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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Subtitling people with accents on TV

101 replies

lbsjob87 · 18/02/2015 21:18

AIBU to get REALLY pissed off when TV producers patronise viewers by putting subtitles on the screen when people are speaking English with a strong accent?
I was just watching Comic Relief Bake Off and Ed Byrne (who has a thick Irish accent) was interviewing a Ugandan lady. The woman was subtitled, even though we could clearly hear her - she was a bit quiet but by no means inaudible.
Ed Byrne wasn't subtitled, though - despite him also having a thick accent.
I'm not saying he should have been, but the lady shouldn't have.
I've seen Scottish people subtitled, Welsh, Irish, but very rarely English.
I am English and live near London - I also used to work in TV so I know that most producers exist in an alternative reality, but I wondered if it annoys anyone else, or if I just think too much?!

OP posts:
YouTheCat · 18/02/2015 21:20

It really really pisses me off as well.

I was perfectly able to understand what that woman was saying.

I've seen Geordies subtitled before.

ithoughtofitfirst · 18/02/2015 21:25

I've seen this with Scottish people on tv. Fgs... Scottish! As if I wouldn't be able to understand.

jigsawlady · 18/02/2015 21:38

I think its fine if the accent is thick and people might not understand. to be honest I love subtitles and have them on all the time.

I would be suggesting subtitles for him if he was difficult to understand.

ithought just because scotland is part of UK doesnt mean everyone can understand the accent, scottish, irish etc can be as difficult as accents that have developed thousands of miles away

Iflyaway · 18/02/2015 21:42

You are expecting that everyone speaks and understands your English and your accent.

Personally, with the whole world around the world, struggling with language, deafness, etc. I think it's a good thing stuff gets subtitled.

Helps people learn English too, eh?! :-)

EatShitDerek · 18/02/2015 21:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ClumsyNinja · 18/02/2015 21:46

I don't mind subtitles because you can just ignore them. I used to read them watching Rab C Nesbit until I learnt the lingo.

What annoys me is when the person being interviewed is speaking in a foreign language and they dub the English translation loudly over the top so you can't really hear the original speaker. I feel especially aggrieved if I think the translation is inaccurate.

WastingMyYoungYears · 18/02/2015 21:48

I watched that too, and I thought the same thing OP.

fakenamefornow · 18/02/2015 21:49

I tried to watch the Ken Loach film 'My Name is Ken' once, I couldn't understand what the actors' were saying, and had to switch it off. I also remember recently the BBC's production of Jamaica Inn had a lot of complaints that people couldn't understand the actors. I think it's quite a pragmatic decision to subtitle and in the past these people just wouldn't have been heard from at all. I have never not been able to understand somebody in RL but on TV you can't ask somebody to repeat things or slow down.

Lovemycatsandkids · 18/02/2015 21:49

My parents are deaf and need subtitles.

Pisses me off that you are pissed off over the subtitles.

Be bloody grateful.

Deafness is a dreadful affliction.

Blindness cuts you off from things but deafness cuts you off from people.

People think my parents are stupid/ignorant. It's horrible.

If your op is because the lady subtitled is Ugandan and you are making a point about that then sorry it's a yawn.

Debinaround · 18/02/2015 21:50

Yes YouTheCat, I have seen Geordies subtitled (on Geordie Shaw) and I can always understand what they are saying.

I am a Geordie though....

YouTheCat · 18/02/2015 21:52

Those subtitles weren't there to help anyone who is deaf.

If you need subtitles you can choose to turn them on.

YouTheCat · 18/02/2015 21:55

Me too, Deb. But I find I can understand most people so long as I concentrate. Sometimes I do have to concentrate more if someone is speaking with an unfamiliar or very strong accent.

I lost 70% of my hearing for a few months due to an infection. It was really frustrating.

lunar1 · 18/02/2015 21:55

Yes much better to remain PC and have a large amount of people not able to understand.

vivideye · 18/02/2015 21:55

they do it mainly with ethnic minorities and I think it's pretty racist sometimes. I speak beautiful RP but think we should be celebrating diversity and accents are part of that.

SauvignonBlanche · 18/02/2015 21:59

YANBU at all OP, it's so fucking patronising.
I'm deaf and use subtitles and hate it when they're interrupted to allow for random subtitling of anyone remotely 'foreign'.

fuctifino · 18/02/2015 22:03

Trawlermen was subtitled due to the heavy Scottish accents.
I was glad it was as it was a very interesting series but I couldn't understand word they said.
Had it not been subtitled, I would have switched it off.

YouTheCat · 18/02/2015 22:04

But you could have chosen to switch on the subtitles.

ragged · 18/02/2015 22:06

I need them when folk have strong accents. I love those strong accents even more when I can understand what they are saying. I suppose I'm just thick but it's not something I can change. Isn't it nice that us thickos are catered for, too? Grin Wink

ragged · 18/02/2015 22:07

post with YouTheCat... I'm too thick. Haven't figured out how to turn on subtitles that with the remote control. Must be one of the 55 buttons. I can change channels though, it's pretty easy.

YouTheCat · 18/02/2015 22:10

I have never said that anyone is thick.

My remote has a button marked 'subtitles'.

Lovemycatsandkids · 18/02/2015 22:16

Ok so not primarily to help the deaf but to help people understand the person talking? So what.

I sense this is a thread asking all to see this as racist as the woman was from Uganda and not Aberdeen.

And that's a big fat yawn.

Original poster
lbsjob87 · 18/02/2015 22:17

lovemycats I didn't mean the Teletext 888 subtitles, or whatever they are called now that Teletext no longer exists. As it happens, my father is deaf and I am quite used to seeing those on screen. Obviously I don't have a problem with them and I am aware of how to turn them on and off.
What I mean is added in vision subtitles specifically over one person's speech, when that person is no less comprehensible than someone else on the same programme, but has a "foreign" accent.

OP posts:
Original poster
lbsjob87 · 18/02/2015 22:20

Have you got a Sky remote, ragged?

Press the info button (an italic I) and it gives you the option to turn audio description or subtitles on or off. They stay on until you tell it otherwise as well, not like in the old days when you had to press 888 every time you changed channels.

OP posts:
YouTheCat · 18/02/2015 22:22

If it's such a 'big fat yawn' why even bother replying?

How rude.

Lovemycatsandkids · 18/02/2015 22:32

Er thanks youTheCat but it's a public forum so I can.

Clearky the op thinks that the woman was deemed to be difficult to understand as she was from Uganda? Yes? Maybe she was and maybe she wasn't.

TV subtitles lots of accents, see trawler men which would be completely baffling to me if not.

I just find it a yawn when potential race is brought into situations that clearly don't need to be.

You probably wouldn't get my brummie accent and I wouldn't be offended at that.

Why would anyone. Hmm