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What is your opinion about 'dub' vs sub?

Do you like Dubbing or Subtitles better?

  • Dubbing

    Votes: 17 18.5%
  • Subtitles

    Votes: 65 70.7%
  • Indifferent

    Votes: 10 10.9%

  • Total voters
    92

RCU005

Member
I think that dubbing can be separated into two categories: Live-action and animation.

Live-action:
In live action, to me, it should be completely banned! I haven't seen any movie where the voice over it's good. The worst disadvantage of dubbing a live-action move or tv show is that it completely loses the most important factor which is the "being there" part. Since all translations are done in a studio, vs actually being there, the audio will always sound super imposed. It also loses the sounds and noises that a person does normally when doing the action, and they are practically impossible to replicate.

Something I don't like about dubbing in general it's that they mostly use the same actors every time, so no matter what you watch, you listen to the same voices every time and it pulls you out. I am not saying that voice actors that do the dubbing are bad. They can do an incredible job, but it will never be the same as the original audio and language.

Animation:
I think this is something which shouldn't be any issue since they're supposed to be the same for every project, whether movie, tv-show or video game. However, it doesn't look like it is. In animation, I believe that you could separate between good dubbing and dubbing you just like. I recognize that there are some animated movies that do incredible dubbing that are as good or better than the original language, but I do feel like these are mostly exceptions.

Anime to me is the worst offender. Anime translated to English is mostly horrible. They usually make this accent that nobody in US or UK do, but somehow they always do in in Anime. I don't know how to explain it, but it sucks. Also, they use phrases that nobody usually say. Another disadvantage, is the voice itself. Have you played God of War 3 in Spanish (Spain)? The guy sounds so weird! The voice is not deep as it should be so it sounds so bad! However, they fixed it in God of War 2018.

Another example is Goku. In Japanese, Goku is voiced by a woman and he has a higher pitched voice. In English he sounds just like a regular guy with deep voice. But I think this just comes as preference. The quality of the voice over is not actually bad, so I it's just about what you prefer.

The worst dubbing is the one that sounds as if some Youtuber is speaking over the video just to make a parody.

It's not surprising to say that to me, subtitles will always be superior. I understand why dubbing exist, but finding a show or video game where you prefer any dubbed language is very difficult or worse, the dubbed one being better is like winning the lottery. For me it's just easier to watch with subtitles in any language.

One thing that is hard for both dubbing and subtitles is the translation. Many times, they use words and phrases that are just plain bad and cringe.

So what do you like more?
What are TV Shows/Movies/Videogames that you like better in a different language than original?
 

T8SC

Member
If they're done well, either.

Such as:

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kunonabi

Member
There are a handful of animated properties I prefer dubbed although modern day dubbing is mostly garbage so I'm strictly subbed on modern stuff. Live-action I'm subbed all the way.
 

T8SC

Member
Now, now. You are complaining about translation, CC are technically subs and would require some effort to fuck up.

Definitely not complaining. Just when you thought Revenge Of The Sith couldn't get any better, this came along.
 
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OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
Speaking for anime. Depends. How did I see it first? Is the cast Japanese or western? Hellsing for example makes perfect sense to be in English. I'd argue a great deal of anime makes more sense to be in English as many of them aren't Japan centered. Dub quality can vary of course but anime, in general, has been taken pretty seriously for 25 years now. We are well past the Voltron days. So I can do both. If there is a dub though and it makes sense I'll generally watch that.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
I watch Jackie Chan films and to be honest without the Dub it kinda loses its charm and becomes more serious.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Both. Just like kunonabi kunonabi certain series like Ranma 1/2 sounded great dubbed. Only thing that bugged me was when they would botch certain names like Sasuke (sah-sookay) but I guess that would be expected. The Slayers also sounded great in English. Seems they put in as much effort as the Japanese actors and were on par. However, most 80's anime to me sounds awful dubbed. I prefer subbed for Kimagure Orange Road, Project A-ko, and many others. Don't watch modern anime so it wouldn't make a difference.

Live action: Subbed only. Not going to bargain on watching any live action film dubbed. I love Latin and Italian movies...but I speak both languages, so the subs only supplement for words that I'm not familiar with.
 

p_xavier

Authorized Fister
I absolutely loathe English dubs, it's never natural which I don't get since American movies have fine accents. French and German dubs are always better than American English ones.
 
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DarkestHour

Banned
Subs, every time. The voices are what make it good. When watching foreign animations, the voice actors are typically insanely good and really make the characters. For live action, mostly the same but also seeing characters mouthing something different than what I'm hearing is jarring to me.

Plus, I'm not dumb and reading isn't hard for me.
 

Winter John

Member
We put on that new Netflix thing everyone's shouting about, Squid Game. We started watching and I thought maybe I'd clicked on the wrong show. The dialogue was terrible. The actors were fuckin worse. It was bizarre. I switched on the subtitles. Man, what a difference. We started it again and I was hooked. That whole red light, green light thing was great.
 

Jennings

Member
Dubbing + Subtitles. I have vision and hearing problems and they compliment and supplement each other, especially in Marvel movies where explosions are 500 times louder than Dialogue.
 
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Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
1 out of 10 dubbed movies is great. Years ago they dubbed Asterix&Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (originally a French movie) into Polish by putting in a lot of references known to Poles e.g. there was a scene that was imitating mobile signal being lost, the character was named after a mobile network that existed at that time in Poland.
The opposite will also be true: one of the Polish hits in the late 1990s was named "Killer", where you had incredible number of references to Polish real-life events, culture, etc. It would have been very difficult to accurately dub this since it relies on you knowing Polish culture and current events (you can also make a case Witcher will never feel as good in any other language as it will in original Polish).

With videogames you had the same in late 1990s in Poland - the Polish complete translation had A-List actors voicing characters from Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, etc. Imagine a game that you would have Robert de Niro, Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise together voicing characters, That was fun.

However a dub is still very useful for people who do not want to or cannot read subs e.g. since they switch too fast. Dub allows them to at least enjoy the movie to some degree.
 
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June

Member
always sub except rare cases such as in some animations or for comedic purposes

i understand people who opt for dubs though as not everyone cares enough to put in the added effort of reading your movie. like, if i'm going to watch a movie late at night i most always put on an english film just because i cant be bothered reading when im tired - and other people just have that feeling except more often throughout the day
 
i don't mind subtitles at all. i can only deal with dubbing if it's some like a cartoon/anime because the lip syncing isn't really an issue. it could be in japanese/english and it'll be fine. watching a netflix movie with dubbing is awful. not only does it the lip syncing piss me off but the voice acting is terrible.
 

Wildebeest

Member
Anime Dub. Some Californian putting on a silly voice but still trying to sound cool in a hello fellow kids way.
Anime Japanese VO. Actors acting by using advanced techniques such as playing the character and conveying human emotions.
 
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Fbh

Member
Subs 95% of the time.

In anything that's not animated or a videogame it's an absolute must. You miss out on so much of the original performance when going with dubs.
For animated stuff and videogames I still mostly prefer subs, though there's some properties where I do enjoy dubs.
 

Soodanim

Member
Ignoring low quality, because obviously low quality is not going to be anyone's choice:

I will always choose a dub over a sub, because I'm trying to watch it. Not read it. If I wanted to read it, I'd read the book.
 

Daneel Elijah

Gold Member
Subs most of the time because I like subtitles even in a language I am fluent in. But in some rare cases Dub and original voices with sub can be equally good if seen with open mind. For example I like South Park in french and english. I have the same opinion about DBZ but that probably nostalgia talking.
 

Durien

Member
What I found is dubbed loses a lot in the translation. Even subbed, if you have some basic understanding of the language, you'll find it is not an exact translation but is more explanatory.
 

Peggies

Gold Member
It's complicated. I prefer watching movies in English (OV) with english subs. English is not my mother tongue (German but I'm not from Germany!) though. I hate dubs but I also hate subs and I don't watch anything in my mother tongue since it's a disgusting language. Basically I only watch English stuff.

I even watched "Dark" (german series) English dubbed.

I don't know, must be some kind of disorder...
 
Case by case basis. Some shows I think are better dubbed, and others subbed. Everyone has their personal preference. For example

Gungrave: Dubbed
Cowboy Bebop: Dubbed
Hellsing: Dubbed
Azumanga Diaoh: Subbed
Naruto: Subbed
Berserk: Subbed

And i'm sure people disagree with me on some or all of them. Case by case, personal choice.

For live action, same case. Like the original Oldboy from South Korea. The dialogue is better in subs, but I prefer the dubbed version because Crispin Freeman plays the villain and it's awesome. But subs for the live action Death Note movies from the mid/late 2000s
 
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TransTrender

Gold Member
100% subbed all the way.
Learned this a long time ago.
First time I saw Macross Plus it was dubbed. Mostly incomprehensible.
Then a few years later I saw it again but subtitled. Was a completely different story.
So since the late 90's I figured all dubbed media is trash either from censoring, intentional story changes to satisfy dumb fat while Americans, or even stuff as stupid as not having enough lip movement in a scene to get the equivalent English out.
 

20cent

Banned
Subs, except few exceptions.

I don't care about the "original voice talent" when it is not the original actor on screen like a videogame or anime.. but I've been traumatized by late 80s - 90s bad anime dubs.
Lazy translations, jokes made by actors, same actors doing 2 or more characters at once... I also remember seeing US dubbed japanese animation with weird sound mixing, BGM replaced by terrible techno music etc.. And it always sounds weird to hear "senpai" dubbed, since more recent dubs try to "respect" the original culture.

Atlus games are some of the ultimate weaboo games, but I always pick the dubs version over the original voices.

For any (live action) movies, always subs.
 

lachesis

Member
Some of recent dubbing - on games and anime has improved quite a bit, so I actually sometimes prefer dubbed one (at least the U.S. ones) - They've come a long way since past couple of decades.

As per movie or drama - I always go with the sub. I guess it's that seeing the "actual" person's image, instead of the anime/game gfx makes the difference in how I perceive it in my mind...
 

Kenpachii

Member
dubs are garbage, sub any day.

I like subtitles can put a movie on go to sleep, not have sound on and follow it until i fall asleep to not wake up to sound when shooting starts for example.
 

GeekyDad

Member
...I haven't seen any movie where the voice over it's good. ...
Then, you haven't seen Kung Fu Hustle. The voiceovers make that movie. They're absolutely fucking hilarious. Obvious homage to the 60's/70's martial-arts movies. One of the funniest movies in the history of movies.
 
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