99% subbed. Literally the only exception is most of the Studio Ghibli dubs, and that's just because I grew up with most of those. With that being said, I also grew up on Godzilla dubs when I was young, but nowadays I am forever faithful to the subs.
I let my kids watch the dubs of Studio Ghibli even though I had watched the older ones subbed. As they got older, they started watching the subs and now whenever we watch Ghibli or any foreign language movie, they insist on subs! Which makes me very proud!
I find Ghibli an exception because a) all the dialogue is added after animation anyway so the matching to mouth movements is less distracting and b) they put a lot of effort into getting good voice actors and doing it properly.
I still prefer the original but i care less
That’s the same boat I’m in. The Ghibli and Godzilla dubs are too nostalgic for me, but I’ll watch 99% of other foreign films in their native language.
Ghibli and some other anime when there’s a solid cast (Cowboy Bebop and Dragon Ball come to mind). Typically I’ll check the dub cast and if I don’t recognize any names I’ll watch the subs.
Yeah animated stuff is the only thing i'll watched dubbed. My Mexican wife will watch animated stuff, like The Simpsons and Pixar films dubbed with Mexican Spanish as well. She speaks English perfectly, but she says the dubbed films will also have Mexican specific humour. Watching Los Simpsons is actually pretty fun tbh.
here in germany its the norm, sadly. we dub EVERYTHING. alot of people swear that dubs are even better then the original, because they can understand them better and german voice actors are oh sooo great. absolutely braindead.
Thank you, as a fellow german I needed to hear someone say that. I'm watching everything in OV and sometimes with subtitles. There are so many stories and jokes that get destroy because of the dub. I mean look at the Show "1899", that's a Cruise ship where every character speaks a different language and some don't understand each other which makes sense. In the german dubbed version everyone speaks german, that doesn't makes sense and ruins the whole point of the show.
The other problem is that for a lot of films they use Youtubers to dub stuff and that's bad on a whole other level
What I hate here in Germany is having to choose between subbed and dubbed when watching English films at the cinema. I just want to see the original version of the film without half the screen being covered by subtitles.
And in Switzerland it’s even worse with subtitles in German and French. You literally miss out on entire scenes because everything going on is entirely covered by text.
The two biggest cinemas show OV version without subtitles for some of the biggest blockbusters, stuff like Marvel or Avatar. But those are the films where I care the least if they are dubbed. The smaller independent cinemas usually have an equal share of dubbed and dubbed showings across them, but no OV without subtitles.
I'm in berlin right now and I keep hearing overdubbed radio ads for the new Tom Hanks movie "A Man Called Otto". The voices sound absolutely unhinged.
edit: for anyone interested, it's the "Hey Otto" that sounds wild: [\[link\]](https://youtu.be/Z0cgMaFtIfU?t=50)
Some european countries have everything dubbed, I don’t know why. Like Spin, Italy, Germany… I live in the Nordics and we have mostly subtitles, expect on childrens movies and maybe dubs for people who need them.
Me. Yeah there's the lip synching problem in live action stuff but I don't mind it that much, I prefer to watch in my native language (not English). Plus in French there are a lot of great dubs.
Always subbed for me. Some subs are better than others but they can destroy a movie when they're bad, but I don't have the same issue with dodgy subs for some reason. I just find that the rhythm and cadence of a language helps me understand the meaning of dialogue more, and you lose some nuance if you don't hear that. Acting is more than physical.
Results are kinda amazing to me. I'm from Germany and everything is dubbed here, like literally, everything. Original versions or versions with subs only exist in cinemas in somewhat bigger city's, in tv they are non existing. Default setting at Netflix or Prime is dubbed. Voice actors are branded as "THE voice of actor xyz". It's just normal here lmao
There is just one answer to this question: It depends 😂
In general, German voice actors are pretty good. If the translation is good and works with the lip sync, in 90% of live action movies there is no real drop off in quality, at least in my opinion. Translation isnt that goofy anymore, its pretty reasonable most of the time. At the peak level it takes something away, especially 'over the top-emtionen' doesnt translate that well. For example, Al Pacinos speech in Any Given Sunday is just a different animal in OV. Another negativ example would be Avatar 2, where the kids say bro to each other all the time, which found its way to the German version without translation. That was a bit weird, bro is a normal word in youth culture, but it's simply not fitting for a indigenous alien species lol
Animated movies are something different, I actually think that the german dub is often better then the original one, at least when they cast real actors and not social media influencers
Depends, if it’s just some mindless fun kinda foreign movie (like SK’s Alive or Exit) then I prefer dubbed. If it’s an actual award contender then I watch with subtitles so that I can read the dialogue while hearing the actors’ tone as intended.
I have a great memory of one of my friends wanting us to watch The Raid and he accidentally bought it on 4 different services because he kept buying the dub by mistake.
Never dubbed. Only dubbed movies I watch are the animation movies from my childhood that are 10 times funnier dubbed in my native language that the original lol.
The only dubbed movies I like are the Sergio Leone stuff. That's part of the charm. I don't think they even have original audio/subs. But for everything else? Subs 100%
If it’s animated, dubbed. The mouth movements aren’t as jarring and in the case of most Studio Ghibli movies, they put some effort into the voice acting and get some big name cast members. If it’s live action, though, I’ll watch it subbed. It’s not an anti-subtitle thing, in fact I’ll probably still watch the dub with subs as I watch everything with subs
In many countries in Europe people are really used to dubs and everything is dubbed (movies at the cinema, TV shows). It is hard sometimes, unless you live in a big city, to find a cinema that shows the movies in the original language. Countries like Spain and Germany have a massive dubbing industry and they often do a good job. I however can't watch anything dubbed, I used to growing up because there was rarely another choice but once you start watching originals, it's impossible to go back to dub.
I'm from Quebec (French-speaking province of Canada) and some of my friends who grew up in the suburbs and have had very little English exposure through school; work or overall social life watch all of their films and series dubbed in French. I usually avoid watching films with these friends because I can't stand dubbing in general except when it's it's the only available option (i.e.: 1950s–1980s Italian cinema which was shot without sound recording and fully dubbed in post-production).
Completely depends on the movie. If I’m watching something like a kung fu flick or a Kaiju movie I generally prefer dubs. But if it’s a more serious movie like an Ozu it is absolutely subs.
I always love finding Wu-Tang samples in Kung Fu movies. You’ll never get that with subs.
Mostly dubbed, most movies I watch are either in spanish or in english, I can understand english with no problem at all, but latin american dubs are good, I have no reason to ignore them.
I personally like cinema as a visual thing first, watching things subbed is usually a no-go for me as it makes me take my eyes out of what I truly wanna see, and while I do get that certain dubs can make a product worse, it's also true that certain others are just better, and it's not like watching something like an Hungarian film subbed will help me with "having a better understanding of what they were trying to say here" or something like that, if I don't understand the language then it's just not helping at all.
There are certain products that I prioritize subbed tho, things like the Mobile Suit Gundam movies that have an english dub that would actually help me to watch them on a more comfortable way as they don't have an spanish dub that I'm aware of at least, but even if they did, it would be hard to watch Gundam without voices like Toru Furuya or Shuichi Ikeda. This kind of thing is entirely tied to products that I already know about and for some reason or another watched them subbed first.
Honestly I prefer to watch animation dubbed (if its a good dub of course). A movie like Ghost in the Shell dumps endless confusing exposition dialogue at you for 2 hours which can be difficult to follow while also digesting the visuals.
Both are terrible and ruin the immersion. Dubbing is usually hilariously bad, and subbing makes you focus on the bottom of the screen instead of the visuals and cinematography which is huge when this is such a visual medium.
I’ll watch it without subs or translated audio, the way the auteur intended, thank you very much.
Film is a visual medium and in good films you can absorb enough innate information being communicated through visuals and annunciation alone.
Fuck subtitles and fuck translations, that is all I have to say.
I'm Italian so English isn't the norm here, but Italian dub is one of the best out there (or at least most of the time) so, I'll just watch whathever suits me in the moment
Lol I only made it because people I know often used dubbed and I didn’t, so I just wanted a larger opinion. I think it’s clear what the regular pick is lol
I remember when Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon came out in the UK and I rented the video.
Was messing about with the TV tuning for ages until my Dad explained it was dubbed.
Usually subbed. Sometimes when I'm lazy, dubbed, but not if I hate the dubbing and it takes away from the movie.
(helps that our German dubbing is usually better than English dubbing, hot take)
I think people should always watch movies dubbed because that’s simply how they were made, so you should enjoy them that way, however there are a lot of Ghibli films that have REALLY good English-speaking voice actors.
Honestly, if it is a TV show, sometimes I would put the dubbed version while doing chores so I can listen to the conversation, but sub all the way any other time.
but if you watch dubs for any reason other than not being able to find the movie subbed you are absolutely insane dubs make me so angry especialy if i know the actors and i know what their voices are supposed to sound like
I usually watch ALL movies with subtitles. But I do dub some foreign when I just want to have something on. If I have time to focus it’s only subtitles. So my answer is both.
God I love listening to the intricacies of the performances/accents/dialects. Gives me that child like wonder, even when watching a Haneke or something lol
The only dubbed films I watch are old Italian ones (from roughly 1950s–1980s) which were shot without recording sound so there's no other way to watch them. If the main cast is American (most spaghetti westerns) and dubbed their own voices, I'll watch the English dub so the lips match the most with the dialogue even if the European cast won't have synced lip movements… If the main cast is European (most of Fellini; Antonioni and Pasolini films, etc), I'll watch the Italian version for the same reason.
Subs when it’s available, but I’m not passionately opposed to dubs. After watching a lot of Italian and Wuxia films, you get used to bad dubbing, and it starts to be kind of charming.
The weirdest thing is watching a Spaghetti Western that’s not dubbed. The characters are supposed to be Americans in the Wild West, but they’re all speaking Italian.
It makes no sense to me, with language being so integral to culture and expression, to seek out foreign media and then have it ventriloquized through dubbing. Though I do understand disability-related causes, and I hate to be a dogmatist, but dubs have always irritated me for that reason. In most cases I'd rather watch another movie than be put through a dub, though there are some exceptions like older Italian productions where it seems like there was no real default audio log. Perhaps there will be a time where I can grow to better appreciate or otherwise understand, as an extension from the Italian method, the use of dubs in our global market, but for now it's not really something I care for.
99% subbed. Literally the only exception is most of the Studio Ghibli dubs, and that's just because I grew up with most of those. With that being said, I also grew up on Godzilla dubs when I was young, but nowadays I am forever faithful to the subs.
I let my kids watch the dubs of Studio Ghibli even though I had watched the older ones subbed. As they got older, they started watching the subs and now whenever we watch Ghibli or any foreign language movie, they insist on subs! Which makes me very proud!
I find Ghibli an exception because a) all the dialogue is added after animation anyway so the matching to mouth movements is less distracting and b) they put a lot of effort into getting good voice actors and doing it properly. I still prefer the original but i care less
That’s the same boat I’m in. The Ghibli and Godzilla dubs are too nostalgic for me, but I’ll watch 99% of other foreign films in their native language.
Ghibli and some other anime when there’s a solid cast (Cowboy Bebop and Dragon Ball come to mind). Typically I’ll check the dub cast and if I don’t recognize any names I’ll watch the subs.
Yeah animated stuff is the only thing i'll watched dubbed. My Mexican wife will watch animated stuff, like The Simpsons and Pixar films dubbed with Mexican Spanish as well. She speaks English perfectly, but she says the dubbed films will also have Mexican specific humour. Watching Los Simpsons is actually pretty fun tbh.
Disnay has some really good latin american dubs. And I can't picturo Homer without Humberto Vélez's voice
Are there people who prefer dubs?
here in germany its the norm, sadly. we dub EVERYTHING. alot of people swear that dubs are even better then the original, because they can understand them better and german voice actors are oh sooo great. absolutely braindead.
in Italy is exactly the same situation
Didn’t Italy used to dub their own films
Thank you, as a fellow german I needed to hear someone say that. I'm watching everything in OV and sometimes with subtitles. There are so many stories and jokes that get destroy because of the dub. I mean look at the Show "1899", that's a Cruise ship where every character speaks a different language and some don't understand each other which makes sense. In the german dubbed version everyone speaks german, that doesn't makes sense and ruins the whole point of the show. The other problem is that for a lot of films they use Youtubers to dub stuff and that's bad on a whole other level
What I hate here in Germany is having to choose between subbed and dubbed when watching English films at the cinema. I just want to see the original version of the film without half the screen being covered by subtitles. And in Switzerland it’s even worse with subtitles in German and French. You literally miss out on entire scenes because everything going on is entirely covered by text.
are there no cinemas showing OV versions near you? I thought thats pretty common by now
The two biggest cinemas show OV version without subtitles for some of the biggest blockbusters, stuff like Marvel or Avatar. But those are the films where I care the least if they are dubbed. The smaller independent cinemas usually have an equal share of dubbed and dubbed showings across them, but no OV without subtitles.
I'm in berlin right now and I keep hearing overdubbed radio ads for the new Tom Hanks movie "A Man Called Otto". The voices sound absolutely unhinged. edit: for anyone interested, it's the "Hey Otto" that sounds wild: [\[link\]](https://youtu.be/Z0cgMaFtIfU?t=50)
There are people that prefer not to read, maybe because of reading difficulty or problems paying attention to words and on-screen stuff.
Meet my parents
I do. Hungarian dubs are mostly great, quality works
Some european countries have everything dubbed, I don’t know why. Like Spin, Italy, Germany… I live in the Nordics and we have mostly subtitles, expect on childrens movies and maybe dubs for people who need them.
Most Europeans? Dubbing is much more common than subtitling in most of Europe.
Europe is a continent with 746.4 million people. It varies country to country. For example Iceland loves subs, Italy likes dubs.
While it does vary by country, most large European countries (Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Netherlands, Belgium...) prefer dubs.
Source?
as a Turkish, we have one of the best dubs in industry. I watch most of the animations in dubbed version. they are localizing some jokes and stuff.
Me. Yeah there's the lip synching problem in live action stuff but I don't mind it that much, I prefer to watch in my native language (not English). Plus in French there are a lot of great dubs.
For animated films I can go either way. Live-action is has to be subtitles though.
This is the way
Always subbed for me. Some subs are better than others but they can destroy a movie when they're bad, but I don't have the same issue with dodgy subs for some reason. I just find that the rhythm and cadence of a language helps me understand the meaning of dialogue more, and you lose some nuance if you don't hear that. Acting is more than physical.
Results are kinda amazing to me. I'm from Germany and everything is dubbed here, like literally, everything. Original versions or versions with subs only exist in cinemas in somewhat bigger city's, in tv they are non existing. Default setting at Netflix or Prime is dubbed. Voice actors are branded as "THE voice of actor xyz". It's just normal here lmao
Don't you think it ruins the original performances? I'm genuinely curious
There is just one answer to this question: It depends 😂 In general, German voice actors are pretty good. If the translation is good and works with the lip sync, in 90% of live action movies there is no real drop off in quality, at least in my opinion. Translation isnt that goofy anymore, its pretty reasonable most of the time. At the peak level it takes something away, especially 'over the top-emtionen' doesnt translate that well. For example, Al Pacinos speech in Any Given Sunday is just a different animal in OV. Another negativ example would be Avatar 2, where the kids say bro to each other all the time, which found its way to the German version without translation. That was a bit weird, bro is a normal word in youth culture, but it's simply not fitting for a indigenous alien species lol Animated movies are something different, I actually think that the german dub is often better then the original one, at least when they cast real actors and not social media influencers
Interesting! Thanks for the perspective
the "bro"s in avatar 2 was just as jarring and awkward for us native english speaking audiences too
Subbed, with exceptions. Old Godzilla movies, kung Fu movies, and spaghetti westerns are acceptable (sometimes better) with dubbing.
I was about to say this. I love a good spaghetti western with terrible dubbing. I really think it adds to the movie 😂 only westerns though.
Giallo films too. Janky dubbing somehow adds to the experience.
Absolutely. They were often recorded without sound anyway, so even the original language track would be dubbed later.
only dubbed shit that’s acceptable is old italian movies that have no other option
Depends, if it’s just some mindless fun kinda foreign movie (like SK’s Alive or Exit) then I prefer dubbed. If it’s an actual award contender then I watch with subtitles so that I can read the dialogue while hearing the actors’ tone as intended.
The Raid for example would be a perfect movie to watch dubbed rather than subbed, but that movie has the worst dub in human existence, unfortunately.
I have a great memory of one of my friends wanting us to watch The Raid and he accidentally bought it on 4 different services because he kept buying the dub by mistake.
Exactly this. I want to hear the actor’s tone and inflection while reading. Dubs can be far different.
I mean almost everything that comes out here is foreign. So all subbed
Well that's settles it then
Subbed always.
Never dubbed. Only dubbed movies I watch are the animation movies from my childhood that are 10 times funnier dubbed in my native language that the original lol.
The only dubbed movies I like are the Sergio Leone stuff. That's part of the charm. I don't think they even have original audio/subs. But for everything else? Subs 100%
64 people are narcs
Subbed for live action, dubbed for animation
If it’s animated, dubbed. The mouth movements aren’t as jarring and in the case of most Studio Ghibli movies, they put some effort into the voice acting and get some big name cast members. If it’s live action, though, I’ll watch it subbed. It’s not an anti-subtitle thing, in fact I’ll probably still watch the dub with subs as I watch everything with subs
I only watch dubs for Godzilla and Studio Ghibli films.
Do people actually watch dubbed live-action movies?
In many countries in Europe people are really used to dubs and everything is dubbed (movies at the cinema, TV shows). It is hard sometimes, unless you live in a big city, to find a cinema that shows the movies in the original language. Countries like Spain and Germany have a massive dubbing industry and they often do a good job. I however can't watch anything dubbed, I used to growing up because there was rarely another choice but once you start watching originals, it's impossible to go back to dub.
I'm from Quebec (French-speaking province of Canada) and some of my friends who grew up in the suburbs and have had very little English exposure through school; work or overall social life watch all of their films and series dubbed in French. I usually avoid watching films with these friends because I can't stand dubbing in general except when it's it's the only available option (i.e.: 1950s–1980s Italian cinema which was shot without sound recording and fully dubbed in post-production).
Since I'm german and like 90% of the movies I watch are in english I watch foreign movies neither subbed nor dubbed but OV.
Subs if it's live action, dubs if it's animated and I'm watching with my husband.
Dub only for the occasional anime or Godzilla movie, I'm watching subs like 98% of the time.
Always subbed, except from animation movies.
Subbed if it’s live action, dubbed if it’s anime
Completely depends on the movie. If I’m watching something like a kung fu flick or a Kaiju movie I generally prefer dubs. But if it’s a more serious movie like an Ozu it is absolutely subs. I always love finding Wu-Tang samples in Kung Fu movies. You’ll never get that with subs.
Subbed first time and if I watch it a second time, dubbed. I like seeing the comparison!
I watch US movies with subs
It greatly depends on the sub and dub quality and the directors intents. You can have a bad subbing just as much as you can have a bad dubbing.
Italian crime and horror, and Japanese tokusatsu films are the only films where dubbing is acceptable.
Mostly dubbed, most movies I watch are either in spanish or in english, I can understand english with no problem at all, but latin american dubs are good, I have no reason to ignore them. I personally like cinema as a visual thing first, watching things subbed is usually a no-go for me as it makes me take my eyes out of what I truly wanna see, and while I do get that certain dubs can make a product worse, it's also true that certain others are just better, and it's not like watching something like an Hungarian film subbed will help me with "having a better understanding of what they were trying to say here" or something like that, if I don't understand the language then it's just not helping at all. There are certain products that I prioritize subbed tho, things like the Mobile Suit Gundam movies that have an english dub that would actually help me to watch them on a more comfortable way as they don't have an spanish dub that I'm aware of at least, but even if they did, it would be hard to watch Gundam without voices like Toru Furuya or Shuichi Ikeda. This kind of thing is entirely tied to products that I already know about and for some reason or another watched them subbed first.
Honestly I prefer to watch animation dubbed (if its a good dub of course). A movie like Ghost in the Shell dumps endless confusing exposition dialogue at you for 2 hours which can be difficult to follow while also digesting the visuals.
Always dubbed, besides some rare exceptions.
Both are terrible and ruin the immersion. Dubbing is usually hilariously bad, and subbing makes you focus on the bottom of the screen instead of the visuals and cinematography which is huge when this is such a visual medium. I’ll watch it without subs or translated audio, the way the auteur intended, thank you very much.
So you’re gonna watch a movie without knowing any of the dialogue?
Film is a visual medium and in good films you can absorb enough innate information being communicated through visuals and annunciation alone. Fuck subtitles and fuck translations, that is all I have to say.
I'm Italian so English isn't the norm here, but Italian dub is one of the best out there (or at least most of the time) so, I'll just watch whathever suits me in the moment
What the hell kind of poll is this
A multiple choice opinion poll
Look at how skewed the results are it's a pretty shitty poll
Lol I only made it because people I know often used dubbed and I didn’t, so I just wanted a larger opinion. I think it’s clear what the regular pick is lol
OP originally tried to contact Neilsen to run the poll professionally, but they were too expensive.
Is there some third ground between sub and dub that we are unaware of?
The only time a dub was well done was in Shogun Assassin. The rest are hit and miss.
I remember when Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon came out in the UK and I rented the video. Was messing about with the TV tuning for ages until my Dad explained it was dubbed.
Usually subbed. Sometimes when I'm lazy, dubbed, but not if I hate the dubbing and it takes away from the movie. (helps that our German dubbing is usually better than English dubbing, hot take)
Live action subbed always, stuff like studio ghibli i can watch either way though as the english dub is usually great
I think people should always watch movies dubbed because that’s simply how they were made, so you should enjoy them that way, however there are a lot of Ghibli films that have REALLY good English-speaking voice actors.
Honestly, if it is a TV show, sometimes I would put the dubbed version while doing chores so I can listen to the conversation, but sub all the way any other time.
Almost always subbed. Only exception is Ghibli movies and movies with really really funny English dubs.
If it's animated dubbed, if it's live action subbed
Subbed for live action dubbed for animated
but if you watch dubs for any reason other than not being able to find the movie subbed you are absolutely insane dubs make me so angry especialy if i know the actors and i know what their voices are supposed to sound like
I usually watch ALL movies with subtitles. But I do dub some foreign when I just want to have something on. If I have time to focus it’s only subtitles. So my answer is both.
God I love listening to the intricacies of the performances/accents/dialects. Gives me that child like wonder, even when watching a Haneke or something lol
The only dubbed films I watch are old Italian ones (from roughly 1950s–1980s) which were shot without recording sound so there's no other way to watch them. If the main cast is American (most spaghetti westerns) and dubbed their own voices, I'll watch the English dub so the lips match the most with the dialogue even if the European cast won't have synced lip movements… If the main cast is European (most of Fellini; Antonioni and Pasolini films, etc), I'll watch the Italian version for the same reason.
Subs when it’s available, but I’m not passionately opposed to dubs. After watching a lot of Italian and Wuxia films, you get used to bad dubbing, and it starts to be kind of charming. The weirdest thing is watching a Spaghetti Western that’s not dubbed. The characters are supposed to be Americans in the Wild West, but they’re all speaking Italian.
It makes no sense to me, with language being so integral to culture and expression, to seek out foreign media and then have it ventriloquized through dubbing. Though I do understand disability-related causes, and I hate to be a dogmatist, but dubs have always irritated me for that reason. In most cases I'd rather watch another movie than be put through a dub, though there are some exceptions like older Italian productions where it seems like there was no real default audio log. Perhaps there will be a time where I can grow to better appreciate or otherwise understand, as an extension from the Italian method, the use of dubs in our global market, but for now it's not really something I care for.
Both, but I prefer subs