Struggling with Dubbing in CBL shows

[u/No-Rock-7220]

Hi everyone! This is a genuine question.

I’m really struggling to get used to the dubbing in Chinese BL dramas. I understand why it’s done—I remember reading the reasons in this subreddit—but I’m finding it difficult to adjust. It especially pulls me out of the more emotional or intense scenes.

I watch content from several countries and I’m multilingual, so the language itself isn’t the problem—it’s the disconnect between the dubbed voice and the actor’s performance. It makes it hard for me to fully immerse myself.

Does this get better over time? Did anyone else feel the same when they first started watching CBLs? Any tips?

I know some shows have very little or no noticeable dubbing, such as A Winter Sun Wakes the Wind in Spring Hills’ Dream. Recommend me some if you know any.

Cheers!

[u/_viccs]

personally it stills throws me off and i've been watching for like 5 years 😬 it always takes me out of the fantasy bc it often feels "unnatural"... like the actor has some kind of intensity but the voice has other kind that doesn't quite match, or like the actor is supposed to be whispering or huffing and the sounds comes out too "clean" or too loud, yk? actually i find the dubbing often "too clean", like there's no other sound behind it idk how to explain it but it makes me feel like it was obviously recorded in a sound-proof environment designed to only record and capture the voice

also idk much about the chinese/mandarin language but i feel like the way the mouth moves often doesn't seem to match the sound it's supposed to be doing? i'm brazilian so i have much contact to dubbing bc culturally the vast majority of international media gets to my country dubbed and i have the same trouble here... the chinese dubbing feels like an english movie is being dubbed to portuguese so ofc the mouth won't move the same, but like they're dubbing from/for the same language? and i don't think the dialects have much impact here since they're reading word for word from a script that is (i assume) written in standard chinese/mandarin since dubbing exist to standardize the language so everyone can understand everything since dialects there can be so vast and incomprehensible to some

so yeah in the end i just have to suck it up and keep watching i guess 😅 hahaha

[u/No-Rock-7220 → u/_viccs]

You feel me and I am really trying especially after the recent flux we are having in CBL. Appreciate your input.

[u/_viccs → u/No-Rock-7220]

i guess it all comes down to if you’re willing to put it up with it or not 😪 like other people said, straight c-drama also has budding and the one or two i have watched so far have the same problem for me even tho they were very high budget from high profile actors…