by Harry Lamer

Created on: January 23, 2008   Last Updated: October 17, 2008

When we are talking about either subtitles or dubbing for foreign language films - or for that matter, television even - we are forgetting that each method has its pros and cons. When done professionally, either method can be very effective in conveying the intended message and essence of the film.

Coming from a multicultural society and being in the media profession in Southeast Asia, I have had the opportunity to get up close with foreign language films with varieties of dubbed or subtitled languages - and of varying qualities even.

Believe me, the choice between subtitles and dubbing is much finer than you think.

On the one hand, I can recall the old Jackie Chan movies shown on Indonesian channels that are dubbed in ridiculous Americanised English - so disgustingly laughable that watching "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow", the vehicle that launched Jackie Chan's career becomes so well - unfunny, unenjoyable....

The use of subtitles have generally fared better than in dubbing, but in Singapore recently, a big hoo-hah was raised over anime fans refusing to buy original DVDs of their favourite anime programmes. Why? Because of poor subtitling - they went for pirated versions instead.

To put simply, translation issues can lead to problems both in dubbing AND subtitling.

Dubbing is something of an art in itself. For a film or television drama, the standards need to be very high precisely to avoid such cultural faux pas. Voiceover artistes need to synchronise their reads to the lip movements of the actors on film. It is not easy, but it can be done - and done well.

The Hong Kong movie industry is huge in Asia, but as most projects are shot and recorded in Cantonese, it becomes necessary to dub in Mandarin (or other languages) for many Asian countries. The movie makers / distributors are so experienced in this that the cultural impact, or lack thereof, becomes minimal.

Then there is the other problem of having international actors who speak different languages and working on the same movie. Anyone who has watched "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" in its original form would have cringed at the four completely different Mandarin accents from its four leads (Hong Kong, Beijing, Taiwan, Malaysia). Indeed, many have criticised that the film should have been dubbed in a more homogeneous Mandarin! I managed to catch a version dubbed in Cantonese, and I can say that it is better overall - even if I do miss Zhang Ziyi's Beijing accent.

The reality is that films are sometimes made in one

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