Movie-subtitles poll

[Adagio]

How many inhere has it like me (Any there even anyone who's got it like me?) when talking about movies...


When viewing a movie in another language (a language you understand... and not as in not you first language), do you prefer to have subtitles on or off?

I hate subtitles. My eyes always automaticly starts reading the subtitles even though I just heard (and understud) what they were saying... and this makes me miss parts of what's going on, on the screen... I always catches myself reading it, and I hate it, I just can't avoid doing it
The main reason why I prefer DVD's instead of VHS is the ability to turn off those subtitles, but now I've got two movies where I can't turn off those subtitles... and it annoys me...

5 years ago I was visiting Italy with school, where we got to live by some Italian students. One of the days we saw a movie (Not at the theatres or something like that... just a rented movie). It was an American movie (Nothing unusual there), but I was shocked to see the subtitles... they had English subtitles

[aaglo]

The closest option for me is the "ICC less". I like to have the subtitles left on, especially if they are talking about very strange things in the movie. Plus it's fun to search and laugh at the translation errors there

And if the option is only english subtitles, I sometimes use them too, when the people speak in almost unrecognizable accent - like scottish.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I prefer subtitles on.

[Az]

subtitles: yes. dubbing. NOOOOO.

[General Ludd]

I don't like subtitles where are embedded into the video. I prefer subtitle files which can be turned off/on and reconfigured.

[reismark]

Subtitles: Depends. I like them if I wouldn't be able to understand the language in question, otherwise I'd like to be able to keep 'em off.

Dubbing: A scourge upon the planet that must be eradicated.

[Drogue]

Subtitles: Great for foreign movies, incredibly annoying for movies in English.

Dubbing: Shouldn't exist.

[JohnT]

Hell, my wife and I turn on the closed-captioning (standard subtitles here in the US for hearing-impaired people - used in over 95% of all TV programming) for everything. Gotta tell you - they did a lot to make the movie Snatch intelligible!

So, yeah - we like subtitles. Don't even notice them.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by aaglo
The closest option for me is the "ICC less". I like to have the subtitles left on, especially if they are talking about very strange things in the movie. Plus it's fun to search and laugh at the translation errors there

Me too. You could only do that when your fluency in that particular language is high, though.

[Mercator]

If I can turn them off (e.g. DVD's), I do, but I'm not really bothered by them either. I'm pretty good at ignoring them...

In fact, I often don't even notice whether there are any (e.g. when the subtitles fail halfway through a movie, or when I forget whether I'm watching a Dutch channel or an English one).

Dubbing is evil.

[Az]

for some reason, dubbing is apparently very popular in Russia.

Damn evil commies.

[Richelieu]

Dubbing is very popular here as well. But then again you're talking about the majority of the movies that are being shown on TV. It really is a matter of getting used to it i think. Although i prefer the original versions, i'd pick dubbing over subtitles any day.

You just have to hear the dubbed version of Bruce Willis in Die Hard when he's trying to kill Alexander Godunov.

[Shogun Gunner]

Originally posted by Azazel
subtitles: yes. dubbing. NOOOOO.

Couldn't agree more, unless you are talking about those Hong Kong kungfu theatre movies. Then subtitles: no; really bad, comical dubbing: yes.

[Alex]

Though my English is not that bad, I like the subtitles, but only in my own language; otherwise, it seems a bit ridiculous.

But dubbing? ...

/me looks for the vomit smilie.

... Dubbing is the root of all evil.

[BeBMan]

Dubbing is the rule in Germany, in both cinema and tv since 1945, and has reached a high standard here. Usually one German actor/actress speaks always the role of the same foreign original actor, so normally this foreign actor has always the same dubbed voice. Therefore most people here don´t even know the real voices of foreign actors.

Yes, sometimes the dubbed versions are crappy, esp. if they mess up jokes, but usually they are quite good here. I see them like translations of books - some are good, some are nonsense.

Since DVDs are getting more popular you can choose of course different language versions at home. But for older people who often cannot speak a decent English that is no option, and subtitles are rather annoying.

The funniest movie with subtitles I saw in Egypt during a bus tour: "Titanic" - English, with Arabian sub-titles