"My Japanese is getting better. We started speaking English."
March 20, 2012 11:55 AM   Subscribe

Iron Lady lost in Russian translation. [Guardian.co.uk] Speaking to a crowd of supporters, Margaret Thatcher, as played by Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, explains what she would do as prime minister: "Crush the working class, crush the scum, the yobs."
posted by Fizz (25 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
"Of course you went a bit over the top ... One of them [the workers] could be literate and have a television and see everything and tell all the rest," he says, "and then rumours would spread that you are a pitiless, heartless bitch."

Sounds fairly spot on to me.
posted by knapah at 11:55 AM on March 20, 2012 [14 favorites]


The pirated Russian translation of the film, voiced over in a monotone by one man...

Is this still common in Russia? I remember hearing that in some countries instead of subtitles (which limits the audience) or real dubbing (which is expensive) some countries would just have one guy read the whole translation in a boring monotone voice. But I thought most big foreign markets either dubbed or subbed these days.
posted by burnmp3s at 12:04 PM on March 20, 2012


The pirated Russian translation of the film, voiced over in a monotone by one man, depicts Thatcher as a bloodthirsty, Hitler-admiring leader, whose fondest desire is to destroy the working class.

That's ridiculous, she didn't admire Hitler.
posted by TheAlarminglySwollenFinger at 12:05 PM on March 20, 2012 [17 favorites]


Sounds fairly spot on to me.
Those famous Russian 'honesty-in-translation' laws.
posted by Abiezer at 12:07 PM on March 20, 2012 [1 favorite]


It captures her almost too well.
posted by Artw at 12:07 PM on March 20, 2012 [1 favorite]


Is this still common in Russia?

Yep! It's called a Gavrilov translation, named after the most famous of the one-man dubbers. This film also fits into the tradition of doing parody dubs. There's one for the entire Lord of the Rings cycle, and it's hilarious.
posted by griphus at 12:11 PM on March 20, 2012 [9 favorites]


Finally, a version I'd watch.
posted by fullerine at 12:12 PM on March 20, 2012


...one of the most famous...
posted by griphus at 12:12 PM on March 20, 2012


O.K., so for some reason I imagined this, all said by the same voice: "I am your father. No...that's not true! That's impossible."

It opens a door to an alternate Star Wars universe which continues "I was just fuckin' with ya. Chewbacca's your real father!"
posted by yoink at 12:40 PM on March 20, 2012




Dammit, if only I could find that perfect, hilarious clip from Monster in a Box where Spalding Gray tells of the Russian Film Festival disaster where the emergency replacement translator tries hopelessly to keep up on the fly with the 90 min exposition-heavy monologue of Swimming to Cambodia.
posted by chambers at 12:48 PM on March 20, 2012


It's called a Gavrilov translation

NB: they used to also have the same inflectionless one-person monotone dubbing for porn but idk if this is still so. SO HILARRIBLE.
posted by elizardbits at 1:14 PM on March 20, 2012


Yep! It's called a Gavrilov translation, named after the most famous of the one-man dubbers.

Good to know. I was looking for a term for this when I first became aware of the Watchmen motion capture comic which has all of the dialogue for dozens of characters being read by one guy. It is odd, to say the least.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:22 PM on March 20, 2012 [1 favorite]


So what was the English original? C'mon, Guardian, do the job right!
posted by IndigoJones at 1:44 PM on March 20, 2012 [2 favorites]


I have a friend who just found out she has a nasty tumor. She said if she dies from it, her one regret would be that she died before Thatcher. In honor of this, she's lovingly called the tumor Maggie.
posted by symbioid at 2:05 PM on March 20, 2012 [5 favorites]


That's an absolutely horrible thing to do to a tumor.
posted by delfin at 3:00 PM on March 20, 2012 [7 favorites]


In Russia, Lady Irons you
posted by Renoroc at 3:04 PM on March 20, 2012 [3 favorites]


In my translation, Thatcher referred to herself as a jelly scone, and threatened a shoe.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 3:06 PM on March 20, 2012 [1 favorite]


I'm holding out for the Frankie Boyle edition.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 3:22 PM on March 20, 2012


In honor of this, she's lovingly called the tumor Maggie.

Is this a British thing? Dennis Potter called his tumor Rupert, after Murdoch.
posted by IndigoJones at 4:18 PM on March 20, 2012 [2 favorites]


Is this a British thing? Dennis Potter called his tumor Rupert, after Murdoch.

I foresee this becoming a standard mildly-zany interview question: “If you were diagnosed with terminal cancer, whom would you name your tumour after?”
posted by acb at 4:21 PM on March 20, 2012


Private Eye magazine often has spoof stories about celebrity illnesses, usually twisted around. Eg. "Liver dismayed to discovered it has contracted George Best"
posted by TheAlarminglySwollenFinger at 4:43 PM on March 20, 2012 [2 favorites]


"Liver dismayed to discovered it has contracted George Best"

Oooo! I like this game.

Patient's outlook promising after removal of a malfunctioning Pete Best, which did not respond well to drug therapy after several years of stressful, idiopathic symptoms. The patient's new pacemaker, while not elaborate or high-tech, is performing well and has no signs of rejection - patient's quality of life outlook very positive.
posted by chambers at 5:12 PM on March 20, 2012


I just tried to watch this fawning hagiography and failed to make it to the end. This post has cheered me up, thank you.
posted by telstar at 8:34 PM on March 20, 2012


Milton Friedman doesn't have fans. He has minions.
posted by srboisvert at 3:13 AM on March 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


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