Following the film chronology, this section contains the analysis of each selected excerpt in terms of dubbing constraints and strategies imposed on and adopted by the French and Spanish translators of Inglourious Basterds. IB-ST refers to Inglourious Basterds in its original version, IB-F to its French dubbed version and IB-S to its Spanish dubbed version.
3.1.1. Scene 1: I regret to inform you I’ve exhausted the extent of my French
The film opens with a dialogue between Perrier LaPadite, a French farmer, and Colonel Hans Landa. The ‘Jew hunter’ hunts the Dreyfuses, a French Jewish family on the run. In IB-ST, the first five minutes of their conversation are held in French, with subtitles in English for the audience. Hans Landa’s French …show more content…
Yet, this is not a case of transference, since the existence of French as L3ST was neutralised: the foreignness intended by its use disappeared. Christoph Waltz dubbed his own lines into French, there was therefore no voice inconsistency, and his slight German accent was consequently transferred. In both cases, the translator seems to have resorted to a compensation strategy; not at the level of language, but within the script, by rewriting parts of sentences to justify the presence of a language rather than another, and even explicitly mention …show more content…
Scene 2: How is your English, Werner?
Another reference to the English language is made when Aldo Raine meets the German Sergeant Werner Rachtmann, who got caught by The Basterds.
Those fellows are Wilhelm Wicki and Hugo Stiglitz, both bilingual in German and English. The dubbing translators here needed to find a way to avoid the comment on the presence of English. Indeed, in both IB-F and IB-S, The Basterds respectively speak French and Spanish, since L1 was translated into L2 throughout the film. The translators opted for a similar approach in this case: they neutralised the reference to English. Aldo Raine thus simply asks Werner if he understands what he says, without specifying the language in which the conversation is held.
Later, at the same place, Aldo Raine questions Private Butz, another German soldier. Likewise, he starts by asking him whether or not he understands
3.1.1. Scene 1: I regret to inform you I’ve exhausted the extent of my French
The film opens with a dialogue between Perrier LaPadite, a French farmer, and Colonel Hans Landa. The ‘Jew hunter’ hunts the Dreyfuses, a French Jewish family on the run. In IB-ST, the first five minutes of their conversation are held in French, with subtitles in English for the audience. Hans Landa’s French …show more content…
Yet, this is not a case of transference, since the existence of French as L3ST was neutralised: the foreignness intended by its use disappeared. Christoph Waltz dubbed his own lines into French, there was therefore no voice inconsistency, and his slight German accent was consequently transferred. In both cases, the translator seems to have resorted to a compensation strategy; not at the level of language, but within the script, by rewriting parts of sentences to justify the presence of a language rather than another, and even explicitly mention …show more content…
Scene 2: How is your English, Werner?
Another reference to the English language is made when Aldo Raine meets the German Sergeant Werner Rachtmann, who got caught by The Basterds.
Those fellows are Wilhelm Wicki and Hugo Stiglitz, both bilingual in German and English. The dubbing translators here needed to find a way to avoid the comment on the presence of English. Indeed, in both IB-F and IB-S, The Basterds respectively speak French and Spanish, since L1 was translated into L2 throughout the film. The translators opted for a similar approach in this case: they neutralised the reference to English. Aldo Raine thus simply asks Werner if he understands what he says, without specifying the language in which the conversation is held.
Later, at the same place, Aldo Raine questions Private Butz, another German soldier. Likewise, he starts by asking him whether or not he understands