Question about french track on US Disney DVDs

[thatartguy]

It's really just not the same culture and you feel like the movie is set in New York but with Parisian people.

Kind of like watching a movie set in New York, but you see Vancouver streets.

[Dash]

By the way, even the titles of the movies aren't the same in Québec than in France.

Somes examples :

Animated Classics (Grands Classiques)
The Emperor's New Groove : Kuzco, l'Empereur Mégalo (France) - Un Empereur Nouveau Genre (Québec)
Atlantis, The Lost Empire : Atlantide, l'Empire Perdu (France) - Atlantis, l'Empire Perdu (Québec)
Brother Bear : Frère des Ours (France) - Mon Frère l'Ours (Québec)
Home On The Range : La Ferme se Rebelle (France) - La Ferme de la Prairie (Québec)
Chicken Little : Chicken Little (France) - Petit Poulet (Québec)

Other Animated Movies
The Wild : The Wild (France) - La Vie Sauvage (Québec)

Disney-Pixar
Toy Story : Toy Story (France) - Histoire de Jouets (Québec)
A Bug's Life : 1001 Pattes ( A Bug's Life) (France) - Une Vie de Bestiole (Québec)
Monsters, Inc. : Monstres & Cie (France) - Monstres, Inc. (Québec)
Finding Nemo : Le Monde de Nemo (France) - Trouver Nemo (Québec)
The Incredibles : Les Indestructibles (France) - Les Incroyables (Québec)

Direct-to-Video (Disney Vidéo Première)
The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea : La Petite Sirène 2 : Retour à l'Océan (France) - La Petite Sirène 2 : Retour à la Mer (Québec)

[Big Disney Fan]

By the way, even the titles of the movies aren't the same in Québec than in France.

Somes examples :

Animated Classics (Grands Classiques)
The Emperor's New Groove : Kuzco, l'Empereur Mégalo (France) - Un Empereur Nouveau Genre (Québec)
Atlantis, The Lost Empire : Atlantide, l'Empire Perdu (France) - Atlantis, l'Empire Perdu (Québec)
Brother Bear : Frère des Ours (France) - Mon Frère l'Ours (Québec)
Home On The Range : La Ferme se Rebelle (France) - La Ferme de la Prairie (Québec)
Chicken Little : Chicken Little (France) - Petit Poulet (Québec)

Other Animated Movies
The Wild : The Wild (France) - La Vie Sauvage (Québec)

Disney-Pixar
Toy Story : Toy Story (France) - Histoire de Jouets (Québec)
A Bug's Life : 1001 Pattes ( A Bug's Life) (France) - Une Vie de Bestiole (Québec)
Monsters, Inc. : Monstres & Cie (France) - Monstres, Inc. (Québec)
Finding Nemo : Le Monde de Nemo (France) - Trouver Nemo (Québec)
The Incredibles : Les Indestructibles (France) - Les Incroyables (Québec)

Direct-to-Video (Disney Vidéo Première)
The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea : La Petite Sirène 2 : Retour à l'Océan (France) - La Petite Sirène 2 : Retour à la Mer (Québec)

Wowee-zowee! Why can't they be the same, anyway? I mean, I know they're from different cultures, but does that have to apply to movies as well?

[myr_heille]

Wowee-zowee! Why can't they be the same, anyway? I mean, I know they're from different cultures, but does that have to apply to movies as well?

It does! French-from-France people like their movies to keep their English titles, as you can see with the list above. We in Québec like to make sure our French is safe, even if surrounded by these lands of Englishness

[Jordan]

Wowee-zowee! Why can't they be the same, anyway? I mean, I know they're from different cultures, but does that have to apply to movies as well?

It does! French-from-France people like their movies to keep their English titles, as you can see with the list above. We in Québec like to make sure our French is safe, even if surrounded by these lands of Englishness

From a Frenchman and a French/English Translation major point of view...

In France, we do not always leave the English titles as if, but sometimes only when the title is understable for everybody (for Disney, "Toy Story" is a good example). However, I think in Quebec there is a (bad) tendency to translate everything, and I think way to litteraly, and the translated titles seem kinda stupid in French (at least the way it's translated in Quebec), or worse, sometimes the translation is soo literral that the sense is completely lost!!

Overstranslation also not only in movies, even in the everyday life; I mean, why to they have to put the translated word of "Stop" on the roads, when everybody knows what "Stop" means lol

Anyway, the way French people see it in a general put of view in France is that everything is overtranslated there. But I think this goes also with the difference of the French in France and in Quebec. You see, for French people, French Canadian don't speak French, they speak.... well French Canadian, it's their own language but it is not French really. We don't always understand everything they say, and I'm not talking about the accent but about the actual words the choose.

When we translate movie titles in France, it will be more.... how can I put this.... subtle... Or sometimes that's true we don't translate, but I think it's for the best. I mean, take really popular movies or TV shows like, I don't know "Pulp Fiction" or "Friends" (the TV show), it appeals to everybody all around the word in thos particular English terms, so why translate it?

Basically my whole point is this: French is a language that is very different from English, and to translate it correctly, significant changes and adaptions must be done in order for the translation to be accurate. The place of words is different but also, thing can be said easier in English than in Frenc, and it is a fact that, on the whole for the same text, an French version will always be longer than an English version (I think it's about 20% longer). Anyway, I think French Canadians, by translating too literally, forget that rule too often...

This message wasn't intended to hurt any Quebecois reading this, just to say my point of view on the subject, so I hope nobody will get offended

[myr_heille]

Well, Jordan, I don't think I will respond extensively to your message because I think an agreement will be difficult to reach since we both probably prefer to hear our part of the French language in movies (or in life in general). I personnally don't think that "Histoire de jouets" sounds stupid at all, and it means exactly the same thing as "Toy Story", and I don't see why it would be overtranslated.

And about "We don't always understand everything they say, and I'm not talking about the accent but about the actual words the choose.", that is the single thing that annoys me whenever I go to France. Why is it that we understand France people perfectly but they don't try to understand us? Anyway, I'm not trying to start a debate because I guess I'm a bit too involved and it's not the point of the topic!

[winniedu77]

I think it depends on the habits we have in each country.
Of course it's weird for us, People from France to have some english titles translated litteraly in french such as Toy Story (example given above) or even for the american movie titles. But the french canadian track also called "international french" for the movies is quite good but of course for the canadians hearing the parisian accent in the movies, it sounds bad.
In a way, I agree with Jordan but I understand french speaking people from Canada as well, willing to keep French language in "everything" not to be invaded by USA even if the american culture is already here.

[myr_heille]

Normally I don't really have a problem with the "International French" track - I try to listen to most English movies in English anyway, to practice! (Since you don't hear much English around here!) It's just that for Disney movies I really want the tracks I heard as a child, since I knew most of them by heart, with every intention (as I'm sure lots of people here do to!). Aladdin's voice in particular is the greatest. The only problem is that this actor (Joël Legendre) does a lot of dubbing and every time I'm like "Hey, that's Aladdin!" and it really crushes my heart when it's mean guy he plays