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Subtitles, closed-caption, etc. | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| pmiller Account terminated Groupie Canada Joined 5680 days ago 99 posts - 104 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 10 26 May 2009 at 8:46pm | IP Logged |
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I'm sure everyone here is familiar with subtitles - the writing in your own language that appears at the bottom of the screen when you're watching a foreign language movie. DVDs usually offer a choice of languages and subtitles, which I think can be a great aid to learning a language.
TV and movies in Chinese-speaking countries and territories (PRC, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore) always have subtitles in Chinese, because Chinese languages such as Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese, etc. are as different as Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, but they are written the same way. In this way, if the actors in a movie are speaking Cantonese, speakers of other Chinese languages can read the Chinese character subtitles. Here in the US, the government mandates that most TV programing comes with something similar: "closed-caption", which you can turn on or off with your TV remote. These are basically subtitles, but designed to help the hearing-impaired understand their own language. Hence, the writing matches the language spoken in the program (either English or Spanish, depending on what channel you're watching). Another difference is that closed-captions make note of background noise so deaf people can imagine these sounds (i.e., (door slamming), (rapid gunfire), (soft rock music playing), etc.). I think closed-captions can be very helpful in learning a language - just turn them on while watching TV and try to follow the script as you hear the dialogue. Does closed-captioning exist in any other countries besides the US? Anyone know? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6709 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 10 26 May 2009 at 8:59pm | IP Logged |
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They are quite normal in countries like Denmark, and they are a blessing for the language student even though only something like half the text is translated. You know what is being said, and then you can better understand the foreign talk. The problem is that most foreign programs in Denmark are in English and not in the languages in which I might need some training training.
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| Halie Diglot Groupie United States Joined 6116 days ago 80 posts - 106 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 3 of 10 28 May 2009 at 2:38am | IP Logged |
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If you are more advanced in a language, watch something in a foreign language with the same language in subtitles. That way, you will be connecting words with sounds, and you'll learn more.
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| GuardianJY Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5691 days ago 74 posts - 72 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Italian, Swedish, French | Message 4 of 10 28 May 2009 at 2:53am | IP Logged |
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I agree with that. I always watch "Phantom of the Opera" in French with French subtitles. It works for me, especially since I know what it is saying in English. Edited by GuardianJY on 28 May 2009 at 2:54am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5844 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 5 of 10 28 May 2009 at 4:32am | IP Logged |
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Yes, like Iversen said, the system you are describing is used by many European cable providers and sometimes also regular ground TV channels via teletezt.
I have never bothered to find out how to get rid of them when I don't want them, (it probably varies and I don't watch much anyway) But ocassionally I've noticed that I've accidentally done something that's caused the subtitles to disappear. Subtitles are used all the time in countries where dubbing is not common. It used to be 'hard coded' but there is an attempt to make it optional, or allow people to choose subtitles in a different language if they prefer. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6278 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 6 of 10 28 May 2009 at 3:18pm | IP Logged |
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I like film DVDs where there are lots of language subtitles (and sometimes several language soundtracks as well). I can kill two birds with one stone, enjoying films and studying languages.
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| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6040 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 7 of 10 28 May 2009 at 4:59pm | IP Logged |
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In my experience DVD subtitles correspond only roughly to film dialogue. This can cause a lot of confusion and frankly I prefer to get rid of them and just watch in my target language. I do that with French, even though I still don't understand everything.
The so called closed-caption in the US might be more useful if it is more exact. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| bluejay390 Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6284 days ago 227 posts - 259 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Malay, Italian | Message 8 of 10 28 May 2009 at 5:15pm | IP Logged |
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I love using closed captions when I watch Spanish television. Especially when I'm watching a telenovella because the captions match word for word what the people are saying and they are also in time with what is being said. Some of the talk shows' captions are not in sync. I think that subtitles and closed captions are a great tool for learning languages.
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