Dubtitle

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A dubtitle is a term for a subtitled show recorded on DVD in which the subtitles are merely transcriptions of the dialogue spoken on the dubbed soundtrack rather than a translation of the original dialogue, without any localization. Also, to fully translate the dialogue would often require lots of on-screen notes to explain cultural peculiarities; a dubtitle does without these. The term was popularized by anime fans to refer somewhat disparagingly to this practice. Earlier, some VHS localizations would employ dubtitles for their original language tapes as well. Most companies releasing translations no longer use the method exclusively.

The medium of commercially recording foreign-language movies or television shows on a DVD has developed two options for each disc. A disc can now play either the soundtrack spoken by the actors in the original language or that dubbed by a process of being partially translated and partially rewritten for the targeted audience. The second option, independent of the first, is that it can also display subtitles beneath the picture. Hence one can play at home a show with a soundtrack that one does not understand, but which is explained by the subtitles, something that used to be accessible for some foreign films in "art-house" cinemas.

"Proto-dubtitles" refer to dubtitles which are early versions of the dub script and are thus not even accurate to the actual, final dubbed version. The Ghost Sweeper Mikami R1 DVD and R1 boxset DVDs of Zeta Gundam use proto-dubtitle scripts and occasional display subtitles for which there is no dialogue on either the Japanese or English dubbed audio tracks.

[edit] Problems

Using the dubbed dialogue for subtitling can sometimes work, but is often considered problematic because spoken language needs to be more natural and less formal than written language.

Another problem of dubtitling complained of by fans is that dubbed anime dialogue sometimes departs drastically from the original Japanese, while subtitles need to stay close to it, since they are read at the same time as the original soundtrack is heard. Someone who listens to loosely translated dubbed dialogue may be satisfied with it, while the same looseness in subtitles can be highly distracting for viewers with even a slight grasp of the original language.

Even viewers who do not understand any of the original audio language can find dubtitles exceedingly annoying if they are synched to the dub track and not the original language track: this means that the text will not appear at the same time the speakers are delivering their lines.

It can sometimes even be rather humorous. Many Hong Kong movies had English subtitles displayed on the film for international releases of DVD and VHS, that were less than grammatically perfect. Some examples of phrases used include; Fist of Legend - "stroke to death", High Risk - "take her advantage".