Movies in foreign languages

[Johnny Z]

A little off topic, here is my experience with foreign films in Russia. My wife was at work and I turned on the tv and found a Jackie Chan movie on. Catch this, it was originally in Chinese, dubbed in English and dubbed over that in Russian. You could hear the Chinese and English under the Russian. I was laughing so hard, tears were rolling down my face.

[Grumpy Guy]

1.  I strongly prefer subtitles, although on old kung-fu movies and many b-films dubbed can be fun.  I especially like when they use yellow subtitles, epseically on old black and white films (like they were when I watched The Seven Samurai and Yojimbo).  Makes it nice and easy to read.  Also, subtitling on letterbox flicks when the subtitles are in the black bar at the bottom.  Best example is in the Anime film Project A-ko, where the ONLY black bar was on the bottom, giving plenty of space for subs.  I wish they did that more often...
With only one exception that I can think of, ALL ANIME MUST BE SUBBED.

2. I do this all the time at my friend's house  - hell, we put the subtitles on English movies when we can.  I like having a second reference for the dialogue, and it makes it easier for me, I don't know why.

3. Never a problem for me, and not because I'm an especially fast reader.  Subtitles take getting use to, that's all.  Once you're proficient with subtitiels, it doesn't distract in the slightest.  As far as missing dialogue, that happens to me with dubbed and original English films, too, so why should it bother me any more with subtitles?

4.  I love Japanese.  It's a really pretty language.  French is kind of fun, too, but I wouldn't call it pleasent.  I also like Chinese, Spanish, and Russian.  I also like English, Australian, and (espeically) Irish accents - but that doesn't really count, now does it?

5. It's a near thing.  I prefer subtitles VERY strongly.  Some films I can't get ahold of subbed, so I make due, although Anime (as a rule) is so poorly dubbed as to be painful.

[Mr_Vindictive]

1.  I usually go for the subtitles.  It's in most cases a completely different translation that what you get when you use the dubbing.  My wife on the other hand despises subtitles so I am forced to view bad dubbing on some occasions.

2. Just as Burgo mentioned, the Das Boot dubbing/subtitles are completely different.  Usually the subtitles are a better translation of a film than the dubbing.

3. I consider myself a bit of a speed reader, therefore most fast subtitles don't bother me.  The only DVD that I've had this problem with is the Special Edition Battle Royale DVD.  The subtitles, no matter how long or short, only stay on the screen for about a second before disappearing.

4. I'd have to say that Japanese is the most pleasant.  Their dialogue is spoken quite fast and just flows together.  I was also quite suprised at how pleasant German was to listen to.

5. I don't refuse to watch either.  I do believe however that dubbing is a disgrace to the film and that subtitles should be used instead.

[Colt M1991A1]

Depends what it is.

If it's from Hong Kong, it absolutley, positively MUST be Dubbed. No arguments!

I prefer my Asian films in general dubbed, because I find Japanese and Chinese so difficult to fathom.

European languages I prefer subtitled, although Brotherhood of the Wolf is excellent either way- I saw it in the cinema subtitled, loved it, and then got it on DVD and find myself watching it dubbed- either way, it's a brilliant film.

What really gets on my nerves is when American TV shows subtitle English and Australian people speaking! (Ripley's Beleive it or Not is the worst offender for this...)

Look, I know it's a different accent, but it's not THAT hard to follow. For example, I've yet to see a film or show with subtitles for Ebonics, but yet I seriously doubt there's anyone outside the US who can understand much of it... (Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake, I'm looking in your direction!)

As for Red Dwarf- one of my favourite TV shows ever! I really can't see how anyone can have trouble following Lister... sure, he has a Liverpudlian accent, but listen a bit and you'll stop noticing (much like Cartman from South Park's voice- at first it's incomprehensible, and then you understand it clearly).

The scary thing with Snatch is I've seen it often enough now to understand what Brad Pitt is saying! My friends think it's black magic, however...

If you want trouble understanding people speaking English, then watch Trainspotting. Then come back to us. :-)

(For the record, I have no trouble understanding the dialogue in Trainspotting...)

[Neville]

I am not american, so most movies are foreign to me. In my country there is the tradition of watching any foreign film dubbed, and even today few theatres offer subtitled movies. My opinion on the subject is that every film should be watched in its original language with subtitles. Period. It may require some time to get used to it, but it is the only way to do justice to the acting.

[Mr_Vindictive]

EXACTLY Neville!

The worst offender of ruining a fantastic film with dubbing was Ichi The Killer.  The main Yakuza bad guy is a small 110 pound dude.  Yet, someone decided to give him a deep big burly voice that you would hear come out of a 400 pound body builder.  Completely different character in the voice than what the actor was portraying.  

It's almost sickening.

[pang]

i definately prefer subtitles. always. no matter what language it is originally in.

dubbing annoys me, especially when i have seen the movie (and understand the original language).

dubbing takes out the flavour, the emotion, the tone, basically... everthing away from the movie (whether it is a good or a bad one).

for me, the actors are the source of a good movie.... regardless the quality of the script and props. of course, if you have a bad script then the movie is then bad... but some credit should be given to actors who have done the best they can.
and by dubbing, a bad movie is worse.

of course the fact that comedic and fast-dialogued scenes are really hard to translate accurately.
accuracy = length. and for fast-dialogued movies, well... you need to shrink the subtitles itself, and thus inaccurate.
comedic scenes are also hard to translate. note that different cultures/languages uses different expressions and puns. translating the comedy from those are tough! (or at least, i would imagine so).

so far, all foreign languages are pleasant to my ears.

[Mr. Hockstatter]

I prefer the dubbed version.  It's extremely hard to enjoy a movie when you can barely watch it because you're always reading the bottom of the screen.  All you see of the movie is an ocassional glance - most is watched via you peripheral vision.  I don't care too much if the dubbed dialogue isn't right;  I get absolutely no emotional impact from anything I'm frantically reading anyway.  

Favorite languages to listen to would be German, it's a beautiful language.  Don't think there are any that I find especailly unpleasant to hear.  

Normally I have very little interest in movies with subtitles, but I'll ocassionally watch one.  I just saw "Not One Less" the other day, I think it was from China or some Asian country.  Pretty good movie because it had a very independent film feel to it.  Definitely not Hollywood.

[StatCat]

1. Subtitled unless the dubbing could be potentially funny

2. Have you ever watched a dubbed DVD, but also had the subtitles on?
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Not that I can remember

3. Do you get aggravated when they flash lengthy subtitles across the screen too fast for you to read them?
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HELL YES!

4. What is the most pleasant foreign language to listen to? The most irritating?
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Finnish sounds kind of neat, most irritating- German, middle eastern languages

5. Do you simply REFUSE to watch dubbed or subtitled movies?
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Nope I'll go for subtitled but if dubbed is all I can get I'll watch it.  The audio track is important but it isn't the end all thing of importance to the movie.

[petrol lunatic]

1. Dubbed movies suck,it's kind of annoying, in my 7th grade Spanish class we watched ET dubbed, it also didn't help that we couldn't understand any Spanish after taking it for only a few months.

2. No, but one time I watched Taxi Driver and the Spanish subtitles were stuck on, and it was funny, cause my friends were trying to say whatever the subtitles were.

3. Not really, but I hate it when the subtitles are white, and it's really hard to read them.

4. I really like Danish, especially when they yell at eachother, and for some reason the only way I can tell if it's Danish and not Swedish or Norweigan is when they yell, German is also amusing.

5. I may refuse to watch a dubbed movie, except for a few minutes of some movies that are originally in English, then dubbed to something else(usually Spanish)

[Kory]

1.  Subtitled- hands down.

2. I've not done that, I'll try it.

3. I'm a fast reader, so I haven't had a problem with that.  It does suck, though, when they put the words in white and you can't read them.  That's another reason why letterbox is better: they have the words on the black part on the bottom.

4. I love listening to Japanese and Mandarin. Spanish starts to grate on me after a while.

5. I try to limit my dubbed movies to bad kung fu.

[Jay]

If you have a choice between watching a dubbed version or a subtitled version, which do you prefer?

Don't care either way.  I watch cartoons with voice actors originally in English and if the voice actors are good, then it works.  Stuff dubbed from another language is the same, it really depends on the quality of the translation and the skill of the actors.  Similar with subtitles, sometimes it's done well, sometimes it's not.  If I want to see something, I don't worry about whether it's dubbed or subtitled.

Have you ever watched a dubbed DVD, but also had the subtitles on?

I've watched English movies dubbed into another language and then with English subtitles on and on movies I'm familiar with, I know the subtitles don't match the original dialog :)

Do you get aggravated when they flash lengthy subtitles across the screen too fast for you to read them?

That's what the pause button is for

What is the most pleasant foreign language to listen to?

Spanish.  My wife is Hispanic and I live in a part of the country where Spanish is spoken regularly so it has personal connections with me.

The most irritating? probably French

Do you simply REFUSE to watch dubbed or subtitled movies?

With some of the junk I watch?!?!  Far be it from me to quibble on this point of production style

[The Burgomaster]

Wow.  I started this thread back in November.  How the heck did it get resurrected?