The Simpsons in Arabic

A few days ago while watching MBC, they were showing some of the stuff they’ll be airing in Ramadhan, which is just around the corner now, and to my surprise an Arabic version of “The Simpsons” is in the schedule.

It will be called “Al Shamshoon” and dubbed in the Egyptian Accent.

Mohamed Heneidi will be lending his voice to Homer (Omar in the Arabic version), Hanan Turk to Bart and Lisa, and Rojeena to Marge.

The Arabized, or should I say Egyptianized, versions of animations that I’ve seen before were pretty decent and sometimes funny, but I’m not so sure about how “The Simpsons’ would turn out.

Shows like “The Simpsons”, “Futurama” and “Southpark” for example aren’t really the kind of shows that could be translated well into our language and culture, especially when you mean to show it in Ramadhan.
A lot of references to Alcohol, sex, God and other taboos that just won’t fit in.

“Southpark” was actually arabized in Kuwait, but they took the idea and redid the whole thing with new characters and another approach to its humor.
Maybe it would have been better to do something like that with “The Simpsons’.

Anyway, I’ll be checking it out, and I hope it turns out good, although the bits I saw in the preview weren’t too promising.

Other blogs talking about this: Savior Machine, Symbols.

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Mohamed Marwen Meddah

Mohamed Marwen Meddah is a Tunisian-Canadian, web aficionado, software engineering leader, blogger, and amateur photographer.

15 thoughts on “The Simpsons in Arabic”

  1. Tunisia: The Simpsons in Arabic

    MMM says that shows like “The Simpsons“, “Futurama” and “Southpark” for example aren’t really the kind of shows that could be translated well into Arabic language and culture, especially when you mean to show …

  2. Simpsons The Jew: Now The Simpsteins on JewTV

    In case you missed it: “It’s just too much effort to hide it any longer. We spend so many countless hours trying to make characters that are so obviously Jewish seem gentile. It’s just not cost effective anymore,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg.
    “…

  3. Bizarre.
    Je serais curieux de voir comment ils vont traduire “I want my beeeeeeeeeeer” (dixit Homer)
    MoZ

  4. Another reason to CUT-OFF Satellite channels!

    How many parents know what the @#$% Simpson’s talk about???!!! How many kids will watch it, or even teenagers!

    In the US, they have more censorship than we do, though I am not convinced it works, but at least they have a guide for the parents who care about the content that their kids will watch. They have an option.

    Let me see… the last time I saw a sign on an Arabic TV to indicate if the following show or movie is not suitable for kids was on the Kuwaiti land channel back in the 80’s!

    Since we no longer have control over our media, I say it has become mandatory to cut it off! Not for the kids sake only, but for our sake as well! Our precious spare time is being killed with nothing but junk!

    As for news, on TV you see the same piece of news repeated a zillion times on every news channel, while on the net, you read about it once and that’s it. You move on with your life.

    I say it again, KILL YOUR TV BEFORE IT KILLS YOU!

  5. I was gonna write about this but ill comment here instead.

    The simpsons and other shows such as family guy and south park, have been greatly misunderstood. It’s not so much a misunderstanding as it is apathy. I have cousins who live here in canada and my aunt lets them watch these shows. why? because she passes by the tv and sees its a cartoon and keeps on walking. these shows were never intended for children viewing. in fact thats why they show them at 8 and 9pm prime time on a sunday night when most kids are supposed to be asleep.

    where is the fault in that reasoning? they forget to factor in arab families who let their kids stay up till they fall down. and who let them watch anything simply because they dont put in the time to sit down and understand that its not meant for children. it’s simply adult material presented in a cartoon form, a meduiem which allows them to be more creative with humor.

  6. to whoever posted the comment about killing the satellite channel because it now carries The Simpsons, I say that on the contrary the only reason to have that channel would be to watch an interesting experiment in translation…I do not think they are going to do a great job with it and I just do not understand how people can eb so enflamed against a show such as The Sipsons… it’s one of the few shows on American TV that stills requires you to use a little bit of brains

    just a thought– but it’s a free world do not watch the show if you find it so awful

    live and let live

  7. i think saqf is right it is there media not ours i mean u’rs…DO u know what do they talk about?? i know alots of ppl like it i my self like it..but what about the kidds that they naver heared this kinda stuff my GOD! they r like this they r used to this kinda stuff but what about ours lil bro n sis they love cartoons they will see this n they will be start thinking like them…they only sould watch CARTOON NETWORK

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