Poll: The Ultimate Question: Sub or Dub?
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Swedish person here, watching Japanese anime with English subtitles.
I can't stand dubs, with one exception. Hellsing and Ultimate Hellsing.
(the last one which I regret since it takes FOREVER to get done)
I like learning other languages and have no problem translating 3 languages at once.
Original is original. Dubs make me cringe, everytime.
In my country everything cartoon would be dubbed in Swedish, "because it's for children".
I don't even watch movies or shows in English with subs.
I can't stand dubs, with one exception. Hellsing and Ultimate Hellsing.
(the last one which I regret since it takes FOREVER to get done)
I like learning other languages and have no problem translating 3 languages at once.
Original is original. Dubs make me cringe, everytime.
In my country everything cartoon would be dubbed in Swedish, "because it's for children".
I don't even watch movies or shows in English with subs.
Subs. Unless we're talking about old movies I used to watch as a kid, like Ferris Bueller's Day Off or Goonies. In that case, I've seen these movies dubbed so many times, I don't really care.
As a Swede, I prefer subtitles even for movies/series in a language I understand perfectly. I often enable English subtitles for English language series and films even though English is my mother tongue. That way I don't miss any lines that can sometimes be garbled. Dubs are OK for childrens' and family films, but if I can I will always watch those with subs too. Kind of annoying how Swedish cinemas seem to have made it harder to watch Disney/Ghibli/whatnot in their original language =/
I'll usually watch both to compare them.
If the dubs of high quality I'll put it on while doing other stuff so I don't have to read it otherwise I tend to stick to dubs as that way less gets lost in translation... granted many DVDs/BluRays just sub the dub which is just fucking infuriating. I CAN TELL THAT'S NOT WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ASSHOLES! Sometimes dubs come out better though, Panty and Stocking for example.
If the dubs of high quality I'll put it on while doing other stuff so I don't have to read it otherwise I tend to stick to dubs as that way less gets lost in translation... granted many DVDs/BluRays just sub the dub which is just fucking infuriating. I CAN TELL THAT'S NOT WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ASSHOLES! Sometimes dubs come out better though, Panty and Stocking for example.
Sub always if it's available.
Even when I don't understand the language in question, I still feel that there's a respect owed to the material to experience it in it's native form. It just sounds and feels more authentic and, for lack of a better word, "right."
Even when I don't understand the language in question, I still feel that there's a respect owed to the material to experience it in it's native form. It just sounds and feels more authentic and, for lack of a better word, "right."
If it doesn't have an English dub, I just don't watch it. Having to read subtitles is too much of a pain in the ass for me.
I never understood the people that say the original Japanese is better acted or the superior version. If I can't understand the language, all the emotion and subtle inflections don't get picked up on. I might as well mute it all together.
I never understood the people that say the original Japanese is better acted or the superior version. If I can't understand the language, all the emotion and subtle inflections don't get picked up on. I might as well mute it all together.
If a dub is done well, if it's engaging, well-written and well-performed, I'll watch that, if for no other reason than it allows me to look at the art instead of reading the subtitles, or giving me the ability to look away for a moment or two. I also do get more nuance out of a performance in a language I understand than one I can't.
That said, many dubs aren't up to snuff, and in those cases, subtitles are best. Moreover, with the occasionally over-the-top nature of anime, it's sometimes quite jarring to hear people shouting ridiculous battlecries, you hear it and automatically realize it sounds stupid, whereas with subs, you get the message and its emotion and intensity separately and combine them internally, providing a buffer for the more tonally dissonant dramatic elements.
Of course, I'm using this to refer to anime. For live-action foreign language films, I always do subtitles without exception, you're never going to get sound or a performance that matches up with a person doing their thing on camera.
That said, many dubs aren't up to snuff, and in those cases, subtitles are best. Moreover, with the occasionally over-the-top nature of anime, it's sometimes quite jarring to hear people shouting ridiculous battlecries, you hear it and automatically realize it sounds stupid, whereas with subs, you get the message and its emotion and intensity separately and combine them internally, providing a buffer for the more tonally dissonant dramatic elements.
Of course, I'm using this to refer to anime. For live-action foreign language films, I always do subtitles without exception, you're never going to get sound or a performance that matches up with a person doing their thing on camera.
Some of us can pick up on emotion and most of the inflections while watching something with subtitles, and reading them is so automatic we hardly notice it. Given that, very little is lost by watching something with subtitles, whereas the majority of dubs really just aren't good, the emotions and pacing are wrong to one degree or another. So yeah, now you know.Shadowstar38 said:
Most of the time, I don't care.
Just sort of a random aside, I guess.
I've got so used to the English cast of Bleach it sounds weird to listen to it any other way. I'm not sure I've particularly felt that way about an anime otherwise.Malbourne said:
Just sort of a random aside, I guess.
For me, it depends on how well-done the dub is.
"Fullmetal Alchemist," "Cowboy Bebop," and "Wolf's Rain," for example, all have stellar English dubs, and I will always watch them dubbed.
Sometimes you have a series where the Japanese and English dubs are equally good, like "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya," and in that case, I'll go with whichever I feel like watching at the time.
But then there are the anime where the English dub is inferior to the Japanese, like "Puella Magi Madoka Magica," or where the English dub censored or significantly changed things, like any of the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" anime. In that case, I will go with the Japanese dub every time.
"Fullmetal Alchemist," "Cowboy Bebop," and "Wolf's Rain," for example, all have stellar English dubs, and I will always watch them dubbed.
Sometimes you have a series where the Japanese and English dubs are equally good, like "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya," and in that case, I'll go with whichever I feel like watching at the time.
But then there are the anime where the English dub is inferior to the Japanese, like "Puella Magi Madoka Magica," or where the English dub censored or significantly changed things, like any of the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" anime. In that case, I will go with the Japanese dub every time.
I always go for subs, even if the audio is already in English. Pretty much everything is subbed here in Sweden so I've just gotten used to it.
Either. Dubs do better with comedic material and I've found there is an awful lot that can be lost in translation into subtitles that dubs help to recover. On the other hand subs show you how it was originally meant to be and can often deliver a more emotional experience. The fact that people get so bloody upset over people watching dubbed is something that never fails to irritate me so, that may make me a bit more biased towards dubs but I've watched a good deal of both so hey ho.
I hate reading subtitles because I find I miss most of the action when my gaze is glued to the bottom of the screen, and I find I have to pause it through almost ever speech because the damn subtitles go by so fast. Also most Japanese voices irritate me. If I didn't know better I'd swear they only had like 4 voice actors in all of Japan. Well 4 female ones anyway. So yeah, dubs for me.
I've always preferred subs in anything I watch really, including anime which I have been watching for about a month or two.
This probably comes from my time spent in Spain, never lived there but I visit very regularly and of course everything is dubbed in Spanish. I can understand fine and all but I just dislike the seemingly small pool of voice actors they seem to choose from as well as not having many inspiring actors in the first place (this isn't as bad for anything animated but I still prefer watching things in the original voice).
Still, I can see the appeal of dubs, especially to those in non-English speaking countries as many forms of entertainment are in English, mainly games and films, and it would probably be a bit annoying to have to have subtitles on everything.
This probably comes from my time spent in Spain, never lived there but I visit very regularly and of course everything is dubbed in Spanish. I can understand fine and all but I just dislike the seemingly small pool of voice actors they seem to choose from as well as not having many inspiring actors in the first place (this isn't as bad for anything animated but I still prefer watching things in the original voice).
Still, I can see the appeal of dubs, especially to those in non-English speaking countries as many forms of entertainment are in English, mainly games and films, and it would probably be a bit annoying to have to have subtitles on everything.
It depends on which I encounter first which is noramlly what is available at the time.
One Piece of example I can only watch dubbed, because I encountered as a kid dubbed first, and now the Jap voices just seem wrong. Which means I'm going to have to wait until the rest of it is dubbed before I can continue watching it.
Tokyo Ghoul on the other hand I watched subbed first time because the dub didn't exist. I found the first episode dubbed after I finished, and now the Eng voices in that seem wrong to me.
SO yeah, once I heard the characters one way, I stick to that way.
One Piece of example I can only watch dubbed, because I encountered as a kid dubbed first, and now the Jap voices just seem wrong. Which means I'm going to have to wait until the rest of it is dubbed before I can continue watching it.
Tokyo Ghoul on the other hand I watched subbed first time because the dub didn't exist. I found the first episode dubbed after I finished, and now the Eng voices in that seem wrong to me.
SO yeah, once I heard the characters one way, I stick to that way.