Why Is English Deleted?

[HeijoshinCool]

A Question:

Buy a Hollywood made, pirated video on the street, and it will STILL HAVE the English soundtrack. Thai will be dubbed, and there will be Thai sub-titles also (usually quite incorrect but entertaining).

Buy a nicely packaged (licensed?) video in an air-conditioned store and 99% of the time the English has been deleted.

Why?

Is there a technical or legal reason for this?

[samran]

They speak Thai here mate - that ought to be enough of a hint....

[giddyup]

Depends where you buy. All the genuine DVD's I have bought here had an English soundtrack with Thai (and others) subtitle options.

[HeijoshinCool]

They speak Thai here mate - that ought to be enough of a hint....

First one out of the gate. Typical.

And, a brilliant observation.

Probably the same thinking used when manufacturers ignored demographics. You know, the one million or so westerners staying in Thailand, most of whom DO NOT speak Thai, and if they did, aren't terribly interested in listening to the guy that dubs almost all the Thai for male actors: he sounds like he is finally having a movement after a fortnight of constipation, regardless if it's an action or love scene.

If you want to listen to that guy, rather than Nicholson or Brando or De Niro, have at it. Acting is more than movement. It's also voice, huh?

[tinfoilhat]

i believe the licence is a lot cheaper without the english.

[HeijoshinCool]

Depends where you buy. All the genuine DVD's I have bought here had an English soundtrack with Thai (and others) subtitle options.

Go into any mall kiosk, Tesco, or 7-11, and they have the 39-99 (some are more) baht DVDs in either small packs or full-size boxes. Take a look. Almost all have only Thai soundtrack.

Even my GF does not want to watch them. First, because she likes to learn more English. Second, because of Mr. BM.

[samran]

They speak Thai here mate - that ought to be enough of a hint....

...a brilliant observation.

I thought so too.

Seriously though, where did you get a million westerners living in Thailand from?

[HeijoshinCool]

i believe the licence is a lot cheaper without the english.

Ah, a thinking man. I knew there was one here someplace.

I had actually considered that, but had no reference. Are you just guessing? Or do you have insider info?

[HeijoshinCool]

They speak Thai here mate - that ought to be enough of a hint....

...a brilliant observation.

I thought so too.

Seriously though, where did you get a million westerners living in Thailand from?

I counted them when I wasn't reading Thai Visa.

[samran]

They speak Thai here mate - that ought to be enough of a hint....

...a brilliant observation.

I thought so too.

Seriously though, where did you get a million westerners living in Thailand from?

I counted them when I wasn't reading Thai Visa.

Suspect you are over estimating by something like a factor of 10. Never seen any estimates as high as yours.

[Beetlejuice]

Think it all depends on where you buy the DVD movie.

I`ve never had any problems and usually the DVD has English and Thai language options.

I found that the versions on sale in the markets or smaller stores mostly only have the full Thai versions.

If you prefer the original versions only in English, than probably best to purchase these online.

[HeijoshinCool]

Suspect you are over estimating by something like a factor of 10. Never seen any estimates as high as yours.

I have, from place to place, and time to time.

Taking into account all the full-timers here on "tourist" visas, the ones who live here three or more months out of the year (and therefore are likely to purchase videos), the ones who work here with multi-national corporations; the retired and married, yes, according to what I've read over the years, a million is not much out of line.

Do you have figures, or are you just guessing I'm wrong?

[HeijoshinCool]

Think it all depends on where you buy the DVD movie.

I`ve never had any problems and usually the DVD has English and Thai language options.

I found that the versions on sale in the markets or smaller stores mostly only have the full Thai versions.

If you prefer the original versions only in English, than probably best to purchase these online.

That would be a bit more pricey than 39 baht from Tesco. Which leads me to suspect that Tinfoilhat's reflections were likely accurate.

[samran]

Suspect you are over estimating by something like a factor of 10. Never seen any estimates as high as yours.

I have, from place to place, and time to time.

Taking into account all the full-timers here on "tourist" visas, the ones who live here three or more months out of the year (and therefore are likely to purchase videos), the ones who work here with multi-national corporations; the retired and married, yes, according to what I've read over the years, a million is not much out of line.

Do you have figures, or are you just guessing I'm wrong?

To be honest, a number approaching 100,000 seems to ring a bell for some reason (western workers). Work permits granted on an annual basis are a heck of alot less than that from memory (granted that you still have to add in all the other categories you mention).

I know there are estimates of up to 1million unregistered workers here from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, so to an extent the notion of 1million effectively white faces bobbing around Thailand just doesn't make sense from a 'common sense test' perspective.

Happy to be proven wrong though...

[HeijoshinCool]

Suspect you are over estimating by something like a factor of 10. Never seen any estimates as high as yours.

I have, from place to place, and time to time.

Taking into account all the full-timers here on "tourist" visas, the ones who live here three or more months out of the year (and therefore are likely to purchase videos), the ones who work here with multi-national corporations; the retired and married, yes, according to what I've read over the years, a million is not much out of line.

Do you have figures, or are you just guessing I'm wrong?

To be honest, a number approaching 100,000 seems to ring a bell for some reason (western workers). Work permits granted on an annual basis are a heck of alot less than that from memory (granted that you still have to add in all the other categories you mention).

I know there are estimates of up to 1million unregistered workers here from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, so to an extent the notion of 1million effectively white faces bobbing around Thailand just doesn't make sense from a 'common sense test' perspective.

Happy to be proven wrong though...

So, Oh Wise One, why do they delete the English, anyway?

[samran]

Suspect you are over estimating by something like a factor of 10. Never seen any estimates as high as yours.

I have, from place to place, and time to time.

Taking into account all the full-timers here on "tourist" visas, the ones who live here three or more months out of the year (and therefore are likely to purchase videos), the ones who work here with multi-national corporations; the retired and married, yes, according to what I've read over the years, a million is not much out of line.

Do you have figures, or are you just guessing I'm wrong?

To be honest, a number approaching 100,000 seems to ring a bell for some reason (western workers). Work permits granted on an annual basis are a heck of alot less than that from memory (granted that you still have to add in all the other categories you mention).

I know there are estimates of up to 1million unregistered workers here from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, so to an extent the notion of 1million effectively white faces bobbing around Thailand just doesn't make sense from a 'common sense test' perspective.

Happy to be proven wrong though...

So, Oh Wise One, why do they delete the English, anyway?

From what I've seen in the past, the 39 baht jobbies are VCD's rather than DVD's.

VCDs were/probably still are the choice of a majority of low income house holds (though cut price DVD's are probably making inroads). As such VCD will only have the capability of one soundtrack. Being the Land O' Thai's.......I'm guessing they aren't going to go for the ankrit versions.

[Nana Cowboy]

CD Warehouse used to have a nice collection of VCDs with English audio. They were priced around 169 baht avg. CD Warehouse shut its doors about 3-4 years ago. Those cheapo discs are probably cheaper for licensing as someone mentioned. How about that VCD/DVD maker in Thailand who have a large outlet in Bangkok? I forget the name

[samran]

CD Warehouse used to have a nice collection of VCDs with English audio. They were priced around 169 baht avg. CD Warehouse shut its doors about 3-4 years ago. Those cheapo discs are probably cheaper for licensing as someone mentioned. How about that VCD/DVD maker in Thailand who have a large outlet in Bangkok? I forget the name

Mangpong?

[taotoo]

Because one is just a copy with thai dubbed on it, while the other has been supplied by the studio without the voice channel. Perhaps the pirates don't simply copy the official thai version as they feel they are more likely to be hunted down over it, or perhaps it's just easier to download the english version from the internet.

[Beetlejuice]

Think it all depends on where you buy the DVD movie.

I`ve never had any problems and usually the DVD has English and Thai language options.

I found that the versions on sale in the markets or smaller stores mostly only have the full Thai versions.

If you prefer the original versions only in English, than probably best to purchase these online.

That would be a bit more pricey than 39 baht from Tesco. Which leads me to suspect that Tinfoilhat's reflections were likely accurate.

Yes, you are right.

It`s a catch 22.

[TommoPhysicist]

It's another blatant case of dual pricing for foreigners.

Foreigners speak English, so they charge more if you want the English soundtrack!

[cdnvic]

You bought pirated videos and got what you paid for.

/closed