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Old 04-20-2016, 12:14 PM
 
Location: San Diego, CA
33 posts, read 28,603 times
Reputation: 87

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I am a huge fan of British programming and I use subtitles the majority of the time. (Thank-you, Netflix and Acorn TV!) Most of the time I can understand what is being said, but if an actor speaks quickly or with a heavy Cockney/Scottish/Irish accent, I am flummoxed without subtitles. I tried to watch Season 4 of Ripper Street without subtitles and within 10 minutes of the first episode, I had the volume up to ear-splitting levels in an attempt to understand. I gave up.


This has definitely not been the case with older programs. I can watch old British black-and-white movies just fine and also older TV shows, such as Poldark or Brideshead Revisited.
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Old 04-20-2016, 05:31 PM
 
Location: SCW, AZ
8,229 posts, read 13,310,048 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chowhound View Post
Sometimes I struggle trying to understand Scottish people when they speak. I'm like are these people even speaking f ing English... LOL...The Irish can be a bit tough to understand too, I actually like both of the accents. You get a guy with a thick cockney accent and we're done. I don't think even English people can decipher what the heck they are saying.
LOL....same here, I like those accents, especially the Irish one. Both Scottish and Cockney accents when they are really emotional, seem very animated and amusing to me.

I used to work with a Scottish guy and I made him mad (which didn't take a lot of effort btw) on purpose then watch him go off.
It truly was entertaining and yes, when he was mad, no way could anyone understand a word he was saying!
In a proud way, he used to say "You know what Scotland mean? It means Never Conquer!" and I used to tease with a comeback like "Who'd want to conquer a cold land full of rocks and ugly bushes?" He was a character but he was an alright guy.
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Old 04-22-2016, 03:15 AM
 
Location: Louisville KY
4,857 posts, read 5,770,852 times
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Can't say I've ever had the issue.
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Old 05-21-2016, 06:20 AM
 
Location: Central Florida
2,062 posts, read 2,527,040 times
Reputation: 1938
Quote:
Originally Posted by irrelevant View Post
This is a question aimed at the native english speakers. I am not a native speaker myself but watch movies/tv only in english and also speak it throughout most of the day because of work. At the end of the day I often use english more than my native language. I very rarely find a word/phrase I can't understand and over the time have developed a very good understanding of the language.

It has always bothered me that when I watch tv/movies I don't always get everything they are saying. Don't get me wrong - I understand every word the actors are saying... until there is a gunfight or some other very loud scene and I miss a couple of words. I decided to test if it's a language fallacy or some other problem and watched some media in my own native language. Turns out I once again didn't catch 100% of what the actors were saying. Is that like normal? Do native english speakers also miss a couple of words when the movie goes into some action sequence? Or am I just weird?

I speak only english and I noticed it with the Harry Potter movies . They speak english too but with a thick English accent. In one of the later movies as the kids got older they spoke very fast and softly and with such a thick accent, in some of the scenes I could not understand what they were saying. Good thing I read the books.
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Old 05-23-2016, 07:48 AM
 
17,472 posts, read 17,304,286 times
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My wife has exceptional hearing and sometimes has trouble understanding what is being said. DirecTV has a customizable closed caption that allows you to select background and text color, font style, and level of transparency of text and background. Through trial and error you can find what works best for your vision without too much interference with the scene. I sometimes use wireless over the ear headphones or surround sound system for enhanced clarity. Even then it may not be enough. Our tv has a voice enhanced audio setting. It mutes down background noise. That's all it does. You still have to turn up the volume to hear and possibly understand the voices but it doesn't make the actors stop slurring their words.
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