Subtitles or dubbing?

[WayneLigon]

I vastly prefer subtitles. There have been exceptions but for the most part, dub voice acting is usually very sub-par.

 

[Relique du Madde]

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Live action movies: subtitles.

Anime: I'd watch it dubbed for a few minutes then switch to subtitled and choose which ever audio is less annoying.*

*Adult/teen males who sound like children = annoying. High pitched japanese girls who sound like they inhaled helium = annoying. Deep voiced badguys who have a high pitched laugh = annoying (if the character is not the Joker). Any voice on a recent dub that sounds like it was recorded in the 80s in a noisy sound booth = annoying.

 

[Arkhandus]

I usually prefer dubbing, so I don't have to read text (that is sometimes rather hard to read on the screen) at the same time as I'm trying to watch the movie.

But sometimes I'm fine with subtitles, like when watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Not sure why, but I guess it's just that some movies would be a bit too jarring with poor or mediocre dubbing.

 

[GlassJaw]

Subtitles

Even if I don't understand the language, a lot can be lost by removing the tone and context of how the dialogue was originally delivered.

 

[Darkwolf71]

dubbing is pretty much always horrible. i can't think of a movie that had good dubbing.

Brotherhood of the Wolf.

That said, I prefer the usually more accurate translation of subtitles.

For anime it depends, most of the time dubbed is fine. Occasionally you find one that just demands viewing in the original language, so then subs, of course.

 

[Nifft]

American here.

Almost always prefer subtitles.

Sometimes cartoons can get away with dubs (because there aren't actually lips to sync) so long as the dub studio has a decent budget. Miyazaki's stuff, for example, seems to attract an all-star English voice cast.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Graybeard]

For live action movies, subtitles is preferred. I have found most dubbing to be poor. For animation of any kind, dubbing is just fine.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

In most cases subtitles, especially for live-action but there is the occasionally good animated dubbed movie, ie: most of the Miyazaki's films and the tv-show The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

 

[Mistwell]

Every once in a while a movie benefits more from dubbing than subtitles. For example, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had several scenes where multiple people were talking at the same time - the primary characters, and then people in the background. Subtitles cut out the people in the background, while dubbing included them. The people in the background, however, were sometimes useful for the story. For example, I recall a scene where the main characters are walking through a busy city talking, and in the background two other people are having a conversation about how they recognize one of the main characters, and that he is famous for killing many people. That was relevant information for that character (and comes up again later), and could only really come through to the English speaking viewer with dubbing instead of subtitles.

However, most of the time, I prefer subtitles.

 

[Thanee]

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)?

What about the english viewers?

Bye
Thanee