Many of us grew up on bright American cartoons. Every child knew the song of the Black Cloak, revised Beauty and the Beast, or was fascinated by Gadget from the rescue team.
Today we will tell you about the tricks of Russian dubbing, and you will find out that the names of many heroes of our favorite cartoons in the original sound completely different.
And they translate foreign names into Russian with a different meaning, not at the whim of the translation team, but for logical reasons, which we will examine in more detail in some paragraphs.
10. Beauty and the Beast
In this Disney cartoon, many talking names are encrypted, which are translated into Russian in dubbing by transcription, that is, they are pronounced in Russian in the same way as in English.
The small cup in the cartoon was called Chip, which in Russian means “splinter”. Agree, it would be a strange name even for a boy turned into a mug.
Also in the cartoon there is a Lumiere candelabrum and an old watch named Cogsworth. It is no coincidence that such names were given to the heroes. The fact is that the word “Lumiere” is French and translated into Russian means “Light”. The character, by the way, in the cartoon speaks with a French accent.
The Consord (Cogsworth) literally translates from English as “Sentinel,” because Lumiere’s friend also looked like a ticking clock on legs in a magical embodiment.
9. My little pony
When translating the names of colorful ponies, the actors of the Russian dubbing, it seems, did not come to a consensus. Because someone’s names are only half-translated, someone’s are served in a literal translation, and someone’s just adapted by transcription.
So, the Rainbow Dash concept, which in Russia was called the Rainbow Dash, belongs to the first option. This is because the word “Dash” literally means “Dash”, apparently, in translation the two words from the name of the pony could not be connected.
The second option includes a pony named Twilight (Twilight) Sparkle, which young Russian viewers know as Twilight Sparkle.
But in the case of Applejack, the name was duplicated in transcription, so the orange pony in Russia is called Applejack.
8. Volt
The name of the dog in the original sounds like “Bolt”, which means “Lightning” in Russian, and this is visually demonstrated by a zigzag on the dog’s coat.
In Russian, “lightning” is not only feminine, but the dog was male in the story, the Russian dubbing actors also considered the word rude.
Therefore, in Russia everyone knows the dog of the superhero under the nickname Volt, such freedom of translators among the spectators did not cause any aggression.
7. Zootropolis
“Blitz, Blitz - speed without limits!”
The sloth postman from the cartoon “Zeropolis” in the original was called Flash. Flash is "speed", so the creators of the cartoon cheated, calling the slow character after the fast superhero of the DC universe.
The original colleague Blitz was originally called Priscilla, but when translating, the actors in our dubbing were simply amused by calling the sloth the usual Zinochka.
6. Fantastic creatures and where they live
In the new branch of the story about the magical world, the translation of names was approached more responsibly than in the books about Harry Potter.
In the film, the names of the heroes from the New Salem Society for Countering Magic were translated by transcription.
For example, the word Сreedance is translated as “Trust,” which the character shows us, blindly trusting the instructions of Green de Wald, hidden under the guise of Percival Graves.
Credence's younger sister is called Modesti, and in Russian dubbing her name would have sounded like "Modesty." And finally, Chastity, which means chastity.
5. How to train your dragon
In our dubbing, the characters Snotlout were presented as Smorkalu, although the literal translation of the English word is “snotty boor”. And the main character of the story about dragons is called Ikking, although in the original the poor man was literally dubbed Ikota.
The twin-headed dragon of the twins in English is called “Barf” and “Belch”, which translates as “Vomit” and “Belch”, respectively. Agree, not the most melodic names for a children's cartoon. Therefore, Russian translators, without a twinge of conscience, replaced the dragon's flashy nicknames with the names "Bars" and "Boar."
4. Harry Potter
In the original, Luna Lovegut's name is Moon, which emphasizes its unearthly unusualness. And classmates, thanks to this name, tease the girl with the word "Loony", which translates as crazy.
In the Russian translation, the girl was called Lunatic, so that the name was associated with someone crazy, crazy. It’s the combination of “Crazy Lovegood” that teaches the girl Hogwarts students.
Ron’s rat was considered a female right up to the third book, which revealed the truth about Peter Pettigrew. Indeed, in Russian the words "scab" and "rat" are feminine, therefore, no one doubted that Ron's pet was a girl.
3. Black cloak
Just whistle - he will appear - Black-winged Duck!
This is how the song should have sounded if Russian dubbing adhered to the literal translation. Indeed, in the original of the main character the name is Darkwing Duck, which literally translates as “Dark” - dark, “Wing” - wing and “Duck” - duck. Black-winged duck.
For solidity, the Russian Darkwing Duck was nicknamed the Black Cloak, it didn’t even bother anyone that the character wears a purple cloak.
Some speaking names are very difficult to translate into Russian dubbing. Therefore, the name of Professor Moliarty was transcribed in order not to lose its meaning. Indeed, in the original, the character’s name consists of the word “Mole” - the mole and the surname of the antagonist in the adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Moriarty. Crotiarty? Crotarti? Russian translators did the right thing, not having to literally translate the character’s name, leaving him a charming professor Moliarty.
2. Duck stories
Billy, Willie and Dilly - all fans of the serial series about ducks know who these similar names belong to. Little ducklings resembling each other - the nephews of Uncle Scrooge.
In the original, the names of the ducklings sound like Huey, Dewey, and Louie. There is no dubbing problem here; twins are called differently in each country.
The miracles of dubbing were shown by our translators when adapting the Webbigail name - that’s exactly what the original duck called Ponochka is called in the original. But the name Webbigail does not sound at all melodic and very difficult for a small Russian-speaking audience. Because “Webby” (which literally translates as “webbed feet”) adapted the “membrane” in the affectionate manner, and as a result, the viewer heard a shortened version, and the duck became Ponochka.
1. Chip and Dale to the rescue
The Russian dubbing “Chip and Dale” masterfully did its job, giving us Gadget, Roquefort and Tolstopuz.
In the original, the charming Gadget is called ... Gadget! Agree, not the most touching name for a children's cartoon, and it is unlikely that the children of the 90s knew about the meaning of this word.
We all know the partner Gadget under the name Roquefort, although in the original character the name is Monty Jack. "Monty Jack" - a popular cheese in the United States, in Russia no one had heard of such at that time. But every Russian was rumored to have the name Roquefort cheese, and that was exactly what it was decided to christen a fat cheese lover.
The main antagonist of history is the fat cat, which in the Russian dubbing was called Tolstopuz, but in the original cat the name is really Fat Cat - Fat Cat. When recording a dubbing, it was considered that the name is not melodic, and it is too negative for the Russian 90s. Therefore, the cat was called Tolstopuz as a child. Thus, the name does not differ in meaning from the original, but acquires childish charm.