My stance on dubbing

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I'm bringing this up because a couple people on GFaqs were asking if Vanquish was going to have a Japanese track. They wanted the game in the "original" language since it's a Japanese game.

Just because it's a Japanese game, movie, or show it doesn't mean you should want Japanese audio. Resident Evil, Metal Gear, Bayonetta, Vanquish, etc. all do not make sense to be in Japanese. You should want the audio track in which the characters would be talking. The same thing applies to anime as well. The English dubs of Cowboy Bebop and Trigun are great and both series can make sense with pretty much any spoken language; so why not listen to it in the language you are fluent in? I watched the anime Noir and it was kinda weird hearing Japanese when the setting was France. I watched the Ghost in the Shell anime with the English dub and it's really good. Yeah, I know the setting for that show is Japan, but it's nice to watch a show and be able to look down and eat something without missing some dialogue because you weren't looking at the screen. That is the reason why I don't really think it's that big of a deal if a person prefers a dub (that's good) over the original track.

For anything live-action, I don't think that should ever be dubbed. I really feel you are losing something in a dub because the person you hear delivering the lines is acting as well whereas in anything with animation, the voice actors are just providing voice and the animations of the character are doing the physical acting. Technically, any voice acting (even the original VAs) is dub with stuff that is animated because the VA is speaking over the animation anyways.

To conclude, you should want the language track that makes sense for the characters to be speaking in anything animated. Listening to a dub in anything that is animated is fine because the no one is doing any physical acting. You shouldn't listen to a dub in anything live-action because the person providing the voice is also doing the physical acting.

 

[Rylot]

For me it depends on the quality of the dub. Like the OP pointed out, Trigun, Cowboy Bepop and a few others have really well done dubs but if a game or show has a particularly bad dub it really can detract from the over all experience.

 

[kouriichi]

For me it depends on the quality of the dub. Like the OP pointed out, Trigun, Cowboy Bepop and a few others have really well done dubs but if a game or show has a particularly bad dub it really can detract from the over all experience.

Im in agreement with the statement posted above this statement which is posted below the statement above..... ((above this statement that is))

Its all about the voice actors. Cowboy Bebop is an example dubbing done right. ((so is my nabor's caddi. cookie if you get the joke.))

But then shows like DBZ ((aka screamy turbo 9000 generation X)) have the worst dubbing ever. See the example below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADnMTTf9gcU&feature=related

 

[Pegghead]

I fully agree, bar live action films dubbing is okay.

 

[shinigamisparda]

It all depends for me. Like you said, Cowboy Bebop has one of the best english dubs ever. In fact, many people say that the voices make it better than the japanese. And then, at the other end of the spectrum, there's the 4kids One Piece dub. Ugh, I'm cringing just thinking about it.

Also, as you mentioned, some things just sound odd with the japanese dub. For example, Kingdom Hearts. It's fine for any of the original or FF characters to talk in japanese, but when a Disney character does so, it's just too damn distracting for me.

An on the subject of live action, yes there should definitely be subtitles only. Or to take it further, anything that has realist lip movement, like say FF VII: Advent Children, just to name one example.

 

[Ask]

I agree that if something is a good dub I don't mind hearing it, but I also think it adds variety to listen to something in its intended language. (That being said, watching stuff in more languages that just japanese can lend to more enjoyment in my opinion)

For me it depends on the quality of the dub. Like the OP pointed out, Trigun, Cowboy Bepop and a few others have really well done dubs but if a game or show has a particularly bad dub it really can detract from the over all experience.

Im in agreement with the statement posted above this statement which is posted below the statement above..... ((above this statement that is))

Its all about the voice actors. Cowboy Bebop is an example dubbing done right. ((so is my nabor's caddi. cookie if you get the joke.))

But then shows like DBZ ((aka screamy turbo 9000 generation X)) have the worst dubbing ever. See the example below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADnMTTf9gcU&feature=related

Wow...that vid...wow.

 

[Corpse XxX]

Dubbing is the root of all evil..

It sounds shit, it looks terrible and the entire movie looses all immersion..

Why dont they all just subtitle it instead?? At least thats what they do here in Norway..

And when subtitling, you also get the chance to learn another language..

 

[kouriichi]

I agree that if something is a good dub I don't mind hearing it, but I also think it adds variety to listen to something in its intended language. (That being said, watching stuff in more languages that just japanese can lend to more enjoyment in my opinion)

For me it depends on the quality of the dub. Like the OP pointed out, Trigun, Cowboy Bepop and a few others have really well done dubs but if a game or show has a particularly bad dub it really can detract from the over all experience.

Im in agreement with the statement posted above this statement which is posted below the statement above..... ((above this statement that is))

Its all about the voice actors. Cowboy Bebop is an example dubbing done right. ((so is my nabor's caddi. cookie if you get the joke.))

But then shows like DBZ ((aka screamy turbo 9000 generation X)) have the worst dubbing ever. See the example below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADnMTTf9gcU&feature=related

Wow...that vid...wow.

bad dubbing at work.
Kinda makes you wanna punch this people right? xD

 

[Mcupobob]

I only do dubs, because the japnesse laungage hurts my ears a little. Also I'm not a fan of reading and watching at the same time I'm a little slow. So I perfere not to multiatask when I'm sitting down to enjoy a show/game/book.

 

[Scde2]

I prefer dubbed, it allows me to multitask when watching anime. That is kinda difficult if you have to read subtitles. But if the dub is really bad or doesn't even exist for that anime, I'll watch the subbed version.

 

[hecticpicnic]

dubbing is sometimes better e.g. trigun, it wasn't famous in japan,but was reall famous in the "west" and the dub was the one that got famous and its better than the japaness(plus i don't know anybody who watched it in anything but english)
and then there's things like baccano that are way better in the english because of the accent and talent.
i used not be a fan of dubs ,but as long as its not terrible in enlish i will watch the dub

 

[Xander_VJ]

I work in the localization industry, so I can talk a little bit about this. I think people who say "this should or should not ever be dubbed" is completely missing the point.

The point is not whether a piece of audiovisual art should be dubbed or not. The point is, that if you are going to dub something, whether it is animation or live action, you have to do it RIGHT.

That means that the translation must be good, the script adaptation must be good, the lip synchronization must be good, the voice acting direction must be good, the audio editing must be good and, of course, the voice actors job must be good.

Some people seem to tend to forget that dubbings are not made by loquendo programs. They're done by real people, and the voices are done by real actors that just happen to use their voices.

Things like "it doesn't make sense to have a Japanese speak in English" are bland arguments. If that was the case, then we would never should see any translation at all in creative mediums.

Of course it has it's shortcomings, but any kind of translation has them. Subtitles are not perfect either, because you loose information between things lost in translation, things that don't make it to the subtitles because of length limitations, on screen visual information that you loose because you are reading, etc...

For example, in English to Spanish subtitles (I'm Spanish) 40% of the information is lost. It's even worse in English to Japanese, where you loose (brace yourselves!) 70%. I'm not joking.

The eternal debate about subtitles vs. dubbing, at the end of the day, is a matter of choice of what are you willing to loose in the experience. With subtitles you loose part of the information. With dubbing you loose part of the form.

The only way to enjoy the "original" experience fully is the original audio track with no subtitles. But of course, for that you need to know the language so you don't need any translation whatsover.

In any case I have to say that I enjoy BOTH original versions and dubbings (when the latters are good, of course). It's like experience the piece of work twice from two different perspectives. Besides, we always say that we enjoy actors performances. I think that dubbing voice actors should be enjoyed as well, since they are acting too. And that's a work that should be acknowledged.

But one mistake that most people repeat over and over is believing that dubbings must be judged by comparing them to the original. For the most part, that's just unfair. Dubbings should be judged by their own merits and shortcomings.

 

[Ask]

I agree that if something is a good dub I don't mind hearing it, but I also think it adds variety to listen to something in its intended language. (That being said, watching stuff in more languages that just japanese can lend to more enjoyment in my opinion)

For me it depends on the quality of the dub. Like the OP pointed out, Trigun, Cowboy Bepop and a few others have really well done dubs but if a game or show has a particularly bad dub it really can detract from the over all experience.

Im in agreement with the statement posted above this statement which is posted below the statement above..... ((above this statement that is))

Its all about the voice actors. Cowboy Bebop is an example dubbing done right. ((so is my nabor's caddi. cookie if you get the joke.))

But then shows like DBZ ((aka screamy turbo 9000 generation X)) have the worst dubbing ever. See the example below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADnMTTf9gcU&feature=related

Wow...that vid...wow.

bad dubbing at work.
Kinda makes you wanna punch this people right? xD

Its almost like getting your face drilled with every sharp power tool you can imagine. Bad dubbing can lead to blindness, deafness and overall agony. I know, I had the extreme misfortune of seeing an episode of sailor moon. XD

 

[NotSoNimble]

Nope.

I don't agree with you at all. But I see what you mean.

I want the option for the original (with subtitles) language version of anything.

Just because Cowboy Bebop and a few other things have decent English voice work done after the fact, doesn't make it better, nor does it 'make more sense' for me.

 

[joshuaayt]

I hate subbed versions, because they are usually horrific translations, and, although I am perfectly capable of reading whilst enjoying an anime, I don't really want to have to work out what "Are you this afternoon to excite!" is supposed to mean, or why it has any relevance. I mean, sure, it's usually easy to guess, but it's hard to feel connected to a character who makes literally no sense whatsoever, and, consequently, exhibits no real personality.
Not to imply that English dubbed is necessarily more accurate, but I have to say I'd choose minor plot alterations over sentences that make my head hurt.

 

[CrazyMedic]

I agree with you but the probably is for every tri gun and cowboy beebop there is a four kids one piece that makes me want to stick a ice pick into my ear.

 

[Firoth]

I prefer subs for my anime (dubs for everything else). When things get dubbed into the US they tend to get altered/edited/dropped/screwed up, depending on who does it and what it's for. There are some good dubs, as mentioned, but, I don't mind reading, and sometimes I learn a phrase or two.

 

[Nylarathotep]

I'm prejudicial of annoying voices which (oddly) you tend to see more often in dubs. Aside from a few notable, and aforementioned cases, most entertainment (not just japanese) is better in the language it was created in.

Hilary Haag's voice makes me want to kill myself sometimes.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I agree with you while most of people probably won't. For animation, it doesn't really detract how you watch it. For live action, you should most definitely stick to original probably except 80's Chinese kung-fu films. I don't even have a clue why people give a little too much damn about stuff like this.

For Vanquish, this is not the new problem at all. Few other Japanese games have only Japanese as dub available to keep it consistent with the content I suppose. And I hardly have a problem with that because it's a wise decision in that case. Ultimately it's up to the developers anyway. I think most people would be probably happy to ditch the English dub.

In the case of Vanquish I think the "lead" dub is English, and the characters are American and Russian. Platinum games made Bayonetta and it ONLY had an English voice over even in Japan. And yes, dubbing of bad movies can make them even better.

For me it depends on the quality of the dub. Like the OP pointed out, Trigun, Cowboy Bepop and a few others have really well done dubs but if a game or show has a particularly bad dub it really can detract from the over all experience.

Yeah, I'm talking about when each language's voice overs are about the same in quality. Why not watch it in the language you are fluent in? Also, I think that English dubs are just done a lot better than they used to be done, and they are usually on par with the original voice track.

---

It really kinda ticks me off that there are people who want the Japanese track when the English is as good if not better. There's quite a few people who feel, for whatever reason, the Japanese are gods of voice overs or something like that.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Just because Cowboy Bebop and a few other things have decent English voice work done after the fact, doesn't make it better, nor does it 'make more sense' for me.

I think a dub that is on par with the original track DOES make it better. They are just some things that get lost with watching something in a different language with good subtitles. Sometimes a word or phase or whatever is said in a certain tone for, perhaps, a comedic purpose. You may miss that when watching something in other language just because they way things get translated from language to language sometimes a line of dialogue will actually be said in a different order than the subtitle displays; sometimes what is first on the subtitle is actually said last in the audio. It's just the way you have to translate. For example, in Spanish, the adjective goes after the noun whereas in English, the adjective comes first.