6 ms·

The video includes subtitles, but the boy's diction is clear.

by hardlianotion 7y ago

miahi 7y ago
Not everyone can hear.
- beenBoutIT 7y ago
  Not everyone has working speakers.
- vbuwivbiu 7y ago
  make the subtitles optional then
asveikau 7y ago
I really get irritated with this pattern: a lot of times, people will add subtitles due to a 100% understandable foreign accent. It feels like it's being disrespectful to the speakers. On the other hand in the age of "auto-play-with-mute" videos on social media, a lot of people just add subtitles to every type of online video. And as a sibling comment points out, there are hearing impaired people out there.
- ASalazarMX 7y ago
  > I really get irritated with this pattern: a lot of times, people will add subtitles due to a 100% understandable foreign accent. It feels like it's being disrespectful to the speakers. Hearing impaired people, non-English speakers, content indexing, machine learning, etc. There are many good reasons, don't make victims where there are none.
  - asveikau 7y ago
    By the same token, don't assume I am victimizing! At least read the 2nd paragraph where I am saying a similar thing to your rebuttal. HN is one of those places where I have seen the concept of "violent agreement" at work. "Wait wait! You still need to consider ... this thing you thought you already said."
    - scbrg 7y ago
      Pro tip: If you don't want to come off as negative, don't start your post with the words "I get really irritated" ;) I'm still confused about what you really meant, since your first and second paragraphs really were at odds with each other. As a non native, but still fluent English speaker I always use subtitles when I can. It just helps to fill in the odd word I miss due to local noise or unexpected pronunciation (English has a lot of dialects!). FWIW, I tend to do this for content in my native language as well. Turns out ~ten million people is enough to produce a lot of incomprehensible dialects as well...
      - asveikau 7y ago
        Maybe next time I will say I get "positively irritated". The thing is, two statements can be seemingly at odds in sentiment and also simultaneously true. The "aggressive subtitles for foreign accent" phenomenon is real. I wanted to acknowledge I had seen the same in other places. It is irritating when it happens. It is disrespectful where it occurs. But the second paragraph establishes that it is not always the reason. I did not think it was here.
        2muchcoffeeman 7y ago
        I have been in the same room with other people, listening to a person speak in English with a heavy accent from wherever, and I will be the only person who understood what was said. “What did they about X, I couldn’t understand the accent?” I have also seen native English speakers, turn on subs on English movies, with the volume at a perfectly normal level to understand things. The only thing going on is that people really like their subtitles.
        asveikau 7y ago
        Sometimes there will be a movie or TV program where nobody is subbed, except the one person with a completely understandable foreign accent. That is a phenomenon I have seen. Usually in media for an American audience, from what I've seen. (A lot of Americans have trouble even with native speakers from the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, etc. We as a nation seem to have very little patience or habituation for accents.) It's the broadcast equivalent of your first scenario.
  - trickstra 7y ago
    that would be valid if subtitles were everywhere or nowhere
- xrisk 7y ago
  I prefer subtitles to go with all speech whether from a native speaker or not. I find it helps me to focus on the video rather than spend effort parsing somebody's speech (reading is fast).
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- gridlockd 7y ago
  > ...people will add subtitles due to a 100% understandable foreign accent. The way he speaks is not "100% understandable" at all. Watch it with your eyes closed, or with the subtitles hidden, it's actually quite difficult to understand in many parts.
vinay427 7y ago
This appears to be the norm for the BBC videos based on the ones linked on that page, not just from the Africa series. It would be a little odd if it were used because his English was unclear, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
philliphaydon 7y ago
I only speak English. But I still watch everything on Netflix with English subtitles. Why do people take offence to subtitles?
- trickstra 7y ago
  They don't. They take offence with subtitles under English speech by a foreigner but no subtitles under English speech by English native speaker. The pattern is the issue, not the existence of subtitles.

The video includes subtitles, but the boy's diction is clear.

miahi 7y ago

Not everyone can hear.

beenBoutIT 7y ago
Not everyone has working speakers.
vbuwivbiu 7y ago
make the subtitles optional then

asveikau 7y ago

I really get irritated with this pattern: a lot of times, people will add subtitles due to a 100% understandable foreign accent. It feels like it's being disrespectful to the speakers. On the other hand in the age of "auto-play-with-mute" videos on social media, a lot of people just add subtitles to every type of online video. And as a sibling comment points out, there are hearing impaired people out there.

ASalazarMX 7y ago
> I really get irritated with this pattern: a lot of times, people will add subtitles due to a 100% understandable foreign accent. It feels like it's being disrespectful to the speakers. Hearing impaired people, non-English speakers, content indexing, machine learning, etc. There are many good reasons, don't make victims where there are none.
- asveikau 7y ago
  By the same token, don't assume I am victimizing! At least read the 2nd paragraph where I am saying a similar thing to your rebuttal. HN is one of those places where I have seen the concept of "violent agreement" at work. "Wait wait! You still need to consider ... this thing you thought you already said."
  - scbrg 7y ago
    Pro tip: If you don't want to come off as negative, don't start your post with the words "I get really irritated" ;) I'm still confused about what you really meant, since your first and second paragraphs really were at odds with each other. As a non native, but still fluent English speaker I always use subtitles when I can. It just helps to fill in the odd word I miss due to local noise or unexpected pronunciation (English has a lot of dialects!). FWIW, I tend to do this for content in my native language as well. Turns out ~ten million people is enough to produce a lot of incomprehensible dialects as well...
    - asveikau 7y ago
      Maybe next time I will say I get "positively irritated". The thing is, two statements can be seemingly at odds in sentiment and also simultaneously true. The "aggressive subtitles for foreign accent" phenomenon is real. I wanted to acknowledge I had seen the same in other places. It is irritating when it happens. It is disrespectful where it occurs. But the second paragraph establishes that it is not always the reason. I did not think it was here.
      - 2muchcoffeeman 7y ago
        I have been in the same room with other people, listening to a person speak in English with a heavy accent from wherever, and I will be the only person who understood what was said. “What did they about X, I couldn’t understand the accent?” I have also seen native English speakers, turn on subs on English movies, with the volume at a perfectly normal level to understand things. The only thing going on is that people really like their subtitles.
        asveikau 7y ago
        Sometimes there will be a movie or TV program where nobody is subbed, except the one person with a completely understandable foreign accent. That is a phenomenon I have seen. Usually in media for an American audience, from what I've seen. (A lot of Americans have trouble even with native speakers from the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, etc. We as a nation seem to have very little patience or habituation for accents.) It's the broadcast equivalent of your first scenario.
- trickstra 7y ago
  that would be valid if subtitles were everywhere or nowhere
xrisk 7y ago
I prefer subtitles to go with all speech whether from a native speaker or not. I find it helps me to focus on the video rather than spend effort parsing somebody's speech (reading is fast).
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
gridlockd 7y ago
> ...people will add subtitles due to a 100% understandable foreign accent. The way he speaks is not "100% understandable" at all. Watch it with your eyes closed, or with the subtitles hidden, it's actually quite difficult to understand in many parts.

vinay427 7y ago

This appears to be the norm for the BBC videos based on the ones linked on that page, not just from the Africa series. It would be a little odd if it were used because his English was unclear, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

philliphaydon 7y ago

I only speak English. But I still watch everything on Netflix with English subtitles. Why do people take offence to subtitles?

trickstra 7y ago
They don't. They take offence with subtitles under English speech by a foreigner but no subtitles under English speech by English native speaker. The pattern is the issue, not the existence of subtitles.