Re: Subtitling (was: Newest natlang?)

Ah I see, thanks to both Mark and Chris for explaining. I find that when
captions are available, I tend toread the captions more than I either look
at the screen for what's happening, or listen to the actual speech. The
speech of the actors in those cases become like secondary sound effects.
Whereas where subtitling is present and I understand the original language,
I end up making an effort to ignore the subtitles.
Is that common?

Eugene

On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 8:47 PM, Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> wrote:

> Subtitles show a translation for the benefit of those who don't speak
> the language or dialect in question, and may be available in multiple
> languages. Captions are meant to be a straight transcription, for the
> benefit of those who speak the language but can't hear it well enough
> to understand it without the captions.  Technically, they are also
> encoded differently inside video data streams.
>
> If the speaker's 'lect and that of the viewer share orthography, then
> the distinction gets somewhat blurry, as when I'm watching a British
> show and have to read the "captions" to figure out what someone is
> saying even though I heard them perfectly.  Then they're acting as
> subtitles for me.
>
>
> On 9/29/08, Eugene Oh <un.doing@...> wrote:
> > What exactly is the difference between subtitling and captioning? I am a
> > little confused.
> > Eugene
> >
> > On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 11:34 AM, Chris Peters
> > <beta_leonis@...>wrote:
> >
> >> > From: dirk.elzinga@GMAIL.COM> > Funny story. I was an exchange
> student
> >> in the Netherlands during the school> year 1989-1990, and Nelson Mandela
> >> was
> >> released from prison during this> time. It was major world news, so of
> >> course the Dutch media outlets sent> representatives there to report on
> >> the
> >> story. As I recall, the Dutch and> Afrikaaners would address each other
> in
> >> their respective languages without> any need for interpreters. However,
> >> the
> >> Dutch media had (have?) a policy> that foreign languages must be
> subtitled
> >> on television programming, so the> whole exchange was "translated" for
> the
> >> audience back home.>
> >> Reminds me of a similar funny story.  I was wandering past a store in a
> >> local shopping mall a while ago.  This particular store, every time I
> >> walked
> >> past it, had a television in operation with captions turned on
> (apparently
> >> so the employees could watch without necessarily disturbing the browsing
> >> customers.)
> >>
> >> This particular time, the movie playing on the TV was "Passion of the
> >> Christ", filmed entirely in Aramaic and Latin dialogue, and subtitled in
> >> English.  As always, the caption feature was turned on, so that the
> movie
> >> was subtitled and captioned at the same time.
> >>
> >> I've always wondered whether that was a Captioners' Union rule or
> >> somesuch.
> >>  One might think captions weren't necessary ...
> >>
> >> :Chris
> >>
> >> _________________________________________________________________
> >> Stay up to date on your PC, the Web, and your mobile phone with Windows
> >> Live.
> >> http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093185mrt/direct/01/
> >
>
> --
> Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com
>
> Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
>

Replies