Foreigners Have Deep Voices!

[buhi]

I rarely watch or take notice of Thai television; yesterday my wife watching a documentary that had been dubbed into Thai. Every time a foreigner commented his voice was dubbed in a very low, deep voice; this is not the first time I have noticed this.

Can anyone explain this strange phenomenon, as very few foreigners have bass voices! It makes them sound idiotic to my ears, surely this is not the intention!

[Travel2003]

Yes I noticed too, long time ago.

Sounds weird.

Even more weird than some of the local ladies with deep voices.

[Semper]

This is an interesting observation, I have to check this out. Any channel you can recommend?

[hookedondhamma]

Maybe it has to do with how they percieve the voices of foreigners. I've noticed that thai males have a very large range in their voices - one minute it can be deep, the next minute it can be extremely high, and almost falsetto-like. It's amazing how they don't damage their voices. I've never noticed this back in the states, or in mexico and central America. But that's just been my experience with it.

Maybe it's because most foreigners don't speak with a tonal system, rendering them 'monotone' and flat-sounding?

[Travel2003]

Doesn't matter what nationality, race, or culture, they do it with all the films and series'.

Even the shopping channels have this deep deep strange Thai voice.

[Briggsy]

It's not only foreigners.

The company that does the dubbing for virtually everything here (the dubbing monopoly) has a supharp voice for most Thai males, particularly pra ek's.

A Thai guy in the office used to do a take-off of it.

[buhi]

Yes I noticed too, long time ago.

Sounds weird.

Even more weird than some of the local ladies with deep voices.

Yes noticed a long time ago, but yesterday I did my usual imitation of the deep foreign voice and came to grief as it annoyed my wife.

DVD's are great too, the same voices used for Scooby Doo and dubbed Hollywood movies.

I need to shut up mimicking!

[geriatrickid]

That's nothing. Have you ever noticed that women on current event shows do imitations of crows? Ka, Ka, Ka......

[transam]

Perhaps they want to put over that all farangs are gay. ............................

[DrTuner]

Maybe there's just one guy with a low voice doing all the dubbing. Dubbing by itself ought to be banned, one of the reasons English is not understood all that well in Thailand, despite watching foreign movies.

[chrisinth]

Maybe there's just one guy with a low voice doing all the dubbing. Dubbing by itself ought to be banned, one of the reasons English is not understood all that well in Thailand, despite watching foreign movies.

Maybe the "Hub of Dub" should be the "Hub of One Dub"?...............

[DP25]

It's not only foreigners.

The company that does the dubbing for virtually everything here (the dubbing monopoly) has a supharp voice for most Thai males, particularly pra ek's.

A Thai guy in the office used to do a take-off of it.

Yeah. It's just the acting style they use for voice overs. They do all the voices over the top. Not trying to imitate foreigners it's just a type of voice they like in acting.

[PingManDan]

Yes I noticed too, long time ago.

Sounds weird.

Even more weird than some of the local ladies with deep voices.

Even some of the supposed ladies have deep voices, well we really all know those type of ladies, don't we, they have guavas (kais) also, the renowned Lady-boys of Thailand

[Semper]

Maybe there's just one guy with a low voice doing all the dubbing. Dubbing by itself ought to be banned, one of the reasons English is not understood all that well in Thailand, despite watching foreign movies.

Don't they do this in Japan, Germany etc?

[Payboy]

I have noticed when I speak in a deep voice, I get better reaction from service staff. It's clear now, they must think I'm a movie star or something.

[Beetlejuice]

I began noticing this phenomenon years ago, especially as regarding the men folk.

Farang men definitely appear to have, not necessary louder, but deeper more hollow voices than Thai men.

Other points I have noticed, is that us farangs seem to use more expressive forms of face to face communications, such as, hand and arm movements, facial expressions and sounds other than actual words. Perhaps this is the reason that we sometimes have difficulties in interpreting the meanings of what Thai people are saying, even when they speak English, as farangs have more methods of getting what they actual mean across.

[bkkjames]

I hear if you stop eating soy products your voice will get deeper.

[DrTuner]

Maybe there's just one guy with a low voice doing all the dubbing. Dubbing by itself ought to be banned, one of the reasons English is not understood all that well in Thailand, despite watching foreign movies.

Don't they do this in Japan, Germany etc?

Don't know about Japan, but Germany, yes, and it sucks there as well.

[besth]

Thais seem to think over-acting is the way to act, so the weird dubbing is part of that. It is the way they seem to like it, so let them enjoy it.

[Semper]

I have noticed when I speak in a deep voice, I get better reaction from service staff. It's clear now, they must think I'm a movie star or something.

If you have a 3 day beard and the deep voice, they would ask for your autograph.

[Chittychangchang]

Misread this topic thought it read "Foreigners Have Deep Pockets!"

Back on topic - yes i've observed this also, don't know where they do the dubbing - could be Yorkshire! That Sean Bean gets about!