masken
May 2002
Junior Member
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Why subtitles are important
Posted this at another place too... one that doesn't work very well 
Anyhow, I just thought I'd share with you why I think subtitles are important, speaking in general terms. This is because some people that has English as their native language might not be able to see this clearly at all times... In hope of more releases with vobsubs
First of all, let's indulge ourselves in some statistics and facts, to get a good starting point.
English comprehension is generally seen in 3 levels. These are:
L1 speakers
These persons has English as their First Language. Ie; their native spoken language. This is roughly 6% of the world's population.
L2 Speakers
Persons who has English as a second language. The estimated number of people in the world who knows English as a second language is 30%. L2 speakers live in countries in which English has official or joint official status and who therefore use English for official business etc.
EFL Speakers
The estimated number of people in the world who knows English as a foreign language is 30-50%.
In conclusion; subtitles are important for all that does not have English as L1. This is important to understand. Just because you can comprehend English or any other language, that doesn't mean that you can follow dialogues easily in say, for example movies.
That's why all L2 and EFL, and even many L1 spoken countries have, and use subtitles, or in some cases dubbing. This is the way it has always been. Different countries speak different languages, no fuss about it really. All people in L2 and EFL countries are used to subtitles in features, and this is based upon many factors, in which the most outstanding one's are:- English isn't normally spoken in common day life in L2 and EFL countries.
- English Writing and reading skills are always greater than speaking and listening comprehension L2 and EFL countries.
- L2 and EFL countries are used to either subtitling or dubbing, wherefore people watch features differently in these countries.
So what do we have here basically? We have at least a figure of 94% of the world's countries that use either subtitles or dubbing when watching features.
Now this figure might be a bit misleading in our application, and English is indeed a growing language. Those using the Internet widely does generally belong to the better half of the L2 speakers, in which some consider themselves good enough in English comprehension that they may not need subtitles. But it is again very important to remember that there's a huge difference between reading/writing and listening/speaking. And if you put the good L2 speakers friends into the calculation, the figures drops once again.
In countries which use subtitling as the de-facto standard when displaying a feature (L2 and EFL countries), features are also watched quite differently. There's normally no need to hear exactly what is being said, and this is something that L2 and EFL countries has taken for granted and it's something that cannot be realistically changed. Simply since a feature such as a movie is the most amount of English persons in L2 and EFL countries ever come in contact with, at least regarding English listening/speaking comprehension.
Even if we take in account that all L2 speakers can comprehend spoken English very well, there's still 2/3 of the world's population who does not. I also believe that this is a juste figure in total, given the general better English knowledge of Internet users. And then there's slang, background noises and conversations, and the overall irritation of having missed an important conversation in a feature, and thereby the whole or parts of the total plot.
This is why I think subtitles are important. I still haven't had my morning coffee though, so I might have missed some essential parts
/Read and writes. Barely talks 
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11-07-2002 09:32 PM
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