Translation: Conotation versus Denotation

During Anime Weekend Atlanta I overheard many arguments about subtitleing versus dubbing anime. While this is a hot issue for anime it is also an important issue for philosophy. What the argument boils down to is whether you want accuracy of translation (ie subbed) or understanding of the story/character in your own language (ie dubbed). The second entails changing examples to fit with the current culture and taking into account the changing meanings of words. This issue is important in philosophy when dealing with how to translate philosophical works from one language into another. It becomes even more complicated when the philsophical works are old enough that the author can not be consulted to explain the intentions they had behind their examples/writings. What side of the argument do you fall on and why?