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Dubbing v Subbing

L

lies

New Member
So what are everybody's thoughts on the dubbing of movies and or television shows?

francesca said:
I would never watch anything in the UK that was dubbed, but here its an art form in itself, and actually the Italians do it very well. Tom Cruise dubbed sounds exactly like Tom Cruise speaking Italian. I don't like the idea per se, but if it has to be done, it has to be done well.
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I personally hate dubbing from the bottom of my heart. I can't watch dubbed movies or shows (though I have to admit I'm hypocritical enough to sometimes watch a dubbed documentary; also, I did see a few dubbed Disneys when I was young).

I realize I'm very lucky to live in a country that hardly dubs anything (apart from children's programmes and documentaries), but what about those more unfortunate? Do any of you really mind? Would you prefer subtitles?
 
Subtitles, always, for me. I shudder at the dubbing on a Kinder commerical or one of those Ferero Rocher ads.
 
I'm so addicted to subtitles I even put them on when I watch the BBC. I actually like subtitles in the same language best (unless it's a language I really don't understand), because they make the watching process easier, IMO.
 
Dubbing is terrible, I can't watch a film that is dubbed and much prefer subtitles.

Lemming's (tounge in cheek) first law of cinema states that "Any film that is dubbed, cannot be considered good!"
 
i hate dubbing as well. it's distracting. i won't go to movies that are dubbed or rent them either. i want to hear the actors voice and how they said the line.
 
I hate when people put the volume down in a film with subtitles. That's missing the whole point - and the sound.
 
Personally I would much rather subtitles to dubbing - the majority of dubbing is awful!
 
jenngorham said:
@clueless, people do that? that is wierd. i can't imagine a movie without the music.
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Yes, I've seen people doing it. Not down to 0 but very, very quiet. You can still hear the music but not much of other sound effects or words. It's stupid.
 
I never watch dubbed movies. I know some germans who will only watch dubbed movies because they think the actors sound strange with their real voices.
I imagine that something is lost if you dub a movie, not that subtitles are perfect, but at least you are sure you get the right tone of voice.
 
hay82 said:
I never watch dubbed movies. I know some germans who will only watch dubbed movies because they think the actors sound strange with their real voices.
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I don't think the German, French or Spanish get much say in the matter though... Aren't most movies released in a dubbed version there? Even in Wallonie most movies are dubbed (I think only La Deux airs original versions).
 
I don't mind dubbing for animations, all version are dubs and there's nothing that says that the original is going to be the best. It depends on the casting.

'Fitzcarraldo' could be an "exception" for regular movies as well. It has two official dubs, english and german. The actors spoke english when they shot the movie but Herzog prefers the german dub. I recently saw the german dub and didn't even think about the possibility that they could have spoken any other language but that may have just been because Kinski was in the lead.

Stewart said:
I shudder at the dubbing on a Kinder commerical
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There's a classical Kinder commercial dubbed to swedish where all of the family members have different accents. Just brilliant.
 
lies said:
I don't think the German, French or Spanish get much say in the matter though... Aren't most movies released in a dubbed version there? Even in Wallonie most movies are dubbed (I think only La Deux airs original versions).
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I get a lot of the German channels on my tv, but I won't bother to watch them, everything is dubbed. I believe there are a few channels that offer the original language on another sound channel or something like that, but from what I have heard from my german friends it's pretty hard to find movies that aren't dubbed. Unless it's on dvd.
 
Even if I can't understand the language, I still want to appreciate the quality of the acting by the original cast, so I prefer subtitles.


Here's a story:

Back in the 1930s, Laurel and Hardy refilmed each of their movies several times, reciting the script in different languages, essentially dubbing themselves on the set. As it happens, their accents in those languages were unintentionally comic, but foreign audiences thought it was part of the act. For a time, they were more popular in non-English-speaking countries, and the two of them didn't know why.
 
Mari said:
Back in the 1930s, Laurel and Hardy refilmed each of their movies several times, reciting the script in different languages, essentially dubbing themselves on the set. As it happens, their accents in those languages were unintentionally comic, but foreign audiences thought it was part of the act. For a time, they were more popular in non-English-speaking countries, and the two of them didn't know why.
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True. I seem lots of those and they sound so silly.

Dubbing can be even sillier than you think, even with cartoons. I've seen people, even children, laugh at Disney's cartoons because the dubbing where made by people with a different accent and using words not normally used in their country.

The only case where I heard good comments about a dubbed film was about different versions of Shrek, where they localised the jokes to make them relevant to each country, but I have only seen the original version.
 
clueless said:
The only case where I heard good comments about a dubbed film was about different versions of Shrek, where they localised the jokes to make them relevant to each country, but I have only seen the original version.
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Well, now that we have DVD's, we can compare those versions without having to pay too much.
 
I’m not a fan of dubbing but for some people subtitles are not an option. I think I'm correct in saying that pretty much all foreign films or TV is dubbed in Italy. I also seem to remember someone telling me that there was a period in Italian filmmaking when scenes were shot without sound and the actors dubbed there own voices on later in a studio. I’m not totally sure if that is correct though, perhaps we have a film-buff amongst us who can confirm?
 
Kenny Shovel said:
I also seem to remember someone telling me that there was a period in Italian filmmaking when scenes were shot without sound and the actors dubbed there own voices on later in a studio. I’m not totally sure if that is correct though, perhaps we have a film-buff amongst us who can confirm?
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As far as I know, that was done everywhere, including Holliwood. Actors spoke their lines during filming but sound was not recorded.
 
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