Sub-titles

[BeeE586]

For the third time this week I have tried to enoy a TV programme and switched off in disgust. My hearing is not as sharp as it once was and I have sub-titles on the screen to help me follow the plot - so many people these days do not speak clearly. Tonight it was 'Wire in the Blood' where the subtitling bore little resemblance to what was being said, the words appeared two or three minutes before the actual speech. I did hope that perhaps synchronisation would happen after a break but no, we got a few words and a gap and a few more words and eventually a notice which remained on the bottom third of the screen - No subtitles to this programme.

This seems to happen more and more frequently with newer programmes but seldom with repeats of older ones. Can someone tell me please, is subtitling a very difficult thing to do ?

Eileen .............. moan over, I feel better now.

[Pam Downes]

I also frequently use subtitles - mainly because half the time the unnecessary background music drowns out any speech, and turning up the sound results only in louder music, not louder speech. :mad:
I can understand that live reports will be out of sync with the subtitles, but with pre-recorded programmes there is no excuse. And even with the pre-recorded stuff you often get unintentional 'howlers' when a word has been transcribed to the standard of a certain genealogy site. :D
Just one point though Eileen - I notice that 'Wire in the blood' was on ITV3, so presumably you're watching via Freeview/S*y/similar. Do you watch all your programmes via the same system or do you watch the four main channels on terrestrial, and if so, is the subtitling usually slightly better for synchronisation via terrestrial?
Having only recently inherited S*y now my son's moved out, I don't know if (or how) you can get subtitles via that |dunce2|, so all my subtitles are on the four main channels via terrestrial.
Pam

[JohnN]

Some of the errors in the subtitles can be annoying such as the captions stating that '3500 were left homeless..' while the newsreader said 35,000... This sort of error is very common.

On the other hand they can be very entertaining, such as a film I was watching some time ago when the subtitles announced '(Military band plays "The British Grenadiers" in the background)' when they are quite clearly playing Colonel Bogey!

Another one: 'Band plays "The Dam Busters March" when it was actually 'In the Mood'.

And, commenting on the strict enforcement of speed limits around schools 'One car was clocked at 355 kph...' WOW!

The trouble is, although I can hear some of what goes on, I need the captions to fill in all the bits I would otherwise miss. It all adds to the challenge, I suppose.

|laugh1|

[busyglen]

I sympathise also Eileen.

My hearing is quite good, but my husband likes some of the programmes on the Freeview channels, one being the `Mentalist' and another with the same chap in it (whose name I forget at the moment) but I always ask him to put the subtitles on as they mumble so much and the background music is annoying. Mostly the words are in sinc, so I cope with it, but I agree that the `live' programmes are infuriatingly hilarious at times!

Glenys

[Carmy]

I sympathise too, and I agree about the background music drowning out what the actors say.

In Canada, TV subtitling is usually done by the same people who do court reporting. You know, those people (mostly women) who sit at the front of the court typing away on a tiny machine.

At one time, I was a court-reporter proofreader. Most are deadly accurate but a few made mistakes, as John saw with the numbers error. It can be disastrous, but it can also be misleading or humourous when a reporter misses an L in a word like "public" when writing something like "the Minister gave a public demonstration".

It may be that some TV companies/producers are unwilling to pay people to do the subtitling. Complain. Loudly!

[BeeE586]

Having only recently inherited S*y now my son's moved out, I don't know if (or how) you can get subtitles via that |dunce2|, so all my subtitles are on the four main channels via terrestrial.
Pam

Pam - on the SKY remote is a blue button marked SERVICES, and on that menu is a section SYSTEM SET-UP. If you click on that anothe menu will include Subtitles Yes/No, click YES and they will automatically come on ievery programme that has subtitles - not all do.

Eileen

[Peter Goodey]

Pam & Eileen

Sky have added a quicker method of controlling subtitling.

While you're watching a programme, press the Help button and select Subtitling On or Off.

[Sue Mackay]

I lived for two years in Sweden in the 70s, where nearly all films in cinemas and a good number of TV programmes were in English with Swedish subtitles. This helped me to learn Swedish, but sometimes I found I actually had to read the Swedish subtitles to follow what was being said in English, either because of mumbling (Marlon Brando in The Godfather springs to mind) or because something funny was said and the subtitle came up marginally too soon, with the result that the gales of laughter drowned out the punch line |laugh1|

My favourite bit of subtitling was during a French film on TV. A wife was haranguing her husband and using some extremely colourful language. This continued for several minutes and then the subtitle appeared: "I don't love you any more" :)

[Geoffers]

during a French film.....A wife was haranguing her husband and using some extremely colourful language. This continued for several minutes and then the subtitle appeared: "I don't love you any more"

Presumably the film was Certificate 18 but the sub-titles only Certificate 12 ;)

[Pam Downes]

My thanks to Eileen and Peter for their help with accessing subtitles on S*y.
I'll experiment this evening. :)
Pam