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| "The Modern Family"s' Sofia Verga |
Subject of discussion: Overly used subtitles on American TV shows.
To avoid adding more aggravation to my brain, I prefer to think that English subtitles are added to English speakers on reality shows to assist visitors in our country to better answer their own query:
"I KNOW that when I stopped by England on my way to America, I learned English, but why the Hell can't I understand when these people speak?"
I'm certain that visitors to any other country large enough to have specific regions and varied dialects would run into the same difficulty upon arrival to the foreign country. Learning a language "by the book" then putting that basic knowledge to work in daily practice around native people speaking that language would be a shock to anybody that has not adequately prepared themselves for such an experience. If statistics have ever been collected on such data, I would be interested in learning which language in it's respective country has been the most altered (deviated?) from the text book version of that specific language. Even though I truly have no specific data on such a study, I would be willing to wager that American English is somewhere near the top of that list.
Imagine, if you will, that two Hindi-speaking visitors land in Kennedy International Airport in New York City. Then.... they take a cab to The Bronx, and they walk into a cafe. They are greeted with an Italian-influenced, steeped-in-history Bronx accent. Can you possibly imagine the confused looks that these two visitors would give each other, wondering, "What the Hell? I KNOW we both learned English back in India, but why can't we understand this man when he speaks to us?" Most likely, these visitors learned a school book textbook version of English that was taught to them by a person speaking with a British or other European accent.
Then.... our two visitors go back to the airport, and fly into Savannah, GA. They walk into Paula Deen's restaurant, "Lady & Sons", and they are greeted by Paula, herself. Once again, imagine the looks on these visitor's faces when they realize that they can't understand a single word spoken by a Georgia resident....
...or a New Orleans resident..... or a Memphis resident..... and the list of United States regional dialects could continue for some length.
For several reasons, personally, I am opposed to English subtitles placed under a non-native English speaker who IS speaking English. Many times, I am doing another task, and I am not looking up at the TV. I will hear a person speaking with an accent, and - without looking up - I will tell Mark, "Please don't tell me that they are subtitled. I can understand him perfectly."
Mark almost always answers me, "You know they're subtitled."
Such subtitles make people mentally lazy and constricted in their tight little worlds.
For example, I know Spanish enough to get me by in a HUGE EMERGENCY. Mark asked me why an English-speaking Spanish native says, "Wiener" instead of "WINNER". When I pronounced the Spanish vowels, he understood immediately. In Spanish, "I" sounds like "E".
Having subtitles doesn't make the listener stop and compare the languages., and it doesn't encourage him / her to explore other cultures, thus expanding his view of the world.
Paraphrasing Mr. Mark Twain:
"Travel (and understanding people and languages that are not native to you) is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."
- Innocents Abroad
Spanish English Spanish
Vowel Example Example
/a/ = "ah" father, saw papa, agua
/e/ = "eh" met, bed esperanza, bebe
/i/ = "ee" bee, leaf sí, chica
/o/ = "oh" low, know loco, bonito
/u/ = "oo" sue, do grupo, futuro
Now, go thou forth, and be a Wiener!
- Michael
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