Any French Fans on this Forum??

[Maxime]

Hi All,

It's my first post in this forum I've been regularly viewing since the beginning of season 16.

I wanted to participate as I feel that not enough french Simpsons fans are expressing themselves on this board! I think that here, in France - and more generally, in Europe - we can have a different point of view about the show, as its french version (french as in France; don't know much about the canadian version) is, IMHO, very special.

I don't know if some of you have already heard or seen an episode in French, but the voices are, IMHO again (and without any form of patriotism), almost as excellent as the american voices, sometimes even better (I sometimes see an episode in both French and American).

For your information, here is the french cast:
- Homer, Abraham, Otto: Philippe Peythieu
- Marge, Patty, Selma, Jacqueline Bouvier: Véronique Augereau (she's also Philippe Peythieu's wife in the real life, just like Marge & Homer)
- Bart, Jimbo: Joëlle Guigui
- Lisa, Milhouse: Aurélia Bruno
- Ned, Lovejoy, Apu, Barney, Smithers...: Patrick Guillemin from season 1 to season 9 (he dubbed many characters from the Looney Tunes, especially Sylvester & Daffy Duck), and Pierre Laurent starting from season 10
- Moe, Lenny, Willie...: Gilbert Levy
- Burns, Wiggum, Skinner, Dr. Hibbert, Krusty, Kent Brockman, Joe Quimby, Sideshow Bob, Sideshow Mel, Snake...: Michel Modo (he played in numberous movies with Louis de Funès, for those who know him)

At the beginning of the show, the actors weren't really at ease, and thus, their voices clearly evolved through the seasons, especially for Philippe Peythieu, which had a stronger and old-sounding voice for Homer in seasons 1 & 2; he starting playing with a funnier voice in season 3 to finally find the actual voice of Homer starting from season 4. About Véronique Augereau aka. Marge, she had a younger voice at the beginning, adopted a most distorted voice at the middle of the show, to finally find a good balance between a young and an altered voice starting from seasons 9/10, becoming far much closer than Julie Kavner's american voice, even better sometimes.

I think that I have some opinions about the show that many of you will not agree with, but I think I should write them:

- I do not really like seasons 1 & 2; not because they're older, but it's mainly because of the french dubbing issues I explained, and because I really discovered the show (eg. watching it on TV) in the late 90s. I can't appreciate those seasons as much as many of you do, that's why Bart is absolutely not my favourite character, and that's why I do not agree with those saying that "Bart Gets an F", "Bart Gets Hit By a Car" or "Bart the General" are the best episodes so far.

- If I really appreciate the original version of the show, I do not like at all the voices that are given to oldest characters; I absolutely don't like Burns' original voice (first time I heard it, I thought that I was hearing a young whispering man), I think that its french equivalent sounds much more old hellish; I don't like original Jasper's voice, and, IMO, Abraham's voice is far much better in French than in the original version, French version makes me laughing out loud every time I hear it; it's not the case with the american voice. Anyway, I love many of the other american voices, especially Homer (see below), Lisa (the French actress says herself that she's not at ease with singing; Yeardley Smith has a marvelous voice, especially when singing) and Bart (both French & American actresses do an excellent job since the beginning of the series).

- I think that French Homer is funnier in many situations; Dan Castellaneta and Philippe Peythieu are both doing a very good job (comparing their work starting from season 4) but, unlike many of you, jerkass Homer is VERY fun to hear in French. His expressions aren't the same, actually:
* he says "Aaaargh!" instead of "Waaaaaah!"
* he says "Yooohoooooo" instead of "Wohoo"
* he says "T'oh" instead of "D'oh" (actually, it's coming from a mistake; Philippe heard and tought that Homer was saying "T'oh" when he was first auditioning for the voice).
* he has some famous regular expressions here in France, like "Pinaise" (you can translate it as something lighter than "Damn"), "Bilibiothèque" instead of "Bibliothèque" (french word for "Library"), and so on.

- AND, unlike many (not to say *ALL*) of you, I do not hate "Kill The Alligator and Run" at all. I think that it's a fairly decent episode for a season 11 episode and I really don't see what is *really* wrong in that episode. To me, episodes like "New Kids on the Blecch" or "Saddlestore Galactica" are FAR MUCH awful than this one, which I would rate something between a B and a C-, but absolutely not with an F like many of you do.

- Anyway, I completely agree than seasons 11/12 are the worst ever (despite of many good episodes like "Brother's Little Helper", "E-I-E-I-(D'oh)", "Take my Wife, Sleaze", "The Mansion Family" (the best of season 11, IMO), "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses", and "Pygmoelian". And for season 12, there are very bad episodes but also very good ones, like "Scary Tales come True" from THOH XI, "Homer vs. Dignity", "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes", "Skinner's Sense of Snow", "Hungry Hungry Homer" (competing with TCWMS and "Trilogy of Error" for the best ep. of this season), "Simpsons Safari" (no, unlike many of you who rate this ep. a F, I REALLY like it), "Trilogy of Error" (best of season 12, IMO), and "Simpsons Tall Tales".

- And, because of what I've just explained before, I completely agree with this equation: S11 < S12 < S13 < S14 < S15 < S16. The show is progressively retrieving its quality from the golden era (starting for me with seasons 3-4), and I hope it'll continue in this way. I can't wait for S16 to be translated and aired in France.

As a final word, I would say that I was pleased to share with you a little part of the French version of the show, and I hope that I've encouraged you to discover it, because it's very good, without, again, being "patriotic". I will finish by saying that I might not be as active as most of you on this forum, because writing in English about the Simpsons is very hard for a French guy like me (I must carefully translate the episodes titles, and of course, English is not my native language).

Voilà! :-)

[thrilling bargains]

Nice to have you on board, Maxime.

I like your thoughts, they're really well thought out, and extremely well worded. Actually, your english is better than some Americans on the forum!

Anyway, great thoughts. I'll give watching an episode in french on the DVDs a shot. Sounds great!

Thanks for you thoughts.

[Maxime]

Thank you, Gillman153!
I forgot to say that Gil is also one of my most favourite characters...
Makes me laughing everytime I see him, even if he does not say a word

[vox]

Hydro's gonna love you.

[Galalimit]

Welcome to the board.

[Paul]

Welcome to NHC. You're awesome.

[Simpsons Forever!]

Interesting comparison of episodes. I never thought what it would be like having different voice actors - I'll have to check it out on the language features of the DVDs. Welcome to the NHC.

[Galalimit]

Maxime

We have the french version of the simpsons on our season dvds over here. I've personally never listened to it but after all the great things you said about, i'm going to give it a try now.

[Garp]

Welcome to the NHC!

I got some DVD's (Heaven and Hell, The Simpsons VS the World and Simpsons.Com) and I have watched two or three episodes in french. I remember, in THOH IV, how funny was Homer at the start of the third story.

"Ils sont des chiens! Et ils jouent poker! Hahahahahahahahahaha!"

Bart and Lisa's voices were very appropiate, but I found Milhouse voice kinda... mmmh... weird. He seems older.


Hey, Maxime, I have read somewhere that Kill the Alligator and Run was named "Folie Homérique" en France. It's that true? Becaaue if it's true, it's a very appropiate title, I mean, it describes perfectly a 22 minutes episodes in just 2 words

[Maxime]

Hey, Maxime, I have read somewhere that Kill the Alligator and Run was named "Folie Homérique" en France. It's that true? Becaaue if it's true, it's a very appropiate title, I mean, it describes perfectly a 22 minutes episodes in just 2 words

Tienes razón, mi amigo!

Absolutely, "Folie Homérique" is the french title of "Kill The Alligator and Run".
French titles are like the original ones: sometimes very good and well chosen (even better than the american titles for a few of them!), but sometimes, titles are quite uninspired...

We have the french version of the simpsons on our season dvds over here. I've personally never listened to it but after all the great things you said about, i'm going to give it a try now.

Be careful, however: the french version I'm talking about is the version we have in Europe (France, Belgium, Luxembourg) and not the canadian version from Quebec. The french version can be found from Zone 2 DVDs sold in Europe, while canadian version is located on Zone 1 DVDs you have before us in America and Canada. I saw that you are from Toronto, so you surely have zone 1 DVDs... I've listened to french versions from Quebec and they are absolutely not the same.

[moeistheirleader]

That was a very interesting insight into the French version of the show, very cool. I also dislike seasons 1 & 2 (the writing wasn't up to par). I would really love to hear from more of the international fans of the show and their perception of The Simpsons.

[Oto]

Salutation Maxime
Hi Maxime

C'est vrai qu'on est pas très très nombreux sur le forum.
That's true we're not very very much on the board.

Tu m'as l'air d'avoir un anglais bien meilleur que le mien, c'est pas facile pour moi de m'exprimer dans les differents post.
You have a very good english (better than mine), it's not easy for me to explain my point of view in the different thread.

En tout cas, ça fais plaisir de te voir parmis nous.
In all cases, you're welcome.

[Maxime]

Hello Oto

Merci pour ton accueil :-)
Thanks for welcoming me :-)

Si tu connais d'autres fans français qui parcourent ce forum, donne-leur l'adresse de ce thread ; on se sentira moins seuls comme ça :-)
If you know other french fans browsing this forum, tell them about this thread ; we'll not feel lonely that way :-)

Ce qui est surtout pas facile pour nous (et pour tous ceux qui connaissent mieux la série dans une autre langue), c'est de traduire les titres... mais je l'ai déjà dit :-)
What is really difficult for us (and for all those who better know the show in another language), is to translate the titles... but I've already said that :-)

En tout cas, à vous lire tous, je crois avoir fait le bon choix de venir sur ce forum !
After reading all your posts, I think that I've made the right choice to come to this forum!

[Hydro]

Bienvenue à No Homers Club, Maxime. Vox Nerduli a raison, déjà je t'adore (mais bien sur, j'adore tous les members qui sont pas débiles). Note bien mon avatar.

Anyway (in English now for the benefit of tous les autres, though I'll keep the French titles, most of which I have memorized as well as the English ones) I've watched the French, Québécois, and English versions of the show and I agree with most of your thoughts on the dubbing and translation.

In general the French translators do a good job (I'm studying right now to be a translator and their job is a lot more difficult than most people would think). One thing that they do an annoying amount of the time is change cultural references in ways that don't make sense. Like the "Heeeeere's Johnny" sequence in "Treehouse of Horror V" ("Simpson horror show V") that gets changed to "the big bad wolf" because they assume French viewers won't get either the reference to The Shining or The Tonight Show. Or when Tim Conway's name was changed to "Tim Hannibal" in "Simpsons Spinoff Showcase" ("Les vrais-faux Simpson") to make the "ghost/host" pun work (with "cannibal"), because after all who in France has heard of Tim Conway?

A lot of the jokes of course are simply impossible to get in French -- there's just no way to get across the line "There's a-doin's a-transpiring! and have it still be as funny as it is in English. It's very rewarding to watch a dubbed show you love in the original language because you get so many things that even the best translators can't make work (my friends who are fans of animé attest to this all the time).

As for the French voice of Lisa, her voice in "The President Wore Pearls" (Soit belle et tais-toi ! ) was dubbed, I believe, by Joelle Guigui the voice of Bart, and she did a pretty good job. I'm not as fond of the French Homer as you, though I like the Québec Homer (even though his voice sounds very different from the original, it's funny in its own way).

but also very good ones, like ..."Hungry Hungry Homer"

That's my favorite from that season too, and the French dubbing has one of the best translated jokes ever -- the "I'll be quirky/a bu quelque" is funnier in French than in English.

[DotheBartman]

- I do not really like seasons 1 & 2; not because they're older, but it's mainly because of the french dubbing issues I explained, and because I really discovered the show (eg. watching it on TV) in the late 90s. I can't appreciate those seasons as much as many of you do, that's why Bart is absolutely not my favourite character, and that's why I do not agree with those saying that "Bart Gets an F", "Bart Gets Hit By a Car" or "Bart the General" are the best episodes so far.

Your comments about the dubbing sound fair, but there really wasn't any more Bart in those seasons (especcially season two) then most other seasons of the show. If anything, there was a lot more Homer, and one of those episodes ("Bart Gets Hit By A Car") isn't a Bart episode at all, despite the title.

That said, very interesting post, particularly when it comes to who voices who in the french version. Lisa and Milhouse being voiced by the same person is especcially interesting to me for some reason.

Welcome, and I hope you stick around.

[Magnum]

That said, very interesting post, particularly when it comes to who voices who in the french version. Lisa and Milhouse being voiced by the same person is especcially interesting to me for some reason.

Coincidently I was asked just last night if the woman who does Lisa's voice also does Milhouse.

[Maxime]

Bienvenue à No Homers Club, Maxime. Vox Nerduli a raison, déjà je t'adore (mais bien sur, j'adore tous les members qui sont pas débiles). Note bien mon avatar.

Merci :-)
About your avatar, I love the part of this episode where the chidren have those clothes :-)

As for the French voice of Lisa, her voice in "The President Wore Pearls" (Soit belle et tais-toi ! ) was dubbed, I believe, by Joelle Guigui the voice of Bart, and she did a pretty good job. I'm not as fond of the French Homer as you, though I like the Québec Homer (even though his voice sounds very different from the original, it's funny in its own way).

Yes, you're right, Joëlle Guigui replaced Aurélia Bruno in this episode for the songs, because she sings better ;-) Of course, her voice sounds much more like if it was Bart who was singing, but she has done a great job, and even if I found, the first time I saw this episode, that it wasn't Aurélia for the songs, Joëlle tried to mimic Aurélia's voice and it gave pretty good results. But I still prefer the Yeardley Smith version :-)

Your comments about the dubbing sound fair, but there really wasn't any more Bart in those seasons (especcially season two) then most other seasons of the show. If anything, there was a lot more Homer, and one of those episodes ("Bart Gets Hit By A Car") isn't a Bart episode at all, despite the title.

I've not seen this episode many times, but I thought that Bart was more used than Homer from what I remembered.

[DotheBartman]

No, Bart figures in, but its mainly about Homer, Marge, and Mr. Burns. Once Lionel Hutz comes in (which is within the first couple minutes), Bart only talks in a few more scenes I think (dinner at the end, some courtroom stuff, the hospital with Dr. Nick, conspiring with Hutz), and even in those a lot of the lines go to Hutz, Homer, etc.

I know the marketing of the show was very Bart centric at the time, but if you actually add up all the seasons 1 and 2 episodes, there's more Homer then there is Bart.

[Garp]

(I'm studying right now to be a translator and their job is a lot more difficult than most people would think).

Hey, I 'm gonna study the same next year . And yeah, sometimes their job it's pretty damn difficult... I think that the most difficult thing the spanish translators of the show have made it's rewriting the whole script of All Singing All Dancing to make it rhyme. And it still had sense and a lot of similarities to the original script!

[Robertuybrush]

Hidely-ho, neighborino!

I didn't know Homer and Marge's voices in France are married in real life. I find it nice.
The french version is good (I've seen some parts in French thanks to the DVDs), but I prefer the spanish version... I think we all feel something "special" about the dubbing we are most used to hear.

I agree with Hydro and Garp about the translating thing they are discussing. It's more difficult than it looks. I want to study the translation career as soon as I'm done with the computing one, because I really like it and I think I'm pretty good doing it.
The translation of the show into spanish is very good in general (The translation of All Singing, All Dancing was great). There are mistakes from time to time, but they're usually small.

[Roger Myers III]

This is all very, very interesting. Its wild to even contemplate all of the issues that translation raises.

Have any of you ever thought about starting a website specifically concerned with international fans and dubbing victims. You could explain and translate the jokes so others get it, follow the changes in voice casts, compare the qualities, and so on.

Or does a site like this already exist? (If not, what would a good, Simpson-y name be?