Translation and localization for brazilian portuguese dubbing and subbing is getting sloppy, and I really don't like it.
This started out kinda essay-ish and well written and thought out but devolved into me ranting and losing the plot a little.
[TL;DR: The brazilian Voice Acting/Dubbing industry is taking a big downfall because good VAs are dying at a crazy rate since the late 2010s, the talent we have to refill these vacant spots are not the same quality and capitalism. Also, translation and localization sucks because capitalism.]
In case you are reading this and don't happen to know me, I am brazilian, and my country has always had a great reputation when it comes to dubbing stuff. Our voice acting industry is BIG, y'all, and dubbing is a big chunk of the VA jobs. Hell, the name for the art of voice acting in general down here is "dublador" which literally translates to "dubber".
But sadly, anyone that has been around for a while can notice that the quality of the VA industry in Brazil is in a rapid and concerning decline. There are many factors that contribute to it, but I'm not exactly educated enough to go in depht on it so I'll point out the most obvious ones:
The first one is pretty straight foward: voice actors are dying. No, literally, they are. At alarming rates. It's insane. Many iconic ones like Isaac Bardavid, the official VA for Hugh Jackman (yes, some actors get their own assigned VAs that do them for every project they're on. Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy have theirs too, and many more) and Orlando Drummond, famous for voicing Scooby Doo, are 2 of the MANY that passed away from old age. COVID culled tens of VAs, and a suprisingly amount of them got straight up murdered, like official VA for Harry Potter. I swear to god, I'm not kidding, there is a facebook page I used to follow that talks about voice acting, you'd think it was a fucking obituary the way every day there used to be at least one tribute post talking announcing someone who died or a tribute post for others long gone. And, the big problem that this causes is the fact that the new talent is nowhere near the level of the old guard. Like, at all. The new VAs SUCK. LIKE THEY SUCK ASS.
The second reason is, of course, good old capitalism. Studios having to comply with their clients demanding, them to follow stricter and stricter standards, cutting their freedom of writing to localize the content, stunt casting celebrities (Tangled truly was the beginning fo the end) etc. It's bad.
And today, I want to highlight exaclty that, how these factors are leading into bad directing.
I am a big fan of The Pitt, and in order to make my mom watch it I am gonna have to watch it dubbed cause she doesn't speak english and doesn't like to watch with subs. And the last episode really fucking BOTHERED ME.
It happened on the scene where the motorcycle without a helmet dude dies. Joy asks:
But in the dub, she asks:
It translates it correctly, sure. But the translator completely butchered the what Joy said. In the original, she is questioning "Shouldn't we be doing the moment of reflection like the other guy taught us before?" But in the translation she is offering, giving Robby a suggestion: "Hey, I think we should do a moment of reflection."
IT COMPLETELY CHANGED THE SCENE.
If I was the one translating it I think it would be better as:
"Mas e o momento de reflexão? Eu pensei..."
Anyways, it's late. This is just a very small example of the whole fucking situation. The entire dubbing industry is completely filled with these tiny mistakes and some very questionable direction choices and I hate to see this go on. i fucking love dubbing. As a brazilian, it is legit a cornerstone of pride in our modern culture. Seeing like this is depressing.
Another mistranslation, or mislocalization:
"My intake is running low."
THEY TRANSLATED IT LITERALLY. AS IF LOUIE WAS TALKING ABOUT HIS INGESTION, AS IN THE AMOUNT OF FOOD HE ATE BEFORE. NO DUDE, HE IS TALKING ABOUT THE LIQUID IN HIS BELLY BEING DRAINED. HE IS SAYING HE IS ALMOST DONE WITH THE PROCEDURE HE IS GOING THROUGH.
"Minha ingestão está baixa" THIS SENTENCE DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE! AT LEAST NOT WITH THE SITUATION AT HAND. WTF IS THIS?
(By the way, the portuguese sub is the same as the dub.)
