which do you prefer when watching movies? with subtitles on or off?

@rhane7315 (5649)
Philippines
September 17, 2011 11:19am CST
i always watch movies at home and i rarely watch movies at theaters. aside from being comfortable when watching movies at home, one reason is that i love watching movies with their subtitles on because in that way, if there's a part that i didn't understand or hear clearly what the character is talking about, i could just easily read it on their subtitles without wondering or making me think like "what did she said?" how you guys? care to share your opinions?
3 people like this
32 responses
@secretbear (19448)
• Philippines
18 Sep 11
Hi rhane! If I'm watching a foreign movie with a foreign language other than English, yes, I would prefer that the subtitles are on. I watch a lot of Japanese and Korean movies and I am not fluent with their languages so I need subtitles to understand the movie. But if it were an English movie, I prefer watching it without subtitles since I can understand the language very well. I would only require subtitles when the audio is bad. Just like when I watched Insidious. The copy I downloaded had a bad audio, it was not loud enough for me to hear the conversations even if I had already turned on my speakers to the maximum. It's a good thing it came with subtitles so I turned it on to better understand what they were saying.
@secretbear (19448)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
You live near a highway??? Doesn't it scare you sometimes? You're welcome!
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
hello secret :) that is one of the reason why i prefer watching movies with subtitles on :) its because of the bad audio or the other reason for that is i live in hi-way which i can't hear clearly what they're saying especially if there are buses and trucks that passes our house most of the time
1 person likes this
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
by the way, thanks for responding :)
1 person likes this
@nitin_hec (1096)
• India
18 Sep 11
I usually watch movies in my laptop. I like to watch English movies and As I am Indian sometime its not very easy to understand speaking English of hollywood movies then subtitle do help much.
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
you're right, so having subtitles while watching movies is one of the advantage that can gives us
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
by the way, thanks for responding :)
@bachyyy (195)
• Bulgaria
17 Sep 11
I also prefer watching films with subtitles,but not only because sometimes i didn`t hear what they`re talking about.The reason because i watch them with subs is because i can see the spelling of the unfamiliar words..I don`t live in a country where the official language is english so i study it..and watching movies with subtitles it`s a perfect way to learn it in my free time
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
i agree, also don't live in country that english was not our official language but sometimes when watching i notice that there also some wrong spellings in the subs.
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
by the way, thanks for responding and welcome to mylot!
@globaldoc (858)
• Philippines
18 Sep 11
I do not like watching movies with subtitles. I only want the subtitles there if the movies I am watching have languages I do not understand. It would be just a distraction if there is the subtitles, and yer you can understand the language anyway.
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
as long as the audio is not that bad, its ok to turn the subtitles off. thanks for responding :)
@thatgirl13 (7294)
• South Korea
18 Sep 11
I actually prefer movies without subtitle. If they are with subtitles, all my attention goes to the subtitles and I have no idea what happened in the scene. So I prefer ithout subtitles. And the other thing is, some of the translations are so bad, I'd rather watch them without subtitles. And the other thing is, subtitles are not accurate always.
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
i agree with that. having subtitles got its own advantages and disadvantages. thanks for responding :)
• United States
18 Sep 11
Hi. I can go either way as it depends on the film and the volume of the TV at the time. If I am trying to keep the volume down for the consideration of others, I might have the subtitles on. I'd also do so as some of the classic films and some actors (either then or now) talk so quietly that it is hard to understand what they are saying without the subtitles. Then again if you run the subtitles on regular television, it can get pretty funny with the typos!
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
you're right about that. thanks for responding :)
@neildc (17239)
• Lapu-Lapu City, Philippines
19 Sep 11
with the typos, i think it depends on the cd. there are times we watch movies with not only typos but even when the script is in english, the subtitles also in english but with different translation. i cannot understand why that should be. i guess this mostly happens when the cd is not an original copy, a pirated copy.
@jaiho2009 (39142)
• Philippines
18 Sep 11
When watching English movies, esp hollywood then it's fine without the subtitles. But if I am watching another movie from other countries, I prefer to have a subtitle to understand what I am watching.
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
you're right, as long as the movie doesn't have a bad audio. thanks for responding :)
@ebuscat (5935)
• Philippines
18 Sep 11
For me have a subtitle so that I know the truth in it and have many things to understand about.
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
that's totally right. thanks for responding :)
@madteaparty (2748)
• Japan
18 Sep 11
I like to watch movies with subtitles when the movie is in a language that I don't understand, but if it is in one of the languages that I can speak, then I don't want subtitles distracting my attention. Subtitles are very useful for people who like watching movies in their original language, for example, as in that way you can get to know the voices of the actors and actresses you like
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
i agree. sometimes even though the language is of our native i still prefer watch it with subtitles on because of the bad audio. thanks for responding :)
• Philippines
18 Sep 11
If the movie has clearly enunciated wordings I prefer those without sub titles since they tend to distract me while watching the movie. They can be helpful though for people who are not good in English. Sometimes I mentally comment on the encoders sub titles because they are too far from what the characters are talking about, sometimes they are misspelled and sometimes the worse kind is written by a drunk person because it is too far from the dialogue.
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
haha you're last sentence made me laugh even though i like to watch movies with subtitles, just like you, it sometimes annoys me when there's a part that they are misspelled especially if the subtitles are way too far from what the characters are talking about.
@rafiholmes (2896)
• Malaysia
18 Sep 11
yeah.. i understand what u mean.. i also ever watched an english language movie but with the english subtitle on.. so that i can read what theyre saying incase i misheard it.. for foreign movie.. some languages i do have to read subtitles..of course.. if i understand some of the foreign language..say almost 50percent..liek french,italian. i will see it without subs.. but chinese etc..i usually see it with the subs on.. i prefer subtitels more than a movie dubbed in english.. i prefer seeing the movie in its original language..
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
22 Sep 11
me too,also prefer watching movies in its original language with subtitles on rather than dubbing it in english. thanks for respondin :)
@ckciasigurl (2081)
• Italy
18 Sep 11
hi rhane i like watching movies with subtitle because sometimes it is not that clear when u hear it at least you can read it has a subtitle
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
you're right about that. having subtitles make me understand the story more. thanks for responding :)
@minimoyz (277)
• Philippines
18 Sep 11
I always turn the subtitles off because this will only distract me when I'm watching unless of course when the movie is like chinese or japanese, that's when I need subtitles.
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
you're right, the disadvantage of having subtitles is that its kinda distracting while watching. thanks for responding :)
• China
18 Sep 11
i rarely watch movies in cinema either,when i want to see something updated,i always watch it through internet. as i am a chinese girl, then some TV soap to me are difficult to understand, so it is necessary for me to refer to subtitles,it is convenience ;on the other side, there are some poorly translation of the dialogue, so it can also block my understanding.so i can not choose one side. some one agreed?
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
i totally agree with you. thanks for responding and welcome to mylot :)
@chiyosan (30184)
• Philippines
18 Sep 11
If the movie is in English, I would turn off the subtitle because that would only confuse me. But if I am watching a foreign film, of course its a must to have the subtitle on otherwise I would not have understood anything. Haha
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
haha you're definitely right. thanks for responding :)
@Theresaaiza (10487)
• Australia
18 Sep 11
Watching in theaters is a totally different experience but it just comes rarely because it entails money. It's also no fun watching a movie alone so you can be forced to bring others along and end up paying for them. Yes I love DVDs because of the subtitles. I just hate pirated ones with English that's totally off. And also budget-wise, the price of one movie is equivalent to almost 4 or 5 rented DVDs. So it's much practical.
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
i agree. aside from watching theaters, buying food is also costly but if you watch at home you can eat any food you want without costing too much. thanks for responding :)
@whatrow (792)
• United States
18 Sep 11
I find subtitles very distracting. Especially when the movie is in my native language. I can't watch the film if I have to focus on the dialogue.
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
its ok to have subtitles off if the movie is in our native language as long as the audio is clear. thanks for responding :)
@Triple0 (1904)
• Australia
18 Sep 11
hey! I' in the same boat as you, I always have to watch a film with subtitles. I find it really annoying when I'm at the cinema threatres and there's no subtitles. So when a friend distracts me, I would miss out a line and I would bug all my friends on what the characters said. That's why I prefer watching at home with subtitles on so that I can read as the characters talk. makes me understand the lot a lot more easier.
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
i totally agree. thanks for responding :)
@Judy890 (1644)
• United States
18 Sep 11
I use subtitles only when I'm watching a movie that is a different language like the karate movies.
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
thanks for responding :)
• United States
18 Sep 11
I do not like watching movies with subtitles because I tend to look at the bottom of the screen the whole time reading instead of watching what is going on. I am the type who prefers to catch every single detail on screen and not miss anything.
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
19 Sep 11
haha i see. thanks for responding and welcome to mylot :)