Lost in French Translation, Part 15: The Serenity Movie

POSTED BY: fortinm
UPDATED: Saturday, March 29, 2008 20:51
VIEWED: 5652
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FORTINM

Monday, March 17, 2008 11:56 PM

This review is part of a series of articles analysing the translation work for the French dubbed Firefly series and movie(s). It is intended for anyone who would like to know a little better how a French audience would perceive Joss’ wonderful creation.

Introduction to this series: http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.asp?b=4&t=31382
Previous review (Objects in Space): http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.asp?b=4&t=32947
Conclusion to this series: http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.asp?b=4&t=33162

The various excerpts analyses are formatted like this:
In bold is the original line.
In italic is the French translation replacing the original lines.
In bold and italic is my English translation of the French lines.
In regular text is my personal comment on the translation work for the excerpt.

General comments
I was not a bit surprised to realize that the movie's dubbing was done by another team; other voice-actors for sure and, most likely, other translators. On the whole, the French voices differences with the series are small. Simon and River are very close. Mal and Jayne voices are rougher which serve the characters well. But I must admit that it took me a while to get used to the new Jayne. Kaylee has a lower pitch, more mature. Conversely, Book's voice has a higher pitch which is less appropriate. Finally, Wash's voice doesn't have the needed playful characteristic.

As for the translation, I expected to jot down a long list of errors, omissions and differences but I was pleasantly surprised. This review has the shortest list of excerpts I've ever come up with so far, even if the movie is almost three times the length of an episode. Unfortunately, some of the errors are mildly severe which prevented me from giving it a perfect rating. Even so, if the dubbing had been as good as this from the start, my reviews would have been much shorter and, without a doubt, more boring!

I was able to track down the names of the dubbing team for Serenity, but I've never been able to do so for Firefly. For those interested, here's the dubbing profile page for Serenity (in French):
< http://www.doublage.qc.ca/showMovie.php?id=851>

Some of you may recall the "Serenity" and "Bushwacked" confusion about Reavers. Over the course of these two episodes, they've used three different words for them: Termites, Ravageurs and Reavers. For the movie, they chose Ravageurs and, more importantly, stick to it!

I was very pleased to discover that every single Chinese line was kept. So far, none of the episodes had achieved this. On the other hand, the way they pronounce Simon is bugging me. They use the original English pronunciation instead of the French one as it was done in the series. Looking back on this, I admit that it is more appropriate since they already stick to the original pronunciation for every other name. Except Jayne for whom they kept the series' atrocious pronunciation: Jayn-ee!

Translation score: 4/5
Chinese score: 7/7

Chosen Excerpts

SIMON
It's okay to leave them to die.
Tu les laisses s'entretuer, c'est bien clair?
You let them kill each other, is it clear?
No comments.

ZOE
No, I think things will glide a deal smoother for us without River and Simon on board, but how long do you think they'll last?
Non. Je crois que tout ira bien mieux pour nous tous sans River et Simon à bord. Combien de temps crois-tu qu'ils resteront?
No. I believe that everything will go much better for us without River and Simon on board. How long do you think they'll stay?
This mistake has a significant impact on this scene. The feeling of doom towards the siblings' fate is reduced.

KAYLEE
You look the captain in the eye. Know who you're dealing with.
Parle au commandant dans les yeux. Tu sais que c'est ce qu'il veut.
Talk to the captain in the eye. You know that's what he wants.
I'm wondering if the translator

FORTINM

Saturday, March 29, 2008 2:33 PM

Quote:
I was able to track down the names of the dubbing team for Serenity, but I've never been able to do so for Firefly. For those interested, here's the dubbing profile page for Serenity (in French):
< http://www.doublage.qc.ca/showMovie.php?id=851>

I just found the identity of the French voice-actors on Wikipedia. All of them being of born in France, I must conclude that the translation was done there. At the risk of sounding chauvinistic I would say that it may be another reason why the French(-canadian) Serenity is better than French Firefly!

Thierry Kazazian (Malcolm), Géraldine Asselin (Zoe), Olivier Korol (Wash), Laurence Bréheret (Inara), Céline Mauge (Kaylee), Pascal Germain (Jayne Cobb), Benoît Allemane (Book), Philippe Siboulet (Simon) and Léa Gabrielle (River).

Source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(série_télévisée)

DAVESHAYNE

Saturday, March 29, 2008 8:51 PM

Wow. Thanks for doing this. It's been quite interesting to see the differences arising from the translation.

David

'Geeks can't admit that anything worthwhile was invented before 1981. Soon, "making cocoa" will be called "milk hacking."' - Lore Sjoberg