Saturday, April 9, 2016

Disney should speak Egyptian , say Egyptian and Arab fans

For two days in a row now , "#Disney_in_Egyptian" and "#Disney_must_return_Egyptian" hashtags in Arabic are top trending not only in Egypt but also in Arab world and sometimes worldwide on
Disney should return Egyptian
Disney should return Egyptian "Facebook" 
twitter and Facebook.

Egyptians and Arabs on social media especially on twitter and Facebook have launched an online campaign demanding Disney to return dubbing its films in Egyptian Arabic accent instead Classical Arabic.

On Twitter , Egyptian and Arab tweeps are posting quotes from Disney films in Egyptian Arabic for two days now.

For three decades, Disney used to dub its films for the Arab region in Egyptian Arabic accent and it was extremely successful especially Monsters, inc , Toy Story and Finding Nemo.
Some even say that Monsters,inc and Finding Nemo in Egyptian Arabic are much better and funnier than in English."I have to see them in Egyptian Arabic to be honest"

Now according to Egyptians leading that campaign , Disney decided to stop dubbing the films in Egyptian Arabic and dubbed in its films in Classical Arabic when Disney opened its branch in Dubai and the Arabs especially from conservatives in the Gulf demanded that the films to be fully in Classical Arabic because you know Egyptian Arabic is not perfect for the good upbringing and education as it seems !!
They even hint out since then words like "Love" are translated into "admiration".

I do not know if this is true or not but I know that the Disney film dubbed in Egyptian Arabic was "UP" in 2009.

Earlier this year, Disney returned to dub its films in Egyptian studios but still Classical Arabic.
To understand more about this issue which may amaze non-Arabic speaker , I recommend you to read that op-ed in New Yorker about Frozen when it was dubbed in Classical Arabic.

Big names from Egyptian actors used to dub the Disney Films. Yahia El-Fakhranay dubbed Toy Story as Woody.
Lion King , Monster, inc and Finding Nemo were dubbed by famous Egyptian comedian Mohamed Henedy.
The Egyptian film star is officially lobbying on his official twitter account calling Disney to return back to the Egyptian Arabic accent.
Internationally renowned satirist Bassem Youssef is supporting the campaign as well.
Interestingly , people from the Gulf are tweeting saying that they miss the Egyptian Arabic in Disney films.

Personally, the only Egyptian dubbed Disney I have watched from a long time was Snow White and the rest I used to watch them in English.

It was not a big issue to me and I felt it has to do with the fact that many Egyptians are trying to defend Egypt's diminishing cultural power in the Arab world.

But then , I watched that part from A Bug's Life film "I did not consider it funny" dubbed in both Egyptian Arabic and Classical Arabic and I found that Classical Arabic made it even worse.

فرق في السرعات
#ديزني_لازم_ترجع_مصريVideo made by Shnoda Jakson
Posted by Asa7be Sarcasm Society on Friday, April 8, 2016
That sarcastic video is published on Asa7be Sarcasm Society Facebook page, the biggest Sarcastic FB page in the Arab world with more 12 millions fans. That video alone got more than 350,000 likes in no time.

Egyptian Arabic is already understandable in all Arab countries as for decades our Egyptian music, films and TV series dominated the Arabic media.

The Egyptian accent is fun , it is dynamic like the American accent.

By the way , here is I think the oldest Disney film dubbed in Arabic : Snow White.
It was dubbed in to Egyptian Arabic in mid 1970s if I am not mistaken based on the Egyptian actors that narrated the film.
Legendary actor Abdel Wareth Assar was the main narrator of the film.  Interestingly , I found out that famous Egyptian poet Fouad Haddad wrote some of the famous film's songs in Arabic.
Here is the oldest version I can find on YouTube dubbed in Egyptian Arabic.
Snow white in Egyptian Arabic - Part 1

Snow White in Egyptian Arabic-Part 2
Now , I hope that campaign reaches to Disney in the United States for real.

5 comments:

  1. I totally support this campaign and really wish for it to succeed. and to help make that happen I suggest we contact disney directly via email, on its social network pages, on its websites collect signatures and send them whatever way to achieve this goal, what do you think??

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  2. Great article as usual. If Disney want to really appeal to the rich gulf nations then perhaps dub two Arabic movies one in Classical Arabic and one in Egyptian Arabic. However, those in the gulf wouldn't have a problem with a children's movie being dubbed in Egyptian. Turkish series are all dubbed in Syrian dialect mostly and no one complains.

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  3. I really want the Egyptian Arabic to come back, I miss the old days

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  4. EGYPTIAN Accent?accent?? accent??? It is not an accent?,but it is a Complete SYMPHONY... and The SWEETEST MILK for the ARAB- SOUL??..Egyptian Arabic is UNIQUE in its sweet soundings,But unfortunately for us,. IT is Just spoken & only in Egypt and some parts of Sudan i assume ,,as once were together one big nation in size/...LEBANON has got its own accent and very different with a bit of French/Turkish for flavour,and for a decade or two,English phrases/words as well, to humble judgement it comes second in my Chart, after Egyptian,.....SYRIAN,similar to the Lebanese, with a touch of Turkish in it due to long closeness in History?? ,Palestinian? close to them both a Bilad el SHAM cocktail?? But in GAZZA enclave got a touch of Egyptian in-it?....LIBYA+TUNISIA?,Almost as BILAD EL SHAM accents as well with slight touch from its next door neighbours ALGERIA+MAROCCO s?? As for ALGERS,& MOROCCO,got their own dialects with a mixture of FRENCH in-it plus other African desert s regional accents?!....IRAQ? a combination of PERSIAN/FARESSI+Turkish & Arab gulf dialects & words too?.... YEMEN+SAUDI ARABIA+KUWAIT all of them plus The EMIRATE, got their own dialects, but mostly use ANCIENT/BASIC accents, ALL 400 Million ARABS speak one language AL FOSS-HA,like in Britain we say THE QUEEN s ENGLISH ?? or King James+Bible English too !!..And as The HOLY QURAN book was handed to the The Great PROPHET Al NABI-MOHAMMAD-(Salla ALLAH Aleyhi wa Sallam)Most PRAISED be, by GOD s Arch ANGEL (BLESSED BE )JIBREEL, or GABRI-EL means<>(Arabs medieval ROMEO & JULLIET),spoken in AL FOSS-HA,for all to understand even if it was shown in Malaysia/Indonesia or Turkey??..but TODAY as we all live in this little village..called planet Earth..,with all such technology around, this won t a problem,so lets stick to the SYMPHONICAL EGYPTIAN-Dialogue.. its the BEST, in my personal view?!!......For a second or two ,and after i have finished this modest COMMENT i felt like if i was like the late/GREAT English actor Mr.Rex HARRISON when HE im>> MY FAIR LADY<>They Never Used It For AGES??,,,,As some in London/particularly/The Arab new generation does the same to this Great Arabic language,SORRY to admit!!!....From: yours/truly Is-Hak Barsoumian/London/G,Britain

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  5. Egyptian ones are funny and good for songs standard one is ok but its not that good for dubbing funny like style because the dialect is too serious

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