[Closed] Films with subtitles

Nope. Much prefer subtitles to bad dubbing.

Nope. Much prefer subtitles to bad dubbing.

This.

I agree with the above.
One thing that does annoy me though, is when i see a kevin bridges video on yt or fb etc, and it has subtitles, because he’s Scottish. But the person translating them can’t actually understand a Glasgow accent. Why bother.

Nope. Much prefer subtitles to bad dubbing.

Same here. Was watching a Spanish sci-fi (Mirage) a few nights ago and the overdubbed voice-acting was entirely wooden and unconvincing so soon switched to subs

A lot may depend on reading slowly vs quickly in general? I find reading subtitles to be a non-issue, but I do read fairly quickly. Very rarely have had to pause anything.

Much prefer subtitles. So many great films that would be unwatchably awful if dubbed.

Imagine "Amelie" dubbed in to American-english. Bleugh.

Ever watched a subtitled film sat next to a native speaker?
"That's not what she said. They missed most of it out."

I'm fine with them, but a friend who reads slowly hates them. Totally understandable that you would find it frustrating having to break the flow of a film.

I'm with you OP. I don't have trouble reading the subtitles but I want to watch a film, not read a film.

Ever watched a subtitled film sat next to a native speaker?
“That’s not what she said. They missed most of it out.”

Poor translations aside, I’d imagine it’s difficult to strike a balance with subtitles when there is a large volume of fast speech arriving and you have to show it in such a way that the screen isn’t obscured/pause button isn’t in danger of being worn out.

With the options being:

1. Never bother watching foreign productions
2. Use subtitles
3. Only watch English-dubbed foreign productions
4. Learn the languages before viewing without subtitles

I’d choose 2. (subtitles) every time.

Absolutely no problem with them for translation, ie. on foreign language films, but I really can’t stand them on English films! Got some friends who always have them on ( so they don’t miss dialogue, I guess) and it really ruins the film for me. Especially the distraction of things like “door slams” when you see a door obviously slamming… or “crowd noise” when theres a crowd. Puts me riight off the film!

Nope. If the film is good and holds your attention you forget the subtitles are there.
Das Boot being a prime example

 I don’t have trouble reading the subtitles but I want to watch a film, not read a film.

That's exactly it. I feel like I'm missing the film while I'm reading the subtitles.

Back in school we would read a book then watch the film. I'd struggle to remember what I read and not take any of it in. Always got so much more from the film.

I'm not a quick reader but have no problem with subtitles, I do find Spanish and Italian films a bit more difficult to follow than Scandinavian, German or French.
Bad dubbing ruins any film or program.

I’m not a quick reader but have no problem with subtitles...

Same. I forget I'm reading subtitles after the first 5 mins. Only struggle when they're hard to read over the background.

I get the arse ache when I go to watch a film at friends. They'll be watching an English language film and have it dubbed into German. You completely lose the feeling of the film. I usually end up sleeping or leaving.

There's only one or two cinemas that show original language films here in Munich. All others will have the English language films dubbed.

Not got a problem with subtitles. I learnt to skim-read at a young age.

Dubbing annoys me. Listening to someone whose lips are not moving or vice versa. "why are hips lips moving?". It's so distracting! Doesn't matter what language.

Watched a Korean film a while back with German subtitles as that was preferable to German language dubbing.

Dubbing is fine with me. Yes it can be annoying at first, just don't look at their lips. Look at the rest of the screen. Still so much better than reading.

English language films with foreign language dialogue are always better subtitled. I want the authenticity.

For solid performances with subtitles, go and watch Parasite or Les Intouchables. You soon won't notice the language barrier and subtitles. You tend to read and process in time with the lips and sound. Dubbing loses that processing. How annoying is lip synch on your TV?

You tend to read and process in time with the lips and sound. 

I can't read that quick. And can't read while watching what's going on so it doesn'tatter what the film is. It's one or the other with me; read or watch. I admire people who can keep up with subtitles and be able to watch the film at the same time. It's a skill I just don't have.

I made a film where where the subtitlist translated “jazz mags” to “magazine du jazz”, which still makes me laugh, which is good, because it was a comedy.

Nope. Much prefer subtitles to bad dubbing

Likewise. The Spanish dub all foreign films, and it's crap. Fortunately with Netflix etc it's not a problem, my wife and I watch them in the original language with subtitles. Which can be irritating when you're watching an English/American film, with Spanish subtitles, and I find myself reading along... you end up getting the odd spoiler, too.

There are a lot of subtitles in series such as Narcos on Netflix. I find it holds my attention a lot more as i have to concentrate on it. Other stuff , i can drift off a bit or look at my phone etc

And can’t read while watching what’s going

Theres probably more craft to subtitling than we realise - how to make text clear but not obtrusive, the timing of the text relative to the actions on screen and so on. But I think conveying the emotion rather than directly translating is important.

Watching Spiral is fun for the subtitling - its broadly done very well - they're clear on the screen and they're paced well and they're obviously abridged but it keeps the right balance between following the action and conveying the information. What is a giggle though is as a gritty crime drama its quite sweary but the French have a pretty limited palette of expletives so its subtitled with a much wider vocabulary. I'm convinced the subtitler is from the north west of England. Theres a lot more 'sod' and 'bugger' than you'd expect in such a metropolitan setting

wandering off topic a little

automated subtitling for live TV is quite a surprising process

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/current-affairs/how-do-tv-subtitles-work/

There are a lot of subtitles in series such as Narcos on Netflix.

I really wanted to get into Narcos but tried and couldn't follow it. Would much rather a dubbed version or it just being in English.

Those of you that don't like dubbing; surely if you're saying the subtitles in your head it's the same as dubbing not being in sync with the lips?

Another thing I struggle with is reading anything while someone else is talking or singing. Even in a different language on the TV. It's too distracting so that probably has something to do with it.

I have the opposite problem. Watched the 12tth Man on Amazon Prime yesterdau (great film btw) and the subtitles were a bit in advance of the screen action, so I had read the conversation between 2 characters without realizing that it was a conversation, as the screen still showed the previous scene for a second.

really annoying.

Those of you that don’t like dubbing; surely if you’re saying the subtitles in your head it’s the same as dubbing not being in sync with the lips?

No, the audio in the original language is still synched to the visuals. Dubbing generally ruins that, it's really horrible watching something where the sound and visuals are out of synch.

People who do a decent amount of reading can read at about twice the speed of normal speech (300 to 400 wpm versus 150 to 200). You don't need to process each written word, you just take it in in chunks. Many kids don't like reading so they never become very fast readers. If that's the case, you will struggle with subtitles and you are probably better to watch dubbed movies.

subtitles are a pain if you want to do something else on the other screen, like typing this while "watching" Nesokrushimmy

They’ll be watching an English language film and have it dubbed into German. You completely lose the feeling of the film.

Totally aside and I don't know if this is actually true or apocryphal but,

I read the other day that when they dubbed The Terminator for German audiences, Arnie wanted to re-record the voice. But they wouldn't let him because his native Austrian accent sounds really rural to German ears, it'd be like "oi'l be baaark, moi luvver..."

(Cf. Dave Prouse / Darth Vader)

the subtitles were a bit in advance of the screen action,

This is a common problem in video games also. They go to all the trouble of voice acting, then you can read it in a fraction of the time it takes to say. So what you hear is,

"You're back! So how" *click*
"Yeah I went to" *click*
*Did you manage to find the" *click*

People who do a decent amount of reading can read at about twice the speed of normal speech (300 to 400 wpm versus 150 to 200). You don’t need to process each written word, you just take it in in chunks. Many kids don’t like reading so they never become very fast readers. If that’s the case, you will struggle with subtitles and you are probably better to watch dubbed movies.

That pretty much sums it up. I cant read any faster than I would talk and need to read every word to process it. Also find I don't think in words, but think in visuals in my head. When reading text I picture what's going on in my head like a translation. It's exhausting. Never liked reading as a kid. Have to read a lot for work but it reading things like research in small amounts. Not read a book since I was about 15. Not even at uni.

Dubbing is fine with me. Yes it can be annoying at first, just don’t look at their lips.

It’s the wooden/hammy/stilted and entirely unconvincing voice-acting that annoys me rather than any lip-synch distraction. Bad/inappropriate/sub-par acting ruins a film for me.

#notallvoiceactors

Nah, never watch dubbed stuff. Awful - bad acting and doesn't fit the mouths, so doesn't work for me.

I can't abide it if lip sync is out a fraction so dubbing is just unbearable.

This reminds me of watching Monkey Magic years ago, that had awful dubbing.

How do people feel about the dubs vs. subtitles on animated stuff like Studio Ghibli films? I've watched both, and generally prefer the dubs as they're pretty well done.

Oh the dubbing on that era of martial arts stuff is so awful its brilliant.

Studio Ghibli do dubbed stuff well, big names (Liam Neeson, Gillian Anderson etc.) that can actually do it properly. Had some god awful cheaply subbed anime in the past, obviously translated Japanese to Chinese to English and all meaning lost.

I watched Dark on Netflix a few years ago. Watched it all dubbed and it was fine. Much better than subtitles.

You wouldn't go to a subtitled concert would you. Or maybe some would?

You wouldn’t go to a subtitled concert would you

I definitely wouldn't go to a dubbed one.

Studio Ghibli do dubbed stuff well

Oh, animation's a different kettle of fish. Watched Urotsukidoji with a mate the other weekend. Must say, we didn't notice the dubbing at all. Hmm, maybe it was subtitled. Can't honestly say! 😆

You wouldn’t go to a subtitled concert would you

Don't think that would be a terrible thing. I'd probably be dancing anyway 🙂

I can't imagine watching say a Japanese classic like Tampopo dubbed. Hearing the language adds so much even if it's unintelligible, so it's dubbing for me.

You wouldn’t go to a subtitled concert would you

Not an opera goer then? "Surtitles" projected onto a screen above the stage have often been used.

Studio Ghibli do dubbed stuff well, big names (Liam Neeson, Gillian Anderson etc.) that can actually do it properly.

Obviously for animation re-doing the audio is a bit of a shoe-in :-). I mean for the Magic Roundabout Eric Thompson didn't have either the original audio or a script when the BBC brought the films in from France. He just improvised entirely new stories and dialogue from the action on screen. Lipsync isn't really an issue when the many of the characters don't even have mouths that move. 🙂

I'd much rather have subtitles than dubbed dialogue. Its not the case that the 'acting' by the people doing the dubbing is bad, its more that it can't be done well. You can alter and abridge text to make it quick and easy to comprehend while you concentrate on the emotion of the scene which is coming from the actors. Dubbed dialogue becomes stilted as you have to make the translated material fit in the place of words spoken in a different language, even if that language has different sentence structures - so you're deleting the actor's original performance and replacing it with one where the performance has to be stretched and crammed or sentences awkwardly composed to fit.

If subtitles don't work for you its only a matter of time before theres a terribly cast Hollywood remake of that classy bit fo French cinema you've always wanted to watch. "Sylvester Stallone is... "La Femme de nulle part". Lets face it - Netflix and co are utterly desperate for content just now - expect to see remakes of absolutely everything!

It would be great if the was an app on the TV that read the subtitles for you. That would work. Of course, they won't be read with the same emotion as the original actors, but then I cant read them and say them in my head with the same emotions either. I just don't take in information via text that quickly. Much more of a visual learner.

The big question is, what do you do with the volume if you've got subtitles on?

I've no problem with subtitles on foreign language films, they barely register.

However, if I'm watching something in a foreign language I need to be able to hear the dialogue even if I've not got the slightest clue what they're saying otherwise it just doesn't work. With audible dialogue I don't feel like I'm actively reading the subtitles, it just goes in but without sound it's an "active" process on my part.

The Mrs will take the piss if I ask her to turn up the volume on whichever Scandi noir drama etc we're watching because I can't hear what they're saying...

I was thinking the other day that maybe the reason a lot of the crop of foreign language drama are thought of so highly isn't because it's good per-se but maybe it's because our lack of understanding of the audio dialogue prevents us from hearing the wooden acting and ropey scripts.

Obviously for animation re-doing the audio is a bit of a shoe-in

Not really, anime is plagued with shitty English voice acting that ruins the entire film/series. That's why Ghibli stands out, they make it work and work well.

The big question is, what do you do with the volume if you’ve got subtitles on?

I have to mute the sound to concentrate on reading. No joke. I can't read anything properly without silence.

I’ve no problem with subtitles on foreign language films, they barely register.

How do they not register? I find my eyes glued to the bottom of the screen to read them, then I miss what's going on on the rest of the screen. I have to watch each scene twice; once to read, then again to see. Reading takes all my attention to take it in. But when I watch a film I usually pick up on fine details that others don't pick up on.

I watch a lot of the Scandi Noir dramas on Channel 4, All 4 and BBC4 and by necessity you get used to watching with subtitles.

I also record or stream much of what I watch rather than watch it live. I've noticed that in many English (and particularly American produced) speaking films, dramas etc. the speech is often indistinguishable from time to time. I will often stop the playback, rewind, and replay the relevant scene(s) with the subtitles on.

I'm convinced directors are trying to make films / dramas more authentic with actors whispering, talking over each other, talking against background noise, talking when not facing the camera etc., whereas previously actors spoke more distinctly and to camera. I can't recall having difficulty understanding speech in films / dramas 10 years ago - or maybe my hearing is deteriorating.

I reckon a combination of seeing a couple of key words, the context of the scene and tone of voice etc giving me enough info that I don't need to actively read the entire block of text.

Thinking about it, that bit about the tone of voice probably explains why I need the volume to be the same as if it was in English.

Just watch Das Boot

We have a big aversion to dubbing here most of the world just gets on with it, it's distracting at first but it goes away mostly. I prefer subtitles for 'quality' stuff I suppose but then it puts me off watching them because I can't be bothered.

I prefer subtitles over dubbing although I find as I get older I'm more easily distracted watching TV and with subtitled stuff sometimes realise I haven't been reading them for a few minutes and have to rewind to find out what was said.

My elderly dad has started watching everything on Sky with subtitles turned on (I don't know why as he has vision not hearing problems...) and that's really distracting - they're in the middle of the screen in bright letters and as done live (I assume via software) they lag behind and often get words wrong. I realised I was watching programs and just looking at the subtitles rather than the pictures

Hearing the language adds so much even if it’s unintelligible, so it’s dubbing for me.

Erm obviously I meant NOT dubbing.

Got used to really lazy dubbing as a child in Hong Kong. The cinema club i used to belong to would get in these really (and I mean Titanically bad) Japanese b-movie black and white series. They were Cops and Gangster, Sci-Fi, samurai stuff that was truly awfully dubbed...There would be gangster No1 expositioning to the cops about his dastardly plan, and you'd get to see him full face mouthing al the complex Japanese language only for the Dub to say in a really bored faux-American/Chinese voice..."Yeah"

I'm pretty sure they just watched the entire thing, made up some half assed plot and then dubbed over the top regardless of what was actually going on...Pretty Rad when you're 10...

that’s really distracting – they’re in the middle of the screen in bright letters and as done live (I assume via software) they lag behind and often get words wrong. I realised I was watching programs and just looking at the subtitles rather than the pictures

This is related to the Stroop effect - which is where reading words describing colours such as "green" is faster than actually recognizing the colour, and recognizing the colour of text of colour words printed in a different colour (e.g. "green" printed in a blue font) is much slower again. If you do a lot of reading, the decoding is automatized and you just can't stop it, so answering "blue" for the word "green" printed in blue is much more difficult than reading the word "green" aloud.

When you have subtitles, you just automatically process them, but you can do that much faster than the spoken words, so you keep getting ahead of things and then have to reprocess the spoken language. And, of course, the subtitles are often different to the actual dialogue, so it throws you off. The better your reading skill, the worse it will affect you. It doesn't occur when the dialogue is in a language you can't understand because you haven't automatized the processing of that so there is no cognitive interference.

This is related to the Stroop effect – which is where reading words describing colours such as “green” is faster than actually recognizing the colour, and recognizing the colour of text of colour words printed in a different colour (e.g. “green” printed in a blue font) is much slower again.

That's not the case for everyone though. Me for example; I process what I see much faster than what I read. Just always have been a very slow reader. I get to the bottom of a page and forget what I read at the top. If I'm handed an A4 page full of text I just glaze over and cant take it in without a lot of concentration. Hand me a photo to look at for 10 seconds and I can talk about it all day.

That’s not the case for everyone though. Me for example; I process what I see much faster than what I read. Just always have been a very slow reader.That’s not the case for everyone though. Me for example; I process what I see much faster than what I read. Just always have been a very slow reader.

You might have missed this sentence.

The better your reading skill, the worse it will affect you.