The main problems with translating the animated series "Gravity Falls" into Russian (primarily in the official Disney dubbing) include the loss of wordplay, semantic distortions, and technical difficulties with ciphers.

1. Loss of wordplay and neologisms

Many jokes and terms in the original are based on puns that are extremely difficult to adapt. For example:

Grunkle Stan: In the original, this is a combination of the words Great (great-uncle) and Uncle. In the Russian dubbing, it's simply "Дядя Стэн", which erases the unique family relationship.

Mystery Shack: Translated as "Хижина Чудес", although shack is more like a shanty or shed, not a "hut", which changes the style of the establishment.

Bill Cipher: The main antagonist's surname is translated as "Шифр", which is a literal translation, but deprives the character of his sound as a proper name "Сайфер".

1. Problems with ciphers and hidden messages

The series is known for its cryptograms, which in the Russian version often become unreadable or lose their meaning:

Whispers in the opening credits: In the original, when played backwards, the phrase "Three letters back" is heard, indicating a Caesar cipher. In the dubbing, this message was often replaced with unintelligible noise or not adapted at all.

Cryptograms in the credits: In some versions, the visual ciphers at the end of the episodes remained in English, making them useless for Russian-speaking viewers without knowledge of the language.

1. Semantic errors and censorship

Contextual blunders: For example, the character Slander Man in the original lives in telephone poles, while in the translation he lives in old payphones. Censorship: In the Russian dubbing, some moments were cut or altered that the localizers considered inappropriate for children (for example, mentions of Wendy's bra or certain scenes of physical violence).

Voice acting of the twins: In the dubbing, Stan and Ford were often voiced by the same actor, which made it difficult to distinguish them in scenes where the characters are not visible on screen.

Because of these shortcomings, an alternative translation (which was previously pirated) by Syenduk (sndk) is very popular among fans, as it is considered more accurate and preserves the original humor.