Subtitles or dubbing?

[Brown Jenkin]

Subtitles almost all the way. The only time I can stand dubbing is in the vien of comedy watching old Hong Kong kung-fu movies.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Another vote for subtitles here.

 

[DMH]

Live action- subtitles; animation- dubbing (though I usually have the subtitles on anyways)

 

[TwinBahamut]

Live action: Subtitles are the only thing that works.

Animation: I vastly prefer dubbing to subtitles, unless a dub is truly beyond redemption (which is a rare thing, really).

In either case, any movie or show which has a lot of talking during action-filled scenes with quick cutting is much better dubbed than subtitled. It is just impossible to both read the subtitles and watch the action at the same time in those circumstances.

 

[trancejeremy]

Live action - subtitles. There are sometimes decent dubbings, but most are just awful. Of course, a lot of movies don't have very good subtitles, either, especially ones that are region free and not aimed at a US release.

(Though to be fair, I'm a little hard of hearing, so always prefer subtitles)

Animation usually uses actual voice actors, so it's not bad.

 

[ssampier]

My attention span is 2 seconds, so I can either read or watch; not both.

Dubbing is usually done pretty cheesy, but I can't never follow subtitles very well (why I don't watch wuxia movies).

 

[Ranger REG]

How do you prefer your foreign language films? I have a strong preference for subtitles, unless the principal stars are doing their own dubbing. But I know some people find subtitles distracting. Strong opinions or strong apathy?

If I'm not well-versed in the language, I prefer subtitle.

Even if I'm well-versed or fluent in the language, I prefer caption. (Yes, me with hearing aids.)

Which is why I didn't care for widescreen TV units. The regular 6:9 units allow letterboxed format to put the subtitles or captions from obscuring the picture. I'm sure I'm in the very tiny yet fickle minority when it comes to viewing motion pictures.

 

[Ranger REG]

Here's a query:

Who finds dubbing more annoying, American viewers (watching a foreign film being voice-dubbed in English) or non-American viewers (watching an American film being voice-dubbed in their respective languages)?

 

[Jeysie]

I prefer dubbed with animation since I find the voice acting much more interesting than the visuals even in English animation. I can't identify mood/inflection in a language whose base patterns I'm not familiar with, so subtitled A/V kind of loses something for me.

I don't think I've ever actually had occasion to watch a foreign live-action film, so I can't speak for preference there. (Yes, that likely qualifies me as uncultured. If it makes anyone concerned by that feel any better, I haven't seen all that many English films either. Just not a big movie-watcher.)

Peace & Luv, Liz

 

[Richards]

I prefer subtitles.

Johnathan