The dubbing versus subtitles debate is largely cultural. You'll tend to find people from countries where dubbing is the default think dubbing is best, and people from countries where subtitling is the default think subtitling is best.
I don't buck that trend. I come from the UK. We routinely subtitle here. I much prefer subtitling. I think you get more from hearing the original actors' performances, even if you can't understand the words they're saying (without reading the translation). But I concede that countries with a long and prevalent tradition of professional dubbing also tend to do it well. Which helps.
And that's the thing - whether it's dubbing or subtitling, it's really all about the quality.
I don't think you can get the full power of a movie/tv series if you can't understand the original language.
Possibly not. But film is at heart a visual medium. Assuming competent subtitling/dubbing you can get almost all of it. And certainly enough to make very little difference to comprehension. It's not like translating a book. People who say 'Well, you haven't really read Balzac until you've read him in French' may have a point. But it's not really the same in a movie that isn't relying entirely on language to tell its story. Once you get beyond the technical distraction of the dub/subtitles, it's fine.
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