Count Dookan

Aluizio Ignacio · 9th July 2002, 05:41 AM

A CURIOSITY FOR FANS. IN BRAZIL, THE NAME OF MR. LEE´S CARACTER IS COUNT DOOKAN AND NOT DOOKU. THE MOVIE IS A HIT HERE AND MR. LEE HAVE A GREAT PERFOMANCE IN THIS MOVIE, BUT IT´S IS NATURAL BECAUSE HE´S A GREAT ACTOR. I HAVE MANY OF YOUR MOVIES IN MY VIDEO COLLECTION AND I´M VERY PROUD OF MY COLLECTION.

ALUIZIO IGNACIO/BRASIL

Jurious · 9th July 2002, 08:23 PM

I'm not sure why that is... unless it has something to do with pronunciation?

Is the language of Brazil Portugese? And, if it is, would pronouncing 'Dooku' be a problem? I know in France they have to change 'Darth' to 'Dark' due to pronunciation difficulties!

Otherwise, I don't have a clue whythere is a difference. :)

lisaleslie76 · 18th July 2002, 10:26 AM

interesting!

**Alfonso Casal** · 18th July 2002, 06:15 PM

Quote:

I'm not sure why that is... unless it has something to do with pronunciation?

It could be any of a number of reasons. I'm not a native speaker (there are nuances of pronunciation only a "native ear" could discern), but I do know Portuguese and can't think of any sound in DOO-koo or DOE-koo that a Portuguese speaker couldn't make. So, I don't think it has to do with pronunciation.

It could be that "Dooku" sounds similar to something else in either Portuguese or the Brazilian dialect thereof and the distributors don't want to cause confusion, offense, or laughter at the character's name to detract from the film. In the Afro-Cuban dialect of Spanish, "Dooku" sounds very similar to Gocu, "the boogeyman" -- although that might be a plus in this case. Another example: In Greece, a well known American actor is always called Charlton "Easton," because the word heston in Greek means perfoming a bodily function on top of someone. Likewise, in Spanish speaking countries, the Kurosawa film Kagemusha was often called by its subtitle The Shadow Warrior because the main title was dangerously close to saying, in extremely vulgar, Spanish "I went to the bathroom a lot."

Or, there could be some tradtion that, for no particular reason, is still followed. For example, even though the "H" sound exists in the language, Russian replaces the "H" at the beginning of foreign words with a "G." So that, the German dictator who invaded Russia in 1941 is known as Adolf "Gitler."

Or it could just be a simple mistake that stuck. Like the 1950s Japanese science-fiction film about a giant, mutant, reptile called Gojira that the American distributors mistook as Godzilla.

So, who knows? Only the Brazilian distributor knows for sure.

Juan Aneiros · 19th July 2002, 04:06 AM

Dooku is pronounced in native Portuguese meaning "from your backside". In Gallego, sounds like meaning the same. Do or Du, changes depending from which area you come from North or South but "Ku", sounds like backside.

Bye is another word that have the portuguese laughing, say it two or three times to them and they'll complete the phrase. Vai, vai, vai pao...

**Alfonso Casal** · 19th July 2002, 04:14 AM

Quote:

Dooku is pronounced in native Portuguese meaning "from your backside". In Gallego, sounds like meaning the same.

Hahahahaha! I thought it might be something like that. Clearly, this is something we were never taught in language lab.:1devil:

Well, there's the answer.