Fans in the former Soviet Union (and Eastern Bloc)

[SilverPlaqueVII]

Does any one of the fans this forum have knowledge of this series in the following languages:

Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Uzbek, Kazakh, Georgian, Azeri, Lithuanian, Moldovan, Latvian, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Armenian, Turkmen, Estonian.

Its hard to know say "Dragon Ball" in Armenian: թեվավոր մողես գնդակ

[Danfun64]

Not sure about the others, but I heard that DBZ had a Russian dub based off the German version...which was based off the French version...

So basically, a translation of a combination of two sources (a translation of the French dub and German manga), both of which are ultimately translations of the Japanese original.

...you'd think they would get the original Japanese directly (is Japan closer to Russia compared to Germany?).

[Sandubadear]

(is Japan closer to Russia compared to Germany?).

Russia is so large that it's near both. I don't know anything about TV in Russia, but since Moscow is on the European side of Russia, I guess it was easier to get it from Germany.

Spoiler:

[Super Sonic]

Sorry for the lame joke, but I have to ask, in the Russian dub, does the Dragon call forth the good guys?

[MCDaveG]

I don't know about Moldava, but long ago, had friend who was working here from Romania and told me, that everyone there had watched the Dragon Ball on RTL II in German.
So probably no Romanian dub so far.

[MCDaveG]

Sorry for the lame joke, but I have to ask, in the Russian dub, does the Dragon call forth the good guys?

In Russia, Dragon Ball watches you.

[SilverPlaqueVII]

Sorry for the lame joke, but I have to ask, in the Russian dub, does the Dragon call forth the good guys?

In Russia, Dragon Ball watches you.

Good luck, I bet anyone can read or say this in Cyrllic:

Саиян = Saiyan
Намек = Namek
Сон Гоку = Son Goku

[Protege]

There doesn't seem to be any history of official dub being there let alone an actual fan base. So I think Dragon Ball in Russia is almost non existent. Althought I would say there are a few dubs groups that actually have dubbed the DBS show which dont sound too bad for a small amateur dub studio. http://www.animespirit.ru/anime/rs/seri ... super.html

[kei17]

From what I know, Russia is the only country from former Soviet Union that has a "dub." Other than that, Lithuania got a voice-over localization. In Lithuania, LNK aired the entire series including GT in the early 2000s. It had only one guy flatly reading out translated lines, but unlike the (major part of the) Polish version, they overlaid it on the original Japanese version. Both Russia and Lithuania received a manga release.

[gogeta97]

I have a Russian dub of the first 2 episode of Z so it does exist.

Here's a clip from another early episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzki36zn-Uw

[Sandubadear]

It had only one guy flatly reading out translated lines,

I think that is or was common in Russia. Once I watched a movie from the 80s that was in Italian, but I could switch to Spanish, French or Russian dubs. The Spanish and French dubs were normal dubs as we often see, but the Russian was really just one guy talking over the Italian voices.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Not sure about the others, but I heard that DBZ had a Russian dub based off the German version...which was based off the French version...

So basically, a translation of a combination of two sources (a translation of the French dub and German manga), both of which are ultimately translations of the Japanese original.

...you'd think they would get the original Japanese directly (is Japan closer to Russia compared to Germany?).

You're right, it is based on the German version (their dub of "Chala Head Chala" even has the revised instrumental track that Germany used for their dub of the song). Distance is not really the issue. There are typically two reasons why a company will receive "second-hand" dubbing materials:

1) Sometimes, Japanese translators are hard to come by or cost too much. The more distant a language is from another, the harder it is to find qualified translators, and those translators tend to price themselves accordingly. For example, there are tons of translators out there for English->Spanish or Spanish->English because of how similar the two languages are and how often those two cultures interact with each other, but translating from Japanese to Russian? That's another matter. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure those translators exist, but they're not nearly as common, and cost more as a result.

2) Easily the more common reason: cost-cutting. It's just cheaper to buy the dubbing rights to something if you ask for a pre-dubbed version. The analogy I like to use is that getting the materials necessary for dubbing an anime is like getting a car. Getting one straight from the original factory means getting something that has not been tampered with at all, but is much more expensive, whereas getting something used means getting something that brings with it any of the problems that its previous owner may have brought upon it...but it's functional and usable for its intended purpose, not to mention more affordable.

It had only one guy flatly reading out translated lines,

I think that is or was common in Russia. Once I watched a movie from the 80s that was in Italian, but I could switch to Spanish, French or Russian dubs. The Spanish and French dubs were normal dubs as we often see, but the Russian was really just one guy talking over the Italian voices.

I can't speak for Russia, but according to a Polish fan, apparently the "voice-over" method of dubbing (where it's just one dude speaking the lines in an emotionally flat way) is far, far more affordable than doing a dub in the more traditional sense of the word. In Poland, I think (as in I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty confident) the only Dragon Ball things to get a traditional dub were the final two movies, otherwise they just used a voice-over narrator.

As for Russia, I've heard both the "voice-over" method as well as traditional dubs (with traditional dubs more commonly reserved for big-name stuff like the Disney movies). Interestingly enough, I've heard Russian dubs before where they actually did something of a hybrid between the two methods: they got separate actors and actresses for the different roles, who even emoted when they spoke their dialogue...but not much effort was made to match the lip flaps, and you could still plainly hear the original audio in the background. That's what they did for the Russian dub of Evangelion.

[Nejishiki]

Unrelated just a little, but this is also common for some North American movies as well in which one Spanish voice actor is speaking over the normal English-speaking footage.

[UltimateHammerBro]

Unrelated just a little, but this is also common for some North American movies as well in which one Spanish voice actor is speaking over the normal English-speaking footage.

Could you name any examples? I don't remember ever coming across anything like that, except for documentaries and the like.

[Nejishiki]

Off the top of my head, I caught Lethal Weapon, Goodfellas, Transporter and 28 Weeks Later doing this. Honestly, it's become so routine as I pass whatever Spanish movie channel it was, that I hardly find it noteworthy anymore. That's not to say I don't pass by legitimate dubs, just that on occasion, it seems they won't bother with certain movies even if they have official voiceovers when I look them up.

[SilverPlaqueVII]

I guess you guys even might understand this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillization_of_Japanese

гоку = Goku
пиккоро = Piccolo
фуридза = Freeza
сорубэ = Sorbet
сэру = Cell
бирусу = Beerus
уису = Whis
пaн = Pan

[szopman]

In Poland, we were watching DB and DBZ in TV with french dub and polish voice-over. The first episodes of GT were also in this version, later with japanese dub and polish voice-over.
Two DBZ movies (12 and 13) were shown in cinemas with PL Dub

The names in PL voice-over were:
Goku - Songo, Gohan - Songohan, Goten - Songoten
Kuririn - Krilan
Piccolo - Szatan Serduszko (in english: "Satan the Heart" more or less)
Mr. Satan - Herkules (Hercule), Trunks - Tronk, Gotenks - Gotronk

Lately, in out tv AXN Spin we could watch DB Kai (i guess only eps 1-98) and DBGT: japanese dub, pl voice-over, Kai with music from DBZ.

[Draconic]

From what I know, the Republic of Moldova would usually get the cartoon dubs made in Romania. However, with Dragon Ball I am not so sure of this, as here in Romania it only aired on the national televisions TVR1 and TVR2, unlike most shows which would be on Fox Kids or Cartoon Network. Of course, it is not an actual dub, but actually the voice-over dubbing technique was used to bring it here, though it was from the original Japanese version from what I can gather. The DBZ "dub" aired between 2003 and 2004 and it only reached the Android saga, though before it there was a full one of the original series (I remember watching the Pilaf saga in Romanian, however, I can only recall snippets after that until the 22nd TB. The Piccolo sagas, however, were surely done entirely), so it might have actually started as soon as 2002. Sadly, there isn't much information about it and the only way to listen to it are recordings from Gojitaaf's personal collection, which he posted here:
http://www.peteava.ro/playlist-2209/dra ... -gojiitaaf
Most of them are only the voice recordings, though there are a few full episodes in there. I guess he did it because the footage is copyrighted and therefore easier to find and take down, while the audio probably isn't, as most likely it was only done by a few in-house actors hired by TVR and no one really has monopoly over it, as no old shows have gotten actual official releases. The full voice-over of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z is probably still in TVR's archives, but there are not many huge dedicated fans to persuade them to somehow release it, and the ones who are fans are digesting the shows in either English or Japanese.

Outside of that, Dragon Ball GT was airing for quite a while on Animax, which you could only get on cable (and it was 100% available in Moldova too, as most cable ventures here are also brought there at the same time). However, it was only in sub version, as Animax wouldn't do actual dubs/voice-overs. I would say that happened around 2012, though it might have been earlier.

Dragon Ball Kai never aired, not even on Nickelodeon in that censored version, so, as such, it never got a dub or official sub here.

[gogeta97]

From what I know, the Republic of Moldova would usually get the cartoon dubs made in Romania. However, with Dragon Ball I am not so sure of this, as here in Romania it only aired on the national televisions TVR1 and TVR2, unlike most shows which would be on Fox Kids or Cartoon Network. Of course, it is not an actual dub, but actually the voice-over dubbing technique was used to bring it here, though it was from the original Japanese version from what I can gather. The DBZ "dub" aired between 2003 and 2004 and it only reached the Android saga, though before it there was a full one of the original series (I remember watching the Pilaf saga in Romanian, however, I can only recall snippets after that until the 22nd TB. The Piccolo sagas, however, were surely done entirely), so it might have actually started as soon as 2002. Sadly, there isn't much information about it and the only way to listen to it are recordings from Gojitaaf's personal collection, which he posted here:
http://www.peteava.ro/playlist-2209/dra ... -gojiitaaf
Most of them are only the voice recordings, though there are a few full episodes in there. I guess he did it because the footage is copyrighted and therefore easier to find and take down, while the audio probably isn't, as most likely it was only done by a few in-house actors hired by TVR and no one really has monopoly over it, as no old shows have gotten actual official releases. The full voice-over of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z is probably still in TVR's archives, but there are not many huge dedicated fans to persuade them to somehow release it, and the ones who are fans are digesting the shows in either English or Japanese.

Outside of that, Dragon Ball GT was airing for quite a while on Animax, which you could only get on cable (and it was 100% available in Moldova too, as most cable ventures here are also brought there at the same time). However, it was only in sub version, as Animax wouldn't do actual dubs/voice-overs. I would say that happened around 2012, though it might have been earlier.

Dragon Ball Kai never aired, not even on Nickelodeon in that censored version, so, as such, it never got a dub or official sub here.

None of the videos in the link work.

[Draconic]

There are some that do. Just tried it and 5,7 and 8 work for sure. And randomly choosing from down below also shows some work. I don't know what might be wrong.