i use them when i’m listening to commentaries but often get caught up in the dialogue and have to go back...

I watched “8 Mile” with a friend who insisted we turn on the subtitles because he claimed to not be able to understand what the young people were saying.

search Quentin Crisp on multitasking = not really doing anything.

I’ll use em for bloody Irish/Scot/Cockney accents

Doing this with comedy shows makes them instantly unfunny.

search Quentin Crisp on multitasking = not really doing anything.
— Dr Morbius (wjwe...), February 14th, 2007 4:38 PM. (later)

Don’t have to. “Stop the music now” in fact the whole “Miniatures” album is right here on my musiphone.

I use them nearly all the time, as I seem to be getting unable to follow dialogue these days. The end is near

I have used subtitles or closed captioning ever since I had my first kid because sometimes he was awake and babbling to himself while I watched a bit of tv or a movie. It is really hard to go back to not having the visual aid of seeing the words.

Yeah, that’s how we started.

Funnily enough, the kids are more “get rid” of the subtitles now, so maybe this will happen with you too.

I grew up where the English language films had foreign subtitles. It’s a mark of how much of an effect it had that neither myself or my sisters can enjoy a film properly without them!

Sometimes the captions simplify and shorten the dialogue, and you lose the details. Jokes can really suffer.

Oh man, subtitles are SOOO BAD for timing. I don’t actually like them, but the radiator in my room hisses really loudly, and some shows you just can’t catch everything aurally (like Deadwood).

I’m constantly amazed at how much dialogue I apparently don’t hear, something I don’t notice until I do turn the subtitles on. It makes me wonder how much of daily ordinary conversations I filter out as well.

Classic for lyrics on TOTP

Also for mistypings on news broadcasts—couple of days ago Sky had the news that “the anti-terrorist police are reforming”.

... and hey, if you watch a foreign language film with subtitles, and after the film is over and you think back a scene, suddenly they are speaking english in your recollection, amirite?

Nope.

Classic.

xpost to Mark—yeah, now that 4l3x can read, he hates it if I leave the closed captioning on!

But Pleasant Plains,—yes, I was missing a lot of dialogue, too; part of why I won’t go back.

I also use it when I’m on my very loud treadmill; between the noise of the treadmill and the loud volume of the tv, I’m going to need the closed captioning someday soon, not just like to have it on.

xpost—What were they actually doing?

Subtitles = classic!

and after the film is over and you think back a scene, suddenly they are speaking english in your recollection

YES!

I’m sad to say we found subtitles neccesary when watching the Office UK boxset. Now when I mute the TV for some reason, I’m always delighted to see the captions come up. I might be tempted to do this more often but reading makes it harder to knit while watching television.

xpost thanks for that, I was imagining everyone else hearing the french and seeing the english words come up in their recollections...

I did this for gosford park. It was raining really hard out so it was extra hard to hear all the chattering in funny accents.

Gosford Park was one of my first subtitling jobs!

(Would write more [if, er, asked] but have to go home...)

and after the film is over and you think back a scene, suddenly they are speaking english in your recollection

I never even thought about that, but you’re right.

Except for Lola screaming “Scheizta! Scheizta!” in Run, Lola, Run.

I never turn subtitles off. I swear I’d miss at least 10% of all dialogue if I didn’t have them.

There’s a comedy news satire/current events show on here called The Panel where they sit about a desk discussing current events and making jokes about it, sort of a Leno/Jon Stewart thing I guess.

Apparently, because it is live and unscripted, the captions people have a right time of it keeping up with what they say, so in one show they talked about this and pointed out that sometimes the captioning people just give up and have been known to type “blah blah blah” as the caption!!!

Once I turned on the captioning on one of my Simpsons DVDs and was startled to discover the captions are totally fucked up compared to what’s being said. You’d think with the time they have to produce it they’d get it right surely?

“Bits missing” is to allow for a more manageable reading speed, in theory at least.

Live subtitles are done using speech-recognition software, as far as I know, which accounts for the anti-terrorist Police reforming and things like that. Someone has to speak what the speaker is speaking into the computer but without waiting for them to finish. Not that I have ever done it, and I doubt I ever will.

I think we can safely say that all subtitling is done as cheaply as possible, which accounts for how crap a lot of it is.

I could give more details but no doubt I would be in breach of something.

If it’s the Simpsons DVD I’m thinking of, there’s two commentaries and the live dialogue and the order of subtitles is wrong for them, you have to switch between commentary tracks to get the right one for what you’re hearing.

xpost

There’s a comedy news satire/current events show on here called The Panel where they sit about a desk discussing current events and making jokes about it, sort of a Leno/Jon Stewart thing I guess.

For a second I was thinking, but Trayce doesn’t live in Ireland! Then I remembered you guys had the Panel first. Our Panel doesn’t go out live anymore, and now I’m sorry I never watched the subtitlers working furiously.

I am staggered to learn that so many people watch telly with the subtitles on. Years ago, my brother in law and his wife and child came and stayed with us, and he insisted on watching telly with the subtitles on so that he could turn the sound all the way down and have a conversation at the same time, and it annoyed me so much that I have harboured a suspicion of subtitles ever since (other than for foreign languages, obv.)

Oh no, it wasn’t completely wrong. It was mostly right, but random phrases were different or missing. It seemed odd considering they could take the time to get it right. I mean its not like there’s a dearth of online transcripts lovingly done by anal comicbookguy dudes.

xpost

caption of the day, so far:

[BOUNCY SIXTIES

MUSIC PLAYING]

Gosford Park was one of my first subtitling jobs!

MJ, I bought GP for my mum and had to return it because it turned out to have no subtitles! Did I buy the wrong version or something? What a shame she didn’t get to experience your undoubtedly fine work.

If it wasn’t for subtitling, I wouldn’t be here. (Which could be considered a crap thing, I know. wink wink) But seriously, reading subtitles is how I learned English! I still need it strangely. Half the time I can’t understand what an actor/actress is saying, subtitling is like a comfort zone for me.

I used to have a TV that put on captions whenever I hit mute, and I had a shitty antenna with no cable. When the signal was bad, the captions would get corroded and it was really hillarious to watch the news and see news reports like “Coming up is the weather with YEEEARRG—HHHHDDDDD”

Subtitles were great for Oxford Park and other Altman movies because it helps you focus on overlapping dialogue and even if something’s missed, you can read the main caption quick and listen to some background thing.

To really expand your mind, watch a movie in a foreign language and put on the (optional) subtitles in another foreign language.

.. and see which language you recall it with!

We had great fun with this when we went to see The Da Vinci Code in Paris. Naturally the Latin bits were subtitled in French. You get real good real fast.

Growing up, subtitles were great for: TOTP

Very annoying for: quiz shows

MJ, I bought GP for my mum and had to return it because it turned out to have no subtitles! Did I buy the wrong version or something? What a shame she didn’t get to experience your undoubtedly fine work.

Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. You do get occasionally get secondary releases or vanilla discs that dispense with a lot of the extra stuff; to be honest I only did some proofreading on GP extras—it might’ve been for overseas release, I can’t remember. The first thing I ever originated subs for was The Book Group (C4 sitcom).

Live subtitling, as PJM says, is a completely different kettle of fish—stenography, respeaking and voice recognition software play a part (though the last two are increasingly being used in “offline” subtitling too).

I’m also loathe to go into the possible shortcomings of subtitling practice; I know only too well what goes on at our end of things...

I used to do this all the time, in large part so that I could watch tv after my bedtime (before I turned 8 or so and my mom just gave up on the whole bedtime concept.)

I suspect it was mainly because I loved reading so damn much after I figured out how to do it at a very, very young age, and felt that my time watching TV was lacking in that department.

Growing up, subtitles were great for: TOTP
Very annoying for: quiz shows
— Archel (slightlyfoxe...), February 15th, 2007.

this could not be farther from the truth! it’s absolutely essential for those times when you don’t know the answer and then someone decides to get ice or run the sink or something right as the contestant is answering!

also: very helpful when watching spanish TV

Classic! Do use it for most of the time I watch TV apart from maybe when watching sports.

Also used in opera (surtitles, I think its called) and again its even more useful here.

Now when I mute the TV for some reason, I’m always delighted to see the captions come up.

man i wish i had a tv that did that

the subtitles on dazed and confused reveal alot of little dialogue pieces that are hard to hear.

Classic!

I do this all the time. It helps keep me awake.

OMG Other people do this too?!? Well, I have bad hearing so I miss things but still C

i can’t believe so many people do this! i’ve never even considered doing this in my life!