Word Comprehension & Closed Captioning

[ria 75]

Honestly, I find myself straining more to read subtitles than to understand spoken words. And the subtitle people get things wrong with alarming frequency anyway.

Subtitles are fine when there's a segment of a show spoken in another language, but not in general I'd say.

Yeah, well. I'm a subtitler and I've done both translation and closed captioning. I, too, complain about bad subtitles all the time (bad translation).

I don't use closed captioning personally but I admit I would perhaps need it at my sister's because she keeps the TV sound at dog's-hearing-low levels. I don't know how her kids hear the cartoons. Maybe they already know them by heart or just watch the pictures. It's also possible they have better hearing than us adults but I know mine is good. Still, most times, any sound next to the TV make it hardly comprehensible when it's low.
At least my ear is rather well-trained for decyphering through my work. But whatever the language, sometimes it's tough, even with headphones on.

Now I'd like to speak for my profession: subtitlers don't get it wrong all the time. They have to adapt. Make it shorter so people have the time to read, especially the deaf. For closed captioning, no more than 12 characters per second, 14 maximum. That means trimming and modifying the dialogue. It can be very frustrating for the subtitler too, but there are rules.

Oh, and if legibility allows, I split subtitles so as to preserve suspense and punch lines. My subtitles don't come too early.

And as much of a subtitles fan I am, I find it straining to watch a whole 3-hour subtitled Chinese movie.

 

[Trippy]

I have auditory processing disorder (fancy title for not being able to filter sounds). That said, as long as the room is quiet, I prefer to watch without the subtitles.

In social situations, if too many people are talking at once, all I hear is "bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"