|
 |
Subtitles - do you resist the temptation? | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6903 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes  5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 1 of 38 09 December 2012 at 1:02am | IP Logged |
|
I've recently realized that while watching movies in English, I tend to turn on the
English subtitles: sometimes because I want to remember better some words (like while watching some TV series set in the scenery of a hospital), but more often just because watching movies this way is more relaxing and I don't have to worry about missing anything. Not that I miss a lot, at least not with standard American English - if there are no subtitles available, I deal with it just fine and I don't really see any big difference. But if there are subtitles, I almost always end up switching them back on at some point. I wonder if I'm the only one with this problem in TL (if it is a problem). The funny thing is when I watch movies in Polish I'm obviously not 100% focused all the time so I must be missing things here and there as well but I'm not turning on subtitles... yet with English the temptation (or just the habit) is too strong. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6597 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 2 of 38 09 December 2012 at 1:12am | IP Logged |
|
In my Romance languages my listening is actually better than my reading, so I sometimes use the subtitles just to get more used to the written form of the language.
I'm pretty bad at using subtitles in general so I tend to avoid them. It seems like you just feel guilty when you watch stuff in English...that's not the only way to deal with it! :D watch movies in a language in which you don't feel like you're learning less just because the subtitles are on! or maybe in German hehe. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| daegga Tetraglot Senior Member Austria lang-8.com/553301 Joined 4521 days ago 1076 posts - 1792 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, Norwegian Studies: Danish, French, Finnish, Icelandic | Message 3 of 38 09 December 2012 at 1:29am | IP Logged |
|
Interesting, it's the other way round for me. I find it more relaxing without subtitles, subtitles just irritate me and force my attention away from the movie.
There are languages where I really should use them, but I'm too lazy to search for matching subtitles, so I end up watching without most of the time. As long as I understand enough to be entertained, that's fine with me. I think both ways have their merits, one gives you a more intensive listening exercise, the other one helps you to a more detailed understanding and shows you the spelling of previously unknown words. I wouldn't worry about it too much. As you do both, you get the best of two worlds. Always look on the bright side ;) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4772 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish | Message 4 of 38 09 December 2012 at 8:21am | IP Logged |
|
I used to prefer watching English media with subtitles, but I haven't felt the need to use them for about five years now. I remember having watched the movie Twin Town, nearly all of whose characters are Welsh, on a DVD that lacked any kind of subtitles. I had to rewind a couple of scenes to re-listen, but overall I got about 90% of the dialogue and didn't miss any important details, which suggested to me that movies in the standard UK and US registers of English should be a piece of cake for me. I do still prefer subs in my other languages (I hardly watch anything not in Japanese these days), since not only do they improve comprehension, I can also look up words and add sentences to Anki without having to figure out hot to write them.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Tsopivo Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4471 days ago 258 posts - 411 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Esperanto | Message 5 of 38 09 December 2012 at 9:38am | IP Logged |
|
I am pretty much like you : I do not need subtitles for most of the content that I watch in English so I don't mind if it's not available. I also won't go out of my way to get them most of the time - for example, when I watch TV shows on the Internet, I use a website that provides tons of TV shows without subtitles even if I know I could find the same shows with subtitles in a few minutes of search on google. However, when the subtitles are easily available, I always turn them on. It is certainly a bit lazy but I do not consider it to be a problem and I am not actively working on my English anyway. Edited by Tsopivo on 09 December 2012 at 9:39am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5334 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 6 of 38 09 December 2012 at 9:55am | IP Logged |
|
I tend to put on subtitles in English when I can - regardless of which language it is in. It helps me get the odd
unknown word in English, and if I am watching another language it is nice to have it as reference point. I do not read them all the time, only when there is something I need to understand better. I do not at all feel guilty about it, it helps me to learn, and ultimately that is what it is all about. I am not cheating at an exam here :-) But like you I am not dependent on them. There is a show I watch over the Internet which obviously has no subtitles, and it does not bother me one bit. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6909 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 38 09 December 2012 at 11:16am | IP Logged |
|
Same here. I use subtitles if I can (you can never be sure that you know the language inside-out, there can be a lot of background noise etc.), but of course I watch things without subtitles (for instance, on Youtube). And again, I don't r e a d the subtitles.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 6125 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 8 of 38 09 December 2012 at 11:57am | IP Logged |
|
If there are English subtitles, I use black electrical tape to cover them up. I just let the Japanese words I
don't know wash over me. Often I'm confused, but I don't care and it doesn't bother me. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
