Yeah, I had to have the subtitles on when I watched The Full Monty for the first time. Now, I don’t need them of course. I don’t know which dialect they were speaking, but they talked so fast that I couldn’t pick up on what they were saying. After seeing the movie with the subtitles once, I never had trouble following the dialogue again.
It’s probably been posted before, but here’s something I think is quite neat… BBC Voice
It’s an online archive of about 300 conversations, organised regionally. Demonstrates (to a reasonable extent) the diverse nature of accents and dialects in the modern UK.
I don’t usually have too much trouble- but that’s probably from watching five years of EastEnders, and learning what to listen for - when I first started watching it, I’d usually only pick up about 3/4 of what they were saying for awhile. Now I can watch and understand 99.9% of it, including slang (okay, there’s one character whose speech patterns I’m still learning - he managed to stump me a couple of times during last night’s shows).
My husband, on the other hand, does use subtitles on any of the English shows we watch where he can get them. He’s improving after watching EE for a year with me, but he’s still stumped by some of the accents. He does use CC on The Office, although he says he can pretty much understand them now.
E.
I recall reading that some early Sean Connery film was virtually incomprehensible to Americans because of the thick accents, even though they were speaking English, and so required subtitles. Haven’t been able to identify it on the IMDB so far, though.
I am not a linguist (and I dont’ even play one on TV), but it seems to me that a lot of the trouble comes from the cadence of speech, rather than the actual words used (I am ignoring slang at present).
In my experience, Brits tend to lower their tone at the end of a question, while Americans raise it. That alone makes a huge difference–you may recognize the words of the sentence, but the rythym of the speech is off-and hence, your comprehension.
I found that with movies like Bend It Like Beckham or Full Monty , I have to turn the sound waaaay up and then I’m fine. (the Brits do mumble a bit, sorry but there it is).
Subtitles hadn’t occurred to me–but they would have come in handy for the TV series, All Creatures Great and Small !
My parents watched enough Masterpiece Theater for me to have no problem with upper class speech patterns. (I frankly don’t remember any downstairs to “Upstairs, Downstairs”).
It didn’t take me long to understand the accents in Trainspotting or The Full Monty.
Much Ado about Nothing, was the film that opened my ears to the language of Shakespeare.
Ditto “Trainspotting” – extremely frustrating trying to understand that without subtitles. The Scots have caught on to that and apparently think it’s hilarious – several times when I was over there I had people ask me if I had to put subtitles on when watching that movie. Of course, it took me a while to understand what they were asking, because I can’t understand them in real life either.
But I don’t need subtitles for most other British movies. In general I hate watching English-language movies with subtitles; even if I can understand perfectly well what’s being said, my eye keeps being drawn to the damned subtitles, and I have to read along to the entire movie.
The only movies I’ve ever had problems with were Trainspotting (which I saw before the miracle of DVD subtitles–I finally “got” the accent about twenty minutes in, and then rewound and started again) and Intermission (which I also caught the hang of after a short time and was able to shut them off).
So apparently I’m fine with the English, I just can’t understand the Scots and the Irish at first. 
YES! I was just watching The Full Monty and barely following the plot 'cause I just couldn’t bother straining myself to figure out what the hell they were saying half the time.
Snatch was even worse. Much worse. Might as well have been in Mandarin.
Subtitles never occured to me. I’ll have to try it next time.
No problem with most of them, but very occaisionally on something like Trainspotting. Also, I have no idea who can watch movies like Monsoon Wedding without the subtitles. Are there really native born American people who can just listen and catch that?
I had no problem with Trainspotting, except when Begbie was talking. Besides the fact that his accent was thicker than the others’, he talked so much faster and used so much more slang, I couldn’t understand a word. Seriously.
There was a film called Riff-Raff, where the characters mostly talked hardcore Cockney (incidentally, Robert Caryle had the lead role), which was subtitled. At least in America it was. The trailer implied, jokingly, that they had to do this, otherwise Americans wouldn’t have been able to follow it at all, but I’ve never been able to find out if it was subtitled in the UK as well. I’m not embarrassed to say that they did help. I probably would have gotten the gist of it without them, but I appreciated having some of the dialogue spelled out. Also, there’s a short scene towards the end that takes place in a hospital. The receptionist has some kind of middle-class accent, and the difference is marked.
There was another film called Rita, Sue and Bob, Too, where the characters talked Yorkshire. I had no problem at all understanding them…except for one thing. I couldn’t understand why it seemed to be the ultimate insult to call a young woman a “slug”. “What, are they saying she’s ugly, like she looks like a snail?” But I knew what “slag” meant when I saw it in print, and I finally made the connection when I was reading the user comments on IMDB. :smack:
[total hijack]R,SaBT has some brilliant dialogue, if a bit raunchy. There’s one exchange I quoted to my British co-worker when we were discussing our salaries (he’d seen the film when it was new, but forgotten it shortly thereafter). Sue has just finished high school, and chosen to go on the dole instead of looking for a job (this was in 1987). When her father calls her on this, she retorts, “There’s no way I’m working all week for twenty-seven pounds thirty on some bleedin’ trainin’ scheme!”
Sue’s dad: “You should be thankful for it! I had to work for eighteen shilling!”
Sue’s mum: “That were in the days of Methusela! They were worth more then.”
And my co-worker laughed and laughed and laughed. Almost as much as the time I told him the reason elephants have big ears is because Noddy wouldn’t pay the ransom.[/th]
I love British movies and TV, but I do enjoy them more with the subtitles. I miss a lot of jokes without them.
I bought most of the **Sharpe **DVDs, and was disappointed that they didn’t have subtitles. I love Sean Bean but I can’t understand a bloody word he says.
BTW part of the thing about Pitt’s character in Snatch is that nobody apart from the other travelers(pikies if you want to get a smack in the mouth from them). His accent isn’t great but it does capture the essence of an Irish Traveler’s accent. I myself struggle to understand him as that accent is very far from mine being from Dublin but can get most of it by replaying bits.
The big problem apart from accents I would see Americans having is with the slang. A lot of British and Irish slang just confuses people e.g. I don’t won’t to get any claret on my new suit. Claret = blood
FFS: I don’t want to get any claret on my new suit. Claret = blood
I always turn on the subtitles for BBC presentations, like the mystery duo* Rosemary & Thyme*. And I also tape it so I can back up and try again when the Britishisms get especially thick.
They’re a godsend. I’ve used subtitles for Snatch, Full Monty, Bend It Like Beckham, Millions, and Ricky Gervais’ Extras, among others I’m sure I’ve forgotten.
But I’ve never had a problem with *Upstairs, Downstairs * or Monty Python.
Have any of our British dopers had to use subtitles for American movies?
The only time I really had problems was with Sean Penn in “Dead Man Walking”, obvioulsy his delivery was in line with his character and all however it was execerbated by the poor sound quality in the Polish cinema. That’s the only time I remember actually getting frustrated & thinking “Danm I’m missing stuff here”. I guess that due to the sheer volume of ‘American’ stuff we see and hear on TV and in the cinema that we are more tuned to your accents, same goes for Australian, New Zealand etc.
As consolation some Brits are not averse to adding subtitles to TV programmes featuring the stronger regional accents from the British Isles (Scottish detective drama Taggart to name but one).
Not actually a BBC show. Sorry to nitpick, but it always bugs me when people assume British=BBC. There are other TV companies here! Although I see that they show R & T on BBC America, as well as several other non-Beeb shows, so I can understand the confusion. BBC America is a commercial network separate from the BBC proper.
And to echo what Cat Jones said, many British people (well, the non-Scottish ones anyway) needed subtitles for Trainspotting too. American accents are rarely a problem because by the age of about four most Brits are very familiar with them.
I used to turn on the subtitles for Rab C Nesbitt. Just take a look at this clip to see why it was so difficult understanding the old rascal.
I find heavy Glaswegian especially difficult. Subtitles are a godsend!