Rather than respond to a post and have my point get bogged down in the responses, I'm putting it here. I'm so sick and tired of people from other countries claiming that Americans are too lazy to read subtitles, illiterate, etc. I watch foreign movies all the time and they all have subtitles. I actually hate dubbed movies or remakes. So get over it! Not ALL Americans are the same. Get a brain!
shareActually, you're right, because here in Germany (and in France, Italy or Spain as far as I know) all movies are dubbed and we didn't even have many options to view movies in their original language (film festivals being the big exception) until around 1997.
Nowadays with DVDs I don't watch dubbed movies anymore but until the advent of the DVD we really didn't have a choice.
And German television (except for pay per view) always shows the dubbed version which is why I don't watch movies on the TV anymore.
I heard that americans are even dubbing some BRITISH movies/series. Now isn't that idiotic or what?
Kinda offtopic, sorry. Whole topic was about subtitles.. not dubbing, but still!
I am annoyed by the improper use of apostrophes in thread titles.
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm2339870/
Thank you, gregg-67. I thought exactly the same thing. That aside, however, I agree with the OP
sharesame!! it's kind of embarrassing that a post defending the literacy of american citizens is grammatically incorrect.
but on the subtitle topic: i am hearing impaired as well as an avid reader, and i'm american. i'm not annoyed by subtitles at all, and neither are my friends who turn them on when we watch movies together. and the americans i know that DON'T like subtitles, don't like them simply because they find themselves reading them TOO MUCH rather than focusing on the movie. i've never heard of the stereotype in which people from the US hate subtitles...
LOL. Coming in here late but I laughed as well.
I'm not american but I do agree with the OP that it's cringeworthy to see constant whining on imdb that 'Americans dont like subtitles'. I dont like bloody generalisations.
I dont mind subtitles myself, unless I'm watching a movie at home, for the simple reason that I cant stretch out on my comfortable lounge when I'm wearing glasses.
@subbeli
----I heard that americans are even dubbing some BRITISH movies/series. Now isn't that idiotic or what?-----
I don't know if that's true, haven't seen it yet, but I HAVE seen it the other way around;
The British dubbed the American show Ice road trucks, and instead of an American voice-over, the region 2 version now has a British voice over;
I really hate that, and that indeed is idiotic; imagine John Wayne with a British accent
I live in Romania, here all the movies on TV have subtitles and original language.
I also used to watch moves on RTL when i was a kid and they sucked . It wasn't cool to dub Robert de Niro or Al Pacino :) . Listening to the language and reading the subtitles is a great way to learn that language. This is how i learned English, from tv.
About 5-6 years ago all cartoons on Cartoon Network or Disney or other kids channels started to be dubbed , and now children don't even know what "dog" or "cat" mean.
This is the main reason why people don't know a second language.
This movie was great !
oh please.
even though you're perfectly fine with foreign movies and subtitles the vast "majority" of americans simply don't think like you do.
it's not some british, australian, french or german etc. company that keeps churning out remake after remake after remake... it's hollywood that cater to their ignorant crowd who are perfectly satisfied with living inside their little bubble of life.
consider yourself lucky you're not one of them.
even though you're perfectly fine with foreign movies and subtitles the vast "majority" of americans simply don't think like you do.
it's not some british, australian, french or german etc. company that keeps churning out remake after remake after remake... it's hollywood that cater to their ignorant crowd who are perfectly satisfied with living inside their little bubble of life.
consider yourself lucky you're not one of them.
This American is not annoyed by subtitles, but he is annoyed by the use of a possessive apostrophe in the thread title!
Just messing with you... I guess I wasn't annoyed by this film's subtitles because I didn't need them (I speak Spanish)... But, it is true that many of my countrymen are afraid of movies that don't speak their languange...
Thread title: "American's are NOT annoyed by subtitles"
Contained in the first post: "Not ALL Americans are the same"
So shouldn't the title be "Not ALL Americans are annoyed by subtitles"?
Obviously there'll be some Americans who are annoyed by subtitles and others who aren't, just like any other nationality. The real questions are:
- What proportion of Americans don't like subtitles
- What impact does this proportion have (potential success of foreign language films, funding, re-makes, etc)
Steve W
I'm way more annoyed by subtitles when I already know the language, because then I end up reading the dialogue when I don't need to (like in movies that are English but have scenes with French dialogue in them, etc)
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Sal...Wyoming's not a country.
I work at a Blockbuster Video in the US. I'd ballpark that when I tell a customer that a movie is subtitled, about 19 out of 20 of them will automatically put the movie back without giving it a second thought. Pisses me off too, because usually it's something great like The Orphanage, and they wind up picking something terrible (but in English) instead.
sharethats why they do well there - just imagine if these people had to watch the films in the original language with subtitles.
shareWhat about other countries that watch american films subtitled? You're honestly telling me that the vast majority of ONLY americans dislike subtitles? I seriously doubt the greater chinese/french/etc. population is head over heels in love with subtitles.
I don't care whether or not a movie is subtitled. As long as it's a great film. Subtitles may distract a bit from some of the experience, but they're a hell of a lot better than dubbing.
I rented this at Blockbuster today. When the cashier scanned it, she said "Did you know this was subtitled?", and I said "OK".
After a long pause, she said "So... did you still want it?", and I said "Yeah, I heard it was good."
After another pause, she said "But, it's subtitled...", like I didn't hear her the first time. I said (annoyed), "YES, I want to rent THAT movie!", pointing to the box in her hand.
Finally, she said "Wow, you're the first one who's rented it after I told them that."
I guess a lot of people don't want to be bothered with subtitles. It's too bad, because this was a really good movie!
<INSERT HUMOROUS QUOTE HERE>
It's interesting that that many people would put back a movie just because it has subtitles. Personally, I like hearing the language that is originally spoken and I don't mind subtitles at all. Movies that are dubbed really annoy me.
shareThat's because some Americans find reading to be hard work. Sigh...
shareThe things is, Hollywood thinks it's better to remake all the great foreign films into American movies than to distribute the originals with subtitles. I think that it says a lot about the state of the culture and the mentality of Hollywood.
My latest disappointments: American remakes of Let the Right One In (announced before the premiere of the original movie), BenX, REC and the Orphanage (is that true?).
I think 90% of the films seen by people from the whole world come from Hollywood. And since English is not the native language for most of these people, they tend to get used do subtitles and dubbing.
As for North Americans, English IS their native language. That means that at least 90% of the time, they won't have to worry about reading subtitles. So, when they DO have to read them, of course it may feel strange! What's wrong with that? I think most people are simply not used to it. If foreign films were more popular, it would become more natural for them to read subtitles.
I used to hate subtitled movies when I was younger because I simply spent more time reading and less time watching the movie. It was distracting. I eventually overcame this because A.) I became a faster reader (once I hit 12 or 13) and B.) I realized that when a movie is dubbed over they usually change what was originally being said by the non-english speaking actor. They have to condense or expand what a person is saying so that it at least loosely matches up with the movement of their mouth.
I remember watching the dubbed version of Nikita and then maybe a day or two later I decided to watch the subtitled version. Totally different experience. So yeah, as an American I realize that watching a movie with subtitles simply out of purism (wanting to experience what was originally intended) is relatively uncommon. I'm used to it though. Most Americans have horrible taste in movies. They just want to be entertained for 90 minutes. They probably don't read anything other than celebrity rag magazines for entertainment. That is kind of why movies were invented. Some people just don't like to read.
Either way, I think it is pretty common across the board regardless of nationality. I remember talking to my German cousins and they said they see pretty much all of the same movies that are available over here, but they are all dubbed in German. They said that they were blown away when they first heard Arnold Schwarzenegger speak for the first time (not dubbed over). So yeah, Germans are just as guilty as Americans. I know firsthand after being forced to watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off in German in my German Class. That was ridiculous.
As an American ex-pat living in his third country, allow me to say that individuals disliking subtitles is not something exclusive to Americans. I have found that many "international" cities with large ex-pat populations (e.g. Istanbul, Seattle, Shanghai, etc.) tend to show more foreign movies with subtitles in the theaters. On the other hand, cities with smaller ex-pat populations (e.g. Muncie, IN; Naxcivan, Azerbaijan; Shenyang, China; etc.) tend to show movies dubbed or, in some instances, not show foreign movies at all.
As far as television goes, just the other day CCTV6 (the Chinese movie channel) aired Gone with the Wind that was dubbed in Mandarin. The channel occasionally redeems itself by airing Chinese films with English subtitles and some classic American films with Chinese subtitles. Still, I was sadly disappointed with the channel's decision to air such a great film dubbed. When I lived in Azerbaijan, you could not find any foreign film aired on TV without incredibly bad Russian dubbing.
I suggest that if you know of people who will not watch a film because they have subs, forget them! It is their lost. It also means that when I am back in the US, I can find the films I want to see much easier because everyone else is not renting them.
Absolutely, and as also reported by the German poster in the thread above, dubbing is actually quite more normal in a lot of countries than it is in America. So again, Americans are not unique in their dislike of subtitles. The thing that is different here is that audiences are not as accepting of dubbing. As one poster said above, 90% or more of the movies that we see in America were filmed in English. Whereas if you lived in Spain, you would be exposed to a lot more "foreign" films, from Italy and the United States and so forth. The Spanish basically have to choose between either seeing half of their movies with subtitles, or they have to dub. Since half of the movies they see are dubbed, they are more accustomed to dubbing and it doesn't bother them the way that Americans are bothered by it or find it humorous. In Italy in fact, all the movies are dubbed even when they're shot in Italian. That's how Sergio Leone made his famous movies like "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" -- the American actors would speak English so that their lines would dub more easily, and then the Spanish actors would speak Spanish and Italians would speak Italians and so forth. So that if you actually saw the "original" version, it would be 3 or 4 dudes talking to each other in completely different languages! Again this is all because in Italy as in much of Europe, dubbing is the most common practice. They won't even sit for subtitles for a minute. Our German friend who posted above is obviously a film lover, and I'm sure there are a handful of people in Europe who will watch with subtitles simply to preserve the original performances, but there are almost certainly less people in most countries who would accept subtitles than there are in America. The real issue is that most people in America simply don't want to accept foreign movies period, whether they're dubbed or subtitled. Whereas in Italy if you decided not to watch American movies, then you would miss half the stuff in the theater. We simply have had the luxury of options here for so long that only a select group of people are willing to put in the effort to watch a foreign film.
Did I not love him, Cooch? MY OWN FLESH I DIDN'T LOVE BETTER!!! But he had to say 'Nooooooooo'
Your argument is kinda flawed. First off how do you come to the conclusion that there are more people willing to accept subtitles in the Us than there are in Europe in countires that dub?
Secondly yes you can say okay Americans have more choice in movies and thus a less desire to read subtitles or have movies dubbed, but they only have more choice in classic hollywood movies. If you have a greater interest in arthouse movies or highly original movies than you have to venture out of English spoken films.
And yes I am grateful we in Europe tend to be a little more insightful to the talent across our border and yes reading subtitles form a young age does help but the key thing that shows that a lot of Americans can't be bothered or at least that the studios think that the majority cant be bothered is that they never just remake a movie. When a movie is remade it either needs closure, everything needs to be nicely tied up with a bow or needs more violence and more than often the movie isn't even remotely similiar. So that would indicate that its not just a bout being familiar with reading subtitles.
Omnes una manet nox et calcanda semel via leti
In Chile all movies on open TV are dubbed into Spanish, and all movies in the cinema are in the original language with subtitles. Even children's movies (though then there usually also a dubbed version).
It's so unreliable to watch movies dubbed... sometimes they change what the characters say to a ridiculous extent.
"The Love you take is equal to the Love you make" The Beatles.
I absolutely love watching foreign films in there native tongue with english subtitles. Dubbing over there voices just kills the movie for me.
Plus I watch a lot of anime and I'm used to it.
same here. Hate dubbed movies. A lot of Americans are pretty stupid in my opinion though and I can see where people would think we are illiterate.
share