Do you watch english language films (or your native language) with subtitles?

[MassiveGeek]

Always. Subs 4 lyfe!

Now, English isn't my native language(I'm Swedish), and my English has rusted quite a bit since I don't actively talk with native speakers anymore(aka, I stopped playing WoW), so that might be part of it, but mostly it's because I can have a hard time following what they're saying. If I look away for just a moment of get distracted by something then I can miss an entire line of dialogue, but it practically never happens if subtitles are on.

I don't know, some people think subs are distracting, but for me they make it easier to focus honestly.

EDIT: And sometimes I watch Swedish films with subs, but sometimes they don't actually match with what they're saying, so.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Kinda but only when my parent or their friends around since English is not their first languages.

 

[Phasmal]

Well, I have some hearing loss, so... yeah.

There are some actors who I find difficult to follow what they're saying sometimes. Freaking mumblers! Don't mumble. The only one who comes to mind right now is Michael Cera, but I know there are others.

I don't usually need subtitles (sometimes I do), but I find if I lose the conversation it's kind of a backup for me so I don't have to rewind things or lose what's going on.

 

[Poetic Nova]

I avoid any kind of movie that's in my "native" language actually (Dutch is in fact my second language, Limburgs is my mother tongue, which is a blend of german and dutch).

 

[happyninja42]

Only when there is a specific line of dialogue that is difficult to understand. 99% for me, I don't have an issue understanding my native language (English) in films. But sometimes the background noise of the scene, or the particular actor mumbles something, or any number of minor, situational things might make a line hard to hear. That's when I'll turn on the subtitles to see what I missed.


A good example would be in an episode of Firefly, when the crew lands on that planet with the Bible thumpers. At the end, Mal is standing next to Simon, and he says something. And even the subtitles said "unintelligible muttering" xD.

 

[Michel Henzel]

Only in certain circumstances, like for example, the effects (explosions and such) or music drowns out the people speaking, making it hard to hear what is being said. Or if people have a certain way of speaking, or accent that makes them hard to understand. Other then that I don't bother with subs.

 

[Marter]

All the time, if it's an option. You make sure you don't miss anything.

 

[CitizenM]

Interesting responses. I had no idea so many people did this.

Although many of you have posted legitimate reasons for needing subtitles, those aren't really what I was looking for. Obviously, hard of hearing, not having good english, avoiding noise in a house of sleeping kids, and other issues are artificial factors that bring subtitles into play. Which is all fine and legitimate reasons to use subtitles, but I was kinda asking that if all other factors are equal, why do you use subtitles? In my conversation the other day, none of these were factors. These were native english speakers with no special needs just deciding to swithc the subtitles on because sometimes they can't understand dialog.

For those that answered independent of stuff like kids, bad hearing, not native english, can I ask how often you watch movies? I'm a film fan that easily watches over 100 films a year and I've been doing this for decades. So I've never felt the need to turn on subtitles for an english language film, except in some very rare circumstances, like Zhukov mentioned. I'm curious if it's something that perhaps I don't ever do because I watch too much film. Perhaps those exposed to fewer films have more trouble deciphering dialog. Or perhaps is it only certain types of films? Or perhaps it's just effort? Like if you're REALLY into a good movie, it's never and issue, but with most other films that are only mediocre or have trouble maintaining your interest, dialog is more of an issue?

Anyway, very intersting responses. This is a real head scratcher for me

 

[Something Amyss]

My girlfriend is hard of hearing, so yes. However comma,

Nah, I find that incredibly distracting.

You can read a subtitle much faster than the actor will deliver the line, so I just end up getting impatient waiting for them to say what I already know they're going to say. It rather ruins a good performance.

Sometimes if I can't hear a particular line clearly I'll rewind and wack the subtitles on for sec, but that's it.

It becomes really easy to tune them out, in my experience. I forget they're there unless they do something super funky like change colour.

Which I've seen on Netflix a couple of times.

 

[Cowabungaa]

All the time, if it's an option. You make sure you don't miss anything.

Yup, especially when actors mumbles or the sound is designed so that conversation gets partly drowned in background noise or something like that.

Only in certain comedies or stand-up shows I don't use subs as comedic timing is oh-so important there. And you don't want to ruin the punchline.

 

[Something Amyss]

I don't usually need subtitles (sometimes I do), but I find if I lose the conversation it's kind of a backup for me so I don't have to rewind things or lose what's going on.

You know, it's almost always my luck that the line I can't make out is the one that's either not subtitled or is clearly not correct.

 

[Dissentient]

I generally prefer subtitles because for me they take no effort to read, while in many cases understanding speech requires conscious effort. English is my second language though.

I would never need subtitles for my native language (Russian), but that's mostly because of phonetics of Russian language.

 

[Trinket to Ride]

I do pretty often. I keep my TV pretty low for the neighbor's sake, and I want to make sure I catch all the dialog. Especially with movies and shows that like to have super quiet dialog and MASSIVELY LOUD SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC

 

[Creator002]

I do. Don't know why, but I like reading along with the characters' dialogs.

 

[sextus the crazy]

Whenever I'm watching war dramas with my parents, they usually ask me to turn them on because they've got no idea what anyone's saying, since they're all talking in military jargon over the sounds of battle.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

As other posters have already mentioned...it depends entirely on the context.

Is the audio mixing awful, to the point where music/sound effects/background noise is interfering with my ability to hear dialogue? Ie. Sucky Muxing?

If yes? Subtitles. If no? No subtitles.

It's what I have to do with some video games too, actually. The ones where I can't adjust individual volume levels anyway, which, for some reason, seems to be happening a lot more often in PC games/ports.

 

[ItouKaiji]

I never used to use subs for English stuff, but then my girlfriend came for a visit and needed subs for some stuff because English isn't her first language, but even after she left I kept doing it because I found that it was easier to follow the dialogue that way and pick up little details I'd miss otherwise. I'm used to reading subs anyway because I watch a ton of anime so they're not at all distracting for me.

 

[me.vicky]

I like subtitles on English movies. I can be sliiiightly hard of hearing sometimes, and I hate not knowing what's going on because I missed something.

 

[DementedSheep]

No, I play games with subtitles because there is often a lot of other shit going on which can drown out dialogue but not movies. I'd only turn subtitles on if there was a character I had trouble understanding or whoever was doing the audio wasn't making voices clear.

I did watch a movie with subtitles when I was watching it with mates but we only kept it on because the way they described sounds was amusing.

 

[Auron225]

I do pretty often. I keep my TV pretty low for the neighbor's sake, and I want to make sure I catch all the dialog. Especially with movies and shows that like to have super quiet dialog and MASSIVELY LOUD SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC

I'm the same. I live with a lot of other people so if I'm watching something late at night when most other people have gone to bed, I don't want to have to turn up the volume to hear the mumbled dialogue and then be greeted with