Subs vs Dubs

[Kimono dragon]

In this topic I am talking specially about animated shows/movies. Personally I have always been irritated by those who say they always prefer seeing programs in their original language when they do not speak it. Doing so means they are missing out on the subtleties and nuances of the dialogue - if a program is dubbed it has been adapted and changed so that you can appreciate it, where subs just translate the words Dubs try to translate the meanings because very often translations don't work in the right way, even though you are seeing direct translations of the original it is not giving out the messages the writer intended because you don?t understand the language.

Whereas dubs have had immense amounts of thought gone into them from people who understand both languages going ?Right, what would the English equivalent of that be?? The only reason I can possibly see for choosing a subbed version over a dubbed version is if the dub is of appalling quality.

However this is just my opinion but when people say "the Japanese version is so much better" and don't speak Japanese it really grinds my gears. Anyway what do you think? Which do you usually choose and why?

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

Subs all the way. Dubbing can remove essential elements of a language in the process, such as the personal suffuxes in Japanese names. Quite simply, some phrases do not translate outside the mother tounge

 

[Random Argument Man]

Oooo! Our weekly (sometime daiy) dubs vs subs thread!

Umm...I don't watch animes a lot. I don't have patience for a lot of voices. Japaneses voices sounds alike.

If it's a movie, I'd rather watch it in it's original language. This a good example (since I'm french) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Pacte_Des_Loups

 

[C117]

Subs, for god sake! I haven't seen ANY dubbed movie that sounds good, without the voice actors totally messing it up (except for old Disney ones, but here in Sweden, we USED to be very good at dubbing)!

 

[Cylem]

I prefer dubs as well. I've got a pretty high tolerance for annoying voice-overs. On the other hand, most of the anime I watch have yet to be released in English. Listening to a dub after getting used to the Japanese actor sounds really weird.

But if it's an anime focused on fight scenes--dubs all the way. I don't want having to read the words to get in the way of the violence.

Most of the time, I just read the manga.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

subs are always better - blind people can't see your 20inch rims shinin', but they can feel the bass!

OT, I have all 26 episodes of cowboy bebop subbed and i wish I could kill the asshole who ripped them that way. the dialog is so damn awkward on the subs and the voice acting is so good, and i stupidly tried to put an episode on in the background and felt dumb when i was sitting there not watching and all I could here was a bunch of 'kawaii nandi deska desu ne' gibberish (to me anyway)

If it's a movie, I'd rather watch it in it's original language. This a good example (since I'm french) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Pacte_Des_Loups

That I agree with. Television shows I'd rather see the localized dubs but for films I appreciate it better in its own language with subs.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

NANI???

 

[ALKATRAZACAZ]

Subs all the way.I can't stand dubs.

 

[BlindTom]

I've always been under the impression that the translation decays once it is forced to fit an alien number of syllables. In a subtitle you can take as much time as you want to actually express what was intended.

For example in the ghost in the shell dub, certain bible verses etc are misquoted because otherwise they would not fit the Japanese lip sync, subs do not have this problem.

Also a lot of people like to go into gay little fits whenever they recognise words from all the subbed stuff they've been watching.

 

[Kimono dragon]

But Subs are translations? the fact you are using subs means you don't understand the language. You are making my point - if you don't undertand the language then what is the point? You are quite right in dubs things are changed and replaced but into different things that have a similar effect that you can understand, explain how why watching a subbed version gives you greater understanding that a dubbed one? as I said: subs just translate the words which as you said often just doesn't work but Dubs try to translate the meanings, obviously there are limmitations but its better than nothing.

 

[traceur_]

Dubs. Every single time. Subtitles are annoying, foreign languages in movies/shows are even more annoying.

If I'm watching a movie/show, then I want to watch the fucking thing, not flicker between text and screen. Subs are just stupid.

 

[Dr Ampersand]

Depends how well the dub has been done if not then sub. Unless of course the orignal meanings have been lost which in that case I'd want the ones with least meaning lost.

Off topic: Did anyone else think that the title refered to submarine sandwiches against some other sandwich/foodstuff called a dub?

 

[Kimono dragon]

But Subs are translations? the fact you are using subs means you don't understand the language. You are making my point - if you don't undertand the language then what is the point? You are quite right in dubs things are changed and replaced but into different things that have a similar effect that you can understand, explain how why watching a subbed version gives you greater understanding that a dubbed one? as I said: subs just translate the words which as you said often just doesn't work but Dubs try to translate the meanings, obviously there are limmitations but its better than nothing.

Subs all the way. Dubbing can remove essential elements of a language in the process, such as the personal suffuxes in Japanese names. Quite simply, some phrases do not translate outside the mother tounge

 

[BlindTom]

Not to flame here, but what gave you the impression that somebody writing subtitles is worse at translating than somebody writing a dub?

If your argument is literal translations versus translations of meaning then you should probably know that just as some dubs are horribly acted, some subs are horribly translated, I didn't criticise the acting in dubs, there is no reason to criticise the translation in subs.

My point about the translation being superior stands because there are different numbers of syllables in different languages, the translation you get in a dub is simply the translation from a good sub that has been warped to deal with the differing numbers of syllables.

 

[Kimono dragon]

Off topic: Did anyone else think that the title refered to submarine sandwiches against some other sandwich/foodstuff called a dub?

You must be hungry

 

[Mstrswrd]

The Japanese version is of much better quality.
Oh, wait, that makes you angry.
Oh wait, I don't care.

Seriously, though, even though I don't understand Japanese, for the most part, Dubs are usually not as good. A lot of the time, it's not just changing it around to fix grammar and fit a tone, sometimes they change whole bits of dialog. The meanings of whole scenes shifts when watching it in Japanese, because the things they talk about end up being very different from what they talk about in the English version. You don't need to understand Japanese to understand tone, emotion, facial animations, gestures, etc. All you haver to do is listen to the tone, read the subtitles, and puzzle the rest out for yourself.

So, yeah, I prefer subtitles.

Plus, oftentimes, the English versions have voices that just do not fit. It drives me insane when a person who speaks with a Kansei dialect suddenly hasd a freakin southern United States accent. No. Just no.

Or the English versions are of horrible quality (because no-one is taking it seriously), or, the rare one where the English is great (Trigun), where I then will watch through the series twice, once in English, and once in Japanese.

 

[Casual Shinji]

It's not just Anime that I prefer in the original language.

I want to watch a movie or TV show in the language it's intended to be in. Wether this is Japanese, French, Italian or Swedish. To me, changing the voice-track is like changing the musical score; something gets lost.

There are a few cartoon shows and animated movies from my youth that were dubbed in my language that I love. But even as a 8-year-old I couldn't for the life of me understand how someone could sit through a dubbed live action movie. The voices are so disconnected from the characters one screen that it feels like you're watching a human puppetshow.