My Name Subtitles vs. English Dub: Which You Should Watch

Is it better to watch the English dub or subtitles for Netflix’s My Name? The platform’s latest Korean drama follows a young woman seeking revenge for her father’s murder. Filled with a desperate determination, Yoon Ji-woo (Han So-hee) joins the biggest drug ring in South Korea. Its boss, Choi Mu-jin (Park Hee-soon), tasks her with infiltrating the police in order to track down her dad’s killer.

My Name is available with subtitles and has also been dubbed in English, allowing viewers to choose between these options. The overwhelming success of fellow Netflix Korean drama Squid Game brought a lot of attention to the debate around subtitles versus dubbing. Dubbing a video involves adding a vocal performance from an actor in the new language to the product originally filmed in another, and matching the new words to the original mouth movements as much as possible. Some people prefer this method over watching a show in the original language with subtitles since they are able to watch a bit more casually—but is one better than the other where My Name is concerned?

There has been no consensus so far over whether subtitles or the English dub is better for watching My Name, but considering the arguments for other K-dramas like Squid Game, English subtitles will probably provide a more nuanced experience. Chris Carey, managing director of the subtitling and dubbing company Iyuno Media Group, explained (via IndieWire), “We may adapt a script less literally for the dub so that the words in [the other language] tend to sync more closely with the amount of syllables and lip movement that the actor has.” Unlike subtitles, which will do their best to translate the dialogue as accurately as possible to the original script, dubbing has to also match the words to the actor’s mouth movements. Doing so means that some of the dialogue is bound to be less accurate. The dub for any foreign language film or series, not just Netflix Korean dramas, may misrepresent a lot of the intended meaning of a scene.

People have also pointed out that it’s important to select the English subtitles rather than the closed captions, listed as “English [CC]”. Closed captions are specifically intended for those who are hard of hearing and include descriptions of music and sound effects. They are also usually auto-generated and tend to be closer to the English dub than the original language. Comparisons between the various subtitles for Squid Game highlighted stark differences in some of the dialogue. Twitter user ADeVonJohnson points out a scene where the closed captions read, “I’m not a genius, but I still got it worked out,” while the actual English subtitles were much closer to the intentional of the original Korean, reading, “I never bothered to study, but I’m unbelievably smart”.

If possible, viewers should watch Netflix’s My Name with subtitles for a more nuanced understanding of the show. Of course, for anyone who has difficulty paying attention to the events on screen while also reading subtitles, dubbed would be a much better choice. Dubbing companies put a lot of effort into creating as accurate a translation as possible, so watching the series dubbed in English would still allow for an overall enjoyable experience.

About The Author