
Learn English with this subtitles English lesson
Date: Aug 14 2013
Grammar: Past Progressive Tense
Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
With affordable cameras to make movies and the internet to share them, the movie business has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years. If there’s any barrier, it’s language. When we speak different languages, we have a hard time truly sharing our stories.
Subtitles give us a better chance at understanding a movie. Or do they? Some foreign film fans like subtitles so they can follow the script. But others don’t enjoy reading words and would prefer that a movie is dubbed. They both have their pros and cons. One makes you work harder, but the other sometimes looks and sounds funny.
Which would you rather see, a movie with subtitles or a movie that is dubbed? Find out what Marni and Devan think in this lesson about subtitles.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
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Marni: Devan, I was recently watching a film. And it was a foreign film and they had dubbed it. And I was looking all over for an option to have the subtitles on, and I couldn’t find it.
Devan: Why would you want to watch it with subtitles? Who wants to read their movie? I like to watch my movies.
Marni: Oh, I just think it’s sacrilege! I think a film should always be viewed in its original language as it was intended. And if you’re too lazy to read subtitles, then you’ve got a problem.
Devan: I don’t see any problem with dubbing movies. They basically paraphrase what they were saying in the original, so you get the whole idea of what the film’s about. I’m fine with it.
Marni: Really? To me, it’s all about the beauty of the language and hearing the language. And just being able to read it, I think, you get just as good of a sense of the film if not better, because you’re actually really intently engaging in it.
Devan: But what about when you watch a movie on your laptop or on a really small screen? Is it hard for you to read the subtitles?
Marni: Not usually, but I guess I have good eyesight. I guess I always make an effort to read the subtitles. I think it’s important.
Grammar Point
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Discussion
Both Marni and Devan have strong opinions about subtitles vs. dubbed movies. Marni thinks that dubbing films is just plain wrong. When you dub a movie, you don’t get to listen to its original language, which is how the writers want you to hear it. Marni feels that people who dislike subtitles are lazy and she doesn’t have a lot of patience for them.
Devan has the opposite opinion from Marni and takes it very seriously. To Devan, watching a movie with subtitles is hard work and it’s just not worth it. She thinks that you can get the same meaning from a dubbed film that you can from one with subtitles, and she prefers to watch and not read during movies. Basically, Devan has an argument for each of Marni’s reasons to hate dubbing!
What would you rather see, a movie with subtitles or a movie that is dubbed? What are the pros and cons of each type of movie?
Comments
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