Subtitles and Logograms

abc90377

June 20, 2024

Subtitles and Logograms

When you watch a movie, do you turn off the subtitles? I have heard that Taiwanese people prefer subtitles more than people in other countries. I don't know if it is true. But I know that in Japan, they dub every movie if the characters don't speak Japanese, whereas in Taiwan, we don't do that unless it is an animation or a movie for children. And when I watch Western TV news, they dub the interviewee if they don't speak English. That is never a thing for us. As for YouTube, I notice most YouTubers don't put subtitles on their videos, but most Taiwanese YouTubers do, even if their audience can perfectly understand Mandarin.

So maybe we do like to 'read' subtitles. I'm curious about it, so I scrolled online and found a theory. It said because most languages in the world are phonograms, the alphabet itself doesn't have meaning. But Mandarin is logogram, which means every character has its own meaning. For example, '木' means 'wood' in Mandarin, and '森' means 'forest', because a forest is made up of many trees. But as a full word, we use "森林" to represent a forest. Fun fact: '林' means 'grove' because it also consists of trees but fewer than a forest, so this character contains only two 'woods(木)'.

The theory suggests that languages using logograms make it easier to consume information through reading because each character is like an image. That's why we like to 'read' subtitles when watching videos. To be clear, this is not an academic article; it is just a random discussion online. But isn't it interesting? Maybe the writing system of a language does create significant differences on how we processing information. I want to learn more about it.

en 4

Correct

Corrections

marblemenow

Subtitles and Logograms

When you watch a movie, do you turn off the subtitles?

I have heard that Taiwanese people prefer subtitles more than people in other countries.

I don't know if it is true.

~~But I know that i~~In Japan, they dub every movie if the characters don't speak Japanese~~, whereas~~. However, in Taiwan, we don't do that unless it is an animat~~ion~~ed movie or a movie for children.

~~And w~~When I watch Western TV news, they dub the interviewee if they don't speak English.

That is never a thing for us.

As for YouTube videos, I notice most YouTubers don't put subtitles on their videos, but most Taiwanese YouTubers do, even if their audience can perfectly understand Mandarin.

So maybe we do like to 'read' subtitles.

I'm curious about it, so I scrolled online and found a theory.

It said ~~becaus~~that since most languages in the world are phonograms, the alphabet itself doesn't have any meaning.

But Mandarin is a logogram, which means every character has its own meaning.

For example, '木' means 'wood' in Mandarin, and '森' means 'forest', because a forest is made up of many trees.

But as a full word, we use "森林" to represent a forest.

Fun fact: '林' means 'grove' because it also consists of trees but fewer than a forest, so this character contains only two 'woods(木)'.

The theory suggests that languages using logograms make it easier to consume information through reading because each character is like an image.

That's why we like to 'read' subtitles when watching videos.

To be clear, this is not an academic article; it is just a random discussion online.

~~But i~~Isn't it interesting?

Maybe the writing system of a language ~~does~~ creates significant differences on how we process~~ing~~ information.

I want to learn more about it.

Feedback

This is an interesting topic that I learned today. Thank you so much for writing about it to us.

abc90377

June 23, 2024

Thank you so much :))

lia88

Subtitles and Logograms

When you watch a movie, do you turn off the subtitles?

I have heard that Taiwanese people prefer subtitles more than people in other countries.

I don't know if it is true.

But I know that in Japan, they dub every movie if the characters don't speak Japanese, whereas in Taiwan, we don't do that unless it is an animation or a movie for children.

And when I watch Western TV news, they dub the interviewee if they don't speak English.

That is never a thing for us.

As for YouTube, I notice most YouTubers don't put subtitles on their videos, but most Taiwanese YouTubers do, even if their audience can perfectly understand Mandarin.

So maybe we do like to 'read' subtitles.

I'm curious about it, so I scrolled online and found a theory.

It said because most languages in the world are phonograms, the alphabet itself doesn't have meaning.

But Mandarin is logogram, which means every character has its own meaning.

For example, '木' means 'wood' in Mandarin, and '森' means 'forest', because a forest is made up of many trees.

But as a full word, we use "森林" to represent a forest.

Fun fact: '林' means 'grove' because it also consists of trees but fewer than a forest, so this character contains only two 'woods(木)'.

The theory suggests that languages using logograms make it easier to consume information through reading because each character is like an image.

That's why we like to 'read' subtitles when watching videos.

To be clear, this is not an academic article; it is just a random discussion online.

But isn't it interesting?

Maybe the writing system of a language does create significant differences on how we process~~ing~~ information.

I want to learn more about it.

Feedback

Very nice! 😊 Barely any corrections. I also think it’s interesting. Personally, I use subtitles a lot, but that’s because most of what I watch isn’t in English. Most people in America who speak English don’t use subtitles unless they are watching something in a different language. Though I have seen subtitles on English shows where the person speaking has a thick accent or is mumbling, or something like that.

abc90377

June 23, 2024

Thank you so much for your corrections and sharing :))

shorter

Subtitles and Logograms

When you watch a movie, do you turn off the subtitles?

I have heard that Taiwanese people prefer subtitles more than people in other countries.

I don't know if it is true.

But I know that in Japan, they dub every movie if the characters don't speak Japanese, whereas in Taiwan, we don't do that unless it is an animation or a movie for children.

And when I watch the news on Western TV ~~news~~, they dub the interviewee if they don't speak English.

That is never a thing for us.

As for YouTube, I notice most YouTubers don't put subtitles on their videos, but most Taiwanese YouTubers do, even if their audience can perfectly understand Mandarin.

So maybe we do like to 'read' subtitles.

I'm curious about it, so I scrolled online and found a theory.

It said because most languages in the world are phonograms, the alphabet itself doesn't have meaning.

But Mandarin is logogram, which means every character has its own meaning.

For example, '木' means 'wood' in Mandarin, and '森' means 'forest', because a forest is made up of many trees.

But as a full word, we use "森林" to represent a forest.

Fun fact: '林' means 'grove' because it also consists of trees but fewer than a forest, so this character contains only two 'woods(木)'.

The theory suggests that languages using logograms make it easier to consume information through reading because each character is like an image.

That's why we like to 'read' subtitles when watching videos.

To be clear, this is not an academic article; it is just a random discussion online.

But isn't it interesting?

Maybe the writing system of a language does create significant differences on how we processing information.

I want to learn more about it.

abc90377

June 23, 2024

Thank you so much :))

Kasumii

Subtitles and Logograms

When you watch a movie, do you turn off the subtitles?

I have heard that Taiwanese people prefer subtitles more than people in other countries.

I don't know if it is true.

But I know that in Japan, they dub every movie if the characters don't speak Japanese, whereas in Taiwan, we don't do that unless it is a~~n animati~~ cartoon or a movie for children.

And when I watch Western (TV) news, they dub the interviewee if they don't speak English.

That ihas never been a thing for us.

As for YouTube, I notice most YouTubers don't put subtitles on their videos, but most Taiwanese YouTubers do, even if their audience can perfectly understand Mandarin.

So maybe we do like to 'read' subtitles.

I'm curious about it, so I scrolled online and found a theory.

It said because most languages in the world are phonograms, the alphabet itself doesn't have meaning.

But Mandarin is logogram, which means every character has its own meaning.

For example, '木' means 'wood' in Mandarin, and '森' means 'forest', because a forest is made up of many trees.

But as a full word, we use "森林" to represent a forest.

Fun fact: '林' means 'grove' because it also consists of trees, but ~~fewer~~still fewer trees than a forest, so this character contains ~~only~~ two 'woods~~(木)~~'.

The theory suggests that languages using logograms make it easier to consume information through reading because each character is like an image.

That's why we like to 'read' subtitles when watching videos.

To be clear, this is not an academic article; it is just a random discussion online.

But isn't it interesting?

Maybe the writing system of a language does create significant differences on how we process~~ing~~ information.

I want to learn more about it.

Feedback

Absolutely! I always assumed Chinese subtitles were for speakers of other dialects who might not know Mandarin, but the logogram theory is really interesting.

I personally like subtitles (native language: German and English), because I don't like audio trends in recent movies. Like sometimes the background music is too loud, or the sound effects overshadow the dialogue. It is just easier for me to follow with subtitles, even if I understand the movie without them.

abc90377

June 23, 2024

Thank you so much for your corrections and sharing :))

Fun fact: '林' means 'grove' because it also consists of trees but fewer than a forest, so this character contains only two 'woods(木)'.

Fun fact: '林' means 'grove' because it also consists of trees, but ~~fewer~~still fewer trees than a forest, so this character contains ~~only~~ two 'woods~~(木)~~'.