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  • weird and exotic UKweirdUK@cupoftea.social
    Oct 12, 2026, 6:37 AM

    Subtitles or dubbing
    In Germany it is quite normal to watch films that aren't German and those films are normally dubbed into German. Fortunately that is quite skillfully done, so you can hardly tell, that the voices aren't quite right. I've seen so much worse, when just one person speaks all the text and doesn't even try to act. Only very artsy films aren't dubbed and get subtitles.
    I hardly ever see films on UK TV, that aren't in English. How is that usually done? Do you ever watch films, that aren't in English? According to US TV shows, foreign films are only for the culture vultures and will have subtitles, so normal people won't watch them, because it is too exhausting to read all the time.

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  • weird and exotic UKweirdUK@cupoftea.social
    Oct 12, 2026, 6:37 AM

    Unfortunately dubbing has some disadvantages: It can be done well and you can still tell that the mouth movements don't quite fit. Puns don't translate and you don't learn the language. But the worst thing is, that they don't always use the same voice for the same actor and that is really annoying.
    For example the voice of Mr. Sulu in Star Trek was changed for the movies and he got the German voice of Alf.

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  • Mike 🇬🇧 🇪🇺MikeFromLFE@cupoftea.social
    Oct 12, 2026, 6:58 AM

    @weirdUK Theres a small number of films and series on BBC4 that aren't in English, but you're right it's uncommon.
    My wifr can't cope with subtitles normally so we rarely watch subtitled programmes.
    I will occasionally watch the news, or a documentary in French (on France24 or ARTE) without subtitles or dubbing, more to keep my language skills up to date than for enjoyment.
    We are too insular to accept foreign media, and there's too much American pap to fill the schedules with, that better, European work rarely gets seen.

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