Dubbing and Subtitles

 

I almost always have subtitles turned on when I watch things.  I find I miss dialogue - people talk too quickly, they mumble, the soundtrack is too loud, they have an accent I'm not competent at interpreting, and of course I'm old and my hearing is no doubt not what it was.  It's not just a matter of turning the sound up since that doesn't help with mumbling or very low voices and I don't like it too loud, nor do I want to disturb my neighbours.  (I have always had some problems with hearing people in real life, not that I can't hear the sound, but somethings I can't distinguish the words. Especially if there is background noise or other conversations going on.)

Usually if something not in English I watch with English subtitles and the original language. Sometimes the voices they use for dubbing are so totally incongruous with the actors real voice, and with the emotion shown by the original actor.  There are of course many levels of competence in dubbing and often I just try to avoid watching peoples' mouths.  

Occasionally I watch with both subtitles and dubbing in English.  With some shows it is amazing how much discrepancy there is between the two.  It can be minor but sometimes  it's like there are two entirely different versions of the dialogue.  Sometimes it's like there are two entirely different plots.