When Friends leaves the comfort of our U.S. airwaves, the resulting dubs can become pretty surreal, especially for the forever-quoting superfans. What does French Ross sound like? How about Japanese Phoebe? Or German Chandler? Can their jokes make it across the international chasm?
Remember Joey’s failed attempts to speak French? Seems like (in France) he finally got the hang of it — with the added plus of a high vocal range. French Joey is pretty good, too: “Toi? … et toi?”
If you ever wanted to see a young Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) speaking Japanese with Rachel, you’re in luck. Weirdly, the dub makes him seem even more growly than the original.
Chandler en Español kind of gets away with kissing Phoebe and Rachel after accidentally kissing Monica on the lips in front of them?
Rachel’s 30th-birthday party is even more dramatic in Italian. And the way she rolls the R in Ross! Just wow.
Here are Chandler and Ross: just two German bros hangin’ out. Chandler shows off some pilfered salt and pepper shakers, and Ross tells him “das ist uncool.” Translates!
In Portuguese, Rachel sounds like she’s constantly about to burst into tears.
Speaking of dubbing, don’t forget Comedy Central’s series “Badly Dubbed Friends,” where, instead of the language, the words are completely changed.
So much Friends, definitely enough time. Check out the rest of our Friends Countdown.
