How often do you find yourself (native english speaker) turning on subtitles in movies? I’d like to hear from many as possible. In my mother language, we never turn it on, it’s always cristal clear but it seems in english, this is a bit common or then asking like "what did he say?". Would you say english is indeed more complicated in terms of movies?

Question

TheStrangeOne · Answer

It depends honestly. Generally we don't turn them on, but my Mother and Father used to like to turn them on. But it seemed to increase as my father's health took a decline. 
Sometimes where they speak very quickly or are accented, not necessarily non natively (but that can play into it) but like heavy Southern Drawl we turn them on. It honestly depends person to person.

makoto1222 · Answer

In my experience, I never had an issue understanding english movies and hence never needed to turn subtitles on. I can tell you that many of my non-native friends, who mind you are pretty good at holding conversations with near native accuracy, tell me that they still need subtitles when watching english moves.

Just like with any languages, there's many different levels of formality involved. In Japanese, I find that when watching Japanese films that are geared more to young children, I find it easier to parse what they're saying; it generally is more casual and I've been a great deal listening to them. However, when it comes to more formal, I generally need help from subtitles.

green_star · Answer

It depends on the audio quality. I watch things with subtitles on my TV , computer or phone because I have ADHD and find it difficult to distinguish between the background noises and the dialogue sometimes. (This is apparently common with ADHD.) But at movie theaters, I usually don't have a problem understanding the audio because the audio quality is much better.

Some of my friends say that they prefer to watch things with subtitles, too, but I'd say that most of my friends prefer watching things without subtitles.

Some of my friends say that they prefer to watch things with subtitles, too, but I'd say that most of my friends prefer watching things without subtitles.

askingsaint · Answer

I frequently have subtitles on, but this is normally only because I either struggle to hear the audio over the background of the movie, something else is happening in the room I'm watching in and so I can't hear properly without turning the audio up ridiculously high, or because I can't listen to the movie at that moment but I still want to watch it. I never turn subtitles on because I can't understand what's being said, only because I can't actually hear it.

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