English subtitles

[Rachel Adams]

By saying "with English subtitles" I mean movies which are either dubbed in Russian but shown with English subtitles, or are in the original language, in English but with English subtitles. To express this idea, can I use my sentence?


"I like to go to the cinema and watch movies with English subtitles because of improving my English skills."

I posted a similar question on another forum. The sentence is different. It's about all possible uses of "subtitles" and "translation." I can't still copy and paste so I posting it here for an admin to read. Please delete it later.

"When talking about watching dubbed (in Russian, for example) films with English subtitles and English films which are not dubbed in English, with English subtitles or even English films with subtitles in one's own native language can either of these be used?

1. "I can't watch English movies without the translation/without translation/without subtitles/without the subtitles." Meaning without subtitles in English or in my language. It could also mean in the original language without any subtitles in any language.

2. "I can watch movies with translation/with the translation/with the subtitles/with subtitles." Meaning with subtitles in English or Russian, not in the original language, dubbed."

 

[Glizdka]

Are you saying that you watch movies originally made in English which were then translated and dubbed in Russian and then they added English subtitles to them?

I don't like "...because of improving my English skills". I'd replace it with "...because I want to improve my English".

 

[Rachel Adams]

Are you saying that you watch movies originally made in English which were then translated and dubbed in Russian and then they added English subtitles to them?

I don't like "...because of improving my English skills". I'd replace it with "...because I want to improve my English".

Sometimes movies are shown in the original language, in English with English subtitles and sometimes when they are dubbed they are still shown with subtitles in English.

 

[5jj]

This is the thread in the other forum: https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/the-use-of-subtitles-and-translation.3857121/

 

[Tdol]

"I like to go to the cinema and watch movies with English subtitles because of improving my English skills."

How about this:


I like to go to the cinema and watch movies with English subtitles to improve my English skills.

 

[Glizdka]

To those fortunate enough to have never experienced what a "Soviet voice-over" is, it's a budged version of proper dubbing, where only one narrator (not a voice actor) is hired to read out the translation of all the lines, roughly timing it with when they are being said by the actors in the original version. It was a very popular alternative to a costly dubbing, widely used in all the countries in the Soviet Union, including Poland, where I come from.

I consider it a major crime against language because the narrator usually speaks with a monotonous voice, over the top of the original lines that are hard to hear because the volume of the original track is purposely lowered to let the audience hear the narrator, and you can't appreciate the actors' work. It's the same voice throughout every line regardless of what character it is, including men, women, and children.

Here's an example.

This abomination is still very popular in post-communist countries. If Rachel is talking about watching that with English subtitles, I hope they are at least the original lines said by the actors, not some form of retranslation of the translated script prepared for the narrator.



Out of curiosity, Rachel, Is that "criminal activity" still being practiced where you're from?

 

[Tdol]

It's still used in parts of the developing world to save money.