|
The way I always approach this is that I think of the different audio tracks as different interpretations or adaptations of the work, and I try to judge them on their own merits.
The original audio track is the way the original director envisioned the work, so it has value. But the director never intended for the audience to have their eyes focused on the lower third of the screen the whole time -- until your listening comprehension (and subtitle glancing) skills improve sufficiently, you risk missing a lot of what's going on in the show visually and audibly as your brain focuses on reading. (I often notice that a lot of people on this forum end up missing subtle visual cues, and I wonder if this is because they're not paying enough attention to the full picture of what's going on due to reading the subs.)
Other audio tracks are adaptations of the source, with varying degrees of fidelity. The way it's adapted represents a series of decisions from multiple people involved, and these decisions may not always jive perfectly with the preferences of the more dedicated fans. But, when listening to a dub track in your native tongue, losing that language barrier can help you see and understand the show in different ways. Your eyes are able to absorb the full picture, and your brain registers the dialogue instinctively without a processing-delay. In another way of looking at it, that sort of immersive experience is what the original director intended for the audience in their own language. By the same token, there can be a bit of a culture shock when things that are deeply Japanese are acted out by actors who are clearly not Japanese, and that doesn't typically translate well. Not to mention the dubs have to deal with lip flaps, which makes it that much more complicated to sound natural and smooth. Usually the decisions made by the dub writers in those cases are critical, even if they're not always easy. Sometimes I find it interesting just to listen and see how they handled some of the tricky messes they were handed.
So anyway... I don't think it's necessarily a "vs." issue. People have preferences one way or another. I think there can be an advantage to some viewers to seek out the audio in their native language if it exists, perhaps even the acting leaves a bit to be desired. But I think there's value too in experiencing the show in its original "voice", even if that means a bit of reading to bridge the language gap.
(And yes, I know this topic has been done a million times. This thread will be merged and likely locked soon, but so long as things remain civil, might as well let people get it out of their systems from time-to-time.)
|