Subtitles on movies and TV

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I don't like using subtitles. Like others in this thread, I start ignoring the film in favour of them. Once I'm doing that, I'm basically reading a book containing only dialogue, at a speed dictated to me by someone else.

lol weird thing about me is that I don't have bad hearing, but I still find it hard to understand what people are saying sometimes. I dunno if this is related to AS, but I always find myself saying "What?" or "Huh?" more than most people do.

Subtitles drive me nuts because I can't ignore them. I recently spent a week with a deaf woman who had the text on, and it was irritating!! Especially when sometimes the text is not the same as the dialogue. When I lived in Sweden, subtitles were helpful because it helped me learn Swedish. But when I got good enough that I understood the subtitles were incorrect translations, it drove me crazy.

Me too, for the most part. As someone said earlier, about over-sensitive ears, I can relate to that -- however, it's not that the background noise always distracts me, but it blends in and it becomes part of what I'm hearing. This often makes speech hard to understand for me, especially at a movie theater or when I'm watching TV with people.

Fortunately, I have a friend who is willing to talk through movies with me in order to help me get a clue.

You can't watch southpark without subtitles! They all speak too fast! I can't understand a word they say (although my mom thinks that is probably for the best...)

i will read subtitles when i do not catch a word, but i find them distracting otherwise.
i never really watch live to air TV any way, so if i do not hear a word, i can always replay it until i hear it.

sub title writers are usually rather lazy. when i was little and watched movies in languages i could not understand and had to read subtitles, i was surprised at the amount of words spoken compared to the amount of words typed in the subtitle for that scene.

like a cambodian movie i once saw where someone said something like "cum quon dok ha sook lum faht b'haar mehr dungkat!! !"
and the only subtitle typed was "yes i will".
i wondered whether they really took that many words to say such a simple thing and if they did, i thought they were speaking a very inefficient language.

i was annoyed recently when i saw an american documentary about outback australia, and the american host was interviewing australian people.
the documentary was obviously made to me shown in america.
they subtitled every word that an australian interviewee said and it was kind of insulting because the australians he interviewed were all clear speakers.

moreover, they did not correctly subtitle what the clear and articulate australian interviewees were saying.

an australian man said "yes well it was hard to conceal from the japs, the front entrance of the cave where we stored the ammunition , but we used a bulldozer to push dirt and rocks up to the entrance to shut it off, and planted vines on the dirt pile...there were a few months where we were sitting ducks, but after the vines grew, we knew we were safe", and the subtitle read "yes we tried to hide from the japanese".

I used to use the subtitles only for foreign films, but I'm finding other uses for them lately. I have trouble hearing what's being said when there's soo much background noise, and some films really overdo the music, so having the subtitles on really helps. I often sit with the remote in my hand because when characters are whispering or just not projecting very well, I turn the sound up and then get blasted by a heavy action moment. With the subtitles on I don't have to miss any dialog and can keep the volume at an overall reasonable level.

I have the subtitles on whenever I can. It's easier for me when I can actually see what they're saying. Plus the dogs often bark in the background...

Kind of agree with everyone... subtitles are helpful, but distracting... and one thing no one has mentioned yet. I read faster than the actors talk, so when a character tells a joke, I laugh ahead of other viewers who are listening and not reading.

My husband and I tried subtitles a few years ago and at first I found them distracting. I now LOVE them and find I can understand and remember the movie much better if we've had them on. I used to forget the movie almost completely after watching it.

I have similar auditory processing problems but I don't turn on the subtitles unless I have to. Its distracting but sometimes I miss what is being said. This is why I watch movies more then once. I occasionally have trouble understanding expressions or some lines. Buffy the Vampire Slayer use to have a lot of those moments but I loved the show. I also had to watch the movie "The Uninvited 2009" three times to fully understand what was going on. Anyone else see that movie? Boy was it a doozy. Another problem I seem to have is memory for auditory things is much harder for me to remember. If its written down my memory is very exceptional.

Agreed!

I also agree with what someone else said about how it's annoying when the words are different in the subtitles. Especially if you have both the text and the movie in the same language, then it's really obvious.

I have another use for subtitles: I can watch DVDs at the same time as listening to music. Multi-tasking FTW!

That sort of thing is constantly made fun of in the movie Kung Pow! and in the games "Foreign Film Dub" and "Film Dub" on the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway? I think it's hilarious, but I've never seen that sort of thing in real life! You'll have to tell me what movie you saw.

Reading subtitles is a learned skill. Once you get used to it it is ok.

I remember many years ago a German friend went to see the movie "The Longest Day" where the Germans spoke German and the French spoke French.

He was so used to speaking English that when the Germans spoke he started to read the subtitles until he remembered "Hey, I'm German! I don't need to read the subtitles!"

I definately ahve the same thing here. I guess I didn't really start this until I was seeing a young woman who was partly hearing impaired and she had to put subtitles on. Since then I have found I have the patients to watch a DVD with the subtitles and director's/filmmaker's commentary switched on and STILL follow the film. I think part of the reason why I continue with this tendency a lot of the time is because of a challenbge that she set me.

One night while watching late night TV, she saw a car advert and when the person in the ad closed the car's driver side door, the subtitle she saw was (reassuring thunk)

And she challenged me to find a better, or more funny or obscure subtitle than that. I admit for 7 years of intermittent subtitle viewing I haven't found one yet.

Has anyone out there found a better subtitle than (reassuring thunk)?

I always have subtitles on when watching movies and shows. I find that I can understand what they are saying if I can also see it as well. I might understand the main plot, but i sometimes won't understand what they are doing and why. I also don't understand what they are saying if they have heavy accents. I fell in love with foreign films instantly, and then i discovered the caption button on my remote control and then I've always used it.

I don't put them on if I'm watching something sports or news related because I can't stand when the people are talking and the words show up late on the screen. It drives me nuts.