I began teaching linguistics at a German university at the age of 23, becoming aware with each passing year of how little I knew. Since 1991 I’ve supervised the linguistic, theatrical, and technical facets of foreign versions of American films (in Spain, France, Germany, Brazil and Mexico) for practically all major Hollywood studios and, along the way, a bunch of smaller, fly-by-night potboilers as well.
I’ve established a position of impressive authority in the field basically by managing to take credit for so many other really talented people’s work.
Degrees I had to achieve before I finally started learning something:
a Bachelor of Arts from Purdue University (USA), a Master’s degree from the University of Strasbourg (France), and a PhD from the University of the Saarland (Germany).
I’m the author of Through the Dubbing Glass, a painstakingly researched, meticulously documented, technically hopelessly outdated thesis on how American films were dubbed in bygone millennia.
My pedigree includes the dubbing and subtitling supervision of, among other films: 4 James Bonds; half a dozen Spidermen; a couple of DaVinci Codes; 3 Men in Blacks; various Oceans 11, 12 and upwards. I’ve worked on films directed by Quentin Tarantino, Mike Nichols, James Cameron, Steven Soderbergh, James Brooks, Woody Allen, as well as by a significant number of directors of dubious artistic merit. My television credentials include Monty Python’s Flying Circus and the first two years of The Simpsons.
I speak 6.5 languages, work in 5 countries, and put in my 2 cents even when nobody wants it.
I do not know how to cook.