To Sub, or Not to Sub?

Today is the day — the final season of the mega-popular Squid Game premieres on Netflix. You've probably heard about the record-breaking series even if you don’t subscribe to the service. And while Squid Game isn’t the first non-American series to become a cultural phenomenon (Downton Abbey, anyone?), it is the first non-English language series to do so.

So why has it taken so long for a foreign-language series to gain this kind of global traction? While telenovelas have been popular for quite some time, much of their audience has historically consisted of native Spanish speakers.

Most people watching Squid Game don’t speak Korean, so viewers have a choice: should they watch the dubbed version or use subtitles?

The "dub vs. sub" debate has been ongoing for decades in anime communities, and both sides have their arguments. Some people don’t like the feeling of “reading” their show, while others feel that dubbed voices can’t match the emotional nuance of the original performances.

Now, a debate once mainly confined to niche anime forums has entered the mainstream as foreign-language content becomes more widely available. Both options have their pros and cons.

For example, subtitles preserve the original actors’ vocal performances and emotional delivery, but you may miss visual details while reading the text. Dubbing, on the other hand, eliminates the need to read subtitles and allows voice actors to adapt their performances to different cultures, but it can feel distracting when the lip sync isn’t quite right.

Historically, subtitles have been the preferred choice for many viewers, but more shows are now being released with both options, including Squid Game. Hopefully, this growing accessibility will encourage even more people to explore content from non-English-speaking countries, because there’s so much more out there than just K-dramas on Netflix.

In fact, MCPL offers a wide selection of foreign series on our shelves, with titles in languages ranging from Norwegian to Hebrew. Below are just a few interesting picks you might want to check out:

Babylon Berlin (German): A thriller set in 1929 Berlin with organized crime and extremists galore.

Wisting (Norwegian): A homicide detective is tracking an American serial killer in Norway.

Miss Friman’s War (Swedish): in 1905 Sweden, Miss Friman defies convention by setting up a business run solely by women.

The Bureau (French): Delve into the French Secret Service.

Bordertown (Finnish): An investigator deals with crime on the border of Finland and Russia.

My Brilliant Friend (Italian): Elderly Elena reminisces about her friend Lila and how they became enemies.

Pamela Myers
Antioch Branch