Tintin Forums

Alas for purists, the Nelvana series was indeed recorded in English first, the animation timed to that. Other languages were dubbed for the most part in their native country (including, curiously, the French in France rather than Canada).

Coincidentally, I just today attended a "translation think tank" composed of dramatists and translators (I'm a theatre composer-lyricist) and one of the points touched on was that English is a more compact language, and one practitioner said that its relative spareness on the page "often literally freaks out" the (living) authors of the original texts.

Pelaphus: (including, curiously, the French in France rather than Canada).

This one is easily explained. French-speaking Europeans traditionally have a very (unfair) snobbish perspective on the Québécois accent. (They call it the "Canadian accent," which would mortify the average Québécois). If they watched an entire episode in Québécois French, they'd be rolling in fits on the carpet by the end.

During my time in Switzerland, I had to debunk a number of myths about Québécois French, which is - drum roll please - largely the same as standard French, but with a few more Anglicisms and a lot more sounds (both vowels and consonants).

Some of the better ones I got were:

"Quebec French doesn't have circumflex [^] accents. Instead, they put an 's'..." - Yes it does, and no, they don't.

"Quebec French is 16th century French..." - Umm, no. If you couldn't hear the accent, you'd never know it was any different unless you happened across a particularly Québécois expression.

"Europeans can't understand Quebec French because it's too different..." - Only if you're not trying. Which I dare say our neighbors in France were excellent at not doing! ;)

I've always disliked American dubbing (no offense).
When it's about original American voices, these guys can prove to be nothing less than stellar. But when it comes to dubbing, it pretty much hurts my ears.
I've only heard the English dub and the Spanish dub of the series though. I think the latter was pretty good too, I quite enjoyed it, but it was the first version I watched, when the series played on HBO, so maybe I just grew accustomed to it.

The English-dub Haddock wasn't at all bad, either.

I personally liked Colin O'Meara's voicing of the character. I've never seen the other ones, but they'd take a big adjustment for me not to feel weird about it. ^^ Also... I've tried like none other to find an actual picture of Colin O'Meara. Can anyone help?

Hi I'm Callum. I'd just like to say that I think all the voices of this series are extraordinary. I love Tintin's voice (whether others like it or not). The other voice actors are definitely perfect interpretations of the other characters but Tintin's voice doesn't bother me one little bit. Probably because I've grown up with this series.

The animation and adventures are amazing although others have pointed out that some of the chase scenes haven't been as exciting, I couldn't care. There's also some changes in the story eg- Tintin in America, but overall I can't get enough of this series. I watch it on my DVD Box Set every week.

Clopin: Also... I've tried like none other to find an actual picture of Colin O'Meara. Can anyone help?

Going by his IMDB file, you'll catch him if you watch a 2002 movie called "Partners in Action" or TV series called "Under the Piano" or "Jim Lee's Wild C.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams"...!

Looks like he also had an appearance on "Road to Avonlea," which was a longtime series on government TV over here in Canada based on "Anne of Green Gables."

My guess is that is what makes the English Tintin sound slow and simple - the English-language actor is lip-synching as best as possible to the mouth movements done for the French dialogue
There's a system used at some places where dubbing is done called the Wordfit System. I don't know if this is a result of the earliest version of it, but it probably is. French isn't really closely related enough to English to be compatible, so I'm guessing that's all it is.
I tend to prefer the voiceover artists they picked for the English versions--Tintin LOOKS like a kid to me LOL, so he should SOUND somewhat like one. I don't think he's supposed to be much older than I am (I'm 23)
By the way, how would you find out exactly what kind of voice you have? I hear all this talk about tenors and baritones, and I always wondered how people knew what kind of voice they had.

Moderator Note: Interesting technical knowledge there! However, as mentioned elsewhere in the thread, the series was created to the English-language audio track, and the French was over-dubbed later, not vice-versa. Any perceived variation in mouth movement and audio is down to the animation.
The Tintinologist Team

By the way, how would you find out exactly what kind of voice you have? I hear all this talk about tenors and baritones, and I always wondered how people knew what kind of voice they had.

Speaking musically, a tenor's voice has a range generally from the C below middle C to the A above it (between about 130-440Hz).
I'm a bass, from C two octaves below middle C to the D above it (between about 65-300Hz).
And a baritone has a range between the two, not as low as a bass and not as high as a tenor.

In a valiant attempt to get back on topic (!), Tintin's slightly more boyish demeanour makes me hear his voice as a tenor.

Ed

With respect, Danagasta, your guess is mistaken. English is the native language of the animations (though of course not the books). See the first two posts on this page (3) of the topic.

Ironically, the INVERSE of your guess is the case: many have commented that the French voices sound rushed, since French uses "more syllables per capita" and it's a problem fitting the French translations into the English timing.

While I was channel surfing on our cable TV at home, I saw the series being dubbed in Indonesian. I don't understand the language but I think they did a good job with it and the voices fit the characters well.