Opinions on Foreign Dubs

[TheBlackPaladin]

As a voice actor myself, I've always had something of a nerdy obsession with watching foreign dubs and comparing them. Not just with Dragon Ball, but with almost everything. I picked up the Avatar (James Cameron) Blu-Ray not too long ago and got teased by one of my buddies for joyfully exclaiming, "Dude--it's got FOUR audio tracks! The English, French, Spanish, AND Portuguese!" As such, I've always gotten a great kick out of watching all of those "dub comparison" videos for the Dragon Ball franchise.

However, in some ways it's really a moot point. One of the reasons I prefer watching anime dubbed is because I feel that since English is my native tongue, I can make concrete judgments about what I like and don't like about the acting. With other languages, even with subtitles, I can't really tell. I can only make generalizations (i.e. "the screams sounded intense here," or, "that line sounded wimpy there"). So, to all the other Daizex posters here who do speak another language fluently...are the other dubs good? What about the Mexican Spanish dub? The Brazilian Portuguese dub? The German dub? The Greek dub, whatever, you name it. Feel free to chime in and say...

a) What your native (or fluent) language in question is.
b) Whether or not you think your dub of Dragon Ball (DB, DBZ, or GT) is good.

Just curious, that's all. Thanks in advance!

[Gaffer Tape]

Heh, I foresee a lot of answers being:

a) English
b) No

And, yes, that is my answer. But I'd be very interested to hear from non-English speakers about their own dubs.

[Godo]

a) What your native (or fluent) language in question is.

It's Farsi, although I see Swedish as my native language too.

b) Whether or not you think your dub of Dragon Ball (DB, DBZ, or GT) is good.

Unfortunately, there is no Farsi nor a Swedish dub of DBZ. We have some of the the movies dubbed in Swedish, but that is all. And they are awful.

Other dubs I have experienced are Funi's dub, and the Spanish dub (I understand Spanish pretty well).
Funi's dub is awful in almost every aspect IMHO, although I like Vegeta's theme. The acting is horrid, as well as the script.

The Spanish dub is OK. It's not great, nor bad. It uses the original score and sound effects, and I like that. The VA's are OK, although some of them sound too baritone for my taste.
Now, I have no idea if the Spanish dub is the same as the Mexican dub. Someone has to enlighten me on that point.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Now, I have no idea if the Spanish dub is the same as the Mexican dub. Someone has to enlighten me on that point.

I was going to ask which one you were referring to. Yes, they are two different things. Apparently fans of the Mexican Spanish dub get very offended when you refer to their dub as "the Spanish dub," because Spain and Mexico got two different Spanish dubs (and they HATE the dub that Spain got). They usually prefer the term "Latino dub" instead. I tend to differentiate them by saying either "the Mexican Spanish dub" or "the European Spanish dub." I do a similar thing when differentiating between the Brazilian Portuguese dub and the European Portuguese dub (as they also received separate dubs).

Also, it might be worth noting that the vast majority of European dubs are actually based on the French dub. I don't know a ton about the foreign dubs--which is why I'm asking about it here--but one of the few things I do know is that most of the European dubs used the pre-censored French footage and based their scripts around the French dub scripts (much like how the Mexican Spanish dub of Dragon Ball ((Z)) Kai will be based on the FUNimation English dub...which is rather disappointing given that their dub of DBZ used the original Japanese source material).

So, I take it you were referring to the European Spanish dub?

[songohan619]

My native language is Norwegian, and the Moviedubs we got is pretty bud, but some of the actors, like the one for Vegeta, sounds pretty good.

[dbgtFO]

A) Danish
B) I find it hilariously bad and I don't like the fact that a lot of the voices are the same. So Raditz has the exact same voice as Tenshinhan, who has the exact same voice as God, who has the exact same voice as Freeza(who is awesome with that voice btw).
But back then(Fall 2002) I didn't really care about that and was simply happy, that we got a local dub, even though the quality wasn't the best and there actually was some minor degree of censorship(because it's based on the French version).

[Puto]

a) Portuguese
b) No. If you want to know why... just search YouTube for Opera Singer Ginyū or something.

[TheBlackPaladin]

a) Portuguese
b) No. If you want to know why... just search YouTube for Opera Singer Ginyū or something.

Ah...so you mean European Portuguese? That's one of my favorite foreign dubs but...not for the right reasons.

[Chibi Gohan]

a) English
b) No, script was the main issue imo.

[kaialone]

a)german
b) While its not neccesairly "good" I think its definitely enjoyable,and to me thats mainly that what matters in Dragonball

[penguintruth]

1) (American) English
2) DB's dub is tolerable. Z and GT's dubs are horrendous due to inaccurate scripts, problematic casting, and terrible performances. DBZ's English dub is essentially not DBZ. Kai's dub is good.

[DB_Fan1991]

1) English (American)
2)DB, DBZ, DBGT: tolerable. Yes even though the Z & GT dubs are criticized for their inaccurate scripts I still enjoyed them as even though that's the case the original story is kept which is what matters. DB Kai: perfect. Everything about the Kai dub is everything I wanted in a DB dub. Great voices, great script and an overall fun experience.

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

1.
American English

2.
DB(Z/GT): No!
DB Kai: Watchable, but half a decade too late.

[DB_Fan1991]

1.
American English

2.
DB(Z/GT): No!
DB Kai: Watchable, but half a decade too late.

As I always say better late than never.

[penguintruth]

Yes even though the Z & GT dubs are criticized for their inaccurate scripts I still enjoyed them as even though that's the case the original story is kept which is what matters.

You must be a huge fan of 4Kids' dub of One Piece, then. It also "keeps the original story". About as well as the DBZ dub does.

[GamingBuddha]

You must be a huge fan of 4Kids' dub of One Piece, then. It also "keeps the original story". About as well as the DBZ dub does.

Well, I'd say 4Kids's dub of One Piece was considerably worse just because of all of the censorship and edits. And they didn't even keep the original story since they edited out about 40 episodes.

For the English dub, I agree with DBfan.

1) English (American)
2)DB, DBZ, DBGT: tolerable. Yes even though the Z & GT dubs are criticized for their inaccurate scripts I still enjoyed them as even though that's the case the original story is kept which is what matters

I also speak Hindi/Urdu. I haven't seen much of the Hindi dub, but I have seen a few clips. I really like the voices from Dragon Ball like Kid Goku, Bulma, and Master Roshi, but I didn't find the Z ones as good. Goku's adult voice sounds way too serious, and Vegeta's is way too raspy. It seems like they got their scripts from Funimation, so I bet the scripts are less accurate than theirs. I don't think I've seen enough of the dub to give it a full review, but from what I have seen, I'd rate it a bit lower than Funi's. If you want to see some clips, you can check out this thread: http://daizex.fanboyreview.net/viewtopi ... =7&t=16287

[Daimo-Rukiri]

1.) English
2.) Had no problems with the voices, just the horrible scripts!!

[DB_Fan1991]

Yes even though the Z & GT dubs are criticized for their inaccurate scripts I still enjoyed them as even though that's the case the original story is kept which is what matters.

You must be a huge fan of 4Kids' dub of One Piece, then. It also "keeps the original story". About as well as the DBZ dub does.

Don't watch One Piece much, but even still I hate the 4Kids dub of it. FUNi's is much better. Don't make assumptions about me pease.

[penguintruth]

Don't watch One Piece much, but even still I hate the 4Kids dub of it. FUNi's is much better. Don't make assumptions about me pease.

You just proved my point. The 4Kids dub of One Piece is essentially the Funimation dub of DBZ. They're generally about the same thing as their Japanese versions, but they miss the point of proper characterizations. They removed the music and replaced it with simplified music and rewrote the dialogue heavily.

I always find it funny when somebody bashes the 4Kids dub of OP and then in the same breath praises the Funi dub of DBZ. Sure, the former is worse, since it cut out actual footage, but it wasn't worse by a lot. There was still the general lack of respect for the source material throughout. If children grew up watching that 4Kids dub of OP on Toonami instead of the DBZ dub, THAT would be the English dub some fans would argue is better than the Japanese version. Simply on the basis of having grown up watching it, as if there's any intrisic value to the things we liked as a child.

No English dub today could get away what the DBZ dub got away with, as far as rewriting the show, and using stereotypical voices and amateur VAs. If you did now what they did then, people would be incensed. But since people "grew up with" the DBZ dub, they're okay with it.

That doesn't necessarily apply directly to YOU personally, but I was trying to prove a general point.

[DB_Fan1991]

Don't watch One Piece much, but even still I hate the 4Kids dub of it. FUNi's is much better. Don't make assumptions about me pease.

You just proved my point. The 4Kids dub of One Piece is essentially the Funimation dub of DBZ. They're generally about the same thing as their Japanese versions, but they miss the point of proper characterizations. They removed the music and replaced it with simplified music and rewrote the dialogue heavily.

I always find it funny when somebody bashes the 4Kids dub of OP and then in the same breath praises the Funi dub of DBZ. Sure, the former is worse, since it cut out actual footage, but it wasn't worse by a lot. There was still the general lack of respect for the source material throughout. If children grew up watching that 4Kids dub of OP on Toonami instead of the DBZ dub, THAT would be the English dub some fans would argue is better than the Japanese version. Simply on the basis of having grown up watching it, as if there's any intrisic value to the things we liked as a child.

No English dub today could get away what the DBZ dub got away with, as far as rewriting the show, and using stereotypical voices and amateur VAs. If you did now what they did then, people would be incensed. But since people "grew up with" the DBZ dub, they're okay with it.

That doesn't necessarily apply directly to YOU personally, but I was trying to prove a general point.

The orange bricks & Dragon Boxes have FUNi's DBZ dub with Kikuchi's score. Let me tell you the dub is a lot more watchable with the original music. I know that Anime dubs now couldn't get away with what they could in the 90's. Hell the Pokemon dub is still replacing music even though the scripts are more accurate, and the voices are tolerable.