2010-07-04, 02:34 AM
Can partially understand a sizable chunk of what's said so I don't vote, but I can say that even before I picked up Japanese I preferred subtitles. The reading isn't an issue when you get used to it. In fact, your eyes should be able to read them without even really trying. I could read the subs without even focusing my eyes to the bottom of the screen, keeping my attention on the main video. The voice acting is usually higher quality, and no this isn't a "GLORIOUS NIPPON IS ALWAYS SUPERIOR" kind of mindset. The fact is, voice acting is actually taken more seriously over there than it is over here.
Some scenes are completely ruined by voice acting with quality lower than that of the original. You don't need to understand a language to understand the emotion behind the voice, and sometimes a voice actor can pull it off well and isn't imitated as nicely by someone else.
There's also the problem with dubs having to alter lines in order to fit with the lip movements. Sometimes they'd have a nice translation, but have to butcher it a bit in order to fit. It's not too bad, considering there's bound to be stuff lost in translation here and there, but when you're forced to cut corners at times, you sometimes miss a lot more than you would have normally.
That's not to say there aren't some dubs I actually like. The number of dubs I like better than the original are small enough to count on my fingers. You're missing out on more if you don't like subs simply because you hate reading. Maybe it's because I started early, but you get to the point where you're so used to reading subtitles that it's as if they're not even there. I'm not even a fast reader, but I've no problem just having a glance at subtitles and knowing what they say. When I first started subtitled anime,. I had to pause my VCR every few lines to read the whole thing, and it was a bit annoying at first, but I was too interested in the series I was watching to let that get in the way.
Some scenes are completely ruined by voice acting with quality lower than that of the original. You don't need to understand a language to understand the emotion behind the voice, and sometimes a voice actor can pull it off well and isn't imitated as nicely by someone else.
There's also the problem with dubs having to alter lines in order to fit with the lip movements. Sometimes they'd have a nice translation, but have to butcher it a bit in order to fit. It's not too bad, considering there's bound to be stuff lost in translation here and there, but when you're forced to cut corners at times, you sometimes miss a lot more than you would have normally.
That's not to say there aren't some dubs I actually like. The number of dubs I like better than the original are small enough to count on my fingers. You're missing out on more if you don't like subs simply because you hate reading. Maybe it's because I started early, but you get to the point where you're so used to reading subtitles that it's as if they're not even there. I'm not even a fast reader, but I've no problem just having a glance at subtitles and knowing what they say. When I first started subtitled anime,. I had to pause my VCR every few lines to read the whole thing, and it was a bit annoying at first, but I was too interested in the series I was watching to let that get in the way.