Subtitles

[Greatforce]

I watch alot of shows these days. But i've come to notice that despite the fact that i am dutch, i much rather watch my shows with english subtitle. My english is pretty good, and mostly i can do without the english sub, but sometimes its nice to have the sub as backup.

So i guess my question is (to the not english natives) do you prefer to watch your shows with your own language's subtitle, or english?

 

[FAST6191]

I know you said "to the not english natives" but I will go anyway.

Many years of power tools, some suspect genetics, loud engines and concerts have conspired to leave me with less than stellar hearing. To that end I usually like to leave subtitles on if I can, however it seems those I often watch things with get annoyed by subtitles/captions so I occasionally have to hope lip reading can get me through.

If I am watching something in French then I will take English subs if I can, however I can read better French than I can listen to it* so French subs are quite welcome.

*especially some of the stuff coming from French TV these days. I have heard French from most places that speak it (mainly France, Canada, Belgium and parts of Africa) and can probably even do OK at placing regional accents within France but it was only with the English subs that I figured out what was being said/be able to translate back. I might have been able to puzzle it out but it would not have been close to real time.

If I am watching something in Dutch (Dutch subbers are pretty fast, have diverse tastes/tastes that match my own, the anti piracy types seem to be unable to speak anything but English (oh no, don't make me select the second audio track/disable subs) and encodes are pretty good as well) I tend to leave them on as well. Though that is more a distraction for me as I see what I might have been able to puzzle out from the English, French, Latin and smattering of German I have, or indeed what is radically different (for the sorts of things I watch I reckon it is about 60% intelligible and 40% way off or opposite).

 

[DjoeN]

I preffer no subs, but if i need subs i preffer English subs.
Dutch subbers are fast, but some are terrible and mostly the Dutch subbers are from The Netherlands and for a Flemish person it's sometimes a bit annoying cause we use different trnaslation for some English words are different sentences.
If my kids and wife also watch the show i have to get Dutch subs, but i try not to look at it, it's indeed more of a distraction for me

 

[Catastrophic]

When I'm watching an English movie I prefer having subtitles, English or Icelandic, so that I know exactly what is being said in case I don't hear it.

 

[sarkwalvein]

I prefer English subs/translations for almost everything instead of Spanish (specially regarding anime/manga).
The reason is that I find most Spanish fan translations very lacking in quality, and all the internet regardless their national language translate to English first mostly.
I also prefer playing games in English, but I can manage Spanish (duh).
When I watch something spoken in English, I normally don't care for subtitles but they are welcomed, specially when the audio is not good or when the accent destroy me (Indian English accent and South USA accent kill my ears, eg.)

 

[spotanjo3]

I watch alot of shows these days. But i've come to notice that despite the fact that i am dutch, i much rather watch my shows with english subtitle. My english is pretty good, and mostly i can do without the english sub, but sometimes its nice to have the sub as backup.

So i guess my question is (to the not english natives) do you prefer to watch your shows with your own language's subtitle, or english?

To be honest, I am deaf myself since I was 4 months old and having subtitles will directly benefit deaf people, people with hearing impairments, but as well as people with English as a second language.
Also, the following are key elements to ensure successful use of subtitles to improve your written communication too.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

To be honest, I am deaf myself since I was 4 months old and having subtitles will directly benefit deaf people, people with hearing impairments, but as well as people with English as a second language.
Also, the following are key elements to ensure successful use of subtitles to improve your written communication too.

I'm from one of my ears and the doc said that only in 20-30 years a cure might arise but then, it's too late already. I'd have to readjust and "wake" it for being asleep for so long.

Despite that, I usually have subtitles off and very rarely activated unless the volume's too quiet due to being late and all.

 

[Cyan]

For TV show, I prefer French sub (my mother language), but if it's not available I don't care about english and take the first I see.
Sometime I might even switch to english if the french translation is not good enough (understanding english audio and reading a different meaning is horrible)

I try to not rely on the subtitle and only hear the voices, but I prefer reading.
Subtitle is always welcome, even if I understand spoken english it sometime hard to follow (speaking too fast, slang, words I never heard etc.)


For anime or games, I prefer english. French is often bad. Most team release in english anyway and that's good. I understand and can read it without issue.

One thing I don't like : With japanese or other language movies, when actors start speaking in english the translator tends to omit the subtitle thinking "it's not needed, I understand". But I really hate that.
A japanese Seiyuu trying to speak english with a japanese accent is horrible to understand for a non english native !

If I am watching something in French then I will take English subs if I can, however I can read better French than I can listen to it* so French subs are quite welcome.

*especially some of the stuff coming from French TV these days. I have heard French from most places that speak it (mainly France, Canada, Belgium and parts of Africa) and can probably even do OK at placing regional accents within France but it was only with the English subs that I figured out what was being said/be able to translate back. I might have been able to puzzle it out but it would not have been close to real time.

You have a lot of french shows and movies on other countries?

As French, I watch mostly USA TV series.
it's so long to broadcast in France (they need to dub it, they don't broadcast foreigner's shows with subtitles only here) so I get them in english and find subtitles.
That would be interesting to see which French program are being exported to other countries or which one foreigners are interested in watching.

 

[FAST6191]

Films... actually thinking about it I do watch a reasonably large amount of French and French language films. France seems to do reasonably well for crime, action and con/spy films, and it is a location in quite a few more.

TV shows are a bit less common but with the US and whatnot remaking everything and there being 80 odd channels that want content you do often see the exports of the better offerings.

I have had this and similar conversations a few times before. What I have found is if you are living among it and having it drip fed week by week then you get a bit jaded. When it is all filtered for you then there might only be 150 hours of content worth watching but 150 hours multiplied by a few countries is enough to occupy my free time.

The show I am thinking mainly about, though it was not the first time, was some police show my mum was watching. One guy (seemed to be the focus of the scene) said something and I had no clue about it, the English subtitles came on and another character repeated something incredulously that the original character which I understood fine.

I imagine it was probably a bit like what someone that is not so familiar with English makes of the 3 minute or so mark in

 

[Cyan]

yeah, without subtitles I wouldn't have understand. (even with them, it's a little fast to follow)

We have a lot of Patois/regional/town specific dialect in France too, that we don't understand each others. sometime it's only words or expression that people use differently depending on the region.
We also have different region based accent. most recognizable are Marseilles or Corsica accent.
Sometime they are even adding subtitles in France for people speaking ... French ! because they have a strong accent and some people might not understand it so they need to add subtitles in news or reports magazines, like in your video

 

[Clydefrosch]

i couldn't stand watching an english show with english subtitles. way too distracting. in general, i usually prefer to watch things in german or english without subs, if available. simply because i can deal with a drop in quality voices and silly translation censoring, if it frees me from having to look at the screen constantly.
if theres no other option, like fresh anime or the very, very rare international film that hasn't been synchronized, then yeah, i usually take english subs over german ones. i also prefer to read manga and comics in english. and I've even read a bunch of books in english, despite them being available in german.
but dont ask me why. i guess english has a simpler flow to things, making it easier to read at times? especially when it comes to subs, german tends to feel like its trying too hard. you know? it just doesnt feel right. even when its done by good subbers.

 

[Adeka]

I seem to enjoy shows more when I don't have to read subs. Especially with anime with beautiful art and animation

 

[TotalInsanity4]

I enjoy watching movies in German with English subtitles (or vice versa if the movies are badly dubbed, like most Marvel movies). It helps me brush up on my German a bit (though my current knowledge of the language is laughable at best)