Obviously for this blog I need to pass some comment on TV in Portugal. The interesting thing here is that the majority of US programmes shown are subtitled rather than dubbed. This means that there are many more options for the English speaker to watch (usually from the US). Surprisingly, many are ahead of the UK - the Good Wife is ahead of More4 by a few episodes and Scandal is near the end of series three which hasn't even started in the UK (and has even been dropped by More4!) Whilst the main channels are mainly Portuguese, even they will not translate imports. You would have thought that with Brazil being a bigger market that also speaks Portuguese that dubbed versions would be available, maybe people are just used to it this way. However, whilst you will find many people who speak English, there doesn't seem to be the same universal speaking of English about that you might find in the Netherlands (which also has subtitles) or indeed Germany.
One of the curious things is that they keep the breaks in US TV programmes, without actually taking the breaks! Fine in dramas, but in "reality" programmes (Dancing with the Stars, MasterChef) you end up with either a clear "join us after the break" "welcome back" or a scene being repeated 5 seconds later where they have used it before and after the break! The translators must notice when they are typing the same words over and over again...
The other odd thing is that references get translated as well as the language. So, 911 becomes 112, and a mile away becomes 1.5km (they are just the ones I can see because of the numbers - who knows what else may be hidden in the language!)
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