Why american and other foreign langages dubbing in ANime always feel weird ?

[Lenneth4]

Why ?

Also i feel the same when i see hollywood Tv series
Why they dont pick true nationals or it's a budget problem ? or anything else ?
Each time they try to speak french in Tv us shows i laugh , it's feel so un-natural

[IceHism]

Besides the fact that american isn't a language, its probably done to save cost and time since it'll be easier to just use a skilled VA's broken pronounciation than to find someone fluent in the language and also a skilled VA.

[jpwong]

I would imagine that it's at least partly because it largely doesn't matter to them much. Outside of Japanese, how many viewers are going to be fluent enough in French or other languages to know that it's not being spoken correctly? I can't imagine that it's a large portion of their base. English I can see some studios putting a bit more effort in because more people will have a little experience in that over there.

It's probably the same for those Hollywood flicks you've pointed out. The target audience speaks English, few people who go see those series are going to know that the person speaking Russian isn't actually speaking good Russian. Why spend the money finding someone who can do it properly if the audience won't largely speaking be able to appreciate it?

[Ghiest Cid]

They don't have specialized voice actors unlike Japan. The dubbed versions that I find satisfactory have actual famous actors.

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by jpwong

I would imagine that it's at least partly because it largely doesn't matter to them much. Outside of Japanese, how many viewers are going to be fluent enough in French or other languages to know that it's not being spoken correctly? I can't imagine that it's a large portion of their base. English I can see some studios putting a bit more effort in because more people will have a little experience in that over there.

In the vast majority of cases the anime studios that create the works aren't involved in the localizations at all. They simply sell the distribution rights to foreign companies who then do localizations completely independently, frequently taking liberties such as changing the names of the characters, censoring entire episodes and sometimes even completely modifying the whole plot.

So the ones who actually choose the cast and pay the voice actors are native speakers of the localized language and they have all the interests in making the product sell, or rather to maximize their revenue which often involves picking low cost actors.

[Marcus H.]

They're not trying enough.
There are very few countries that take voice acting seriously.

[Ithekro]

English speaking actresses generally don't have the same style of voice range as the Japanese speaking actresses have. English is high pitches doesn't sound very natural, but the lower pitch usually used doesn't quite fit the concept of the Japanese school girl.

[Solace]

Voice acting requires a lot of range and ability to "overact", by which I mean place more emphasis on speaking lines than you normally would in real life. No one in real life talks like an anime character, but that's the point. They're meant to be larger than life, it's what gives them personality and makes them feel "alive".

There's also the issue with the voice acting industry in general. In the US, voice acting is sort of like a second class citizen to traditional acting, and it's an extremely difficult job to land because training schools are uncommon and most companies would rather hire someone that has a face to go with the voice for promotion purposes (and honestly, most companies/customers don't care as long as it "sounds" good). The pay isn't that great either, further discouraging people from giving it a shot.

This is very different from Japan, where voice acting schools are common and it's often a route that is shared or at least used to further a career as an entertainer. The pay still sucks, generally, but it's much more recognized socially as a legitimate entertaining career because it can play an important role on the road to success.

Finally, there's are some major differences in how languages are spoken, and it's not always easy to translate that into another language. It's not just things like pitches, tones, and ranges, but also things like what words to speak to sound natural and if those words can carry the same meanings across the language barrier.

For example, "baka" is two syllables: "ba" + "ka". So you can do things like baaaaaka, or BA-KA! In English, the closest word would be "idiot", which is three syllables. Because it sounds different, it loses some alliteration and the effect is dulled somewhat. In some cases, translations end up being so different that entire scenes can feel different.

I should also note that some personal preference is involved, as always. There are some people that absolutely hate listening to certain languages or reading subtitles, and for them, they'll almost always choose their native dub over anything else even if the original language version is technically superior.

[jpwong]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

In the vast majority of cases the anime studios that create the works aren't involved in the localizations at all. They simply sell the distribution rights to foreign companies who then do localizations completely independently, frequently taking liberties such as changing the names of the characters, censoring entire episodes and sometimes even completely modifying the whole plot.

So the ones who actually choose the cast and pay the voice actors are native speakers of the localized language and they have all the interests in making the product sell, or rather to maximize their revenue which often involves picking low cost actors.

I was under the impression the OP was discussing not the actual dubbing of anime into other languages (seriously, why wouldn't the English licensor pick people who sound like native English speakers if that's their target audiance?) but the use of foreign languages in the actual Japanese original.

If they do mean the actual dub, then frankly I think it's a more a matter of there being a more limited pool of talent more than anything.

[Lenneth4]

Originally Posted by IceHism

Besides the fact that american isn't a language, its probably done to save cost and time since it'll be easier to just use a skilled VA's broken pronounciation than to find someone fluent in the language and also a skilled VA.

Sorry
i corrected it

jpwong
Yeah , it hink it would add more , how to say , more realistic ambiance with actual true people from the country where the character is supposed to be

Like for example

There i dunno , a russian dude emerging in the new dbz movie and you pick an actual dude from Russia not asking local seiyu to impersonate russian , i think it would be better and make it more believable and accurate

[AntonKutovoi]

Considering character will have to speak not only a foreign language, but Japanese a well, you'll have find some foreign voice actor, who speaks Japanese and ready to travel to Japan to record his lines. Which is impossible. It's much easier to find a seiyuu, who can speak this languages (imperfect, maybe, but still). Not to mention that there IS some good examples of foreign seiyuus. Like there's Jenya Davidyuk, seiyuu from Russia (often used as consultant for Russian in anime) and Tetsuya Kakihara, who is German (and fluent in English. Listen his pronunciation in Log Horizon, for example). Urara Takano have great English (Karen Senki went almost unnoticed, but her English there was simply magnificent).

[Solace]

Originally Posted by jpwong

I was under the impression the OP was discussing not the actual dubbing of anime into other languages (seriously, why wouldn't the English licensor pick people who sound like native English speakers if that's their target audiance?) but the use of foreign languages in the actual Japanese original.

Ah, I misread. In that case it's definitely a problem with a limited talent pool. Many people can speak other languages, but there's a difference in speaking it and speaking it well. We all know the hilarity of Engrish.

I'm sure the people who pick talent for that would love more and better candidates, but they have to work with the options given to them.

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by jpwong

I was under the impression the OP was discussing not the actual dubbing of anime into other languages (seriously, why wouldn't the English licensor pick people who sound like native English speakers if that's their target audiance?) but the use of foreign languages in the actual Japanese original.

If they do mean the actual dub, then frankly I think it's a more a matter of there being a more limited pool of talent more than anything.

Sorry, I guess that like Solace I misinterpreted the OP's question.

I guess I couldn't even fathom the expectation of hiring native speaking voice actors when anime are infamously notorious for not even bothering hiring someone with a decent understanding of the language to check the dialogs and song lyrics.
In very recent years it's gotten a little better though.


Fun fact, recently in an episode of SAO II there was an NPC speaking in English. Many people complained that he sounded weird. He was actually voiced by Jeff Manning, an American voice actor.


PS. Regarding French, Japanese have the most absurd conception of how the language accent sound. I've seen a few characters trying to sound "French" in several anime, they all talk with seemingly the same fake accent and voice intonation, which has really nothing to do with the real one. There must have been some kind of comedian that popularized that way of talking or something and now it has engrained on Japanese mentality.

[Lenneth4]

Originally Posted by AntonKutovoi

Considering character will have to speak not only a foreign language, but Japanese a well, you'll have find some foreign voice actor, who speaks Japanese and ready to travel to Japan to record his lines. Which is impossible. It's much easier to find a seiyuu, who can speak this languages (imperfect, maybe, but still). Not to mention that there IS some good examples of foreign seiyuus. Like there's Jenya Davidyuk, seiyuu from Russia (often used as consultant for Russian in anime) and Tetsuya Kakihara, who is German (and fluent in English. Listen his pronunciation in Log Horizon, for example). Urara Takano have great English (Karen Senki went almost unnoticed, but her English there was simply magnificent).

Very interesting reply (not dissing the other)
Jenya Davidyuk is impressive , i probably know her without knowing her
Cool then to see a russian in the industry and as consultant as well

So that explains everything then
Japan then needs to open the doors for foreign workers in the anime industry like video game japanese (steam , foreign technician working on FF 15 o_o')
The quality would just rise up

I'm not saying all japanese seiyu are bad in english /russia /french etc but i pseak french and sometimes it's painful what they do

I didnt watched at all Log horizon , i think i should give a try


Jan-Poo
Yeah but it can be accurate (i dunno the example you talk about)
Some people say that french talk of Canada is the real one , the current one is the not the original
Not sure if it's true or no

[RichardFromMarple]

Romi Park is a rare Korean Seiyuu, has she actually spoken in Korean in an anime?

[aohige]

Originally Posted by RichardFromMarple

Romi Park is a rare Korean Seiyuu, has she actually spoken in Korean in an anime?

Just a minor correction, while she has studied and can speak Korean, she was born and raised in Japan. Not a Korean native. Technically a zainichi Korean as her nationality is South Korea, in practicality really a Korean-Japanese.

[Top Sergeant]

Part of it is also the writing. Often a literal translation doesn't have the same effect in what the original lines were trying to express in another language.

[Fizix]

Originally Posted by jpwong

I would imagine that it's at least partly because it largely doesn't matter to them much. Outside of Japanese, how many viewers are going to be fluent enough in French or other languages to know that it's not being spoken correctly? I can't imagine that it's a large portion of their base. English I can see some studios putting a bit more effort in because more people will have a little experience in that over there.

It's probably the same for those Hollywood flicks you've pointed out. The target audience speaks English, few people who go see those series are going to know that the person speaking Russian isn't actually speaking good Russian. Why spend the money finding someone who can do it properly if the audience won't largely speaking be able to appreciate it?

^ this, basically

[sunchips18]

I find this to be a rather interesting topic, as I used to ponder about this all the time. There have been far too many times where I've seen an "English speaking foreigner" in an anime, that was obviously voiced by someone who more than likely didn't speak English, and more than likely read their lines in katakana. Moments like this were (and still are actually) very immersion breaking for me. I really hated when stuff like that happened. I used to wonder, why don't they just hire someone who spoke English at a decent level for the role?

However, I've since realized that even we're guilty of stuff like this as well. You just have to keep in mind that there aren't very many people in Japan who can speak both perfect English and perfect Japanese. Well, actually, there are a lot more than you may realize, but most of them simply aren't in the voice acting field.

Not only is it very hard, but it's also very costly. This is the same reason why English instructions for Japanese products are often terrible. Generally speaking, if you want a good translation for instructions, you have to contract a translator. Because most of the people using the product will be Japanese, most companies feel that they will be investing too much time and money into something that won't really benefit them. So, they usually just get the employee with best English ability (which is usually very poor) to do the translations for them. It's easy and cheap.

Tangent aside, it is most certainly something that won't go away anytime soon. I'm sure that you've gotten used to it by now. So I won't say anything like "You're just going to have to get used to." But I will say that it's one of those cases where you'll just have to accept things as the way that they are.

[AntonKutovoi]

By the way, I found another seiyuu, born in USA (he's only beginning his career, though):
Arthur Conant Lounsbery
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency....php?id=105514

EDIT: Although after the research, he, just like Satoshi Hino, pretty much has gron in Japan, so English probably can't be counted as his first language.

I guess prime examples of foreign seiyuus are still Tetsuya Kakihara (Germany), Jenya Davidyuk (Russia), Romi Park (Korea), Seira Ryu (China), Michael Rivas (Hawaii) and Haruna Ikezawa (Greece)