How to Decide between Subtitling or Dubbing

A subtitle is a caption at the bottom of a movie or television screen that translates or transcribes the dialogue or narrative. Dubbing is a process where the original audio is mixed with the audio of another language, producing a video in a different language. Both methods have been commonly used in the media and entertainment industry and each has its own benefits based on the purpose and preference of the target audience. Let’s explore these two audiovisual translation methods to help you decide which is the most suitable for your product.

Audience Prefers Subtitles

Whenever new movies are released in the cinema, the film has already come with subtitles to make these movies enjoyable for local movie enthusiasts. For some streaming service platforms or DVDs, a film, tv shows, or series, the subtitles would have to be available in several different language options. A survey held by a learning platform concludes that millennials are more likely to use the subtitle feature by 53%. This number could keep growing as the internet and video platforms introduce closed captions. Here are the reasons subtitling is high in demand:

1. Keeps the original voices: some audiences prefer to hear how the original voice actors act the roles or some people want to learn how the language is pronounced correctly.
2. Cost-effective: subtitling requires fewer human resources than dubbing, where dubbing requires you to hire a team of different people to do each role dialogue and a mixing team to input and mix the tape to the original record so the voice will match the lip in sync.
3. Accessibility: for hearing-impaired audiences, subtitles are very useful compared to dubbing. Subtitling has also come as a necessity when people are in some circumstances where they cannot turn the sound or volume.
4. Clarity: to get better clarity on accents or muffled background noise that could disturb audiences’ comprehension or understanding of a context.

Dubbing as a Personal Preference

While watching the screen, the undivided attention on the screen where all the actions are going on is what will enhance the overall experience.  Here are the reasons why dubbing service is preferable for some audiences:

1. Engage younger audiences: such as cartoons or baby tv shows, dubbing is more likely to be used to target young audiences who are not ready to read yet. Dubbing can also let them focus on the action on the screen rather than trying to read the text.
2. Improving dialogues in the native language: replacing the original voiced audio with a native experienced voice actor can bring a greater experience to watching tv shows. The voice actors bring emotions, intonations, and localised jokes into the production, allowing the local audience to have a more enjoyable experience in understanding foreign shows.
3. Ease of watching: it is less distracting to watch a show if it already comes in the familiar language to the ear.

Amid the rising popularity of online streaming platforms that offer a wide range of foreign movies or shows, both subtitling and dubbing each have their appeal to attract their audiences and are getting accustomed to having options where they could choose their preference. Subtitling and dubbing can help to overcome the language barrier and improve the watching experience. Providing both options on your platforms or productions will increase customer satisfaction and will affect sales eventually. In Elite Asia, we provide Voice Over, Subtitling, and Dubbing services that could help you to convey the essence of your content accurately to the audience. Our highly skilled and experienced translators will transcribe your content to match the local cultures without losing the essence of the content.