Videocassette/DVD recorder!
At last I got a new videocassette/DVD recorder! I had one before, but it broke down so often and didn’t have a DVD recorder. So my parents decided to buy a new one.
In Japanese video rental shops, they have two types of non-Japanese movies: dubbed versions and subtitled versions. I don’t like the former because they ruin the atmosphere of the original movie. When I wanted to watch a video but could find only the dubbed version, I used to give up on the video.
Now, with the DVD recorder, once I rent a DVD, I can watch the subtitled version. If someone wants to watch the dubbed version, he doesn’t have to rent a new one but switch to the dubbed version on the same DVD.
I also appreciate that DVDs have an English, sub-titled version. I really wanted to watch movies in English altogether, but had no chance before. To study English and, of course, to have fun, I’ll be using the DVD recorder now!
Comments
Bill :: July 29, 2004
I saw Harry and the Henderson’s dubbed in Spanish with English subtitles. Hearing the French-Canadian character dubbed in Spanish was hilarious.
I don’t think dubbing is very popular in America now. Most foreign movies are just subtitled. Some of the few that are, can be pretty funny, because the dubbing is so bad. I watched Bio-Zombie dubbed and subtitled in English. There were a lot of differences between the two.
Hi Bill and Scot — welcome to Tawawa!
Yukiko — what are the movies you watch on DVD?
On a side-note related to language learning: some Japanese television broadcasters such as NHK offer programming using SAP, a technology which enhances a television broadcast with an alternative soundtrack in another language. Such broadcasts are known in Japan as “bilingual.”
Television sets in Japan have two audio channels. When a programme is shown in “bilingual” mode, one of the audio channels is used to make it available in the alternative language — thus programmes can be broadcast either in stereo or in two languages, but never both at the same time. Viewers can switch to the second language if their television set comes with the required decoder.
“Bilingual” broadcasts mostly use English as the second language, and they include movies, news broadcasts and U.S. television series.
I think this is widely known but not so widely used by language learners who could profit from a bit more exposure to English as spoken by native speakers.
I watched Pirates of the Caribbean. I wanted to watch it in English subtitled version, but my friend insisted on Japanese subtitled version. I’ll watch DVD alone next time…
I sometimes watch ‘bilingual’ TV programs, such as dramas and news. We can choose the style of the broadcast: Japanese, English without Japanese subtitle, and Japanese and English at the same time. The last one is hard to listen to, though.
I know SAP, but I do not know how to use it. I cannot use it. Do I have to connect cable TV?
I also think dubbing is not so good, but I want to see the dubbed movie if I like the dubbers themselves.
I hardly ever watch television, and all the “bilingual” programmes I’ve seen were on NHK/BS, but from what I’ve read, such broadcasts should be available without cable/satellite. Make sure a programme you want to watch in English is actually supposed to be “bilingual” — if it isn’t, it isn’t.
To switch to the English version, all you should need to do is use the control panel. I’ve got a television set that is practically a museum piece, yet it’s got an SAP switch, so I think the decoder should be included as a standard feature in today’s television sets.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the idea of dubbing movies as such, even though, obviously, some are better made than others. Dubbed movies can serve as a bridge between cultures much like translated books.
What I still find surprising (or not so surprising, given that Japanese middle and high schools treat English as a mere test subject and do their best to drain any communicative element out of the teaching) is that university students, even students who major in English, take very little interest in watching English movies or, say, reading the news in English.
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Multiple language and subtitle tracks allow you to remix any terrible movie until it’s fantastic. The New Guy in French with English subtitles was true comedy gold.