Do you get annoyed if you don't understand spoken language?

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Mootoo
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27 Jul 2012, 1:02 am

Like in films etc. As a 'perfectionist' (as much as possible) I have to turn on subtitles in case I don't understand anything. Is it at all a problem to native speakers too?

Sometimes I'd rather not watch something than watch it without subs.



OJani
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27 Jul 2012, 2:14 am

Sometimes. :)

I try to understand as much as I can, but honestly, I don't watch TV, films, etc that much. I definitely have problems with understanding spoken English, but I understand my native well enough. I think. It is different with people, though. When I'm having a conversation or just listening to people talking around sometimes it's hard to understand what they are saying. I've put up with it. If it's not important (or I consider it as such), I don't care. If it's important (I think) then I ask back to clarify.

As for subtitles, I have a problem with dividing my attention between reading subtitles and deciphering spoken words. :?


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questor
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27 Jul 2012, 2:18 am

I never watch foreign language films, as I wouldn't be able to follow what's going on. I will sometimes watch films where part of the dialog is foreign, with subtitles, like war movies. I watched the mini series Shogun many years ago, and part of that was in Japanese, and with subtitles. As long as most of it is in my own language, then I can follow the story.

There was one exception I did make one time. It was late at night, and for some reason I started watching a spanish language movie that had just come on. It was a period piece taking place several hundred years ago in either south or central America. The king had a daughter that had to marry well. There was a nice prince or noble man that loved her and whom she loved. There was an evil high priest or nobleman who wanted her and the kingdom, so he was plotting against the boyfriend. I was able to follow a lot of the general gist of it well enough, although I don't speak spanish, but I got too tired, so I was unable to stay up long enough to see the whole movie. I would have liked to see the whole movie, as I got interested in the characters. The cast and sets were good, and it seemed to be nicely done. When the acting is good I can sometimes stand problems in other aspects of a movie, like in this case not being able to understand the language. :lol:



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27 Jul 2012, 2:21 am

With me it tends to happen mostly when I'm watching TV.
I watched the Russell Crowe movie "Gladiator" and for the life of me I could hardly catch a word of what Joaquin Phoenix (playing bad guy Commodus) said.
Even listening to the same sentence over and over didn't help.



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27 Jul 2012, 2:43 am

I get annoyed at it. And I also watch movies with subtitles. I particularly hate movies where they have many whispered, "mumbling" scenes in it as I cannot understand a word of it (unless I have the subtitles). I find that subtitles even reveal more about the dialogue than I reckon most pick up on, which is pretty cool (some definite inaudible parts are still often included in the subtitles).
For me this isn't a perfectionist thing (I don't think?), I just want to know what the movie is about ;)



Mootoo
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27 Jul 2012, 8:32 am

questor, I didn't mean not understanding *at all*, just missing bits and pieces... and, yes, foreign films would inevitably have to have subtitles.



Verdandi
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27 Jul 2012, 8:42 am

I watch with subtitles whenever I can.



DerStadtschutz
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27 Jul 2012, 9:29 am

yes, I friggin' hate that because everyone around me thinks I'm either deaf, stupid, or simply not paying attention to them because I have to keep asking them to repeat things.



CWA
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27 Jul 2012, 9:32 am

I've come to understand and accept that I understand written language better and easier than spoken so I will often turn on the subtitles.



Esperanza
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27 Jul 2012, 10:01 am

Every once in a while, I clue in that something I thought was just an aspect of my personality is a result of autism. This time it's that I like to watch TV with the subtitles on even if it's in English and loud enough to hear. My husband complains that I'm always making him repeat what the characters on TV just said because I didn't understand them. I figured that was just me... but I guess it's a lot of autistic/hyperlexic people.

So... yes. Yes, it's annoying that I can't understand people. And when people have accents it's even worse. Even (and this is just silly) if it's just a British accent. I'm a Canadian who can't understand people who speak with British accents. :roll:



whirlingmind
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27 Jul 2012, 2:19 pm

I always have the subtitles on too, I didn't realise that this was a possible ASD trait.

I find a lot of the people on TV mumble or don't speak clearly. And I can't bear loud noise so I never have the TV volume up loud, although it's reasonably quiet it's still at an audible level, but I still have the subtitles.

One thing that annoys me about people speaking, is when they speak too slowly, I feel like they need to have one of those wind up mechanisms in their back and it needs re-winding. Because I speak and think fast, I find it really frustrating when people speak too slow. (Of course I don't mean people that have a speech impediment or learning difficulty or handicap that means they can't speak at a 'normal' rate, I mean people generally without a medical reason.


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Sora
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27 Jul 2012, 2:25 pm

No, it doesn't bother me anymore (though weird dialects/accents do bother the heck out of me). I miss some of conversations in films all the time. I thought I understood enough, didn't feel as if I was missing out anything (except when at school they made us watch ancient films on crappy old TV that produced loud white noise) until friends pointed it out when they started to occasionally ask to watch an episode of a weird series while I was with them and showed scenes to me that they absolutely adore for cuteness/romance/for another drop dead handsome actor. Unless I ask about whatever I missed, people don't usually notice that I didn't understand crucial parts since I'm good at pretending apparently.


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