Subtitle differences? English and English for the Hearing Impaired (1 Viewer)

[HienN]

What are the differences? I didn't think hearing-impaired folks speak a different kind of English.

The question came up when I was watching Zatoichi with English subtitles. The DVD also offers an option for subtitles for the hearing impaired but I couldn't tell what's different. What about DVDs of American movies -- are there differences there?

 

[Mark_vdH]

Subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired also include descriptions of other sounds than dialogue. For instance: [heavy breathing], or [door slams].

BTW, when it would be unclear to see who's speaking the dialogue, subs for the deaf and hearing impaired also mention who's saying stuff, like: [Vito] "I'll make you an offer....".

 

[HienN]

Thank you. It makes perfect sense now.

 

[Will_B]

My college roommate was friends with a few folks who used sign language to communicate, and the sentence structure of those signals was quite distinct from regular English. Don't know if that also means that English for the hearing impaired would also follow different rules, but it might!

Nouns and adjectives and verbs were often presented in different orders, and there are other variations all intended to make it easier to get meaning across quickly. I don't know the details.

 

[HienN]

In the case of Zatoichi, I compared the 2 options for the first few minutes, and the subtitles were identical in words and appearance. That's what confused me.

 

[obscurelabel]

The subtitles on 8½ (Criterion) try to be both and I don't think they're very successfull. For example, there are some bits like (phone rings) and (music plays) in the English subtitles, implying that this is a feature for the hearing impaired. But there are a few lines spoken in English in the movie, and they aren't subtitled. Shouldn't they be if the subtitles are for the hearing impaired? I haven't seen this treatment on any other non-English Criterion (I have about 10).

Also, not that I know a lot about sign language but I believe that American Sign Language is not, strictly speaking, English. I'm sure someone else more familiar with it could explain better, but hearing impaired people who want to be conversant in both have to learn English (for reading and writing) in addition to ASL.