Anime gets this a lot too, on both the dub and the sub sides. For dubs, my personal preference is something that retains the meaning or intent of the Japanese, but sounds natural in English. For subtitles, I prefer something that is more literal, yet worded to make sense in English. (I don’t mind reading a few cultural notes afterward if need be, in these cases.) When there is significant difference between the two, you get the subtitle vs dubtitle issue rearing its ugly head.

In other words, dubtitles may be fine for the English track if you need them, but using them for the Japanese track may not be the best choice, regardless of whether you speak the language or not. Think of it another way. If you’re watching a French movie with English subtitles, wouldn’t a subtitle track that represents what is being spoken make more sense, even if you don’t speak French yourself? It represents what it being said, whereas a translation with more linguistic liberties are taken (ie a rewrite) suddenly doesn’t match what is actually being said.

For some things like jokes (and this goes for anime or manga, or anything in any language, actually), an English rewrite is often necessary, since idioms and figures of speech generally don’t translate well. Whether it’s in a manga panel, an English dub, or an English subtitle, for the humor to get across as the creator intended, it has to be rewritten into a parallel joke that makes sense in the language it is being translated into. Cultural notes in a footnote or liner note are appreciated to explain the differences between the original and the translated, at least for me.

Yeesh! I wrote as much as you did, if not more! But yeah, if it’s in English, it’s nice if it makes sense to me in my language. I don’t mind doing a little research if necessary, but if I can’t read it at all, then that part is just lost on me.