tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post8158095527625243455..comments2024-03-20T01:06:12.181-04:00Comments on MEI Editor's Blog: Elias Muhanna Asks: Why is Disney's "Frozen" Dubbed in Modern Standard Arabic Rather than Colloquial?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post-25727524428953969162014-06-01T06:59:53.803-04:002014-06-01T06:59:53.803-04:002 or 3 Arabics would certainly be interesting. I ...2 or 3 Arabics would certainly be interesting. I was mainly reacting against the suggestion that shifting from Egyptian to Standard is somehow a step backwards. As long as they're doing only a single Arabic translation, I'd much rather have it in Standard Arabic, which belongs to everyone, than Egyptian, which only belongs to Egypt. Even if they shift to doing several, many people will be excluded if one isn't Standard – they're unlikely to bother with a separate Mauritanian version, for instance...<br /><br />Algeria is always a special case, but not that special: Moroccan and Tunisian children would have equal trouble with Egyptian, and that already makes a quarter of the Arab world. And judging from the comments on Elias Muhanna's piece, my visceral reaction to the idea of being stuck with only Egyptian dubbing is far from unique.Lameen Souag الأمين سواقhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00773164776222840428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post-75313334600445205462014-06-01T01:37:07.376-04:002014-06-01T01:37:07.376-04:00Lameen: But isn't Algeria something of an outl...Lameen: But isn't Algeria something of an outlier? Levantine and in my limited experience Gulf speakers seem to understand if not speak Egyptian. And as Elis notrd, if you can do Iberian and Latin American Spanish, Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese, why not 2 or 3 Arabics?Michael Collins Dunnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07398326467953722017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post-29502560745542030582014-06-01T01:37:03.017-04:002014-06-01T01:37:03.017-04:00Lameen: But isn't Algeria something of an outl...Lameen: But isn't Algeria something of an outlier? Levantine and in my limited experience Gulf speakers seem to understand if not speak Egyptian. And as Elis notrd, if you can do Iberian and Latin American Spanish, Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese, why not 2 or 3 Arabics?Michael Collins Dunnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07398326467953722017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post-27465391906647008612014-05-31T07:19:17.881-04:002014-05-31T07:19:17.881-04:00Anyway, absolute population figures are rather les...Anyway, absolute population figures are rather less relevant to Disney's bottom line than the total amount of spare income. In terms of GDP, Scandinavia far outstrips Egypt, and the Gulf is bigger than Egypt and the Maghreb put together (look at this GDP map: http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/display.php?selected=169). So the most relevant question for Disney is which language parents in the Gulf prefer, and I wouldn't be surprised if they, too, prefer Standard to Egyptian.Lameen Souag الأمين سواقhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00773164776222840428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post-91652388950776252392014-05-31T06:59:43.610-04:002014-05-31T06:59:43.610-04:00Covert support for democracy in Egypt is my guess....Covert support for democracy in Egypt is my guess.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post-31044590805875737322014-05-31T05:11:13.977-04:002014-05-31T05:11:13.977-04:00I'd be rather impressed by an Algerian-dialect...I'd be rather impressed by an Algerian-dialect dubbing of "Frozen", but that isn't likely to happen any time soon. And given the choice between watching it in Standard Arabic (a language which Algerian kids do eventually study and use) and Egyptian Arabic (which they don't), I'd certainly pick Standard Arabic. It's not as though Algerian kids understand Egyptian, whereas they're already used to watching cartoons in Standard Arabic (that's what all cartoons are in on Algerian TV). Besides, Standard Arabic sounds so much nicer :)<br /><br />Of course, those aren't the only relevant choices. In the absence of an MSA version, I personally wouldn't pick French over Egyptian Arabic, but I think many Algerian parents would – certainly I don't remember ever seeing these Egyptian Arabic-dubbed versions that Elias Muhanna is talking about in Algeria...Lameen Souag الأمين سواقhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00773164776222840428noreply@blogger.com