Monkspider presents "Great Choices": Subtitles vs. Voice Dubs

[monkspider]

Welcome to "Great Choices", a new series of polls taking a look at the hard questions, and using the great wisdom of our community to find the truth.
Which do you prefer on your foreign films, voice dubs or subtitles? Each obviously have strengths and weaknesses, voice dubs can be catastrophically bad if they are poorly executed, but watching a film with only subtitles seems to leave the viewer feeling detached.

Have your say! Speak your mind! Such is the beauty of "Great Choices".

[Giancarlo]

Subtitles. Subtitles can be poor if they have many mistakes but I like hearing the language as is. Dubbing is usually poor based on my experience.

[SlowwHand]

Might as well read a book as have subtitles.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Subtitles, no doubt!

[Inverse Icarus]

OH MY GOD! IT IS GODZILLA!

(silent mouthing of various japanese phrases)

[August Borms]

Subtitles are great!
I wish they would subtitle programs/movies in Dutch too...

[JohnT]

I watch subtitles even with english-speaking shows.

[Imran Siddiqui]

That's because you are getting old and can't hear the TV, but your 3 inch thick glasses are working fine .

[Wraith]

Since about 85% of the DVDs I watch lately were originally in a foreign language, I should probably chime in here...

Subtitles, for sure. Good dubs are very rare, and I will watch them if I find them, but again, they're very rare. I'm a very fast reader, and subtitles don't distract me from the movie, especially since I've started learning a little Japanese.

Excel Saga's VidNotes, on the other hand, can be quite distracting...

Wraith
"The bullet of justice will always demolish evil."
-- Good Excel (Excel Saga)

[Kuciwalker]

Subtitles. I want to actually know what they're saying.

[monolith94]

The problem with dubs is that all too often the voice workers have voices that are too generic. Take my dvd of Metropolis, for example. I liked the English version dubbing of some of the characters in it, but not all, and the same with the French dub. I actually liked the French dub a bit better - more expressive voices. But the best was the Japanese voice. Reading subtitles is a subconscious thing for me. I don't even notice it, really.

[Dinner]

Subtitles are better then dubbed shows.

[DarthVeda]

The original voice acting is generally better in all circumstances

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by DarthVeda
The original voice acting is generally better in all circumstances

My reasoning also.

[General Ludd]

Another vote for subtitles... but they can be done badly, too. There is nothing I hate more then subtitles you can't read due to a poor colour selection or layout.

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Might as well read a book as have subtitles.

I'd rather read a book then watch a movie anyways.