Subtitles and You

[Cachoo]

This surprised me and I'm curious about your age group and habits. I'm a boomer and only use subtitles for foreign films or a thick brogue.

A study conducted last year found that:

• Gen Z loves subtitles, with 70% of them using them most of the time, compared to 53% of Millennials, 38% of Gen X'ers and 35% of Baby Boomers
• 50% of Americans watch content with subtitles most of the time.
• 55% say it is harder to hear dialogue in shows and movies than it used to be.
• 62% of Americans use subtitles more on streaming services than regular TV.
• 57% watch content in public; 74% of Gen Z do so.

 

[quartz]

Boomer with hearing loss. There are several shows/movies I would not be able to watch without subtitles. Most recently - Derry Girls, Ted Lasso, Bad Sisters.

 

[taf2002]

I watch every TV show with closed captions. The reason is usually because I can't understand the dialogue, esp if the speaker has any kind of an accent or a soft voice. There is deafness in my family, luckily no complete deafness but a lot of family members wear hearing aids.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Same as @quartz . I use subtitles wherever they're available, even the auto-generated ones that can be especially for technical subjects.

 

[Cachoo]

Well that makes perfect sense. I guess I was surprised by the number of younger folks who use them regularly who may not have hearing loss. (File under you learn something new everyday.)

 

[taf2002]

I wish subtitles had been around all my life. I think everyone misses a lot without them. When someone whispers or drops his voice level, it ends up with ppl saying "what did he say?" & then you miss the next thing said.

 

[manhn]

I only use subtitles for movies. I don’t use it for news, talk shows, sports like figure skating.

Streaming like Netflix has good subtitles that don't interfere with the visuals unlike network tv.

 

[Aceon6]

My Gen Z relatives use closed captioning so they can turn the volume off and do something else with their ears. The 15yo can watch tv, listen to a podcast, and prepare dinner at the same time! Ah, youth.

 

[Vash01]

I am not Gen Z but I always use subtitles, not just for foreign films.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

Gen X and I always use subtitles. I started using them for movies that had very unbalanced sound with extra loud music and softer dialogue. Then I just got too lazy to turn them on and off. I also fall asleep by rewatching old tv series or movies that I'm familiar with. I put the tv on a timer and turn the sound down low. I need the subtitles for some things until I fall asleep.

 

[PRlady]

Always captions these last two years. Even with a sound bar, a lot of movies and series have unbalanced sound on a smart TV. We are going to rewatch TAR at home because we missed dialogue in the movie at the theater.

 

[love skating]

I find myself pushing the closed caption button more and more often. I am Gen X. Hard to understand accents, mumbling actors, overpowering background music/noise and really fast or intricate dialogue make it necessary these days.

I don't use it for live TV cause it lags (you're reading what they said a minute ago), is often wrong (sometimes to hilarious result) and for some reason tends to get placed in an obtrusive section of the screen.

 

[MacMadame]

Always captions these last two years. Even with a sound bar, a lot of movies and series have unbalanced sound on a smart TV. We are going to rewatch TAR at home because we missed dialogue in the movie the theater.

This is me. I read about how sound is mixed for movies first and it does lead to muddy sound on a tv.

 

[Amy L]

I'm a cusper and I'm caught between my Boomer mother and Millennial husband. Hubs is legally deaf and can't really watch anything without subtitles. Mom finds them distracting and wants them turned off. She doesn't know how to work the TV/any streaming service so it's up to me to change everything depending on who is watching TV We don't use the same TVs, but we share a bunch of streaming accounts.

 

[Private Citizen]

Gen XY with no hearing loss, and subtitles are always on. I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds Smart TV sounds to be really unbalanced. I leave the subtitles on all the time, even though I don't need them for news or other factual programming.

 

[PeterG]

This baby boomer uses subtitles quite often. But I have a problem with DVD's when the subtitle option is listed specifically as "For The Deaf and Hard Of Hearing". That's just not necessary. List the languages available under the Subtitle heading and leave it at that. I'm not deaf of have hearing issues, but like others have said, subtitles fill in the blank when there is a lot of background noise and/or softer voices. And some strong accents...I would NEVER know what was going on without subtitles.

 

[Rob]

No. Or should I say, not yet. But sometimes I use rewind if I missed something.

 

[Vagabond]

Generation Jones / last gasp of the Baby Boom here. I never choose to use subtitles for anything in English but sometimes have them imposed on me. I find that English-language subtitles of English-language dialog are often inaccurate.

I once watched a Woody Allen movie at a cinema in France and noticed that the French subtitles translated "basket case" literally: 'cas de panier.' ("Two days a month, she was the perfect woman, and the other twenty-eight, she was a basket case.") I was the only one in the audience laughing.

 

[PRlady]

I have seen Israeli movies where the English subtitles were howlingly off. Misspelled, ungrammatical, sometimes just plain wrong.

Of course, Israeli businesses that use English signage to be cool are wrong or misspelled so often, I’ve lost track.

But if I have to watch a Hebrew movie in Hebrew without English subtitles, the closed captioning really helps. Something about seeing as well as hearing a not-quite-fluent language.

 

[Wyliefan]

I use them fairly often, when people are talking quickly/softly/with a British accent.

 

[genevieve]

Only for foreign films on the regular, but I agree that sound is far muddier than it used to be. I don't have a tv, though, and I'm always streaming on my laptop. If I can't understand what someone is saying, I'll rewind and after 2 tries if I still don't understand I'll turn on subtitles just for the line(s) I missed and then turn it off again.

Subtitles mean that I am reading, not watching. Very distracting to me.

ETA: I find it very telling that Gen Z uses subtitles the most, but also streams shows in public the most. I only watch (short) videos in a public setting if I have earbuds, and time. I'm just not a fan of dividing my attention so much, and watching anything on my phone is annoying.

 

[rfisher]

I use them all the time and a good sound bar. I can adjust the volume much better with the sound bar than the TV speakers. I may or not pay attention to them depending on the program, but I find the "intense music" or other descriptions hysterical.

 

[Cachoo]

I use them all the time and a good sound bar. I can adjust the volume much better with the sound bar than the TV speakers. I may or not pay attention to them depending on the program, but I find the "intense music" or other descriptions hysterical.

My father did not age well though he was a sweet man. I took care of him and more than once I found him yelling at the tv to stop telling him what was happening. Somehow he kept finding button for descriptions for the visually impaired.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

The star/asterisk key is the menu button on my remote and descriptions for the visually impaired is first on the menu. The cats turn that on for me all the time because Murphy thinks the remote is a toy.

 

[smurfy]

Boomer and use subtitles for many shows. I'm American and love British/Irish tv - and need it due to the accents.
If you ever watch Derry Girls - need subtitles.
And just some shows in general - too much mumbling.

 

[smurfy]

The star/asterisk key is the menu button on my remote and descriptions for the visually impaired is first on the menu. The cats turn that on for me all the time because Murphy thinks the remote is a toy.

Your cat's name is Murphy? Awesome. I have heard of dogs with that name, but first cat. It is my last name!

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

Your cat's name is Murphy? Awesome. I have heard of dogs with that name, but first cat. It is my last name!

Murphy's Law. He was abandoned twice before finding his forever home with me. The shelter named him that because they had a hard time finding him a home.

 

[Japanfan]

We use subtitles fairly often for English-speaking shows.

 

[gkelly]

I've been watching a lot of foreign language shows, so I always use subtitles for those.

Occasionally for shows in English with really strong accents I'm not familiar with (Irish or Scottish).

And even easy-to-understand shows if I'm watching on my computer in my bedroom late at night, so I can keep the volume low so as not to be audible to neighbors in a bedrooms nextdoor or immediately above or below.

 

[Cachoo]

I think what I thought was funny was that Brad Pitt's deliberately, mush-mouthed delivery in Snatch made subtitles....difficult.
https://youtu.be/wmq5gWKC0s8