![\"\"](\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_MwnH1kpbPRM\/RnInEdjyHbI\/AAAAAAAAAZY\/pB8NjfxdlGg\/s1600-h\/shrek3-french.jpg\")
<\/a>Last year<\/a>, I noted that French-language films made in Quebec are sometimes shown with subtitles even when they are shown in France \u2014 because the dialects in the two countries can be very different. Now comes this item<\/a> via the National Post<\/i>:<\/span><\/p>\n
Like children all over North America, pint-size Quebecers have been flocking to theatres recently to see the animated film Shrek the Third<\/a>, or Shrek le Troisieme as it is known here. The only problem is they are leaving confused about what exactly that donkey was saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe donkey is the main character we don\u2019t understand here in Quebec,\u201d explained Tristan Harvey, a Montreal actor who makes his living dubbing movies into French. \u201cWhen you go out with your child and watch the movie, the children and the adults will say, \u2018I just don\u2019t get it. He speaks another language.\u2019 He\u2019s using Parisian slang that we just don\u2019t get.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because the French-language version of the movie now on Quebec screens was dubbed in France, Quebecers have trouble following the dialogue. It is one example among many that led politicians in Quebec City last week to call for a law obliging the major Hollywood studios to dub their movies in Quebec, using Quebec actors. In an interesting twist on Quebec\u2019s age-old language debate, the fight is not against English but against the often incomprehensible dialect spoken in mother France.<\/p>\n
The fight was taken up last week by Mario Dumont, whose Action democratique du Quebec<\/a> leapt from nowhere to official opposition in the last election thanks in part to its message that the Quebec identity is under threat. During the election campaign, Mr. Dumont was preoccupied by perceived threats from religious groups seeking accommodation of their customs; now it is the Hollywood studios and the Parisian actors they hire to dub their films. His party tabled a bill last Wednesday that would force studios to have their films dubbed in Quebec before they can be released in the province. (Existing law requires that a French-language version be available but does not dictate where the dubbing is to be done.)<\/p>\n
Mr. Dumont told reporters about taking his baffled children to see Shrek le Troisieme. \u201cYou have very Parisian expressions that are typical to Paris or France [and that] children of Quebec have never heard of, cannot understand. So this is the whole story of cultural diversity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It is also a story of a lucrative industry that actors fear could be lost if the major Hollywood studios abandon their commitment to dubbing in Quebec.<\/p>\n
Quebec\u2019s Union des artistes, which represents film, stage and television actors, says the dubbing industry was worth $25-million last year, providing work for 800 people. Of that number, 200 are actors, most of whom work in relative anonymity, providing the French voices of Hollywood stars. . . .<\/p>\n
The union annually rates the Hollywood studios on their performances in dubbing in Quebec, awarding prizes to the best and worst. The lemon prize for worst performance last year was shared by Fox and Paramount, which dubbed 52% and 42% of their films in Quebec, respectively. The top prize went to Warner, which dubbed all its films in Quebec. Overall, 73% of major releases were dubbed in Quebec, down from 78% the year before. . . .<\/p>\n
Mr. Harvey, who provides the voice of the Seth Rogen character in the current comedy Knocked Up<\/a> (Grossesse surprise), says the issue for Quebec audiences is not simply one of hearing a familiar accent. Quebec is much more in tune with mainstream American culture than France, so much gets lost in a translation done for European audiences. \u201cThey don\u2019t understand as well the American reality, so they transpose it to the European reality,\u201d he said. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If you haven\u2019t read it yet, do make a point of reading that Saturday Night<\/i> article<\/a> on the differences between Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois French and European French versions of The Simpsons<\/a><\/i>. It\u2019s fascinating.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last year, I noted that French-language films made in Quebec are sometimes shown with subtitles even when they are shown in France \u2014 because the dialects in the two countries can be very different. Now comes this item via the National Post: Like children all over North America, pint-size Quebecers have been flocking to theatres […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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