Again .. Americans complaining about moves in non-American-English

To make this all worse, the entire plot takes place in England, however, the entire movie is in German!? (With names of places in English stuck in mid-sentence in a way that just doesn't sound right.)

Like there are no American movies and TV series happening in every possible corner of the planet with locals speaking English with American accent.

Damn, even there are movies and TV series in the good damn SPACE with ALIENS speaking American English.

I just read the other day complaints about the Irish guys from Sons of Anarchy having a "funny" accent and people non understanding what they said.

Look, this series of books were written originally in German, by a German author. That's like saying that when an American book set in a different country is made into a movie, it has to be made in that language. It was written in German - do the Germans not have the right to make German books into German-speaking movies without an American bashing?
Sure, the subtitles are bad and sometimes unclear, because they were probably translated directly. But honestly the fact that there are subtitles is lucky. Why would the Germans put English subtitles on a German movie? Our convenience. So be grateful, and don't bash. A German book should be able to be made into a German movie without angry Americans. I'm an American, and I liked the movie a lot, despite the halfway made-up plot that wasn't in the book and bad ending. So just enjoy the movie and get over the fact that not every movie is going to be made into your language. That's impossible.

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It actually really bothers me when a movie is set in a country or region that speaks a certain language and yet the actors speak a different language, whether that movie's set in non-Anglosphere countries where the characters all speak English or a movie like this, set in England, but everyone speaks German. (I haven't seen this movie, by the way, I just stumbled across it and saw this thread.) Feel the same way about out-of-place accents. For instance, the Canadian/American show Being Human is set in Boston, but almost every character speaks in a Canadian accent. Um... what? I realize it's filmed in Canada and so has a lot of Canadian actors, but the Boston accent is very distinctive, couldn't they at least try to cover up their Canadian accents?

Or they're making a movie of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, an American book set in Prague and a fantasy world. Even though most of the characters speak a language other than English (Czech or one of the two fantasy world languages, just all appearing in English in the book), what do you want to bet the entire movie is going to be in English? That's going to bug me. And I'm American, by the way.

I don't see why it isn't a valid criticism, is what I'm saying. It always takes me out of the movie, no matter if they're speaking English when they should be speaking something else, or speaking German when they should be speaking English.

I also find it curious that you level this complaint at Americans, yet whenever I watch a movie or show where that happens, the characters are pretty much always speaking in English English. The Sound of Music? Austrians speaking English with English accents. Rome? Ancient Romans speaking English with English accents. Ditto for I, Claudius. Game of Thrones? People in a fantasy world speaking English with English accents. Why complain about American English when it's English English being used on foreign characters?

"He's already attracted to her. Time and monotony will do the rest."

Only just skimmed this thread, but here are my 2 cents.

Everybody can make a movie in whatever language they like, set in whatever country they want. If you're smart though, you take your key demographic, your target audience, into consideration.
So, if this was purely intended for the German-speaking market, then kudos, job well done, seeing as Germans obviously only like hearing their own language (which is why they dub EVERYTHING), even though hardly anybody else does. It just sounds harsh, guttural and altogether unpleasant to most non-Germans.
If this was meant to have success internationally however, it would have been smarter to record it in English, which is obviously the international language of the world. It's not the most spoken first language of the world, which would probably be Mandarin, but if you count second and third languages it certainly is, especially in the western world.

I usually like SF and Fantasy, and was considering watching this, but the German language is kind of a deal breaker for me, because it's such an unpleasant language. To be totally honest, I hardly ever watch anything that's not in English, seeing as that's the only foreign language I'm completely fluent in, dubs look idiotic and are therefore poorly suited for anything but bad Chinese kung fu comedies, and subtitles are often flawed, or at the very least incomplete in their translations.
Just for the record, I'm not American. In fact, English isn't even my first language, seeing as I'm Dutch.

Yeah this is what irks me about many (not all, but a great majority) of U.S Americans and their attitudes towards anything foreign and I've made similar posts in the past on here.

Good examples are some saying things like Mad Max being in no way Australian, despite the quite obvious Aussie references, notably the city of Sydney in Thunderdome. It can be especially seen in television with some great shows from Australia and England having U.S remakes because a great many U.S Americans cannot understand any English from outside their borders, heck even on locally produced shows where they subtitle their own locals. (e.g these reality red neck shows that have become popular) I wonder why if I and many other English speaking 'foreigners' can understand every U.S American accent that there must really be something wrong on the U.S end of things.

Need TV examples? Kath and Kim, Wilfred, The Office, Coupling, Being Human, Shamless and many more. (Heck not just remade for language but completely remade in the story lines.) The aforementioned shows baring no resemblence to their far superior and intelligent originals.
I often wonder why England and Australia etc never remake American shows outside of game shows which obviously need to be localised. I often wonder why is it only U.S Americans have difficulty understanding any other form of English including that from another state?

Maybe we down under for example find it easy to understand other English because many of us were raised on equal parts Aussie, Brit, New Zealand, Canadian, Irish, Scottish and U.S television as we grew up? Most of my Friends from the U.S have only ever seen U.S programming and just cannot seem to wrap their heads around foreign concepts. (I dread the thought of a Housos U.S in the future, it'll probably be set in a trailer park and be about rednecks.)

Why exactly does this one way cultural divide exist?

I watch a lot of foreign film, love it a great deal for the fact is often quite so different to western films, never found subtitles a challenge and dubbing often ruins the atmosphere especially as it is often done wrong so the words are lip synched.
Watch a dubbed movie then rewatch it in original with subtitles especially if it has foreign words you are familiar with to see what I mean.
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi from 2003 is a good example. The dub changes a great deal of what is said in the original language.

I think this problem just highlights the real problem of those from the U.S needing better global education and to get out of their own world more. To truly see the world does not end at their borders. Understanding other cultures better might help the U.S of A in a great many ways, especially in foreign relations.

As for how I view a Western made movie set in a foreign country is like this, if I was German and spoke to another German it would be like myself now speaking to another Australian. I would not hear the other German speaking in the "Ziss iz how vee talk" way. It wouldn't be foreign to us, there would be no accent. If anything I hate it when they put on thick German and Russian accents while speaking in English to other German and Russians. "Vee iz both Germanz in Germany, vy are vee talking dis vay?"

I guess a good example is Inglourious Basterds. When people of the same nationality speak to each other it is in English, when shown from a foreigners point of view they are shown to be speaking in their local tongue, or if directly to the foreigner, in that persons language with an accent. Tarantino got how it should be done spot on, although he's not the first director to approach it this way.
If you've not seen the film or understand what I mean it is like this.

2 Germans are talking to each other in front of Brit.
While the 2 Germans speak from their point of view it is in British English.
From the Brits point of view they are both speaking German.
One German turns to the Brit guy and speaks to him in English, yet as he is speaking to the Brit, he has a thick German accent.

The one that seriously pisses me off though is when yanks criticize others English use while making comments like "I speak the kings English" or Tell others and I that use real English to "Speak English", Hello! Does any U.S American know who invented English? Or that they don't have a king......Yep, Brits it seems have no clue about the language they created along with anyone who uses 'British English'......

It's annoying the whole small minded approach to anything foreign from the average yank, but sadly it's just best to leave them at it and move along. They'll have to work out why so many of their neighbours hate their guts and how ignorant they come across on their own I'm afraid otherwise you'll just be fighting a debate you'll never win. No one else is going to do it for them.
The ones I have met who have woken up to it are those who have left their country and seen the world and taken a good look at the good ol' U.S of A from the outside for a change, or have at least been the few to have an open mind and willingness to learn.
I just wish to be clear I do not want to put them all in the same basket, but stereotypes I find usually come from truth and fact.

As for those like the guy who wrote the review, and the many others like him, do yourself a favour, do some research before seeing a film, find out it is foreign then do everyone a favour, especially yourself, and steer the *beep* clear of it. Go find some mindless crap Michael Bay flick and try not to think, you'll be so much happier for it trust me.

imdb, once for discussing movies, now a facebook substitute. Off topic and all drama.

Actually I've stumbled upon an English version of the film and am wondering how I can get more information about this version.

Skimming the thread, I felt like adding my 2 cts.:

I remember getting really angry that "Chocolate" was set in France and all the street signs were in English; in "The Perfume" one of the characters wrote a letter [close up] supposedly in French however it was in English why zoom in then??? Would it really hurt this much to make the world more realistic? And forget the tv-show Rome.. I managed about 5 min of the pilot, those beefy Americans with perfect teeth playing Romans made me livid.

however back on topic, since there actually is an English version of Rubinrot out there:

Could anyone please point me to some more detailed info about the dubbing process and voices? It seems to me that some actors actually spoke their roles in English. Which were great, however I'm not sure if I'm right. Nevertheless, it reminds me of movie-making a of 100 years ago :)