If you want to prove to people that non-dubbed is they way to go, I've found that "Life is Beautiful" will make anyone a believer.

I always watch movies with the subtitles turned on. I'm Swedish, so I've been reading them since I was a little toddler. If it's an English language film I watch it with the English subs, so that nothing will get lost in translation.

Neither. I prefer to watch foreign movies in their original language without subtitles. This is the only way to see the film as the director truly intended. To put words on the screen clogs the image and takes away from the aural experience. Dubbing is even worse.

If the movie is good enough, you should be able to understand what's going on through the passion of the performances and not the translation of the language.

Wow, Goldblum, that's hardcore!

As for me, give me the original language, but I need those subs!

i dont know why, but id rather listen to asian language and read subtitles. rather than listen to french or spanish language. then i just put the english dub's on

who else here also watches us films with sub-titles, even though they're speaking english? to me it helps me concentrate on the movie alot more

Always original language, but I'll give a listen to the odd dub, if done by the original actors and supervised by the director, as like a special feature, I suppose.

I wont even attempt to convey my contempt for dub-only people. I never found it difficult or even annoying to watch a film with subtitles. I'm a fast reader, maybe.

Albeit subtitles aren't perfect, you really need to understand the dialog in ninety percent of films. To say otherwise is pretty stupid. Imagine if Pulp Fiction was made in Italian.

The main reason, btw, that I hate dubbing is the sufferance of an actor's performance. Same for everyone?

Personally I prefer subtitles, but I'm always happier when I purchase a foreign disc that also includes a dubbed track. My reason for this is that dubbed tracks, no matter how poorly voiced they are sometimes, usually offer a different translation that, when listened to while having the subtitles on, adds new shades that probably are lacking in the subtitles. That said, I almost always watch the subtitles in the original language.

As to listening to an original language I don't understand -- there are subtleties of intonation that just don't seem to get properly captured in dubs. I imagine the art of dubbing is not that easy -- whereas the original actor can inhabit the moments of their performance, the voice actor has to compromise instinct to match up their words with the image's mouth movements.

Nevertheless, its helpful to have essentially two translations since each captures aspects the others don't address adequately. The art of translation is impossible to execute perfectly. Any bit that can bring me closer to the material is welcome. This goes the same when reading books originally written in other languages. If there's more than one translation available, and the work is intriguing enough to read anyway, then its good to read both translations. Sometimes a bad translation catches sparks that the better one misses. Dub and Sub are usually different translations (from my experience).

Americans pay to watch films not read them


Although not true many people (not just Americans) have that opinion. I've explained a film to a family member and they look intently and when I mention "there's subtitles" they go a funny colour.

Idiots? I don't think so, but they are of limited intelligence if they are scared to watch or think they can't follow words and images.



Subs only. I tried watching the dubbed version of the original La Femme Nikita

The DVD is a terrible dub because they've toned down the violent speech quite a bit.

For people who want dubbing:

If you are watching a film and a character is in great mental pain or crying etc -do you REALLY want an actor who was not there at the time and knows nothing about the writer's/director's and importantly the actor's vision?

I've watched English language films in french and German and they are horrible, OK, Robert De Niro in Germany may have the same German actor doing his voice over several movies, but I've got news for German's who think that's good, it ain't Robert De Niro, it ain't that man's great voice!


Have you noticed and understood the bold writing above? Yes, so from now on read the bloody subs!

I will only watch if the film is in its original language. Subs are preferred, but even if they're not available I'm willing to watch an unsubbed foreign language film if it's something I really want to see, but under no circumstances do I watch dubbed films.

Only original language with subtitles for me.

I usually end up watching both, but being satisfied by neither. I'll watch the movie with the subs so I can understand the text, and then re-watch it dubbed so I can focus on context -- cinematography, expression, framing.

But if I really don't understand the spoken language, I recognize that neither dubbing nor subtitles is a satisfactory substitute. Hearing the actor's real voice is better than not hearing it, but you still miss nuance and emphasis and other subtleties of verbal expression if you don't understand the words.

"Frankly, Scarlett, I DON'T give a damn."

"Frankly, Scarlett, I don't GIVE a damn."

Subtle difference that is lost entirely when translated into German, whether dubbed or subtitled. I have no reason to believe that foreign-language films fare any better when rendered in English.

RichC

Like most here, I absolutely prefer original language with subtitles. BUT, dubbing in and of itself is not the bowdlerization that many here make it out to be. I think a lot of us (Americans, anyway) are just so turned off by the really shitty dubbing that we're used to hearing.

But many many great movies have been completely post-dubbed in the studio, and not always by the original actors. How does one watch La Strada, for instance, now that those multiple tracks are available? Or Fitzcaraldo?

I lived in Spain for a summer, and their dubbing of American films is truly remarkable. Spoken dialogue coordinated seamlessly with the lip movements on screen, professional actors giving thoughtful and passionate line readings, a true commitment to keeping the translations faithful and fluid. It's a serious industry there, and they view it as an art.

To someone who said, but that's not Robert DeNiro's voice you're hearing. Well yes, but if you don't understand English, how much are you really getting from his voice inflections, versus an actor who speaks your language, and who can interpret and express the dialogue in a way that is much more
emotionally engaging to you than a simple caption could ever be.

This is NOT an argument for dubbing over subtitles. When I first went to American movies in Spain, I cringed when I heard they were dubbed instead of subtitled. But after seeing a few of them, especially some movies I was already familiar with, I can honestly say dubbing isn't all bad.

I don't watch alot of foreign films, but if I do and there's an English track, I'll definitely be selecting it. If not, I'll use the subtitles. No big deal for me to listen to the dubbed track. I watched Amelie with the subtitles and was wishing for a dubbed track because it got tiresome reading subtitles for 2 hours. If it is REALLY bad dubbing, I usually can't stand it, but some dubbing is actually decent and doesn't detract from the movie, imo.

Try telling that to a non-English speaking person watching My Dinner With Andre...