Firefly Lost in French Translation

Serenity Movie

This article is part of a series of reviews analysing the translation work for the French dubbed Firefly series and movie(s). It is intended for anyone who would like to know a little better how a French audience would perceive Joss' wonderful creation.

Introduction to this series
Previous review: Objects in Space
Conclusion to this series

General comments

I was not a bit surprised to realize that the movie's dubbing was done by another team; other voice-actors for sure and, most likely, other translators. On the whole, the French voices differences with the series are small. Simon and River are very close. Mal and Jayne voices are rougher which serve the characters well. But I must admit that it took me a while to get used to the new Jayne. Kaylee has a lower pitch, more mature. Conversely, Book's voice has a higher pitch which is less appropriate. Finally, Wash's voice doesn't have the needed playful characteristic.

As for the translation, I expected to jot down a long list of errors, omissions and differences but I was pleasantly surprised. This review has the shortest list of excerpts I've ever come up with so far, even if the movie is almost three times the length of an episode. Unfortunately, some of the errors are mildly severe which prevented me from giving it a perfect rating. Even so, if the dubbing had been as good as this from the start, my reviews would have been much shorter and, without a doubt, more boring!

I was able to track down the names of the dubbing team for Serenity. For those interested, I found the dubbing profile page for Serenity (in French). The Firefly page on French Wikipedia lists the name of the French voice-actors for Firefly. All of them being of born in France, I must conclude that the translation was done there. At the risk of sounding chauvinistic I would say that it may be another reason why the French(-canadian) Serenity is better than French Firefly!

Some of you may recall the "Serenity" and "Bushwacked" confusion about Reavers. Over the course of these two episodes, they've used three different words for them: Termites, Ravageurs and Reavers. For the movie, they chose Ravageurs and, more importantly, stick to it!

I was very pleased to discover that every single Chinese line was kept. So far, none of the episodes had achieved this. On the other hand, the way they pronounce Simon is bugging me. They use the original English pronunciation instead of the French one as it was done in the series. Looking back on this, I admit that it is more appropriate since they already stick to the original pronunciation for every other name. Except Jayne for whom they kept the series' atrocious pronunciation: Jayn-ee!

Translation score: 4/5
Chinese score: 7/7

Chosen Excerpts

The various excerpts analyses are formatted like this:
In red is the original line.
In blue is the French translation replacing the original lines.
In green is my English translation of the French lines.
In regular text is my personal comment on the translation work for the excerpt.

SIMON
It's okay to leave them to die.
Tu les laisses s'entretuer, c'est bien clair?
You let them kill each other, is it clear?
No comments.

ZOE
No, I think things will glide a deal smoother for us without River and Simon on board, but how long do you think they'll last?
Non. Je crois que tout ira bien mieux pour nous tous sans River et Simon à bord. Combien de temps crois-tu qu'ils resteront?
No. I believe that everything will go much better for us without River and Simon on board. How long do you think they'll stay?
This mistake has a significant impact on this scene. The feeling of doom towards the siblings' fate is reduced.

KAYLEE
You look the captain in the eye. Know who you're dealing with.
Parle au commandant dans les yeux. Tu sais que c'est ce qu'il veut.
Talk to the captain in the eye. You know that's what he wants.
I'm wondering if the translator perhaps thought that she was referring to Mal and decided to spell out what they perceived as a hidden meaning.

MAL
The Alliance wanted to show me reason they shouldn't have sent an assassin.
Si l'Alliance voulait me faire entendre raison, elle enverrait un assassin.
If the Alliance wished to make me listen to reason, they would send an assassin.
I checked and re-checked to make sure this is really what was said. Obviously, it doesn't work with the Operative's reaction.

MAL (to Jayne who wants to captain the ship)
Well, you can't.
Oublie ça. T'es trop idiot.
Forget it You're too dumb.
No comments.

MAL
So I hear a word out of any of you that ain't helping me out or taking your leave, I will shoot you down.
Si j'en entends un dire quoi que ce soit qui va à l'encontre de mon plan ou qui souhaite quitter le vaisseau, je le tue sur-le-champ.
If I hear one of you say something that goes against my plan or who wishes to leave the ship, I kill him on the spot.
Mal appears more ruthless and it contradicts his previous statement where he clearly said that anyone could stay on Haven.

MAL
I aim to misbehave.
Et je me rebellerai s'il le faut.
And I'll rebel if necessary.
Too soft. At this point, he's not supposed to hold back anything. It's anti-climatic.

MAL and ZOE
- Think she'll hold together?
- She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly through.
- Tu crois qu'il tiendra le coup?
- Il a été endommagé, mais il volera, c'est sûr.
- You think he'll hold together?
- He's been damaged, but he'll fly, it's certain.
Who can blame the translator for having missed this double meaning when even Nathan did?

That's it. Thanks for reading!

Michel

Previous review: Objects in Space
Conclusion to this series