Poll: Subs or dubs?

[DBLT4P]

Do you prefer dubbing or subtitles for media originally made in a language you don't speak?

I prefer dubbing as it allows my eyes and ears to ech do their own jobs rathern than my eyes doing both, but alot of english voice acting is rather sub-par unfortunatly. Although for anything live action or with very accurate mouth animations I prefer subtitles because whatever gain is made by hearing dialogue in my native language is lost through the "speed racer effect" where the disconnect in-between what I hear and what my eyes expect me to hear is so great as to become jarring, comical, or otherwise break the immersion of the audience.

So what do you think?

EDIT: I know anime is the first thing most people will think of in regards to the topic, but I wasn't just refering to anime or other things of japanese origin. There are also foreign films like the motorcylce dairies that this would apply to.

 

[Wierdguy]

Subs - hands down.

Lipsyncing usually fails if you dub and voices often end up all wrong. Besides, its not that hard to read subtitles.

 

[Dango]

Subs. Native voice actors are generally much better at conveying proper emotion.

 

[Tiger Sora]

Dubs. I like to be able to watch the anime instead of reading it, lol.

I'd be nice though for the Japanese voice actors to know english though.

 

[Kapri]

Native voice actors are usually Japanese ergo they usually sound monotone and boring. I agree subs art distracting and you miss out on what you are watching.

Seriously, I originally watched Trinity Blood in subs, and eventually watched the dubbed version of it and it was like watching it for the first time because I missed so much of what was happening on screen because I had to read the damn subs.

 

[MammothBlade]

Subs by default, but if the voice acting is especially good, then dubs.

 

[Ryokai]

Subs.

Especially in anime, where the beauty of the Japanese spoken language is part of the enjoyment.

Two exceptions are Death Note and Outlaw Star, where the voice acting in English was superb.

 

[Episode42]

Depends. Any live action film/TV programme i usually watch with subtitles as i can't bear to watch the whole 'mismatched vocals' thing.
With any animation though i prefer it to be dubbed. The lip sync doesn't matter anywhere near as much and what's happening on screen is normally so raucous that it demands your full attention.

 

[WinkyTheGreat]

Dubs, unless they aren't readily available. Then Subs it is

 

[dimensional]

For Films I prefer subs as dub never seems to mesh with the picture for anime I prefer subs 90% of the time as the native voice actors almost always do a better job at portraying the characters and some dubs I find absolutely unwatchable such as Trigun or Naruto to name just two.

However if I find the dub better than the original I will watch that (such as full metal panic) and on very rare occasions I find the dub far superior overall (such as puni puni poemy).

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

It depends. I prefer dubs in anime, but if the acting is really bad, I'll watch subs. However, if I'm watching a newer anime that doesn't have a dub yet, then I will watch the subtitled version, like when I watched Puella Magi Madoka Magica. The only real problem I have with subtitles are that reading the words always gets in the way of watching the video. Another thing that I hate are the "purists" who think they're better than others because they only watch subs, but that's not a problem with the media, only with the fandom. Really, I'm open to watching either, but I tend to default to English voices.

For movies, subs. Always subs. The lip syncing problems are really, REALLY disturbing.

 

[The Cube Runner]

it really depends.

The "speed-racer effect" can be jarring, so for live action subs are usually preferred for me.

but for anime it can really all depend on which anime you are watching. if i start watching one that already has dubs going i will try watching it in English simply to let "my eyes and ears to ech do their own jobs rathern than my eyes doing both". it clears things up easier and you avoid the problem of bad/amateur translators, switching translators, and switching between points of focus.

but if the voice acting is so terrible. or i have already watched it in its original language with subs... then switching to dubs is nearly impossible... Funnily enough though, switching from dubs to subs is a much easier transition... and once you adjust, reading subs and following the action onscreen becomes easier the longer you stay at it.

so i guess Subs wins situationally.

 

[Arina Love]

anime=Subs only! never ever ever gonna watch dub.

 

[Da Orky Man]

Subs for live-action, dubs for anime. It's easier to forgive anime for bad lip-synching.

 

[Ekit]

Subs. Especially in live-action where dubs are really obvious.

 

[Anaklusmos]

Subs all the way.

 

[Vrach]

Subtitles. Always subtitles. NEVER-ever in a billion freaking years do I want to look at a dubbed title. There are few cases where I've seen it done right, but I can count the examples on one hand and they're all children's cartoons (Looney Toons and maybe a few select others).

 

[ConstantErasing]

Subs always. The English voice actors I have always found to be inferior and reading subtitles while watching the action is something I find pretty easy to do. Really the native voice actors are always pretty lame and never manage to get the same amount of feeling across as the natives (not to mention the English voices are sometimes just annoying). A major example for me would be Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Watched with dubs it was comical, watched with subs it was epic.