Language is in the eye and ear of the beholder

One of the blog posts by my blogger friend Eagle-Eyed Editor talks about Shakespeare in a tweet. The post is darned funny and inspired me to write about foreign language voice-overs, which can also be very funny.

Have you ever watched “Seinfeld” in Japan? If you have, you will know that the voice sounds different and it seems odd to hear a different language coming from the mouth of someone you know so well.

One thing that really bothers me is when the voice really doesn’t match the actor. I think, “How can they possibly have picked this voice for this actor?”

It’s not just in Japan. Jerry Seinfeld sounds so different in each country where his show is broadcast. My reaction ranges from bemusement to puzzlement to outrage. And I’m sure yours would too.

My friends and I used voice-overs as a spin-off to quote some of Shakespeare’s lines in different languages. The funniest thing was when we attempted to do Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in Farsi. The Farsi version had everyone in stitches. Trust me: “Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?” sounds way different in Farsi.