Disney+ Launched In Iceland Without Icelandic Dubbing, People Didn’t Like It So Much That Their Minister Sent A Letter To Disney About It
Iceland may be one of the smallest countries (population-wise) out there, but it is a great nation regardless.
Iceland is home to world-renowned musicians who have changed music forever, the first female president in the world, and an astronaut who has furthered the study of space science immensely.
And if that isn’t enough, there’s the volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajökull back in 2010 that stopped many flights around Europe, so it’s strongly advised not to mess with Icelanders.
Well, now Iceland is making news again with perhaps a smaller impact, but one that definitely can’t be undermined: Icelandic language dubbing on Disney Plus.
Turns out, Disney+ didn’t include Icelandic dubbing, which made a lot of Icelanders, including the Minister of Education, Science, and Culture, do something about it
Image credits: Framsókn
So, Disney Plus has arrived in a number of European countries, including Iceland, and it has been gaining popularity there. One slight problem, though—it doesn’t have any shows in Icelandic, neither subtitles, nor dubbing.
This might not look like a big deal, but it is. You see, Iceland has a history of incredible dubbing in Disney films and animations. Many remember those fondly and believe them to be superior to the English versions.
But Disney Plus came out without it, and people were upset. Icelandic actor Jóhannes Haukur went to Twitter to ask Disney what the deal was with that.
Minister Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir wrote an open letter to Disney asking it to include Icelandic dubbing on Disney films and shows
Image credits: Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir
His appeal considered the fact that Disney has a history of dubbing its films and shows in Icelandic—for decades, in fact—and says that Iceland is one of the oldest and least changed languages in the world, one that ought to be taught to the Icelandic youth. This alone is reason for dubbing.
“Props to @Disney for funding dubs in Icelandic for all of their animated features for the past 40 years. A 1200-year-old language. One of the oldest languages in the world still spoken. Spoken by less than 400,000 people. All we need now is for it to be available on @disneyplus,” elaborated Haukur in another tweet.
Well, it didn’t end here. Sure, 1,600 people (many guess, solely Icelanders) have agreed with this by liking the tweet, but Iceland took it one step further.
Backing her decision are the people of Iceland, including actor Jóhannes Haukur
Image credits: johanneshaukur
Image credits: johanneshaukur
Enter Icelandic Minister of Education, Science, and Culture Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir. Yesterday, February 1st, 2021, she sent out an official letter to Disney asking it to include Icelandic subtitles and dubbing into its Disney Plus shows.
She started off the letter by welcoming Disney into Iceland, virtually, and praised it for being a huge part of a generation of people in Iceland. She went on to explain how archaic and important the language is to the people and the growing generations.
And while for a nation that overall knows English by heart, Icelandic is still core, she hence encouraged Disney to include Icelandic dubbing into its films and TV shows available on Disney Plus in Iceland.
The letter went viral on Imgur, where the poster also provided this for everyone’s enjoyment
Image credits: GujnBenediktsson
Disney is yet to respond to this, but given that Disney already has a bunch of its intellectual properties dubbed and ready to go, it can at the very least have those made available on their online streaming service, and then work on the rest in due time.
People are amazed by the Minister’s initiative. Needless to say, internauts praised her actions. The letter went viral online, including on Imgur, where apart from praise, there were people who were asking for dubbing in Irish, while Disney’s at it.
Others were a tad bit skeptical about it as it’s a small market, so Disney might not want to invest itself into dubbing the films, but if it’s done it before, it’s chances are it might continue doing so.
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comment section below!
Here’s how the people of the internet reacted to this
I think they're right. It's difficult enough for such a small language to survive, it doesn't need big greedy company to accelerate its extinction on top of that.
But they already have the dubbed & subbed material. They've funded Icelandic translations for 40+ years. It says so in the article. It would've cost nothing to include what they already had.
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While its true that most of us speak english fairly well, we need the dubbing for kids. I have two 7 year olds who dont understand enough english yet and they cant read fast enough to catch the subtitles. Also basically all kids' dvds etc released in iceland come with optional dubbing, so its not like the tracks dont already exist.
I think they're right. It's difficult enough for such a small language to survive, it doesn't need big greedy company to accelerate its extinction on top of that.
But they already have the dubbed & subbed material. They've funded Icelandic translations for 40+ years. It says so in the article. It would've cost nothing to include what they already had.
Load More Replies... While its true that most of us speak english fairly well, we need the dubbing for kids. I have two 7 year olds who dont understand enough english yet and they cant read fast enough to catch the subtitles. Also basically all kids' dvds etc released in iceland come with optional dubbing, so its not like the tracks dont already exist.
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