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Subtitled Films

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Love the Ghibli movies and after Chihiro they are now available here in my little country.. only problem is that we don't have a long tradition for dubbing movies.. and with cartoons "that are only for children" they choose f****** children for some of the parts making watching it dubbed unbearable..

 

So I watch them all with the original language with subtitles

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This thread was a C-section, amirite?

 

Dunno. You tell me...

 

(Context: Ripped from HWYD - Subtitles in films? A distraction? Would you rather watch dubs? etc etc - Ashley)

 

Oh wait I already told you!

 

:heh:

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I usually hate subtitles in films. The only subtitled films I've enjoyed are [REC] and Pan's Labyrinth.

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I usually hate subtitles in films. The only subtitled films I've enjoyed are [REC] and Pan's Labyrinth.

[REC] was terrible, and not because of the subtitles.

It was soslow at getting into stuff.

 

I prefer to not have subtitles as i end up reading some bits before i should, and sometimes they arent on long enough.

 

I do find my self trying to work out what certain words mean, but its a lost cause as languages are a different way around it that makes sense.

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Love the Ghibli movies and after Chihiro they are now available here in my little country.. only problem is that we don't have a long tradition for dubbing movies.. and with cartoons "that are only for children" they choose f****** children for some of the parts making watching it dubbed unbearable..

 

So I watch them all with the original language with subtitles

They use children to do the voice of children? How dare they...

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On the Kiki delivery service dvd I have the guy dubbing the cat sounds completly different to the japanese lady doing the orginal voice so that has put me off ghibli dubs.

 

i dont see why it should though. i cant see how a japanise womans voice speaking japanise, which im assuming you dont speak, (as you like having the subs, elementory my dear watson) is preferable to a voice you can understand, provided its still good voice acting, and in fitting with the character.

 

for the record, i do agree that a bad dub is worse then subs by a million miles. its ok in a martial arts film when its just funny, but for anything serious, it can ruin it.

 

 

also, had seven samurai or zatoichi, two of my favorite movies, been dubed, it would of ruined em.

 

 

and games suffer more from poor dubs then movies in alot of cases. trying to play enchanted arms on the PS3 and having to stop every few mins to get a break from the awful voice acting is really annoying.

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i dont see why it should though. i cant see how a japanise womans voice speaking japanise, which im assuming you dont speak, (as you like having the subs, elementory my dear watson) is preferable to a voice you can understand, provided its still good voice acting, and in fitting with the character.

 

The thing is that with animations, the characters in it are usually created with the original voice actor in mind. The animators create a character that in some way resembles the voice actor (especially since the voices are done before the animation is made).

With dubs, most of this is lost. The character will not resemble anything from the new voice actor, and these voice actors also don't get the chance to be creative with what they do, as they now have to stick to a specific text and make sure the mouth movement sorta matches theirs.

 

So yeah, I'm all for watching subs, as that's the way the film was intended to be. Plus I grew up on subtitles, so it's no problem at all for me (and I don't feel like I'm missing out anything at all on the screen).

 

And dubs for live action movies are just ridiculous and I don't think I would ever watch them. So happy they don't dub them here.

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If it's a cartoon that's all lovely and beautiful, a dub is probably better. Plus the voice to mouth movement comparisons are negligible.

 

On live action films, subtitles, obviously.

 

Holy shit! HOLY SHIT! That's something I agree with! *BOOOM!*

 

 

When I started watching anime, I always went for the dub. I'd always liked the art style in anime so I just had to watch them like that in order to keep my attention on the lovely art style.

 

I'd always went for dubs whenever I searched teh nets for anime. If it had been dubbed, I wouldn't rest until I'd found a dubbed version.

 

But now I have some anime and Ghibli films on DVD. I decided to try them out in sub. I'm currently watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya subbed and, while the original voices suit the characters and the location better, I'm finding it less funny due to the amount of amusing quotes they added into the dub. :hmm:

 

But when it comes to watching live-action, subs all the way. No further questions y'honour.

 

Shorty taught me the wise ways. Subs and original audio over dubbed, tortured translations. The tone of the sentence is just more believable when it's not said by an american who has no idea what the story is.

 

e.g. "Believe it!" -- that's a vaguely strenuous link, right there.

 

*tut* It's always about bastard Naruto with you lot, innit? :indeed:

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Most of my Jackie Chan movies are dubbed and have the original sound with subtitles. Both variations are done very well.

 

I get around this by using one eye to read and one eye to watch the movie, works great for me.

 

I even have an English movie with French subtitles as default, no problem with that.

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Personally I prefer subtitles for anime - but it usually just depends on what you start with.

 

For example, I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion many, many years ago in English, before I was really into anime. I was happy with the English voices because that was all I knew. If I suddenly switched to Japanese I would be thinking 'hm, this isn't what the character is supposed to sound like.'

 

But I actually switched from English to Japanese with Naruto. I watched Naruto while I lived in America, 26 episodes had aired in total. When I moved back to England I decided I wanted to keep watching it, so I searched for episodes beyond 26, turns out they hadn't been dubbed yet. And there was about 80 further episodes available in Japanese! So I started watching the Japanese version. At first it felt strange not recognising the characters voices, but eventually my perception shifted and I grew to appreciate the Japanese voices much better. They were just much more professional and much more suitable, also the English version terribly translated the catchphrase 'dattebayo' into 'Believe It!', which was painfully corny. On the other hand it is worth noting that Viz eventually listened seriously to the fans and removed the catchphrase and started to include some original japanese terms for moves etc, in order to retain much of the original intent. They've done a good job, and the dub is perfectly enjoyable.

 

Other anime like One Piece are simply vastly superior in Japanese. The voice actor for the main character is amazing, really brings to life the character's personality. The English version is of a much lower standard.

 

As for reading subtitles being offputting... it's really not an issue, I read pretty fast and tend not to miss anything on screen. Also fansubs are often of a very high quality, usually much better than the professional equivalent found on TV or DVDs.

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i dont see why it should though. i cant see how a japanise womans voice speaking japanise, which im assuming you dont speak, (as you like having the subs, elementory my dear watson) is preferable to a voice you can understand, provided its still good voice acting, and in fitting with the character.

 

also, had seven samurai or zatoichi, two of my favorite movies, been dubed, it would of ruined em.

 

I speak a little japanese but only enough to realise some of the subtitles arent the same as what they are saying.

Eeenuh summmed it up well, in this case the american who is playing kiki's cat sounds really sarcastic where as the japanese lady sounds like a typical woman anime character. The style is really different.

 

The very idea of Seven Samurai being dubbed really scares me but im sure someone has done it.

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In an animated feature, dubs can work wonders...if done right. I've seen painful dubs in Portuguese (Several. One Piece is a recent example*), English (Ex.:Samurai X) and Spanish (Ex.:The Simpsons), but I've also seen great jobs in those 3 languages.

*I don't actually watch One Piece, but that dub was hilariously bad from what I've seen

 

Subs are safer, since the original version is almost always one of the best, and subs that spoil your enjoyment of the work are rare (even when they screw up some things, you're not gonna notice it every time someone talks).

But honestly, good dub > good sub.

 

But that's only for animated works. For live action, nothing good can come from dubs. I can't understand why dubbing live action is so common in Spain (other countries, too, but Spain takes the cake).

 

And for those complaining that subs are too distracting...they aren't, once you get used to it. If it's distracting, it's probably a bad sub.

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I tried to watch the dubbed Death Note recently but can't because Allessandro Juliani (BSG) voices L and its just weird, both in terms of hearing 'Gaeta's' voice and because Juliani is about ten years (random guess) than L.

 

That and Misa's voice was reeeeeeeeally annoying.

 

The only time subs can be a bit meh are when it ruins a joke because it comes in early or whatever. Not that I'd laugh if I had no understanding of what they were saying anyway but its like a brief spoiler.

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For example, I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion many, many years ago in English, before I was really into anime. I was happy with the English voices because that was all I knew. If I suddenly switched to Japanese I would be thinking 'hm, this isn't what the character is supposed to sound like.'

 

Actually now that you mention it, I watched NGE in Japanese with English subs and that worked fine. Wouldn't mind watching it again actually..

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Nooo, that is a shame indeedings. What bored you about it? If I remember rightly, there was generally an angel an episode which meant some sort of unique fighting situation (the synchronization one was clever), slowing down towards the end of the series, though.

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Evangelion's anime series started off like some sort of a baddy-a-week series. Then the director, Hideaki Anno, famously had a nervous breakdown and went a bit mental. This was reflectedings in the last couple of episodings.

 

I can't put it any better than "had a breakdown and went a bit mental", I'm afraid. So you're stuck widdit.

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That explains it, then. Awesome. I think I remember reading about that, actually. Makes a whole lot of sense anyway.

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I prefer original language + subs. We get to hear what it's supposed to sound like, not other people's impressions of it. It doesn't matter to me if I understand the spoken language or not. Besides, I find it easier to look past bad subbing than bad dubbing.

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We get to hear what it's supposed to sound like,

 

are you sure thats what its ment to be though? a voice actor may not get the voice that the writter had in mind for the creation.

 

look at how the voice acting changes over an animated serise. in the simpsons and family guy in particular, there is a noicable difference in the early episodes.

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are you sure thats what its ment to be though? a voice actor may not get the voice that the writter had in mind for the creation.

 

look at how the voice acting changes over an animated serise. in the simpsons and family guy in particular, there is a noicable difference in the early episodes.

Still, it's often closer than the dubbings.

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Still, it's often closer than the dubbings.

 

agreed, but then thats the nature of outher languages, they sound different (except spanish and italian) for more reasons then just different words, they use different sounds, so voices sound different.

 

plus, the way i look at it is what goods the origional voice if i dont understand it?

 

i do know people who wont watch a film they have to read subs in as its "to much effort". they do enfuriate me.

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The person that introduced me to anime made sure I watched the subs rather than dubs, and I will always thank him for it. The american accents make it seem so awful and corny. =(

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The person that introduced me to anime made sure I watched the subs rather than dubs, and I will always thank him for it. The american accents make it seem so awful and corny. =(

 

It's the pure and elitist way, I support this

 

As a bonus, you get to learn Japanese, if you ever find yourself in Japan and need to exclaim "don't rape me with those tentacles"

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