Sorry, I don’t really know how to phrase my question. For example, we know that over here in the USA, a box set of dragon ball z contains the English dub and the original Japanese track. If someone from somewhere else wanted to watch, let’s say SpongeBob on DVD, could they expect the original English track or was it commonplace to only have the local dub? ETA: Of course I’m referring to the time period before streaming, and I mean any type of popular cartoon.

  • Nariom@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    7 months ago

    Yes everything is voiced over, which I quickly grew tired of as an adult, you lose some in translation and voice acting. Most stuff on DVD is localized by default but you can select voice and subtitles languages. TV programs often have the option as well. Some theaters offer movies in their original language with subs, but it’s not commonplace. I didn’t watch anything on tv, dvd or at the theater for years tho.

    • rhythmisaprancer@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      7 months ago

      I remember watching Month Python and The Holy Grail in Japanese, but with English subtitles. Definitely missed some things in translation haha.

    • richieadler@lemmy.myserv.one
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      7 months ago

      Latin-American dubs were usually done in Mexico, and they usually used eufemisms instead of expletives, many jokes were lost or retranslated to suit the translator’s humor, they substituted references to places and people as they saw fit, and they could even invent completely new dialog 🤦🏻

      • Nariom@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        7 months ago

        Oh yeah they did something similar to japanese cartoons that were marketed to children a few decades ago. They completely made up dialogues because the original ones were too violent (but not intended for children), resulting in hilarious nonsense when you look back at it. There wasn’t much translation involved in the end.