So... Merlwyb will be voiced

[Keith_Dragoon]

Truth

This

As someone incapable of reading subtitles or understanding of Japanese I fail to see why it is always held in such high regard as if it some holy language which must be worshipped by all. I have a friend who speaks the language fluently and has even taught English in Japan and she doesn't even act as if Japanese is the alpha language and even prefers some dubs over subs.

You are entitled to your opinion, as I am to mine but quit pretending this other language that most of you cannot even speak is superior. It is no different than French, German, itallian or Spanish, just another way of saying the same damn thing nothing more.

[Skies]

This

As someone incapable of reading subtitles or understanding of Japanese I fail to see why it is always held in such high regard as if it some holy language which must be worshipped by all. I have a friend who speaks the language fluently and has even taught English in Japan and she doesn't even act as if Japanese is the alpha language and even prefers some dubs over subs.

You are entitled to your opinion, as I am to mine but quit pretending this other language that most of you cannot even speak is superior. It is no different than French, German, itallian or Spanish, just another way of saying the same damn thing nothing more.

Actually, there is a difference. The sound of the languages is very different and have a very different flow, some people are more pleased by the sound of some languages than they are of others. It's still a matter of pure opinion, mind, it's different for everybody, but everyone will have their favorite language to hear. For most is their native language due to familiarity, but if you often listen to other langages (like I do, i'm brazilian but I often watch anime in japanese subbed in english...) you develop favorites.

I, for one, really like both japanese and german. Actually, the female german voice is.. Oh god, it's like one of the things that make me go creepy.

You know, what, now I want to hear Y'shtola in german

[Vilhem]

Actually, there is a difference. The sound of the languages is very different and have a very different flow, some people are more pleased by the sound of some languages than they are of others. It's still a matter of pure opinion, mind, it's different for everybody, but everyone will have their favorite language to hear. For most is their native language due to familiarity, but if you often listen to other langages (like I do, i'm brazilian but I often watch anime in japanese subbed in english...) you develop favorites.

I, for one, really like both japanese and german. Actually, the female german voice is.. Oh god, it's like one of the things that make me go creepy.

You know, what, now I want to hear Y'shtola in german

I'm actually quite drawn to the French language myself, and if Spanish was an audio option, I'd certainly be switching to that.

Yda in German though...can't wait to hear that one. @.@ I bet she'll sound hot.

[Keith_Dragoon]

Actually, there is a difference. The sound of the languages is very different and have a very different flow, some people are more pleased by the sound of some languages than they are of others. It's still a matter of pure opinion, mind, it's different for everybody, but everyone will have their favorite language to hear. For most is their native language due to familiarity, but if you often listen to other langages (like I do, i'm brazilian but I often watch anime in japanese subbed in english...) you develop favorites.

I, for one, really like both japanese and german. Actually, the female german voice is.. Oh god, it's like one of the things that make me go creepy.

You know, what, now I want to hear Y'shtola in german

I am a fan of many different languages but I don't spew venom at my native language or hold others as something more than they really are. I am a sucker for foreign languages and accents and will probly watch all the cutscenes in every language.

[AlexNiculaie]

This

As someone incapable of reading subtitles or understanding of Japanese I fail to see why it is always held in such high regard as if it some holy language which must be worshipped by all. I have a friend who speaks the language fluently and has even taught English in Japan and she doesn't even act as if Japanese is the alpha language and even prefers some dubs over subs.

You are entitled to your opinion, as I am to mine but quit pretending this other language that most of you cannot even speak is superior. It is no different than French, German, itallian or Spanish, just another way of saying the same damn thing nothing more.

I don't hold Japanese to be some Holy grail, or what ever other hyperbolic attempt to dismiss others' preference one wishes to throw out. It doesn't matter what language the original is in, I tend to prefer it to English dubs because too often English voice actors treat whatever it is as if they are doing voices for Scooby Doo. It's annoying, like they are trying too hard.

Those that I do find well done tend to use live action actors for voice overs. Hell, even the English native language games and animated shows that seem to have the better voice acting do too. Granted, that is a generalization, and I readily acknowledge that, but for me it holds true more often than not.

That, and it's harder to tell bad voice acting when you aren't as familiar with the language to know just how horrible it really is.

[Orophin]

Or maybe some (that have actually worked in the voice acting industry) know how to distinguish good voice acting from mediocre voice acting, and recognize that Japan simply has a much more solid tradition for voice overs that the US and Britain do, resulting in much higher quality overall.

That's nice if Japanese have better voice talent, but it does shit all for me if I can't understand what they're saying. If I wanted to read subtitles I'd just assume not have voice acting at all.

It's a good thing we have options. You folks that like how Japanese voices sound compared to everything else can listen to something you may or may not understand while us folks that prefer to hear something in our native language can do so as well.

[Abriael]

That's nice if Japanese have better voice talent, but it does shit all for me if I can't understand what they're saying. If I wanted to read subtitles I'd just assume not have voice acting at all.

It's a good thing we have options. You folks that like how Japanese voices sound compared to everything else can listen to something you may or may not understand while us folks that prefer to hear something in our native language can do so as well.

So I'm not sure where the problem is, since no one here argued that everyone should listen to the Japanese track with subtitles?

[Pwnagraphic]

I don't hold Japanese to be some Holy grail, or what ever other hyperbolic attempt to dismiss others' preference one wishes to throw out. It doesn't matter what language the original is in, I tend to prefer it to English dubs because too often English voice actors treat whatever it is as if they are doing voices for Scooby Doo. It's annoying, like they are trying too hard.

Those that I do find well done tend to use live action actors for voice overs. Hell, even the English native language games and animated shows that seem to have the better voice acting do too. Granted, that is a generalization, and I readily acknowledge that, but for me it holds true more often than not.

That, and it's harder to tell bad voice acting when you aren't as familiar with the language to know just how horrible it really is.

I've done voice overs for a few things, and you just don't go in the booth and do one take and you're done. The sound director will have you do it 100 times if he wants to and then he will choose the one he wants to go with.. So English VA are directed to do so. When it comes to English dubs over Japanese acting, it's gotta be over done. You all know damn well what I mean lol. Any Asian produced film whether it's live action or an Anime has some overly dramatic parts that English actors have to try and act to that doesn't sound natural.

[Abriael]

I don't mind the choices, and to each his own of course, but those that hold Japanese to some high pedestal really need to examine just why they have a weeabo fascination with it.

Or maybe some (that have actually worked in the voice acting industry) know how to distinguish good voice acting from mediocre voice acting, and recognize that Japan simply has a much more solid tradition for voice overs that the US and Britain do, resulting in much higher quality overall.

Why not praise the upcoming French or German voice overs? What's that? You don't speak those languages, so you don't care? Alright, I can accept the indifference.

Having worked with voice acting in French and German as well (as several of the DVD productions I worked on were tri-lingual for the continental European market), there isn't much praise to be done towards the voice acting efforts normally done in those countries. They have a very strong subtitling tradition, that in turn prevented them from developing an equally strong voice acting school.

Maybe you should just realize that there are *objective* reasons why Japanese (or Italian for instance) voice overs are in general superior to American, British, German or French ones.

When it comes to art (and voice acting is an art) tradition plays a big role, and Japan has a much more solid tradition than the other countries mentioned. Conversely, they have a weaker tradition in live movie/TV acting than the US (for instance) and for the same reasons it shows.

On top of that there's an enormous difference in average budgets and in timings for voice acting (the time allocated to try each line is very important to final quality, and it's directly related to budget), as its given culturally a different importance, contributing to a large difference in technical quality.

There's also another important factor related to video games. In Japan voice acting video games (and anime) isn't seen as a secondary or less important job as it is in the west. When you check the cast of the average game in Japan you'll find a lot of star-level actors in it, because doing voice over for games (or anime) is considered a top-tier job that star-level actors don't shun.

In the west most star-level actors consider working on games beneath their level, so they won't do it, or will require a steep budget increase, which is why in 99.99% of cases when a Japanese game comes to the west star-level actors with a massive experience that acted in the original are replaced with mediocre actors or inexperienced ones at the beginning of their career, resulting in an evident decrease in quality.

Before you go ahead and call it "weaboo!", you may as well realize that you're being much more irrational than the average "weaboo".

For the record, I thought the 1.0 voice acting was done very well. The only two problems I had were the faux-Brit accents (Crispin Freeman/Thancred, looking at you >_>) and the forced cracky lalafell voices of Papalymo and the miner twins. Mind you, the acting itself was great, just not the cracky falsetto-like tone XD

Apologies if this is all over the place, typing from phone. x.x

The English voice acting of 1.0 was rather sloppy, with intentions and accents all over the place. Most probably it was rushed.

[Pancakes]

Having worked with voice acting in French and German as well (as several of the DVD productions I worked on were tri-lingual for the continental European market), there isn't much praise to be done towards the voice acting efforts normally done in those countries. They have a very strong subtitling tradition, that in turn prevented them from developing an equally strong voice acting school.

Maybe you should just realize that there are *objective* reasons why Japanese (or Italian for instance) voice overs are in general superior to American, British, German or French ones.

While I'm generally on ur side, this argument is kina invalid. When I've been in Germany I remember every movie being dubbed. Same goes with France as far as I know. So I'm pretty sure they've got some strong dubbing culture as well ;o