Foreign Laguage Films: Subtitles or Overdubbing

I was wondering what people use when both options are avaliable on a dvd. I find that having to read the subtitles is distracting and I miss some of the action physical taking place. I’ve had people tell me that watching a film in it’s original intended laguage is the only way to truly watch the film that was inteded. just interested to hear thoughts and opinons.

Personally, I will not watch anything that is dubbed (unless it were to be a completely unavoidable once-in-a-lifetime type of screening.)
The very idea of a dubbed voice in place of an actor’s own (in his own tongue) is the most off-putting thing I can think of, in terms of ruining the mood and the soundtrack/mix of a film. “Das Boot” in english? “Tampopo” or “Rules of the Game”? No thank you.

I don’t understand why people find subtitles so ‘hard’ to read? I find my eyes always just scan them quickly and then get back to the screen, no problem at all. Is it a cultural thing, me being from Denmark and growing up with foreign films on TV which were always subtitled?
I am curious where this “dubbing/subs” war came from originally.
Anyone else?

I hate, hate, hate dubbing…. In fact, I probably would never live in Spain or Italy just because they dub films.

Well I am a slow reader. I agree it is a bit unsettling when the voice doesn’t match the mouth.

Dubbing should be outlawed. It’s the worst thing that you can do to a film. An actor is more than than their movements and gestures. And the sound of the spoken language is important. If a person is unable to read, I would make an exception. In Quebec, the films are always dubbed. The people who dub the films make quite a bit of money and the government protects those jobs. It is also unfortunate when the subtitles are not done well.

Some old Vhs’s i rent from the library have white colored subtitles for a blackandwhite movie making it nearly impossible to read sometimes, which is silly. Now for black and white they usually use yellow.

Dubbing can sometimes make a movie more fun. I’m thinking of old kung-fu movies in particular.

Dubbing a film so you don’t have to read subtitles is redundant, you lose a part of the original presentation of the movie.

Similar forum topic from yesterday

It was the DVD that made watching with subtitles possible. On german TV everything is dubbed and only very few cinemas show original versions. I only then discovered what a totally different experience a film with original sound and subtitles is.

Although English is my first language, I often find it difficult to understand American English and turn on subtitles whenever possible. So I guess the environment I grew up in makes me wholly prefer subtitles.

ugh I absolutely hate dubbing. @Ralch: Spain and Italy are great countries but they dub everything. when I was in Italy, everything except for BBC news was dubbed in Italian. I watched South Park and Sex in the City with Italian dubbing. it was terrible. dubbing should be illegal, it’s so distracting.

Subtitles. Only.

I’m not a fan of dubbing, but one movie comes to mind that was funny being dubbed over was Rififi. OH TONY! You’d have to see it.

I agree: dubbing should be outlawed!!!
But sometimes it can be very funny. :-)

Anyhow, I think it’s interesting if the dubbing is used creatively. If not…

I can think of only two great instances of films being dubbed, brought over from one language into another:

La jetée – The narrator of the English version is the equal of the French one.

Jan Svankmajer’s Faust – The quality of the dubbed performances really shocked me, in this one. And, jesus – as I look on imdb, I find that the performer of all English voices in the film is Andrew Sachs—“Manuel” from *Fawlty Towers"!!!

What’s a foreign laguage film?

I don’t like dubbing. Like Claus Harding, I’m used to subtitled films on tv, beeing from Norway myself. But sometimes a foreign language film only has subtitling options that don’t include norwegian. Then I chose the english subtitles. Something I always do (when available) when I watch films in english that doesn’t have norwegian subtitle. Sometimes the sound isn’t quite optimal so that it is difficult to hear what’s beeing said, but also to get used to english subtitling in other foreign language films. It’s a bit more difficult dealing with two foreign languages at once, but it’s just a matter of getting used to it, like subtitling in general. You just have to keep at it, and soon you’ll hardly notice. It has become more automatic for me now with foreign language subtitling as well as foreign language fillms.

I only use subtitles. However, sometimes I get curious and rewatch scenes to see how bad the dubbing is. There really is a huge difference.

no dubs EVER.

always subtitles.

>.Is it a cultural thing, me being from Denmark and growing up with foreign films on TV which were always subtitled?<<
No, it isn’t a cultural thing; quite a few of us in the US hate dubbing, too, as you can see by that link to yesterday’s topic.
Of course there can always be poorly translated subtitles, too (not to mention those occasions where dialogue is being spoken & nothing shows up on the screen, making me wonder what they’re keeping from me), but being able to hear the original performer’s voice seems like such a vital part of the performance.
HOWEVER …
What about films made in places like Italy, where the ususal approach is to shoot silent while each performer prattles on in whatever language s/he feels most comfortable with & dub all voices for each market? Even if you get, say, Rupert Everett speaking his dialogue in DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE, you’re still getting a dubbed performance.

I think its about seeing a film in its truest form and more often then not, subs are better then dubs in this regard as they retain the performances on screen largely intact. Of course there is a language barrier, but more then half of what can be communicated is through pure emotion and body language.

There are sometimes though that dubs simply can’t be beat. Some of the older low brow kung fu flicks had some hilarious voice-overs that seriously were more enjoyable then the original film.

“There are sometimes though that dubs simply can’t be beat. Some of the older low brow kung fu flicks had some hilarious voice-overs that seriously were more enjoyable then the original film.”

As much as I love “The Mystery of Chessboxing” (or “Ninja Checkmate” or whatever your region’s version happens to be called), I wouldn’t love it half as much without the English dub on the Ghost Faced Killer — it’s so totally out there and yet so abjectly perfect.

Subtitles. Always.

Subtitles. I brought Sukiyaki Western Django and it is only dubbed. Damn them to hell.

Oh my god. Subtitles definitely. I don’t care what the movie is, if it’s dubbed I can not take it seriously.

I hate dubbing, it feels so false, and especially if you know the true voices. I think the more subtitled films you watch the easier the process becomes.

I’m glad Harry Long raises the Italian style of film-making with later dubbing; i find that distracts and detracts a little from the overall quality, not something i’m keen on.

whoever wishes to watch dubbing,including the stupidest of films,then he/she knows nothing of cinema as communication!!!
i saw The Killer by Woo in both versions,dubbing and subtitles…
i felt cheated by the English voices in Killer…
and i also felt cheated by Eastwood talking in English alone in Fistful of Dollars and the other characters dubbed…
BUT at least it was the original,let’s not forget many actors during the 70’s like with Richard Harris and Burt Lancaster who had to be dubbed because of their knowledge of Italian,haha.
i can only justify that sort of dubbing,which is inevitable..
the most explicit example in our Greek industry is Evdokia,a magnificent film which they shot it in English with Greek actors and then they dubbed it in Greek for the original version,a bit of a complexity?sure,but the dubbed form is still the original..

I hate dubbing so much that I actually created against-dubbing.com
In fact I’m a bit tired of arguing about dubbing, especially here in Germany where the majority of people are too lazy to even consider watching films with subtitles instead of the original…

Umm, Francisco J. Torres, Sukiyaki Western Django was made in English, dude.

Dubbing should become a criminal offense.