Page 1 of 2

Do you prefer dubbings or subtitles ?

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2018 10:35 pm
by livelove
Do you prefer dubbings or subtitles? And why?

Re: Do you prefer dubbings or subtitles ?

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2018 11:19 pm
by zevel6
Subtitles by a country mile. Dubbing seems so unnatural and takes away from the focus of the film.

Re: Do you prefer dubbings or subtitles ?

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2018 11:35 pm
by livelove
Why unnatural?
Can you say this in such a blanket way for all dubbings? I mean in the end, these are all actors/speakers and some of them are better and some of them not so good. Like the original actors in the first place. So ...

Re: Do you prefer dubbings or subtitles ?

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2018 11:36 pm
by BillyShears
A bunch of dubbed films have different dialogue than what is shown for the subtitles.

Jackie Chan movies dubbed though. Forever and for always.

Re: Do you prefer dubbings or subtitles ?

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2018 11:39 pm
by livelove
BillyShears wrote:A bunch of dubbed films have different dialogue than what is shown for the subtitles.
That depends on the subtitles. Usually there are a couple of different versions swirling around. Most of the time, one of them matches the dubbing. The DVD subtitles are usually shortened.

Re: Do you prefer dubbings or subtitles ?

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2018 11:53 pm
by paulofilmo
there's a miyazaki with a victorian england vibe, and the english dub worked quite well for that. but otherwise, I'd rather hear the original actor's voice.

Re: Do you prefer dubbings or subtitles ?

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2018 11:54 pm
by yug
Good dub is so hard to come by so usually subtitles...

Re: Do you prefer dubbings or subtitles ?

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 9:33 am
by zevel6
livelove wrote:Why unnatural?
Can you say this in such a blanket way for all dubbings? I mean in the end, these are all actors/speakers and some of them are better and some of them not so good. Like the original actors in the first place. So ...


Unnatural because the words that come out of their mouths don't match how their lips move.
I actually don't mind dubbing for animated movies though.

Re: Do you prefer dubbings or subtitles ?

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 9:50 pm
by livelove
Do you really notice it that much?

I am not sure but I might have noticed it in very old films a couple of times. But current dubbings are technically quite advanced I find. I have a hard time noticing any difference. Sometimes I switch between the audio tracks, but I couldn't see any mismatching lip movements. Most of the time I couldn't figure out what the original language is (just judging by the lip movements alone).

I do have the impression, however, that the voices in the original language most of the time better fit the actor's visual appearance. And maybe it's just my imagination, but I am under the impression that the acting gives the original voice a broader range of expression. Might be just an illusion.

Re: Do you prefer dubbings or subtitles ?

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 7:56 pm
by BabyBlue42
Depends on the film, the original actors vs the dub actors, and my mood

If it's a martial arts film ot something where the dialogue it's that important, I would say dubbing

If it's drama or something where the dialogue and tone can be very important, I would say subtitles, unless the dubbing is done very well.

If I'm too tired to read subtitles, well I probably wouldn't watch a non-english film unless I didn't think the dialogue would matter much or thought the dubbing would be decent.

If the subtitles are going by too fast for me to read them, then probably dubbing, unless it's really bad.