DJariya

So be honest, do you enjoy watching foreign films with subtitles?

Or are you one of those who hate reading while watching and have no interest in foreign films?

Or will you watch an English dubbed version instead?

I'm a big fan of Hong Kong and Chinese cinema, so I will watch a lot of them when I acquire DVDs or BDs from my trips abroad or ordering from DDDHouse.com

Probably one of my favorite foreign films in the last 5-10 years or so was The Raid and Raid 2.

Why So Blu?

Yes. I rarely watch dubs, but will make an exception to them. I tend to only watch English dubs of anime films or series.

Mike86

Really I don't. It's nothing against films from other countries that aren't in English but I just prefer to not have to read while watching a two hour film. Plus a lot of times the subtitles go by so fast that I have to rewind to read them or just keep going and maybe get lost a bit in what's happening. I have to be really invested in wanting to watch a foreign film to do so.

faust69

I've been watching movies with subs since I was 7 (Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast was my cherry popper) so I have no problem with subs at all.

dex14

I wouldn't think anyone "enjoys" it. But if you enjoy foreign cinema than you just deal with it. I won't watch dubs. Martial arts films are the only ones I've seen dubbed and that's rough.

davidh777

In general, I'm lazy, but I don't mind reading subs.

E Unit

Yep, I enjoy it.

funkyryno

Subtitles on movies are not a problem for me. Sometimes I even have to turn them on when watching something from the U.K. or Australia.

Animation is the only thing I can stand watching dubbed.

tripplej

I grew up reading the sub so I don't mind when watching foreign movies..

RichC2

I don't feel one way or another toward it, but subs dont detract from the experience. I occasionally forget that a movie was subbed in retrospect.

Maxflier

I don't enjoy having to read while I am watching a movie, but I do it for live-action movies.
Anime I always watch the English dub, though.

Trevor

Yes, although much of the TV I watch is just background noise, so I'll avoid my Criterions for that.

brainee

This. Whenever we get the sci-fi technology of being able to understand every language I'll be all over that. In the meanwhile, subs are the best way for me to enjoy foreign language movies. To the uninitiated, reading subs may seem like a hassle. But your eyes and brain get used to it and you don't even think about what you're doing and can just enjoy the movie.

kd5

I agree. Reading subs means I won't be watching the movie. I'd rather not miss anything that's going on, subs are a huge distraction for both my wife and me. The movies we do watch that may have a few miscellaneous subtitles sprinkled here and there are tolerable, but to sit through an entire movie having to read everything they're saying is not my idea of a pleasurable movie experience.


Edit: I really wish I hadn't chosen 'No, I avoid them', because I've watched foreign movies before with the english language track enabled (Day Watch/Night Watch, etc.)

Brack

Dubs work for animation, more or less, and comedic foreign films at times.

I remember seeing Life is Beautiful and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon without any issues.

Hazel Motes

I don't think anyone enjoys subtitles on their own. I love all kinds of films. Some of which have subtitles. As I only speak english, subtitles are just a necessity in order for me to fully grasp a film.

I like subtitles more than an english dub though, thats for sure.

AGuyNamedMike

I prefer subs. I feel it's essential to get the emotion of the dialogue as performed. The drawback is that I'll have to watch the film two or three times in a week or so, to the point that by the last viewing I'm able to ignore the subs and focus on the picture while remembering the dialogue.

Ky-Fi

I do honestly enjoy watching with subtitles. I'm a huge martial arts movie fan--I think I have over 200 Hong Kong martial arts movies, and over a hundred Japanese ones. For me a big part of the experience is that for the film you're transported back to ancient China or Japan. I enjoy the historical setting, the cultural traditions, the costumes, the weapons, the fighting styles---why the heck would they be speaking English? Dubs just take me right out of the story.

bluetoast

Yes. Saw Cleo from 5 to 7 last week in theaters.

JeffTheAlpaca

Does watching English movies with closed captioning count?

My hearing is ok but I always miss a word or a sentence somewhere in a movie and instead of rewinding I just use the closed captioning feature.

I saw Elle a couple of months ago.

I have Toni Erdmann saved on my dvr and I think it has subtitles.

Azor Ahai

Yes. The one and only movie I don't watch subtitled is La Strada; It's just too weird for me hearing a different voice coming from Anthony Quinn imo.


--

Nick Danger

We watch subs almost exclusively. Some actors are good enough to become international stars. Some actors are only good enough to work in a dubbing booth. Why would I want to listen to Joe Smith instead of Toshiro Mifune?

Then the dubbing director sometimes changes the movie from the way the original director created it. I've heard a slender comic actor dubbed to sound like an action hero. In the Disney dub of Kiki's Delivery Service, the cat was changed from an almost silent character to a chatterbox who just will not shut up.

Giantrobo

I ALWAYS opt for subtitles even if I don't trust the translation.

JANK

Agree, and most of the British/Scandinavian dramas I watch I need subs anyway to follow their accents or lack of annunciation.

devilshalo

I will usually watch a film with subs and then revisit it without once I get the gist of the story.

For Shaw Bros films, as a kid, I remember going to see Kung Fu Instructor in its original language (which they used to do heavy ADR on anyway) and it was much different than Saturday morning Black Belt Theater, that's for sure. Especially since it was the same voices used for all the dubs back then, so it really threw me for a loop to hear the actors real voices and they weren't anything I was used to.