Poll: Dubbed vs Subtitled

[IridRadiant]

I usually find that dubbed movies come across looking and sounding just plain off, with voices distinctly not matching mouth movements. As well I can read fast enough that subtitles will never bother me, and usually after 1/2 an hour I can transcend the language barrier and start "hearing" the movie in English... it's an illusion, but a nice one.

I second this thought; especially for action animes that call out special moves. Hearing the name of the move in English is not as impressive as the foreign word(s) for it. And, the voice direction that the VA's get doesn't seem to help the dubbing. The only good dubbed films I've seen were the Studio Ghibli ones, where Disney is strictly not allowed to mess with the dialogue outside of direct translation.

Besides, I'm picking up a few words in Japanese through the subtitles.

 

[Panayjon]

As an anime nerd I've always been bothered by the "Subs only" people. As much as 90% of anime is badly dubbed there are some great dubs that you are depriving yourself of, just because you don't even give it a chance. Ghibli films (which hire stupidly famous actors who know their stuff), Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop, and Black Lagoon stick out in my mind as great examples. Full Metal Alchemist, Azumanga Daioh, and Ranma 1/2 are at least tolerable. Then of course there's Ghost Stories which is only great because of the way they dubbed it.

Then there's the "But subs is the way they intended for you to watch!" argument which is flawed. Even though its not difficult, they didn't intend for you to read it at all. Though, I'll watch both versions depending on how grating the English dubbing is to my ears, for instance XXXholic is awesome but that Watanuki voice is just intolerable.

 

[mojojowjow2007]

I'm shocked someone has voted the other way.
47 vs 1
thats a hell of a statistic

 

[Ranooth]

With subtitles i find myself reading them over and over instead of enjoying what im watching, ok dubs are pretty bad but at least it gives you something to laugh at.

 

[Economist]

Subtitled.
I've only seen seen 1 dubbed film I wasn't severely disappointed with regarding the dubbing, that was Strings.

 

[Galletea]

Berserk is the only thing that I can think of where the English language dub is better than the original. Sometimes it means you have to watch something twice to fully appreciate the action but I'd still go for subs as preference.

 

[Hawgh]

Subtitles, always subtitles.

Dubs are the dark things that lurk in the shadowy confines of the world's bones. They bring only misery and madness.

 

[Roffey123]

The problem I find with dubs is that more often than not (and this has been hinted at before) the actors are just jumping though hoops in order to get the thing done and over with - and shoved out to the consumer as quickly as possible. Which means that the actors are either 1) very poor, 2) don't care about the content or 3) both of the previously mentioned points. The key problem I find is that most dubs have the VAs sounding insincere or bored - or in the case of girls over-squeaky. There's no emotion involved whatsoever and it leaves me personally cold - and cringing.

That's not to say of course that there aren't good dubs - and certainly, the quality of anime dubs in particular has improved vastly compared to what it was 10 years ago, even 5 years ago. There are the before mentioned Ghibli efforts, the Ghost in the Shell dub is tolerable (not brilliant I hastily add)and the recent Appleseed Ex Machina dub is quite good. But currently these are more the exceptions that prove the rule, not the overwhelming majority.

Something that would improve dubbing? Well I'm not against it - if done right a good dub will go a long way in improving the final product. Put some extra money and time into casting VAs, let them read the unedited script and watch the anime in its uncut form to get a solid idea of how the original voices portray themselves.

Most of all, get some damn emotion in there.

 

[DirgeNovak]

To be honest I'll doubt you'll get many going for dubbed. For animation it's not nearly as important whether or not it's dubbed, it just depends on the quality of the voice actors Though the only annoying thing about some subtitles can be if the translation is really poor, meaning some of the dialogue makes no sense.

Translation is usually poor in subtitles too:

When one of my teachers had her movie subtitled, she had to fight with the... err... subtitler over almost every single line of dialogue because he changed the meaning of way too many lines...
Example: He translated "Toi puis tes hosties de plottes" ("You and your fucking sluts") to "You and your chicks" Hello?!

I got used to dubs since I come from rural Quebec and the only theater around where I lived only showed dubs, so they don't bother me, but I'd still choose subtitles if the original isn't in French, English or Spanish.

 

[DamienHell]

dubs are always horrible, subtitles are good. Of course learning that language might help too.

 

[KarmicToast]

ah, ick, erg, aggg...is this really a poll? The prospect of this being a preference make my vertebrae hurt.
Subtitles! Whomever puts "dubs" deserves a fork embedded in their left butt-cheek!
Now where is my chiropractor...

 

[Lord Beautiful]

For all live-action films and certain anime, I prefer subtitles. However, if an anime gets a good dub, or a dub that is much less annoying than the Japanese voices, I'll go with a dub.

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

In films, always subtitles.

It kep the mood of a film going much better having someone's voice sync up with their lips. Sometimes the Dub voice actors aren't marvellous either.
For animations it's less vital, although I prefer watching foreign cartoons in their native language, the voices tend to fit characters better.

This, though I tend to go with whichever sounds better to me in terms of animation/anime. E.g. Trigun's dub is plain awful, while Death Note's dub is (for me) as good as the sub, so I go with Dub.

 

[Post Office Buddy]

Subtitles for me. The out synch speech does my head in and almost all dubs are done by the same American tittybiscuits with high pitched, irritating voices.

 

[darknight910]

Surprisingly, I think most video game dubs are growing to be much better then when they first started. Final Fantasy 12 was a very enjoyable in terms of voice over and especially Lost Odyssey. In fact, the creators of Lost Odyssey went above and beyond by having Jansen, who should have been the most annoying character in the game one of my favorite characters with his tendency to ad lib and slyly remark to situations very authentically. Hell, the game had the character's lips synced to the English VO instead of the Japanese one.

 

[kaiZie]

depends on the kind of film. Take for example "House of flying Daggers" it works subtitled because of the style of film, now, if something like "Animal house" was in french you'd want it in english so the gag delivery would be received right, otherwise it wouldnt be funny

 

[1-800-STFU]

Dubbed.

I hate reading the bottom of the screen during the entire show. Can't focus on what is going on.

 

[darkless]

Subtitles when they dub it they always have stupid voices