If I may give my opinion as a french talking member.
I have taken the habit of watching anime (and films in general) unsubbed. My tolerance towards (french) dubbed material automatically decreased, with a few exeptions (like Ghost in the Shell, which I explain by a mix of nostalgia - it being one of the first animes I watched - the quantity of dialogue - making the plot difficult to follow with subs - and the voice acting simply being very good) And while I have on occasion whatched animes in english for comparison purposes, my observations are that most english voice actors are bad. Like deadly bad (again, with exeptions, like Maurice Lamarche). Which is kind of sad, since I believe the english language has a lot of potential for creative and unique voices.
French subbers on the other hand have much more experience on this subject than their american counterparts. This is explained by the amount of big production movies imported versus the english demand for smaller, foreign features (Try to find a store selling "Man Bites Dog" by Rémy Belvaux or "The Silence of Lorna" by the Dardenne brothers and tell me if you find anything. I'm genuinely interested to know). The difference forms our subbers while yours don't have much to improve themselves, and they're not encouraged to. But for the past few years, quality has taken a downturn in favor of productivity, with sometimes horrible results (watch an episode of "The Big Bang Theory" with french dubbing if you can find it. It makes my ears bleed.)
Overall, I appreciate materials more in their original, intended form instead of a translation where some things are lost (and rarely gained nowadays). But I think dubbing has it's place as a diffusion method. I just wish people would put more effort and passion in it like the Japanese seem to do.
I have taken the habit of watching anime (and films in general) unsubbed. My tolerance towards (french) dubbed material automatically decreased, with a few exeptions (like Ghost in the Shell, which I explain by a mix of nostalgia - it being one of the first animes I watched - the quantity of dialogue - making the plot difficult to follow with subs - and the voice acting simply being very good) And while I have on occasion whatched animes in english for comparison purposes, my observations are that most english voice actors are bad. Like deadly bad (again, with exeptions, like Maurice Lamarche). Which is kind of sad, since I believe the english language has a lot of potential for creative and unique voices.
French subbers on the other hand have much more experience on this subject than their american counterparts. This is explained by the amount of big production movies imported versus the english demand for smaller, foreign features (Try to find a store selling "Man Bites Dog" by Rémy Belvaux or "The Silence of Lorna" by the Dardenne brothers and tell me if you find anything. I'm genuinely interested to know). The difference forms our subbers while yours don't have much to improve themselves, and they're not encouraged to. But for the past few years, quality has taken a downturn in favor of productivity, with sometimes horrible results (watch an episode of "The Big Bang Theory" with french dubbing if you can find it. It makes my ears bleed.)
Overall, I appreciate materials more in their original, intended form instead of a translation where some things are lost (and rarely gained nowadays). But I think dubbing has it's place as a diffusion method. I just wish people would put more effort and passion in it like the Japanese seem to do.
