Portuguese has two audiences with opposite habits. In Brazil dubbing is huge: on television and in most cinemas foreign films are heard dubbed, and Brazilian voice actors are famous. In Portugal, by contrast, films are mostly watched in the original with subtitles, and dubbing is kept for children's films. MovieCineLab dubs a film into Portuguese automatically, with one voice per character.
Listen: Charade in Portuguese
Three minutes of Charade (1963) dubbed into Portuguese, untouched: four characters, four voices.
Real lines, from English to Portuguese
| Character | Original (English) | Dubbed · Portuguese |
|---|---|---|
| Regina Lampert Charade (1963) | He's hiding something from me, Sylvie, something terrible, and it frightens me. | Ele está escondendo algo de mim, Sylvie, algo terrível, e isso me assusta. |
| Peter Joshua Charade (1963) | Do we know each other? | Nós nos conhecemos? |
| Regina Lampert Charade (1963) | Why, do you think we're going to? | Por quê, acha que vamos nos conhecer? |
| Regina Lampert Charade (1963) | Until one of them dies, I couldn't possibly meet anyone else. | Até que uma delas morra, não poderia conhecer mais ninguém. |
| Peter Joshua Charade (1963) | Shakespeare never said that. | Shakespeare nunca disse isso. |
| Peter Joshua Charade (1963) | You just made it up. | Você inventou. |
| Johnny Night of the Living Dead (1968) | They're coming to get you, Barbara. | Eles estão vindo te pegar, Barbara. |
| Popeye Popeye: Assault and Flattery (1956) | Your Honor, I'm innocent. | Vossa Excelência, sou inocente. |
Lines exactly as they came out of the automatic dubbing of the example films, untouched.
Brazilian or European Portuguese?
There is no choice between the two. Reading the lines above, though, you can see which way the translation leans: «Ele está escondendo algo» uses the gerund, as people say it in Brazil (in Portugal it would be «está a esconder»). «Você inventou» uses the Brazilian «você», and Popeye's judge becomes «Vossa Excelência», the way a judge is addressed in a Brazilian court. If your audience is in Portugal, listen to the clip first and judge whether it suits you.
What you get
- The film dubbed into Portuguese, in full, as MP4.
- Subtitles as SRT in the film's language and in Portuguese, included.
- The screenplay as PDF and Fountain, included with the dubbing. Note: screenplays are written in Italian, English, French, Spanish or German, not in Portuguese.
Who it's for
For anyone bringing a classic to a Brazilian audience, used to seeing everything dubbed. For learners of Portuguese who want to rewatch a familiar film, with Portuguese subtitles to follow the words. For film clubs, schools and cultural associations in Portuguese-speaking communities, in Brazil and beyond.
What it costs
One minute from your pack for every minute of film: a 90-minute film dubbed into Portuguese uses 90 minutes. If the job fails, the minutes go back into your pack.
They don't expireYour minutes stay in your account until you use them.
10 free minutesWhen you sign up we dub 10 minutes of one of your films for free, in one language.
If a job failsThe minutes go back into your pack.
The same film can also be dubbed into Spanish or Italian. The method is explained on the multi-voice dubbing page.