Probably shouldn't annoy me, but it does....

POSTED BY: AURaptor
UPDATED: Sunday, October 24, 2010 07:20
VIEWED: 4046
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AURAPTOR

Thursday, October 21, 2010 3:22 AM

Subtitles in English for folks who are SPEAKING English, but with a definite accent.

Sure, sometimes it's necessary, but when what they're saying is clearly audible and they're using perfect grammar ?

I've seen this done for all sorts of accents, even a few times from those in the parts of the UK! Putting sub titles under such folks seems to be both unnecessary and smacks of elitism. Please!

"The modern definition of 'racist' is someone who is winning an argument with a liberal."

BORIS

Thursday, October 21, 2010 8:44 AM

It sorely annoys me too. Unfortunately there are ignorant people everywhere who think they won't be able to understand someone who has an accent. I live in Australia. My Sicilian Parents have been here over 45 years and speak fluent English. their accents aren't heavy but people think they're unintelligible. Another pet peeve is people who won't pronounce someone's non anglo name properly because it "sounds funny" It happens alot here in multicultural Oz
it's so disrespectful but we all put up with it. My actual name is Rosaria, My mum is Santa, (pronounced suntu[u as in up]my Dad is Salvatore My Brother is Francesco...or as we're known here Rose, Sandra, Sam and Franc. most of my Asian friends choose anglo names to avoid the ordeal of Aussie mispronunciation (e.g. friend Hui calls herself Stephanie)
Years ago at vacation care I worked with a boy named Kofi (pronounce koe fi [i as in bit]. Most of my coworkers pronounced it "coffee" and he quite rightly refused to answer to that. I made my team pronounce it properly.by the end of day one all the kids were saying it properly. Next day I started work in the afternoon and the person in charge of morning shift asked me if I had any troubles with "Coffee" I reminded her I wasn't allowed caffeine in my diet and she didn't think that was funny. I asked what her prob was with him and she said he wasn't responding to her but he was listening to the staff and other kids. I explained why and she was outraged "This is Australia! we pronounce things differently here and foreigners should accept that"...a few heated words were passed between us (tried to keep it quiet and professional but an audience had already gathered as the kids knew my feelings about such stupidity) anyway Kofi and I won the point and I used the situation the next time we talked about inclusion.

Rose S

BORIS

Thursday, October 21, 2010 8:53 AM

Actually to be fair there are some UK accents that are really hard to decipher quickly. E.g. the Sheffield accent, as lovely as it sounds is a killer to understand if you haven't heard it before.

Rose S

BYTEMITE

Thursday, October 21, 2010 1:33 PM

Quote:
"This is Australia! we pronounce things differently here and foreigners should accept that"...a few heated words were passed between us (tried to keep it quiet and professional but an audience had already gathered as the kids knew my feelings about such stupidity) anyway Kofi and I won the point and I used the situation the next time we talked about inclusion.

Sounds to me like that wasn't at all about "I'm from Australia, we have a hard time pronouncing stuff like the rest of the world" and more about making fun of a "foreign" name.

AURAPTOR

Thursday, October 21, 2010 1:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by boris:
Actually to be fair there are some UK accents that are really hard to decipher quickly. E.g. the Sheffield accent, as lovely as it sounds is a killer to understand if you haven't heard it before.

Rose S

Oh, I do understand. When I was in Scotland, and we stayed w/ a families over there, more than once, the Americans had to ask our hosts to s-l-o-w-l-y repeat what they were saying. But after becoming acclimated to it in a short time, it was no problem.

"The modern definition of 'racist' is someone who is winning an argument with a liberal."

STORYMARK

Thursday, October 21, 2010 4:20 PM

How is it elitism make it easier to understand those who are difficult to make out???

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

PIRATENEWS

Friday, October 22, 2010 4:49 AM

Required for Isle of Man TV with Guy Martin.

DMAANLILEILTT

Friday, October 22, 2010 5:09 AM

I don't annoyed when they put subtitles because I put subtitles on when watching a movie just just cos I like it that way. I get annoyed when they dub things that are already in English, case in point: Mad Max 2 (or Road Warrior depending on region).

"I really am ruggedly handsome, aren't I?"

AURAPTOR

Friday, October 22, 2010 12:06 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:

How is it elitism make it easier to understand those who are difficult to make out???

Because, unless you have trouble hearing, you should be able to converse and understand those who might not speak exactly the same as you. By offering sub titles to those who sound just a bit different, you're suggesting that they don't have the knowledge or decency to speak 'properly', in a more commonly accepted accent. " Why, they're yokels, or tiresome foreigners, who don't have good enough sense to pronounce words as they 'ought' to be spoken.". When you designate someone by tossing up sub titles, you're showing them to be 'different' from you, and in most cases in human history, different is viewed as 'bad', or inferior.

I do not hold to that view. Well, not entirely.

Again, just my personal opinion, but I try to focus on what's being said, not HOW it's being said.

Quote:
I get annoyed when they dub things that are already in English, case in point: Mad Max 2 (or Road Warrior depending on region)

And THAT is my point! It's not that I have any disdain for subtitles per se, but when they're over used, or needlessly used, for those already speaking English in the first place. Now, if they're dubbing over something already in the same language .... that's something else, and another level of nonsense, which I've not experienced.

"The modern definition of 'racist' is someone who is winning an argument with a liberal."

AGENTROUKA

Friday, October 22, 2010 1:48 PM

I don't find anything wrong with dubbing dialect or regional accents.

Not being able to understand someone's dialect is not the same as deliberately pretending not to understand it. The latter is an insult, but it's pretty oversensitive to allege that inability always translates to unwillingness. And it defies the purpose of most media to expect people to listen to a (to them) unintelligible dialect until they are familiar with it, all the while missing out on information being imparted.

There's a standard pronunciation of English (and many other languages) for public discourse and dialects can deviate from that pretty profoundly even if they are still the same language. It's not insulting to aknowledge that, methinks.

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