First times are truly memorable. The first time you signed up for a language course at AlosIdiomas, the first time you kissed that special someone… That is why today we want to take a tour of the first times in translation.
Today we are going to tell you when a book was translated for the first time, when a film was first dubbed into Spanish, and what the earliest translations of written texts were.
The first dubbed film
If we look back, a hundred years ago the film industry we know today did not exist. Cinema was silent. Nobody had yet managed to put image and sound together in a film. But audiences did not seem to mind. Cinema was enjoying huge successes and its following kept growing. And it was not until 1929 that we had the first subtitled film: “The Jazz Singer”. This film has several features that make it special. On the one hand, it was the first film shot with sound. On the other, it was the first film to be subtitled into another language.
The first translated book
As you already know, because we have mentioned it before, the Bible is the first book ever translated, and it also became the most translated book in history. The Bible has been translated in full into 531 languages, and partially into 2,883.
The first Disney film dubbed into Castilian Spanish
In 1964, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was dubbed into Spanish. But here comes the most surprising part: that dubbing was done by a Mexican actress, and it was not until 2001 that Disney films began to be dubbed into Castilian Spanish. Why? Curiously, when they started dubbing Walt’s films they used the same approach they had taken with Fantasia, where there were few spoken parts and only those moments were dubbed. However, when these films arrived, with far more dialogue and a continuous storyline, dubbing only the odd phrase or word no longer worked, so they had to sign agreements with professional dubbing studios. Given the way we live today, it seems incredible that only a hundred years ago dubbing and translation were still in their infancy. And that is because technology and globalisation have made us need to know more languages, to translate them, to subtitle them… At AlosIdiomas we have a great team of professional translators in Valencia who make sure that every document, text, CV, medical report, legal text and so on is translated perfectly and to a fully professional standard. Call us and we will tell you how we can help with your translations. Because something as important as a translation deserves our full attention. Do you not follow us yet on facebook, instagram and Linkedin? We are waiting for you!