Poll

I prefer to watch a Studio Ghibli film...

In it's original Japanese with subtitles.
21 (61.8%)
Dubbed into English.
7 (20.6%)
It really doesn't matter.
6 (17.6%)

Total Members Voted: 34

Author Topic: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese  (Read 11418 times)

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #50 on: July 09, 2015, 11:03:55 AM »
Cheers mate.
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smirnoff

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #51 on: July 09, 2015, 12:13:37 PM »
Whereas I felt Starred Up wasn't appreciated so much if the dialogue wasn't native. I should think someone said "do one" at some point during that film noff. When they were being polite.

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Teproc

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #52 on: July 09, 2015, 01:09:46 PM »
I know France does but they also have original versions. What you get depends on the cinema or the projection you choose.

I can confirm that, only I'll add that you only get subtitled movies in big cities. Where I live (around 250K inhabitants), you can see subtitled arthouse films, but don't have that option for anything outside of that (mostly blockbusters, but also includes something like Ex Machina), which means the random movie-goer will always watch dubbed movies.

I believe everything gets dubbed in Germany as well, though I think subtitled movies might be more easily available to everyone. It's widely considered here that dubbed movies are a major factor in our generally awful level of English (though obviously not the only one).

I watched Starred Up with subtitles on but I only used them when I needed to. How cool does that make me?

I used to make fun of Americans having to use subtitles forr Australian/British movies (or TV shows, Misfits for example), then I watched Mommy. Turned the subtitles right on, though it did get easier after a while.
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #53 on: July 09, 2015, 01:38:01 PM »
I believe everything gets dubbed in Germany as well, though I think subtitled movies might be more easily available to everyone. It's widely considered here that dubbed movies are a major factor in our generally awful level of English (though obviously not the only one).

I think the TV dub laws and preferences are more responsible for that than cinema.
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smirnoff

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #54 on: July 09, 2015, 01:50:12 PM »
I mean to me I just don't get the same level of emotional responsiveness out of the Japanese language track. They speak loudly or softly, and in context I can tell if they're angry or not, but beyond that there's very little in the way of nuance to be picked up. The English language dubbers aren't simply mimicking the tone of the Japanese track, as if it were a rudimentary Jackie Chan dub, they're putting in real thoughtful performances themselves, and in many cases may be more talented than the original actors.

And while the Japanese language track may reflect Miyazaki's vision, it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be your favourite. He's directing people to read the same words, by and large, as the English language director... and they're both making judgments about what they believe sounds right. And while nobody would question Miyazaki's adeptness as an animator and storyteller, I've never heard the argument that he's also a superior caster and director of voice talent. To my ear, his voice actors sound every bit as Japanese (that is to say, typical) as any other anime I've watched. None of it is distinguishable. None of it is intelligible. I wouldn't know a good Japanese voice performance from a bad one.

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #55 on: July 09, 2015, 01:53:42 PM »
I mean to me I just don't get the same level of emotional responsiveness out of the Japanese language track. They speak loudly or softly, and in context I can tell if they're angry or not, but beyond that there's very little in the way of nuance to be picked up. The English language dubbers aren't simply mimicking the tone of the Japanese track, as if it were a rudimentary Jackie Chan dub, they're putting in real thoughtful performances themselves, and in many cases may be more talented than the original actors.

And while the Japanese language track may reflect Miyazaki's vision, it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be your favourite. He's directing people to read the same words, by and large, as the English language director... and they're both making judgments about what they believe sounds right. And while nobody would question Miyazaki's adeptness as an animator and storyteller, I've never heard the argument that he's also a superior caster and director of voice talent. To my ear, his voice actors sound every bit as Japanese (that is to say, typical) as any other anime I've watched. None of it is distinguishable. None of it is intelligible. I wouldn't know a good Japanese voice performance from a bad one.

But isn't there something to be said about being exposed to different manners of speech and inflection ?
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1SO

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #56 on: July 09, 2015, 01:57:34 PM »
Japanese kids tend to sound more annoying, especially when performing for animation.


'noff, I was hoping you'd jump in here because you're a big fan of Rumble in the Bronx. Ever watch it subtitled? Ever desire to?
« Last Edit: July 09, 2015, 01:59:13 PM by 1SO »

Junior

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #57 on: July 09, 2015, 01:58:15 PM »
The Miyazaki doc that was filmed during the making of The Wind Rises goes into some detail on why Hideaki Anno was chosen to play Jiro. It talks about his soft but gravelly voice that fits the character quite well. I tend to agree.
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Teproc

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #58 on: July 09, 2015, 02:57:49 PM »
None of it is intelligible. I wouldn't know a good Japanese voice performance from a bad one.

While you obviously won't approach a performance in the same way when you can't understand the individual words, you still can have an opinion on the performance. You comment yourself on tone and volume changes, those are clearly a huge part of a vocal performance.

As far as Miyazaki not being known for casting great voice talent... perhaps that is precisely because many people watch his movies dubbed and thus don't have an opinion in that matter ? If he was known for that in Japan, I wouldn't know about it, though maybe people on here who are more knowledgeable about cinema in general would, I don't know.

I wish I remembered my initial viewings (dubbed in French) of his movies better, but I know they all improved on rewatch for me, especially Totoro, which would theoretically be the worse since it's mostly two kids and there's a decent amount of screaming/crying. Maturity might be a bigger factor than dubbed/subbed in that regard, and we're not even talking about the same dubs though so maybe the English dubs are special. I suppose that wouldn't be surprising if Pixar was involved.

I think the TV dub laws and preferences are more responsible for that than cinema.

You're right of course, I see it more as a whole but TV probably does more harm than cinema on that level.

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DarkeningHumour

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #59 on: July 09, 2015, 03:00:32 PM »
Bonus point : Original version adds a foreignness to the movie that I feel is welcome. Like the Indian languages in Apocalypto.
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