In addition to being dubbed in Arabic (with subtitles provided for shots including written English, such as the chalkboards), references to alcohol, pork, and numerous other themes have been deleted or significantly modified.
"[2] Badih Fattouh, MBC 1's acquisitions and drama commissioner head, said, "You must understand that we did not simply dub, but we Arabized the concept, and we toned it down a bit.
Poplak said, "Through a steady process of cross-cultural attrition—no bacon sandwiches, no Moe’s Tavern, church becomes masjid (mosque)—The Simpsons was whittled down to a shadow of itself.
[2] Poplak said, "It is a lesson in cross-cultural adaptation, and a warning of how delicate a powerful piece of television art like The Simpsons actually is.
It is one of only a handful of American television shows that have wholly separate versions in Quebec and France, and a number of studies have been made comparing them.
Although these changed references would be familiar to the French-Canadian viewer, in real life these would be awkward because almost all Québécois media is unknown in the United States.
In the episode "Lisa's Rival", Bart's mention of getting Millhouse Van Houten on America's Most Wanted, is simply changed for "on television".
In July 2007 Matt Groening said in an interview on Late Night with Conan O'Brien that the actor (Phillippe Peythieu) who does the voice of France French Homer says "T'oh!"
In the France version of the show, many other catch phrases are also translated: Bart's "Eat my shorts" becomes "Va te faire shampouiner" ("Go shampoo yourself", similar to "go to hell").
The main voices are by Tonino Accolla (Homer), Liù Bosisio (Marge), Ilaria Stagni (Bart) and Monica Ward (Lisa).
The animation of the show is changed: whenever something written in English appears on screen, the Italian version superimposes the translated phrase.
[11][12] In addition, Otto Mann (Otto Disc) speaks with a Milanese accent, Carl Carlson with a Venetian, Chief Wiggum/Winchester and Lou with Neapolitan and Eddie in Barese (likely a stereotype of most police officers in Italy originating from the South), Lionel Hutz and Snake Jailbird (Serpe) with Roman, Reverend Lovejoy with Calabrese and Fat Tony with Sicilian.
[13][14][15] In November 2012, Liù Bosisio and Ilaria Stagni, were replaced by Sonia Scotti (Marge), and Gaia Bolognesi (Bart).
Many characters are voiced by guest stars, like ex-minister Ignazio La Russa who voiced Garth, the sugar industries manager, politician Alessandra Mussolini as Marge's friend Tammy, football player Francesco Totti and his wife, showgirl Ilary Blasi as Buck Mitchell and Tabitha Vixx, showgirl Valeria Marini as Mindy Simmons, Maria Grazia Cucinotta as in the original version is Francesca, sideshow Bob's wife.
In Italian, many other catch phrases are also translated: Bart's "Eat my shorts" becomes "Ciucciati il calzino" ("Suck on your sock").
[16] Like the French version, mentions of American culture are often omitted, such as TV shows not known internationally, while the episodes appear uncut and broadcast in full with the end credits intact.
Симпсоны was first broadcast in Russian in 1997 on local network REN TV and, eventually, its air coverage reached almost all of the former USSR, including the Baltics.
The show's voiceovers were done by married couple Boris Bystrov and Irina Savina [ru] from season 9 onward (with some gaps), including The Simpsons Movie.
In 2007, in line with changes to the channel's brand, Симпсоны switched from REN TV to 2×2, a Russian analog of Adult Swim, where they perform nowadays.
Although the show was heavily criticized for its "amorality", the broadcast was never halted and little censorship occurred, beyond blurring alcohol and cigarettes due to local law.
A more serious case of censorship occurred in Looking for Mr. Goodbart, where the scene with Homer playing Peekimon Get in church was cut due to similarities with the ongoing scandal in which a local blogger who had done the same thing in real life was jailed.
The translation is direct and the references to American pop-culture remain untouched, making jokes harder to understand for Russian viewers.
The Simpsons is dubbed into the Spanish language in two versions, one for Spain, and another in Mexico targeted to all Spanish-speaking countries in the Americas.
[18] In July, from the sixteen season onwards, almost the entire cast was permanently replaced with new actors, who also were unable to dub The Simpsons Movie.
[19] In 2021, after the Disney purchase, the original voice cast returned to The Simpsons, including Humberto Vélez (Homer), Claudia Motta (Bart and Marge), Patricia Acevedo (Lisa) and Gabriel Chávez (Mr. Burns).
There are other characters that conserve their frequent voice in Spain: like Mulder and Scully from The X-Files, or Sideshow Bob and his brother Cecil.
In European Spanish, the rest of the family characters are played by Margarita de Francia (Marge), Isacha Mengíbar (Lisa) and Sara Vivas (Bart).
In 2006, The Simpsons, along with other shows such as Pokémon, SpongeBob SquarePants and Mickey Mouse cartoons, were banned from being aired during primetime (5:00 to 8:00 PM) in China.
The government had previously tried several things, such as ordering that networks cut down on the number of foreign animated series being aired in 2000 and in 2004, passed a rule that would ensure that 60 percent of cartoon content came from Chinese studios.
[30] However, in 1993, the network decided to start dubbing The Simpsons into Swedish to increase ratings,[30] and the show was moved to a more child-friendly time.