Subtitling people with accents on TV

[lbsjob87]

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?!

Am not a sky subscriber.
I don't do enough TV to remember any of this. Just realised that the only TV programme I wanted to watch this month started 30 minutes ago & it won't be the same to watch it now half way thru (oh well).
Seeing strongly accented words transcripted is not a rejection of someone's a culture, the opposite is true. It's a way to help connect to a different cultural tradition.
I wouldn't be remotely offended if my words were transcripted for an audience with a very different predominant accent.

I live round the corner from where Trawlermen was filmed - I think a lot of people up here live in their own bubble as I remember a lot of shock that the rest of the UK might not understand us!

I imagine they do it because solid research suggests that people appreciate it, and it helps with viewer retention. Its costly so would have to be worthwhile.
I doubt someone just said "hey, y'know what would be fun? Lets subtitle Johnny Forriner and Regional Yokels, just for the laugh! Nobody needs it, but it would show our London RP superiority easily..."

YABU.

People who don't speak English as a first language can really struggle with non-RP accents, as can people who are hearing impaired (without being completely deaf) who need to hear full word formation and familiar intonation to follow speech. Just because you can understand them perfectly, doesn't mean everybody can.

There's a lot more thinking behind subtitling people with particular accents and dialects than just "here's a foreign person, nobody will understand them."

If the speaker on television isn't clear, I don't see why anyone would be patronised or offended by subtitles, they are just there to help.

Isn't it better to be sure that everyone can understand what's being said? There are British accents I can't always understand, including Scottish despite being surrounded by Scots for the majority of my childhood.

It's very small minded to assume that just because you can understand what's being said then everyone else must be the same.

I don't assume everyone can. I assume most people are capable of using the subtitle facility though so those of us who can understand (and yes it can take a bit more concentration to do so) can watch without the subtitles.

but why do you need to watch without the subtitles? Just ignore them. Not everyone knows how to use the subtitles, or can find the remote quick enough, or whatever. I fail to see how the subtitles spoil your enjoyment in the same way not understanding the dialogue could spoil someone elses.

I find "different" accents very hard to understand.

I am usually ok with ones I am more familiar with it ones that are less strong. Eg. These days I have no trouble with polish due to the fact it is more commonly heard but initially I found it hard to understand even when the person concerned spoke very good English. I wouldn't struggle with Irish unless it was extremely strong as it's fairly familiar to me. But someone from somewhere less commonly heard I might.

I also have been very embarrassed when I struggled to understand a lady with a speech impediment and had to keep asking her to repeat things. I was worried she would think I was deliberately being unkind.

It's not racists to subtitle an accent that someone may have difficulty with. They're not saying "oh, she's black, better subtitle it". Not everyone has perfect hearing or perfect understanding and they need to make programming accessible for all. I've seen plenty of shows from the UK where the regional accents have been subtitled, not just because someone is from a foreign country. I've seen shows in Australia where someone has been subtitled because they are more difficult to understand. I can understand them, but I'm well aware that someone for whom English is not their first language may have more difficulty, or someone who may not have full hearing range. Why on earth shouldn't they be able to understand what is being said?

Gregory's Girl was dubbed for American audiences. They used more Anglicized Scottish accents.

I'm British, currently in the US, and I need subtitling! Loads of people ask me to repeat things because they haven't understood, and I don't have a strong regional accent at all. DH is finding some of the stronger accents here really hard to understand and I regularly have to 'translate' for him. I also need him to 'translate' his family when we are back home in County Durham.

So, no I don't find it offensive if accents are subtitled on TV, especially as I would have no idea how to turn the subtitles on quickly!

Yeah I hate it. It often comes off a bit racist, specially the BBC who often subtitle Indians who to my ear have a more correct (Oxford) accent than most native English speakers, definitely not difficult to understand.

And to the people saying "what's the harm of subtitles", OK, then shall we subtitle everyone? After all what you find hard to understand I might find perfectly clear. I see subtitling on the BBC for people who have perfect diction and are simply speaking in their native accent so it's not about clarity it's about the judgement that the audience will be more familiar with some accents than with others. Other countries don't do this - Swiss telly features Swiss German speakers with their many and varied accents and you just have to suck it up and listen hard, or yeah turn on the subtitles.

Is it really so hard just to ignore the subtitles?

I imagine that by the time I've found the remote and located the subtitle button, what I wanted to "hear" will have finished.

I struggle to understand some accents. Mainly it's people who speak too quickly. The Glasgow accent is one I've always had problems with, for example. A close friend at school moved here from Glasgow and I had to keep telling her to slow down when she got excited. Still do, although her accent has got less pronounced over the years.

I didn't see the programme but I never have any trouble understanding Ed Byrne - Dara O'Brein I have difficulty with.

I don't think it's racist to err on the side of caution and make sure viewers can understand what's going on.

I found the subtitles in the case you mention useful. I think it is more important to hear what she had to say, than not.

I live in London, have a lot of contact with lots of accents, but still I needed help with that one.

And I agree with hesterton: in a short clip, when there is less time to attune, it is more important to convey the message than to worry about ideas of patronising people. I wonder if the grieving grandma would feel patronised?

Last week Tony the Scottish Sikh chef was in India for a food programme on bbc. They subtitled the Indian people (who were perfectly understandable) but not him and I really struggled to interpret his thick Scottish accent I am generally in favour of subtitles!

YoutheCat

This was just a very short piece of speech-no time to switch to subtitles.

English is my first language, but sometimes a combination of strong regional accent, background noise, maybe the person speaking not speaking loudly etc, means I don't catch every word. I'm Scottish, but there are some areas of Scotland that have very strong accents, and especially if someone is speaking quickly, I don't always get every word. I do agree that sometimes the editorial choice of who to subtitle and who not is strange, but everyone's ear is tuned to different accents, and presumably they make a decision based on what they think will work for most people.

I remember that one with Tony the chef! I think that's the one I was thinking of, they subtitled this man with a lovely very correct Oxford English accent and left Tony's Edinburgh one alone...

(I love that show. Seldom hear a broad Edinburgh accent on the telly, we Weegies seem to crowd them out...)