Why do Americans need subtitles for english launguage?

jonniebgood1 · 06-09-2012 09:17PM #1

Why do American programs have subtitles for people speaking english. Not all the time but if the person has a slightly different accent than they are used to. Its annoying, like they are to lazy to actually listen and und understand.

So why is this?

Augmerson · 06-09-2012 09:19PM

Language.

Wibbs · 06-09-2012 09:20PM

There's is a very insular culture. They tend to filter the world through their own culture. Look at the "Royale with cheese" scene in Pulp fiction. It's a pretty good example. They're rarely enough exposed to other english language speakers in their media, whereas say the Irish and English would be, so their ear is less "tuned".

Brad768 · 06-09-2012 09:22PM

Have you ever tried listening to a Geordie?

latenia · 06-09-2012 09:23PM

Plenty of Irish and English people were unable to watch parts of The Wire without subs to give just one example.

Solair · 06-09-2012 09:23PM

Because, unlike people based in Ireland or the UK, they're rarely exposed to any non-American accents and, other than maybe strong accents Boston, New York, Texas and parts of the Deep South / Louisiana etc, American accents are incredibly standard.

A significant % of Americans simply do not understand non-US standard accents. They really struggle with British, Irish and possibly Aus/NZ accents because there's more elision (running words into each other) and dropping of endings / silent h's in some versions etc etc.

A lot of it is just "Hollywood" (the US entertainment industry) presuming that audiences are completely thick though. To be fair, they may have a point for some audiences

It's even worse when they edit classic literature and have Sherlock Holmes on the sidewalk at Picadilly and High Street.

mikemac1 · 06-09-2012 09:23PM

I use them too

You'd be doing well to understand the Baltimore dialect without it for different crime shows

Or Aaron Sorkin and his rapid fire speeches and statistics and government agencies each with a lot of meaningless letters , hard to catch it all

ArmaniJeanss · 06-09-2012 09:23PM

jonniebgood1 wrote: »

Why do American programs have subtitles for people speaking english. Not all the time but if the person has a slightly different accent than they are used to. Its annoying, like they are to lazy to actually listen and und understand.

So why is this?

I needed subtitles for about 75% of the dialogue in The Wire.

B.A._Baracus · 06-09-2012 09:25PM

jonniebgood1 wrote: »

Why do American programs have subtitles for people speaking english. Not all the time but if the person has a slightly different accent than they are used to. Its annoying, like they are to lazy to actually listen and und understand.

So why is this?

UFC fighter Michael Bisping has to get a mention for this one (He is from Yorkshire)
While he was on The Ultimate Fighter they put subtitles for everything he said!

I just think the americans are just that ignorant to english being spoken by anyone outside of north american accent :pac:

3ndahalfof6 · 06-09-2012 09:26PM

accent

Biggins · 06-09-2012 09:27PM

They were that screwed when to came to The Commitments in the states, they at various cinemas, by default, had the subtitles turned on.
Add to that they had to hand out a booklet to explain some of the expressions and it shows that its just another nation which to be fair, has its own expressions which added to national/regional accents, are just hard to understand.

Tatankbull · 06-09-2012 09:27PM

I think it's unfair to accuse people of laziness or ignorance for needing subtitles to understand accented speech. I've awful trouble understanding some English and Scottish accents despite being fairly well travelled, having a very international group of friends and making every effort to comprehend what's being said.

Not being able to read a person's handwriting doesn't indicate lack of literacy skills either!

Solair · 06-09-2012 09:28PM

If you've ever tried watching Rab C. Nesbitt then you know how non-American sounds like to an American.

starbelgrade · 06-09-2012 09:29PM

This is how Boards would look without the subtitles.

TheBody · 06-09-2012 09:30PM

jonniebgood1 wrote: »

Why do American programs have subtitles for people speaking english. Not all the time but if the person has a slightly different accent than they are used to. Its annoying, like they are to lazy to actually listen and und understand.

So why is this?

Sorry op, can you type that again? Can't understand your accent. :pac:

B.A._Baracus · 06-09-2012 09:31PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drKtozox34M

"garrish" :pac:

Deank · 06-09-2012 09:32PM

You've been watching Swamp People OP, go on admit it....

Down south they do der talkin mighty differen....:D

mikemac1 · 06-09-2012 09:32PM

The Cajuns from Louisiana are a nightmare to understand, give me subtitles

languagenerd · 06-09-2012 09:37PM

I guess they're just not used to hearing other accents.

Irish people, in particular, have a good ear for accents because we're a small country so we watch a lot of British & American TV and films (cause we don't have many of our own). Even some of my English friends sometimes ask me to repeat things (and I have a fairly neutral accent) even though I never have any trouble understanding them.

In general, the Americans don't travel outside America as much as we'd travel outside of Ireland too. And there is less variation in accent over there (think how many different accents we have on this island alone, incredible when you consider how relatively small our population is).

But imagine an American trying to understand Paddy Barnes (the boxer). I can't understand 90% of what he says, and I'm Irish...

AnonoBoy · 06-09-2012 09:50PM

Because Americans love reading!

Latchy · 06-09-2012 09:54PM

I was always impressed at how knowledgeable Tony Soprano was on Anglo Saxon culture, traditions and sayings and he also was a regular viewer of the History Channel to :cool:

eth0 · 06-09-2012 09:57PM

Cause they're yanks. Most can't even drive cars that havn't been fitted with a prundlebox

Red Hand · 06-09-2012 09:58PM

There are a lot of American accents that are incomprehensible to us, as well as them.

mikemac1 · 06-09-2012 09:58PM

Irish people are great at accents

Girl from Tipperary heads off to UCD first year and by time she comes home that Christmas she sounds like a Yank

These people didn't forget their accents :cool:

You've probably seen it before but it's still interesting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QHYFXDGf4Y

El Horseboxo · 06-09-2012 10:08PM

It's the same in other languages too. I struggle to understand parts of Spanish from Argentina or various dialects from Spain despite being a native speaker. I may get 90% of dialogue in a scene but there could be 10% I wasn't sure of. So while I'm trying to figure that out I'm missing other parts of the film or whatever. Subtitles can help a lot. I don't live in Spain or Argentina so why should I expose myself to their accents? Same goes for America. Why should someone from the arsehole of Oklahoma expose themselves to Scottish accents on the off chance they may need to understand them without subtitles one day? It's not ignorance or laziness. It's just not necessary. Especially in a country as big as the US in which each state can feel like a foreign country.

TAlderson · 06-09-2012 10:11PM

Honestly, most times I've seen this (I'm an American) is for other American accents, especially on older people who tend to have thicker accents and also have problems speaking.

The other thing in play is the fact that most Americans don't watch British, Irish, Scottish, etc. TV shows and the like regularly, so we're overall less used to those accents. America is also huge, and Europe is a long plane ride away, so people tend to travel more inside the US, rather than going over to the UK or Ireland, where they'd be exposed to other accents.

That said, it is too bad we don't get more exposure to other accents. I showed a few of my friends some Rubberbandits videos and they just looked at me blankly...

-Tyler

kowloon · 06-09-2012 11:22PM

mikemac1 wrote: »

You've probably seen it before but it's still interesting

I hadn't. Give these people passports!

mike65 · 06-09-2012 11:27PM

TAlderson wrote: »

That said, it is too bad we don't get more exposure to other accents. I showed a few of my friends some Rubberbandits videos and they just looked at me blankly...

-Tyler

I'm in Waterford and also stare blankly at Rubberbandits videos esp when yer wan is on screen!

Stupid Channel in the States isn't the only one guilty of this - the BBC are increasingly titling people who have "tricky accents" while speaking English. I find that if I ignore the subs I quickly tune in to the speech whereas if I read the titles I feel I'm missing more (possibly important) unspoken communication.