I promised myself not to be drawn into debates, but I'll say this: I don't
see what you lose with the subtitles. You just gain clarity in case you
mis-hear a word or phrase. (Since you mention Titus Andronicus -- Julie
Taymor's Titus is especially good to watch with subtitles. That is a vastly
under-rated play! And talk about hard-boiled/noir...)
As a trained English teacher, I think you underestimate the difficulties
that Elizabethan language can pose for those who haven't had sustained
educational exposure to it. I've taught Shakespeare; it is tough.
Mark
On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 1:39 PM, Brian Thornton
<bthorntonwriter@gmail.com>wrote:
> I could not disagree more on the part about watching Shakespeare with
> subtitles.
>
> While it's true that Elizabethan English is different in many ways from
> Standard American or modern British English, it is still very much *modern*
> English, with few variations on anything other than standard sentence
> structure.
>
> It's like anything else, experience with it breeds comfort, and if ever
> there was an author in any language worth spending a little time with, it's
> Willie the Shake. And keeping this mildly on-topic, I defy you to find an
> author whose work is more intrinsically hard-boiled and in many cases (the
> laughably bad TITUS ANDRONICUS, the devastating KING LEAR, that vehicle for
> the ultimate femme fatale MACBETH, and his masterpiece, HAMLET come to
> mind)
> outright noirish.
>
> If it were Middle English (Chaucer) or Old English (BEOWULF) I could see
> the
> appropriateness of subtitles, but with Shakespeare? Nah. You lose
> something in subtitles.
>
> All the Best-
>
> Brian
>
> On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 11:29 AM, Mark R. Harris <brokerharris@gmail.com<brokerharris%40gmail.com>>wrote:
>
>
> > I recently compared watching the first half-hour of the 1962 British
> > film
> > The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner first without, then with
> > English-language subtitles. I got so much more out of the film with the
> > subtitles, it was amazing. Whenever there are any linguistic issues with
> an
> > English-language film -- thick accents, slang, difficult language
> > (Shakespeare) -- I recommend using the English subtitles if they are
> > available on the DVD, which they increasingly are.
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > On 10/24/08, Kevin Burton Smith <kvnsmith@sbcglobal.net<kvnsmith%40sbcglobal.net>
> <kvnsmith%40sbcglobal.net>>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > I speak both American and Canadian, and am working on English.
> > >
> > > Does that count?
> > >
> > > (Hey guys! Down here BBC programs often have sub-titles!)
> > >
> > > Kevin
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > --
> > Mark R. Harris
> > 2122 W. Russet Court #8
> > Appleton WI 54914
> > (920) 470-9855
> > brokerharris@gmail.com <brokerharris%40gmail.com> <brokerharris%
> 40gmail.com>
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
-- Mark R. Harris 2122 W. Russet Court #8 Appleton WI 54914 (920) 470-9855 brokerharris@gmail.com[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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