Comments on: Is Dubbing an American Concept?

By: ojisan

ojisan — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:35:08 +0000

Heard a great radio show last year about the awesome dubbing industry in Italy – dubbing movies from around the world into Italian. Their standards are very high, & they occasionally get letters from directors who prefer the italian dub to the original actors.
I wonder if anime gets any benefit of this for Italian-speaking fans?

By: Renji

Renji — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 11:35:42 +0000

Hi! I’m from Germany, too, and while dubbing is a bliss for movies that are believed to make cash (like most Hollywood ones), the dubbing quality in the anime department is pathetic at best. In most cases it’s horrible and totally kills the atmosphere of the show.

When I started watching anime, I started to read (English) subs. I was surprised that you exactly described what I am doing when watching Anime. Sometimes I also understand parts of the original phrases so I don’t need the subs anymore.

I knew a girl from Poland that told me that their movie industry put in the voice of a narrator. He/She then kind of explains to the audience what is happening in the movie… now THAT is unsatisfying! :O

By: Blowfish

Blowfish — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 02:55:56 +0000

I dont think that dubbing is an American Thing…
As you know im from Germany and we get everything dubbed…
Its more a use and cost thing.Our neighbouring country the netherlands get alot stuff only subbed…Why? Its a small country and hiring dubactors for such “few” people” isnt worth the money.Just slap some subtitles on the bottom and there you go.

I guess its the same thing for mexico.They prefer to save the money for actors and just sub the show.

Personally I prefer Subs for most shows.It doesnt matter wich language but there are alot emotions and jokes that get lost in the dubbing process.People over here dont like subbed stuff but i think thats only because they arent used to it.

One Reason they tell me why they dont like them is: Its hard to follow both and tiring.

I dont think that this is the case but oh well…

AnimeDubs over here are baaaaaad…It really hurts to hear them…want an example? -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBffMLd9Qfs >.<

Blowfishs last blog post..Bikini Idol Iori

By: Dancing Queen

Dancing Queen — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:09:06 +0000

@STEELBOUND:
well since i’m so used to it i can’t watch a movie without subtitles, sometimes people mumble and it helps to full udnerstand the movie for me

@MrJack:
wow having only one voice actor for dubs would make this even much more worse

@Vanessa:
i started watching dubs but once i switched over to subs i can’t watch dubs without cringing

@Asoch3:
it’s not just the seiyuus but whoever did the audio originally imo us always going to be supirior, since they worked directly with the person who made the show/movie/anime

By: Asoch3

Asoch3 — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:28:04 +0000

I’m native spanish speaker and I hate dubs in any language. At the beginning I thought it was just that I hated Spanish dubs… but when I came to the US and start watching japanese animations here I realize that I hated english dub as well… and it didn’t matter what company made them… I always did.

I don’t know Japanese and in most cases the English subs come before the Spanish ones, so I always watch my shows with English subtittles and I do just fine. So, I don’t understand why native English speakers complain about it. Feelings do get lost during the transition and to tell you the true, I believe that no matter how good the dubbers are they can never be as good as the seiyus. That’s my personal opinion.

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:41:00 +0000

Normally, I don’t read these kinds of articles because people tend to bash dubs for no apparent reason other than “Because they suck!”, but you have a really good reason for preferring them over dubs. I mainly watched anime dubbed until the seventh grade when I first saw Getbackers in its original Japanese. I admit that it was hard to follow the subs at first, but I got better at it because I watched more subbed anime later on. Now I watch a mix of both Subbed and Dubbed anime (as long as the anime isn’t dubbed by Central Park Media *shudders*, I’ll watch it).

By: MrJack

MrJack — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:39:21 +0000

Well well since you aske for the Situation outside the US.
I’am from Germany and we pretty much have everthing regarding cinema dubbed.
We got pretty decent voice actors and we even get all the explosins and stuff.
On the one hand its a bless since it is easier to to follow a movie in your native language but on the other hand the elaborately designed dubbing coasts a lot of time, so american movies come out in Germany 2-6 month delayed.
For example the are airing Simpsons season 19 and Lost season 4 or 5 idk.

Yeah but I heard about bad dubs.
I got russian friends and they told me that in the 90’s all American Action movies got dubbed to russian by a single voice actor ( who simply translated everything emotionless).

By: steelbound

steelbound — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:19:25 +0000

When I watch an English language movie at home, I always turn on the subtitles. Even movies like Lord of the Rings that I’ve seen completely at least a dozen times, I still flip on the subtitles. I think partly because I’m a visual learner and not an audio learner.

The odd thing I’ve noticed about myself is when I watch anime,afterward, I can’t remember – for sure – if it was spoken in Japanese or English. I think what my mind does is take the subtitles, match it with the actor’s emotional tone, and remembers it as happening in English because I certainly don’t know how to speak Japanese.

steelbounds last blog post..A New Wallpaper and a New Banner & Poll

By: Dancing Queen

Dancing Queen — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:46:52 +0000

@Coco the Bean:
Children’s programs is understandable since they can’t read as well as adults can yet. But for a show geared at adults to be dubbed just seems almost lazy

@Caitlin:
well even in the Us people don’t like Spanish, i’ve met countless people who look down uponme because i speak spanish. They feel that English is the only launguage you should know, yet i proove them wrong when i get a job much easire than they can cause i’m bilingual

@Beren:
Yeah but shows like that are always going to be dubbed since kids watch them too, plus the majority of their jokes are adult american jokes so they’d have to translate them or the joke would be completely lost within a different culture

By: Beren

Beren — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:13:58 +0000

Well, in Spain they usually dub the movies, but dub actors/actresses here are really good, if you ask me. They try to reproduce the original performance as faithfully as possible. TV shows such as The Simpsons, Family Guy and Futurama are also dubbed.

Berens last blog post..Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu Episode 1