22 replies to this topic

[Prince ByTor]

Whilst trolling around on YouTube the other day I ran across some one the series' episodes in German! I'm really enjoying watching it and I thought I would share it with everyone. The only thing is it seems like the episodes are mirrored and I'm not sure if the entire series is on there yet.

 

Ist hier Heads or Tails auf Deutsch:

 

[brmsort]

Strange to see it mirrored. German seems to fit SatAM pretty well.

[Uncle Ben]

I always think Germans are really yelling at ya...

[Prince ByTor]

I like most of the voices except for Sonic and Tails; Sally, Bunny, and Robotnik are really good; I like Antoine's as well.

Also, I hadn't realized how many Americanisms were in the series' script. I.e. Way past cool is being translated as Uber (Above) Cool. Also Instead of "Scootin and Rootin he said something like "Faster than the wind."

[RedAuthar]

I always think Germans are really yelling at ya...

Yup.  That's the way it always sounds.

 

 

I like most of the voices except for Sonic and Tails; Sally, Bunny, and Robotnik are really good; I like Antoine's as well.

Also, I hadn't realized how many Americanisms were in the series' script. I.e. Way past cool is being translated as Uber (Above) Cool. Also Instead of "Scootin and Rootin he said something like "Faster than the wind."

You never realize what slang you use till you hear someone translate you. 

 

For the record I never used "Scooting and Rootin" ever during the 90s and anyone who did got egged. 

[Skotty]

Actually, there are two German dubs for SatAM. One was made in 1995 and (WHYY??!!!) merged with AoStH. The other one was made in 2011.

The one you have in that video above is from 2011.

 

Neither the '95 nor the 2011 version are complete available in the internet. I do have all of them I could find on my PC.

However, since I understand what they are actually saying, here are my personal problems:

The 1995 dub largely changed the script to AoStH-styled jokes. Mostly all sarcasmn was replaced by flat jokes.

 

One example:

"Drood Henge" (Ep. 24) when Sonic lets Snively go:

 

English:

Sonic: "Oh and, give our worst to the big round guy. Ciao!"

Snively: "Oh the big round guy won't like this at all. Oh I hate my life."

 

German dub (1995):

Sonic: "Und äh, einen schönen Gruß an den Chef, der wird sich bestimmt freuen. Bis dann!"

Snively: "Uh Nein nein nein nein nein. Wenn der Chef das erfährt, dann bin ich erledigt! Oh ich hasse diesen verdammten Igel!"

Translated:

Sonic: "And er, my best regards to the boss. He will be happy, for sure. See you later!"

Snively: "Oh no no no no no. If the boss hears that then I'll be done for it. Oh I hate this damned hedgehog!"

 

Actually, the voice actors of the 1995 dub are... rather good (still, the original ones fit much better and are really giving those characters life). Those from the 2011 dub are really bad.I always say: They sound like smoking 16 years old kids trying to imitate Robotnik's deep voice.

 

While the scripts of the 2011 version are really well translated (much better than 1995 version) and are very close to the dark tone of the original, they lack of voice actors. THOSE ARE SO BAD!

 

Because of this, I recommended every friend only to watch the original English version, even if they can't understand it.

 

 

 

Also, I hadn't realized how many Americanisms were in the series' script. I.e. Way past cool is being translated as Uber (Above) Cool.

You are right, there are a lot. But it is a very big trend since the 90s. German is literally "absorbing" all kinds of English words, and so it is accepted to use a lot of English words in German dubs of all kinds of media.

[scififry]

smoking 16 years old

Yup, that's me

 

On a more related note, I agree with Skotty on the fact that the old German dub's translation is way too slapstick-oriented. Also, HOW COULD THEY MIX THE AoStH INTRO WITH SatAM?!?! Ignorant TV producers The real SatAM intro is really awesome, like summing up the events/basic idea of the show and that in a more realistic, nicely animated fashion, not like the AoStH intro with its bland 'Juice as fast as you can' credo.

Sonic's dubbed voice sounds way off coming to think of the original, but actually I think that it fits his character because it's got a bit arrogance and stuff in it. I highly prefer the original English soundtrack anyway because the voice acting is absolutely excellent and also because I've got the DVDs with HiFi stereo sound and not some (unfortunately) super low-quality transfer from some old VHS tape, which seems to be the only available source of the old German dub.

 

Never heard of the new 2011 dub before, I should definitely check it out!

 

Everybody who's watching SatAM (and many other shows) in the German dubbed version instead of the English original just for comfort is really missing out on something awesome. The argument being bad at English is a pretty bad one because learning to listen to and understanding English through TV shows is pretty easy, at least that's how I did it.

[Prince ByTor]

@ Skotty and scififry: Thanks a lot for the info! It is nice to hear about these episodes from the people they were translated for. For me it's almost like watching the series the first time again hearing it in another language I can understand. However, most of the German I learned has come from the music of German bands, so it is a bit limited.

[Hammer]

I tend to recommend to watch TV series and films in one's own language, and then in their original version if you like them well enough. That way, you're able to appreciate the acting in both languages (since I've heard some people who get all snobby when they watch the original version first).

 

I'll try to remember and post a similar thread, but with the Spanish dub. There were a few posts discussing the (horrible) Mexican Spanish dub: don't worry, this one is completely different.

[Prince ByTor]

I tend to recommend to watch TV series and films in one's own language, and then in their original version if you like them well enough. That way, you're able to appreciate the acting in both languages (since I've heard some people who get all snobby when they watch the original version first).

 

I'll try to remember and post a similar thread, but with the Spanish dub. There were a few posts discussing the (horrible) Mexican Spanish dub: don't worry, this one is completely different.

 

Yeah, I saw that topic back in the archives. It was the one with the added animation in the opening?

[furrykef]

A new dub made in 2011? That's surprising in any language.

[scififry]

True. I looked up some SatAM in German on YouTube. At first I couldn't even make out the difference between the two because both Sonic voices sound pretty much the same!

 

This is the old dub from 1995 (German audio track applied to the video from the DVDs with the original intro's audio):

 

And apparently this one's with the new dub:

 

I haven't watched them fully yet, but there're already differences between the two dubs after Sally and Sonic enter that wiring tunnel. In the old dub, Sally's answer to Sonic's comment after she pulled those wires' connectors apart was 'Schonmal was von einem Notalarm gehört?' (='Ever heard of an emergency alert?') and in the new one she says 'Naja, vielleicht hat er ein Backup' (='Well, maybe he's got a backup'). The new dub's translation captures the original meaning better because, as already said in this thread, English words have become quite common in the German language, especially for technical terms. I interpret the term emergency alert as an alert that's triggered in case of an emergency, and not as a secondary alert used when the primary one fails. And yet I prefer the old dub, and I agree with Skotty on this one, because the voice actors are much better. The old dub's Snively voice is way closer to the original, with its smooth and bored way of speaking. However I disagree with Skotty on the Robotnik voices. None of the two dubs come even close to the original. (EDIT: I've got to admit, after having watched both versions, Uncle Chuck's voice from the new dub sounds, as Skotty pointed out, like 'smoking 16 years old kids trying to imitate [Robotnik's] deep voice'.)

 

Also noticed the German SatAM intro song in the version with the new dub! The singing's downright awful, even though it's a good thing to have it dubbed as well if the actual show is already dubbed. Pedagogically valuable for children whose native language is German.

 

Now I'm wondering who made the new dub. It sounds like a professional one with background music and SFX all mixed with the voices so its creators must've had access to the SatAM recordings without the dialogue tracks intended for foreign broadcasting...

**EDIT

Did some research. Apparently it's from that TV station of which the logo is shown in the video with the new dub. From Wikipedia, German AoStH article:

Seit 2012 läuft die Serie auf dem Bezahl-Sender KidsCo getrennt von AoStH unter dem Namen Sonic der blaue Igel mit einer neuen Synchronisation und einem deutschen Titellied.

'Since 2012, the series is aired on the pay-TV station KidsCo separate from AoStH under the name 'Sonic the blue Hedgehog' with a new German dub and a German title song'.

 

Apparently I was right with my assumption of the new dub being an official one, but that's probably the official dub with some of the worst voices I've ever heard. So bad that it's fun listening to it, just like some of those film spoofs

EDIT**

 

@ Skotty and scififry: Thanks a lot for the info! It is nice to hear about these episodes from the people they were translated for. For me it's almost like watching the series the first time again hearing it in another language I can understand. However, most of the German I learned has come from the music of German bands, so it is a bit limited.

No problem It's not any different for me: Entirely different feeling watching the show. I'm feeling like when I was a kid and used to watch all those awesome shows on TV, all dubbed (including Sonic Underground - that's how I found out about SatAM, which is even better, when I was looking for SU on YouTube).

What German bands have you listened to? Some of them use higher-level language and also sing like people normally speak and not as the conservative German teacher would so I imagine it to be a relatively hard thing to do, especially since German is a relatively complicated language.

 

EDIT: How does inserting YouTube videos/HTML code work with this forum software?

EDIT2: Just inserted the html video page links and suddenly those videos pop up x_x Why easy when it can be done complicated?

[Prince ByTor]

 

What German bands have you listened to? Some of them use higher-level language and also sing like people normally speak and not as the conservative German teacher would so I imagine it to be a relatively hard thing to do, especially since German is a relatively complicated language.

 

Thanks again for all of your input on SatAM in German; while these might not be the best dubs, at least SatAM is still getting some love from the official channels!

 

The ones I really like to listen to are: Stahlhammer, Karussell, Puhdys, City, Oomph!, Megaherz, Nina Hagen, Wolfsheim, Stormwarrior, Joachim Witt, Nena, and of course Rammstein.

Do you have any suggestions on other bands? I find myself drifting more towards the European music as far as newer music goes; I find the American music scene to be not as good as a whole, although there are exceptions.

[Skotty]

**EDIT

Did some research. Apparently it's from that TV station of which the logo is shown in the video with the new dub. From Wikipedia, German AoStH article:

Seit 2012 läuft die Serie auf dem Bezahl-Sender KidsCo getrennt von AoStH unter dem Namen Sonic der blaue Igel mit einer neuen Synchronisation und einem deutschen Titellied.

'Since 2012, the series is aired on the pay-TV station KidsCo separate from AoStH under the name 'Sonic the blue Hedgehog' with a new German dub and a German title song'.

 

Apparently I was right with my assumption of the new dub being an official one, but that's probably the official dub with some of the worst voices I've ever heard. So bad that it's fun listening to it, just like some of those film spoofs

 

Thats because I wrote the whole (before not existing) German article about SatAM on wikipedia.

 

I still hate the old dub for the bad script and love the new one for the good one. But on the other hand hate the new one for the really bad voice actors (seriously, they fail at trying to catch the character's emotions.)

 

Of course if you are little and you don't know any English and don't care about voice actors, you still enjoy it. But we are a bit older and so we can take every good aspect of the show serious. And here any German dub failed on its own way.

They really should use the 2011 script with the 1995 voice actors That would be the only real solution.

 

 

I "rage" that much about the old German script, because I tried to translate it myself, doing German subtitles for the English version. And at some points it was really difficult, but in most cases I even had nearly the same they used in the 2011 version.

 

One thing I noticed: in the 2011 version they say "Robotersieren" which is the same as "roboterize". But we all know it must be "Robotisieren", engl. "roboticize".

 

 

I also just watched "Heads or Tails" 2011 version (KidsCo).

When Tails is sneezing, the sound comes after Sonic already flips around

 

Some other fun fact for you English guys:

If you want to hear how Jaleel White speaks German: Heads or Tails, after Tails sneezed, he also says "Gesundheit" (which means: health) on German.

[scififry]

 

What German bands have you listened to? Some of them use higher-level language and also sing like people normally speak and not as the conservative German teacher would so I imagine it to be a relatively hard thing to do, especially since German is a relatively complicated language.

 

Thanks again for all of your input on SatAM in German; while these might not be the best dubs, at least SatAM is still getting some love from the official channels!

 

The ones I really like to listen to are: Stahlhammer, Karussell, Puhdys, City, Oomph!, Megaherz, Nina Hagen, Wolfsheim, Stormwarrior, Joachim Witt, Nena, and of course Rammstein.

Do you have any suggestions on other bands? I find myself drifting more towards the European music as far as newer music goes; I find the American music scene to be not as good as a whole, although there are exceptions.

You're welcome, even though the credit for the info finally goes to Skotty!

Hmm, I've never seen SatAM being broadcast live on TV, but I still have analogue without any pay-TV and its original broadcast in free-TV came out before I was even born...So the love SatAM is getting isn't too great, even though it somehow makes me happy that it's currently on a kids' channel, even though it's pay-TV, so that some of today's kids get to see an awesome, quality show

 

Of all the bands you listed I only know Nina Hagen, Nena and Rammstein To be honest I'm not that much into German music, so it's the reverse for me, I'm listening to lots of music from the US (and anywhere else for that matter), also it's mostly just older music I'm digging. I really love some Nena songs; a band I'd definitely recommend is Die Ärzte. They had their prime in the late 80s, I'd say it's post-punk rock. All my friends and I like their music because the lyrics are often just hilariously awesome.

 

**EDIT

Did some research. Apparently it's from that TV station of which the logo is shown in the video with the new dub. From Wikipedia, German AoStH article:

Seit 2012 läuft die Serie auf dem Bezahl-Sender KidsCo getrennt von AoStH unter dem Namen Sonic der blaue Igel mit einer neuen Synchronisation und einem deutschen Titellied.

'Since 2012, the series is aired on the pay-TV station KidsCo separate from AoStH under the name 'Sonic the blue Hedgehog' with a new German dub and a German title song'.

 

Apparently I was right with my assumption of the new dub being an official one, but that's probably the official dub with some of the worst voices I've ever heard. So bad that it's fun listening to it, just like some of those film spoofs

 

Thats because I wrote the whole (before not existing) German article about SatAM on wikipedia.

 

I still hate the old dub for the bad script and love the new one for the good one. But on the other hand hate the new one for the really bad voice actors (seriously, they fail at trying to catch the character's emotions.)

 

Of course if you are little and you don't know any English and don't care about voice actors, you still enjoy it. But we are a bit older and so we can take every good aspect of the show serious. And here any German dub failed on its own way.

They really should use the 2011 script with the 1995 voice actors That would be the only real solution.

Ditto. And thanks for creating the Wikipedia article!

 

One thing I noticed: in the 2011 version they say "Robotersieren" which is the same as "roboterize". But we all know it must be "Robotisieren", engl. "roboticize".

Not only in translations that word's a major source of errors....

[Prince ByTor]

@ scififry: thanks, I'll be sure to check them out. I love Nena too, that woman has a beautiful voice and her backing band was excellent.

[Hammer]

I'll try to remember and post a similar thread, but with the Spanish dub. There were a few posts discussing the (horrible) Mexican Spanish dub: don't worry, this one is completely different.

Yeah, I saw that topic back in the archives. It was the one with the added animation in the opening?

Yes, that one was made in Mexico. The one made in Spain had the same treatment as the German version: the opening (and ending) was reused from AoStH, since they were aired at the same time.

 

A new dub made in 2011? That's surprising in any language.

Sonic Underground was redubbed into Spanish in 2011 or 2012, I'm not sure. I've only seen the opening (which is awful) but I'm waiting for a guy who had recorded a few episodes, and he has told me that the new dub sucks badly.

 

The funny thing is that the old dub is excellent (it surpasses the English version IMO) and guess what? The redub was made by Kidsco, the same channel which redubbed SatAM into German, but they aired SatAM in Spanish without redubbing it.

 

So it seems that Kidsco likes to randomly redub shows that had an excellent dub, and screw them in the process.

[scififry]

Pretty weird that KidsCo re-dubs all those shows. The only reason could be that the channels that made the old dubs cleared out their archives and got rid of the SatAM tapes in the process, which would be a shame. Or the licensing fees for the old dubs would've been quite expensive so simply re-dubbing (in that quality) was cheaper.

 

@ scififry: thanks, I'll be sure to check them out. I love Nena too, that woman has a beautiful voice and her backing band was excellent.

Yep, definitely!

[HeavensChampion]

A shame not all of them are up. It would be nice to hear what Lupe sounds like.

[Prince ByTor]

A shame not all of them are up. It would be nice to hear what Lupe sounds like.

 

I know. Personally I love hearing a woman who speaks German; I think it sounds awesome.