited January 13, 2014 by moonlightavenger