Western movies with chinese audio

[Feilipu]

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone knows a place on the internet where you can download western movies, but not with the original english or european language audio track, but a chinese mandarin audio track, as in how the majority of films are shown in the cinemas in china or when you buy a dvd in walmart etc. any help greatly appreciated.

[rao jianqiang]

You can search “国语配音” .

[HerrPetersen]

Install VeryCD and search for "DualAudio".

Stuff I found there:

Disney Classics

?All? James Bond Movies

Terminator 1, 2

Alien, Aliens

Jurassic Park...

[The guy from Beijing]

Or you can just stay tuned to CCTV-6, it has a Chinese audio western movie shown everyday after 10:00p.m. Sometimes it gets close to 11, so don't try it if you've got work tomorrow~~

[Gleaves]

HerrPetersen makes a good point. Verycd has a ton (a couple hundred, probably) of these. I just watched Running Man last night.

Mandarin versions are usually labeled as 国语 (for example, something like 国语版 or 国英双语版). You can get the Batmans, Potters, Star Treks, Star Wars, LOTRs, Die Hards,什么的. Here is a somewhat random grouping in one post.

I'm rarely impressed with the quality of the dubbing of live action movies. Sometimes they are just awful. But I watch them anyway to spice things up. Animated movies, on the other hand, can have excellent dubs (stuff like Dreamworks, Pixar, Ghibli, Disney).

[atitarev]

I watched a bit of Titanic movie with Chinese audio. Some or full version is watchable even on Youtube.

- Jack, 我飞了！

The names were not transcribed into Chinese, so "Jack", "Rose" sounded like in English, which is not quite right but makes it a bit easier to follow.

[skylee]

I wonder how the dubbed Star Wars films deal with the names.

A long long time ago ...... when the first three films were released in Hong Kong IIRC Skywalker was translated to 史佳獲加 in the subtitles (but some fans liked to call him 天行者, or perhaps this was the Taiwan translation?). In the recent instalments Anakin is just Anakin, no translation. A copyright issue, perhaps?

[atitarev]

Skylee, you made me think that the dubbing of Titanic was made in Taiwan. In my observation, it's the Taiwanese feature to preserve Western names more often. The Japanese names also preserve their pronunciation, so the name 鈴木 (Suzuki) doesn't become Língmù but is pronounced as in Japanese.

[Gleaves]

I was watching a bit of Phantom Menace and R2D2 in Chinese is pretty classic - R èr D èr. So it sounds like RRDR. Confusingly, the subtitles transliterate it as 阿土低土。

[skylee]

it's the Taiwanese feature to preserve Western names more often. The Japanese names also preserve their pronunciation, so the name 鈴木 (Suzuki) doesn't become Língmù but is pronounced as in Japanese.

I find the Suzuki example a bit hard to believe.

[atitarev]

I got it from Taiwanese. I have no idea how common or standard it is.

[Gleaves]

I thought this would be a good place to point out Popup Chinese's Film Friday podcast. They play a short clip of a Hollywood movie dubbed into Chinese and then you have to guess what the movie is. Pretty fun because it mixes listening comprehension with a bit of movie trivia. They help translate the clip, but skip over the easier parts. I just noticed it recently and I was surpised I hadn't heard of it before.

[lollypop90210]

The downloaded movies will not let you have the subtitles

unless they are recorded with the subtitles on.

Why not buy a few Chinese dubbed DVD movies. They can be watched

over and over again, and let you choose the subtitle shown

on the screen so you won't get lost under any language / subtitle

combination.

Search Google using keywords "Chinese dubbed " PLUS the name of the movie,

e.g., "Chinese dubbed Journey to the Center of the Earth", and you should

see lots of them.

All Chinese dubbed DVD movies should have Chinese sound - English subtitles

/ Chinese sound - Chinese subtitles / English sound - English subtitles

/ English sound - Chinese subtitles combinations.

Hope this helps !

[Gleaves]

Thanks for the site link, lollypop. I had not seen that one before.

Many of the movies available for download have numerous subtitle options. For instance, many of the movies on verycd have simplified, traditional, English, and simp/English-at-the-same-time subtitle options. Shooter.cn also has a healthy list of subtitle files for download. Buying DVDs is a good option, but the selection can sometimes be a little slim.

[lollypop90210]

Thanks for the comment on my response.

But you won't be able to change the [ sound track / subtitle ] combination

on the fly while you are watching the downloaded movie.

For folks learning Chinese, having these options available back and forth

is such a valuable thing.

If someone get lost when watching with [ Chinese sound ] / [English

subtitle], he can always step back, and then change to another

[ sound track / subtitle ], e.g., English sound / English subtitle.

[jbradfor]

@lollypop90210

The downloaded movies will not let you have the subtitles

unless they are recorded with the subtitles on.

You've posted pretty much the EXACT same post twice now -- do you work at a company selling such DVDs?

But you won't be able to change the [ sound track / subtitle ] combination

on the fly while you are watching the downloaded movie.

This is partially true. Many video players support switching between different subtitile files on-the-fly; vlc does, for example. However, multiple audio track is not supported in many containers. I believe the avi container, for example, does not (?), while the mkv container does allow multiple audio tracks. So whether you can switch among different audio tracks really depends on the download.

I agree that DVDs are more convenient than downloaded movies in general, but let's get our facts correct.

[Gleaves]

lollypop - I definitely agree that those options are great for learners and DVDs are a terrific source of content. But many downloaded movies do offer those options. Most of the movies I downloaded last year had multiple audio tracks (国/粤/英语) and multiple subtitle tracks, all of which can be interchanged and switched on the fly.

[imron]

Hmmm, I get the sneaking suspicion that lollypop90210 is talking about streaming downloads from sites like Youku, Tudou, tv.sohu and the like, and you guys are talking about downloading full movies/DVD-rips from torrent sites and the like. Subtitles will work nicely with the latter, but not the former.

[lollypop90210]

imron,

I see. I was talking about verycd. I tried this one and it takes

forever to download files. I also fear that the downloaded

files will come with viruses. Another reason is I just

don't feel comfortable downloading without paying.

I tried 15 days free trial with NetFlex, and the quality was

OK, though I did not try the sound tracks / subtitle thing.

Maybe I am a bit too old school. DVD movies is just as good, and

you can build a DVD collection on the bookshelf (to collect dust).

I just feel something missing without a physical DVD.

jbradfor - I don't work for any company.

[Chinese Dubbed Movies]

China has a long history and has been importing foreign movies and dubbing them into Chinese since as early as 1930s. Movies such as Gone With The Wind, Casablanca, Waterloo Bridge, etc. Beginning in the late 1970s when China reopened to the Western world, not only films such as The Sound of Music, but also popular TV series such as Man From Atlantis were also dubbed.

Popular movies include Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, and more recently Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter series, and The Lord of the Rings, etc. They are suitable for different age groups.

Chinese dubbed movies are becoming a great resource for people who study the Chinese language. Chinese learning audience can watch the Chinese dubbed movies that they are already familiar. They can listen to the Chinese conversations while reading the English subtitles on the screen. That way, audience won't get lost in translations.

The following is a list of Chinese dubbed movies:

Holiday / Family Movies

• The Sound of Music
  
• Christmas Story
  
• It's a Wonderful Life
  
• Home Alone
  
• Home Alone 2
  
• Home Alone 3
  
• Home Alone 4
  

Classic / Romance Movies

• Australia
  
• Casablanca
  
• Gone With The Wind
  
• Pearl Harbor
  
• Titanic
  
• You've Got Mail
  

Adventure / Super Hero Movies

• Braveheart
  
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
  
• Journey to the Center of the Earth
  
• National Treasure
  
• National Treasure: Book of Secrets
  
• Night at the Museum
  
• Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian
  
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
  
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
  
• Robin Hood
  
• The Count of Monte Cristo
  

Disney / Animation Movies

• Aladdin
  
• Alice in Wonderland
  
• Beauty and the Beast
  
• Cars
  
• Charlotte's Web
  
• Enchanted
  
• Finding Nemo
  
• Flushed Away
  
• Kung Fu Panda
  
• Madagascar
  
• Madagascar 2
  
• Monsters, Inc.
  
• Mulan
  
• Peter Pan
  
• Pinocchio
  
• Ratatouille
  
• Robots
  
• Shrek
  
• Shrek 2
  
• Shrek 3
  
• Sleeping Beauty
  
• Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
  
• Spider-Man 3
  
• Tarzan
  
• The Incredibles
  
• The Jungle Book
  
• The Jungle Book 2
  
• The Little Mermaid
  
• The Princess and the Frog
  
• Tinker Bell
  
• Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
  
• Toy Story
  
• Toy Story 2
  
• Toy Story 3
  
• Up
  

Fantasy / Mystery Movies

• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
  
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mandarin Chinese Edition)
  
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mandarin Chinese Edition)
  
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Mandarin Chinese Edition)
  
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Mandarin Chinese Edition)
  
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
  
• The Lord of the Rings (Fellowship of the Ring)
  
• The Lord of the Rings (The Return of the King)
  
• The Lord of the Rings (The Two Towers)
  
• The Chronicles of Narnia
  
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon
  

Hollywood / Musical Movies

• An American in Paris
  
• Gone With The Wind
  
• The Sound Of Music
  
• High School Musical
  
• High School Musical 2
  
• High School Musical 3: Senior Year
  

Science Fiction Movies

• Avatar
  
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars
  
• Zathura