A bunch of voice actors asked at a con why do sub fans like subs. So I decided to make a response.

I like hearing the dubs as much as subs, but it just doesn't have the same atmosphere and feeling of delight to hear who did it first. There's also an insurence of the translations being right. Also the fun of hearing the Japanese and showing off to your friends that you know a part of another language!

Also Translators often like to have "fun" with the script. There are NO frivoulous translations and when someone holds up a carrot, it's pretty hard to make it into a potato. (*ahem* Dic *ahem*). When the seiyuu are saying the words in Japanese those people that speak Japanese know what they are saying and if it matches the subtitles at the bottom of the screen. It's pretty embarassing as the seiyuu says *carrot*, the character holds up a *carrot*, and then you see at the bottom of the screen, *potato*. In a dub the character can hold up a carrot, and say potato, and before you notice, the carrot and *potato* are gone.

The original is always fun to see. Going to a Movie theater, and learning that there's a book, though the plot is basically the same, it's alays nice to pick up the book to see where th ideas came from, and see it in a different way.

You can learn Japanese even if you don't know a word of it. Like I learned *onnigai* from Techi Muyo in Love. I learn the word *suki* from Urusei Yatsura, and if I watched them long enough I could pick up other words. I also can pick up from the Sailor Moon subs, *minna* and know the meaning. In dubs, it's all in the language you speak.. so much for learning another language!

We know that the business of dub voice acting hasn't been around long. The seiyuu have been around the block many times. Even across cultures the timber, the pitch, and HOW the character is voiced makes or breaks the character. Can you imagine Scooby with a masculine, serious male voice saying "I want a Scooby snack"? It's epsecially nice to hear the original voices because often the manga-ka (for those of us who read manga.. which will be a different argument) comments on them. It really doesn't matter that we don't understand what they are saying. The characters are native to Japan (most of the time), so why can't we listen to them in Japanese?

I don't hold anything against the dub voice actors I hold it more against the translators themselves. (though it is fun to compare the voices, and decide which is better for the role) The subs also give chances for footnotes on the screen like what kind of food it is (which more comapanies *should* do). It's interesting to get a more Japanese feel. Yes, it is nice to hear it in your own native language, but there is always a facination with the original material.