I always enjoyed subs, but wished I could understand the original Japanese, so I took Japanese classes in HS and college to learn the language. Now I can’t help but listen to the Japanese AND try to read the subtitles at the same time. (ー_ー*)
This is like when I put on dubs and subs, because I’m lazy and hard of hearing! It’s fun because they never use the same translation for both so you get to watch the two fight it out over what’s being said!
Idk if anyone else has this but i get a weird flow state where i read the subtitles and its like the characters are talking in english but i if think about it, it stops.
Not sure if I’ve experienced that, but I have watched something in English with no subtitles after watching something in another language with subtitles and been unable to understand what they’re saying until my brain adjusts.
As long as you can read fast enough, you don’t miss anything. I hate it when video games have subtitles but you can’t skip to the next line because I’ve finished reading what they said way before they’re done saying it.
Honestly yeah. I disable subtitles even if I’d like them because I read it faster than they speak. The only anime subtitles that were going too fast for me for a while were Teekyuu but that clearly was meant to be for native audience so the pacing was as such.
My issue with video game subtitles is actually the opposite problem. The subtitles have finished appearing, but the voiced line is still going. It’s especially bad when you’re playing in an audio language you can’t understand. (Some Japanese video games still don’t have English voice acting. Yakuza, for example, only recently started doing English voice acting.)
I prefer subs but as a person who has to be doing something I tend to watch dubs so I can multitask. My husband thinks I’m a monster but that scarf didn’t knit itself ya know?
I have watched anime for quite some time now and started watching subbed, when I realized that the animes I liked were way ahead in the original version. Like a couple of hundred episodes for One Piece as an example. I got used to reading the subs in my peripheral vision. There may be some instances where I have to do a double take if there is an unusual word, but that’s very rare. English isn’t my first language, but english subs are more easily available. Outside of anime, I always choose the original version with subs as well because it feels more natural to me and I’m used to reading subs anyway. One good example is Sopranos, where the dub in my language doesn’t have any Italian accent whatsoever. The great mafia atmosphere of the original gets totally lost that way.
That aside I totally get watching the dubbed version. Today in times of simul-dubs you don’t have to wait for years at a time. You can watch dubs as background noise. The voice actors are usually great, even if not as consistently incredible as the originals. I always watch dubs with my family and friends, often shows or movies I already watched subbed. Watching something together for me isn’t about the show alone but more about experiencing it together. Watching subbed would defeat that experience as you couldn’t talk to each other as easily as with the dubbed version in your native language.
TLDR: alone I watch subs for the original experience, with others I watch dubs for the experience of watching together.
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