If you happen to be a fan of Norwegian cinema but hate subtitles and dubbing, you’re in for a treat. The Norwegian film Kon-Tiki can be viewed in English and in Norwegian without the need for any English to Norwegian translation at all.
If this fact makes you scratch your head, we’ll help put your mind at ease. The filmmakers behind Kon-Tiki decided to film each individual scene twice: once in Norwegian and, after they got the perfect take, another time in English. They shifted back and forth between both languages. The result is the same movie, shot in original Norwegian and original English. The same starring actors handled both languages and both dramatic performances.
Of course, a heck of a lot of English to Norwegian translation had to go down after the initial scriptwriting process took place — and on location as well. This was made especially hard considering the fact that the movie was primarily set out on the Pacific Ocean.
Kon-Tiki tells the true story of the Norwegian voyager Thor Heyerdahl and his very dangerous attempt to cross the Pacific Ocean in a balsa-wood raft.
For the film, the director and the crew worked with an English-language dialogue coach to get the English down pat. They would sit around and translate the Norwegian dialogue into English for the scenes they’d be filming the next day. Oftentimes these scenes were out on the water. Talk about pulling double duty for a film project.
While this film isn’t the first production to be shot in two, or even three, languages simultaneously, it’s one of the highest profile shoots of this nature in modern times. Kon-Tikiwas even nominated for a best foreign-language film Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards — although it didn’t win. Regardless, the recognition Kon-Tiki garnered says a lot about English to Norwegian translation and the power of making a movie filmed in two different languages.
