Subtitles

[nightglow]

How do you feel about subtitles?
Does anyone else use subtitles frequently?

I use subtitles daily. I use them when watching videos online because I tend to read better and faster than I can hear. Or so I feel that.
Subtitles aren't always accurate sadly, and I feel like a lot of it is AI made, but it helps me to pick up on what is being said faster even though the audio is in my language. Definitely a helpful aid for me. And I greatly appreciate when people provide their own subtitles for their videos they make because it is very accurate instead of of relying on the automatic subtitles that seems ran by AI and has issues.

I don't have subtitles on movies/shows on the tv when it is my language, but if I lived by myself, I am very unsure if I would have them on. I think it would depend if I can switch them off quickly or not, as sometimes text can be covered by subtitles.
My spouse hates subtitles and will get frustrated with my phone if I have them turned on and he is looking at a video on my phone. He also tries to avoid movies/shows that isn't dubbed because he finds subtitles so distracting. So, I wouldn't put him through that on the tv anyway, since I can hear just fine.

I feel like the online subtitles take up less space most of the time compared to subtitles on a TV. And there is one instance I can totally think of when subtitles annoy me. It is when there is a lot of tiny text where the subtitles are spawning. Like if you are watching the news and there are information banners near the bottom of the screen or crawl text running and that is covered up by the subtitle spawning.

I will use subtitles for my language for movies/shows that are in another language on the tv. I do not find them distracting, normally. They can be if there is a ton of stuff happening fast on screen while people are talking. Luckily, I don't feel that is very often.

 

[QueenCobra]

My dad uses closed captions whenever other people are talking nearby, so he doesn’t miss a word of his show. My aunt is deaf, so she always uses them. When they were first available on TV, only a few shows got it, so she usually watched The Love Boat and a few other shows.

Personally, I only use them when I’m watching something I’m really invested in— like a good show or movie. I also used to watch subtitled anime a lot, but am OK with dubs now.

 

[VernalLapin]

I almost always use them. I want them to be there if I need them.

 

[Dim]

Only for video games. I guess it's because I'm used to it on games while on tv or movies it always felt... weird or in the way since I first started watching TV as a kid.

 

[S.J.]

I'm fine with subtitles! If they're on, I tend to leave them on. I don't really think about it, and I do end up reading them. I'm also completely fine with them off!

If there's a choice between the original audio in another language + subtitles or an English dub, I prefer the former.

 

[Chris]

I always use them. I've ADHD and find they help me to concentrate on what I'm watching. I'm likely to zone out or forget things that have happened (terrible short-term memory) without subtitles to help me properly engage.

 

[Disneyfangirl23]

Sometimes I have them on

 

[Snowesque]

Just for quiet movies, hard to understand at times.

 

[Halloqueen]

For whatever reason, I've always liked subtitles. I liked to throw the closed captioning on the tv when watching shows as a kid. Maybe because sometimes a person or character says something and one of the words sounds too quiet or unintelligible, maybe just because I like text, I dunno. I've kept on doing this throughout life, though I don't watch tv anymore. I tend to use the subtitles whenever they're available when watching movies too; kind of disappointing when some cheaper DVDs don't include the option.

While it's not a hard, definitive rule, since there are some dubs which I like, I tend to prefer to watch foreign shows and movies in their native language with English subtitles on.

If you're open to reading subtitles, your world is expanded, as you can watch things from around the world that don't and probably won't ever have a dub. I've used closed captioning and subtitles for so long that it's second nature to me and I don't have to do any of that fretting some people do about "having to look away from the action" and whatnot.

 

[skarmoury]

Absolute yes to subtitles for movies/shows!! Their conversations are just not clear to me sometimes, I have a bit of a hearing problem and hate having to rewind so I really struggle if a certain movie/show isn't available with subtitles.

For stuff like youtube videos I'm okay with no subtitles, I appreciate how most content creators prioritize making their voices clear/discernible enough for me to understand. Well they're not acting anyway so I guess that's why!

 

[-Blue-]

Subtitles in games are nice because sometimes there's so much going on that I need to focus on that I don't have time to listen closely to what's being said. Background noises, music, sound effects ect while being attacked or something is happening that needs immediate attention.

I usually don't need subtitles for shows/movies. Unless it's in a different language then I need them to understand what is being said/going on. I find how quiet shows are compared to commercials more annoying. I have to turn up the volume a lot higher just to hear things and then a commercial break comes and it's screaming in my ear. I get why, advertisers have more lax rules and can make them so much louder, but it's still annoying how obnoxious and day and night it is.

 

[thatawkwardkid]

I've always used them.

 

[Hyoon]

i'm so used to subtitles it feels weird to watch something without them lol i prefer to not struggle to make out what people are saying. the only time i don't have subtitles on is when i watch movies in the theater.

 

[Romaki]

I don't like having them on screen, it distracts me. That's how my English became fluently in the first place tbh, I forced myself to watch shows without them and in the beginning only understood like 20 %. Obviously English is an easy language and this won't work for, like, asian languages. I have watched an anime with subtitles because there was no other option and it was okay, but I prefer multitasking too.

 

[Muna]

For my native language I don't use subtitles at all. For English it depends. When watching youtube videos or listening to podcasts I usually don't need subtitles, but these people want to be understood and tend to speak clearly and at a constant volume. In movies or video games I prefer to have subtitles just in case I mishear something. In games I turn them on almost instantly but in movies only after having trouble understanding some stuff.

For all other languages obviously subtitles.

 

[rocketspruggs]

I'm so used to having subtitles on all the time, it feels weird having them without.

It used to feel weird to me at first since I have been watching TV since I was a kid.

 

[LadyDestani]

I wouldn't say I find subtitles distracting, but I will read them if they're on even if I understand what's being said. For that reason, I usually don't use subtitles on things in my native language. However, I will turn them on if I'm having difficulty hearing a character who speaks low or in a distorted manner.

For things that aren't in English, I always prefer to watch them in their original language with subtitles. I feel like I get a more accurate view of the creator's vision that way. It would be best if I knew the language and didn't need subtitles because I know they're not perfect, but while I know bits and pieces of several languages, I'm not fluent in anything outside of my native language.

My pet peeve is when subtitles aren't done in a way that's easy to read. White text with no outline disappearing on a white portion of the background, multiple people talking over each other reads like one strange run-on sentence, background translations (i.e. news reports) not being separate from the main conversation, and subtitles covering other text are all annoyances. But subtitling has gotten much better over the years, so I'm encountering those problems less and less.

 

[Croconaw]

For anime, I do prefer dubbed. I enjoy the anime as much as I would watching it with subtitles.

 

[mewp0ka]

I like to always have them on, since I tend to space out sometimes. LMAO

 

[Rainy.Nights]

I watch most of my anime subbed so I definitely need those subs, and same with anything else that's not in English. I often enable them in games too, if that's an option. I also like them on a show or movie that's in English if there's lots of quiet talking scenes. It really depends on what specifically I'm watching; sometimes it's more visually distracting than necessary, or like in a horror movie could spoil the jump scares, so it's not always a preference.