Words by Amy Wild
With the success of films such as Parasite and Squid Game, it is a good time to be in the business of dubbing and subtitles. As the global market grows, streaming is expanding the reach TV and films in foreign languages. English is no longer the sole domain of the industry, and to watch films and TV in languages you can’t understand, you need to choose between subtitles or dubbing, but which is better?
I have watched many films and TV shows in other languages, including my favourites, Money Heist, The Intouchables and Elite. After using both subtitles and dubbing, I personally prefer subtitles. I find that dubbed voice doesnÔÇÖt always suit the character and can take you out of the experience. Some dubs donÔÇÖt use the exact same script as the original. I began watching Squid Game with dubbed, and I found that the translation was not word for word, because of this I switched over to subtitles and found a better and more consuming experience when watching. I also find that your brain gets used to watching a film by reading subtitles after the first five minutes, and it feels natural.
However, I understand that using dub can benefit people that struggle with reading quickly or have vision problems. Dubbing is also ideal if you like to do other things whilst watching the program, like washing up, cleaning or scrolling on your phone. There are many examples of high-quality well done dubbed shows, like that of the films by Studio Ghibli, that are professionally done and do not detract from the experience.
It is definitely a personal preference, but I would always suggest that if people havenÔÇÖt tried using subtitles to give it a go and see how much more you get immersed in the story. I would never watch a TV show or film with an American dub again after trying both.
Words by Kate Nichols
Personally, I am a sub. However, just for the purpose of writing this article, I decided to give being a dub a go. My honest review? It only confirmed for me that choosing to listen to the original audio with English subtitles is by far the best way of watching international TV.
So, imagine this: I turn on Elite, one of my favourite Netflix shows, and change the audio into English instead of Spanish. With this one change, I managed to transform this amazing series into something which was good, but far less captivating than before. I think my main issue with it was the lack of liveliness it now had compared to when I watched it before in Spanish. There was less excitement, less personality and less authenticity. Instead of words being brought to life through acting, they were being spoken like they were being read off a piece of paper. Now I do not claim to be an expert, but I am pretty sure that confessing your undying love for someone should not hold a similar tone to ordering a burger from a menu.
Besides the issue of voice acting, is it not just more fun to watch TV in a different language? I mean, a couple of episodes in, and I have the thrill of pretending I am now fluent because I have a couple of curse words at my disposal. Although ideally, it would be nice to listen to the Spanish audio without the English subtitles, until I decide to have another crack at using Duolingo, using subtitles easily takes the win over dubbing here. So, if you really want to immerse yourself in what you are watching, I say do yourself a favour and turn on the subtitle
Words by Eleanor Byrne
The age-old question when it comes to animes is: sub or dub? But the answer isnÔÇÖt exactly as straightforward as you may think. The 2020 anime Jujutsu Kaisen, for example, has an incredible Japanese voice cast that provides the characters with a playfulness that is otherwise lost in the dubbed version. Sukuna and GojoÔÇÖs Japanese voice actors especially do a mind-blowing job in the sub for this anime. The characterÔÇÖs initial interaction in the first episode of the series was so good in fact that I bought a poster for the show straight after watching it, regardless of how the series was to unravel in its coming episodes. Given how instantly memorable this performance was for me, I must agree that in terms of enjoyability, the subbed version is unbeatable and worth sacrificing an extra five minutes to pay full attention to the subtitles.
One studio which has an exceptional dubbed version for their projects however is Studio Ghibli. Hayao Miyazaki, the animation director of this award-winning film studio, transformed his ideas alongside Isao Takahata into something both realistic and magical. The English dub aids the movieÔÇÖs ability to catapult you into a completely different world, and sometimes looking at the subtitles can take away from the magic these producers intended to create. With their acclaimed fame, the studio has managed to form a pretty famous English voice casting, with the likes of Christian Bale voicing Howl in HowlÔÇÖs Moving Castle and Daveigh Chase as Chihiro in Spirited Away who also voiced Lilo in Lilo and Stitch. Chase seems to capture ChihiroÔÇÖs emotions a lot more vividly than her subbed counterpart, and the charming nature of BaleÔÇÖs voice matches perfectly with HowlÔÇÖs charisma. I feel the English dub for these movies is definitely hard to compare to and heightens the immersion for viewers purely through the familiarity of the actors, and the chance to be consumed by Hayao MiyazakiÔÇÖs worlds, but sometimes the original is better left untouched in Jujutsu KaisenÔÇÖs case.
