TV sub-titles

10 May 2010

Why is it of late when a foreigner speaks on TV, and uses very good English, subtitles are put up on the screen?
Now if the sound is poor or there is a lot of background noise I could understand, but that is not the case mostly.
Have we English got so bad at understanding our own language that all we can understand is a Brit, or American?

10 May 2010

Even some strong American dialects are subtitled. You have to remember that some people may not be sufficiently hard of hearing to use subs all the time, but they might struggle with strong accents - my son does. He often uses subtitles when watching films for that very reason. It may also be because of the background rumpus that is our household though rolleyes

10 May 2010

I always put the subtitles on if the person speaking is a Brummie :shock: bolt

Dave_Notts

10 May 2010

Quote by Kaznkev
In taiwan all shows are those in Mandarin,it helps wonderfully with literacy amongst children and hakka/taiwanese speakers.
Imagine is eastenders had subtitles,for some it would be the only reading they did all week.

OK, there is a argument.

10 May 2010

It would be great if you could disable them though. The are often distracting - I'd rather watch the person speaking than read (sometimes inaccurately transcripted) subtitles.

10 May 2010

Should I worry that I immediately thought this thread would be about submissive transvestites? dunno

:shock:

10 May 2010

There is research (I'd have to dig deep to find it and it's late) that has shown that literacy levels do improve with subtitles.
If my niece and nephew watch children's TV in my house, I make them watch it with the subtitles. You find they are then reading as well as listening and it improves word recognition.

10 May 2010

I'm still wondering who decided to subtitle the Indian guy on Hairy Bikers tonight, and not the Geordies, who were harder to understand than the guy from another continent lol

10 May 2010

I love subtitles. As a foreigner I have problems understanding some English regional accents and American accents too. It's a shame I learnt "Queen's English" version which I suppose is great for watching the news! I remember when I went to Glasgow once - Jesus that accent was hard to understand. Having said that I think mild Scottish accent is the nicest of all regional accents in the UK.