5 Using subtitles

The rise in popularity of subtitled television programmes over the last few years means that more people are accustomed to using them. In a language learning environment, watching videos with subtitles can support not only your listening and reading comprehension skills, but also your knowledge of grammar and vocabulary.

In this section you are going to explore and practise the use of subtitles to support your comprehension and your language learning while watching and listening to Dr Celia Sánchez-Ramos.

Box 5: Intralingual and interlingual subtitles

Subtitles support your language learning by helping you visualise what you hear, especially if the language is challenging (either because of the vocabulary or grammar), because it is too fast and you cannot distinguish word boundaries, or because you are listening to an unfamiliar pronunciation, accent or register.

Interlingual subtitles

Standard subtitles are also known as interlingual subtitles (videos in foreign language with mother tongue captions). Watching a video with interlingual subtitles helps your brain process a foreign language by making connections, linking image, sound and text – the last two being distinct sets of verbal support – with translation. (Danan, 1992).

Intralingual subtitles

Intralingual subtitles (sound and subtitles in the same language) are believed to help improve listening and word recognition by helping students to identify sounds and distinguish between words.

Transcripts

While subtitles appear on the screen simultaneously with the spoken word and are not necessarily an exact match of what is being said, transcripts offer a word-for-word transcription of the audio in the video and are available as a separate document. In this course you have various opportunities to use them for your learning of Spanish.

5.1 Interlingual subtitles

In this activity you are going to explore and practise the use of subtitles to support your comprehension and your language learning while watching and listening to Dr Celia Sánchez-Ramos.

Of course, subtitles are not only used for learning. Many people use subtitles when they watch films, documentaries or even when they watch music videos. Answer these questions to reflect on your own use of subtitles.

Actividad 18

Do you tend to use subtitles when watching films in Spanish or in other languages?

Provide your answer...

Do you use subtitles in English (or your mother tongue) or in Spanish?

Provide your answer...

If you use English or mother tongue subtitles, in what circumstances do you decide to use them?

Provide your answer...

If you decide to use subtitles in Spanish when watching a Spanish film, why might this be?

Provide your answer...

Actividad 19

Though you may find the use of subtitles distracting or tiring when you start, you will develop strategies to use them effectively the more you become accustomed to seeing them on screen.

Let’s look at interlingual subtitles first. Listen to Celia and find out what kind of person she is. Click the button marked CC on the screen and then watch the video with the subtitles in English turned on.

Video content is not available in this format.

Actividad 20

In this video Celia talks about the things that make her happy. Watch the video with the English subtitles turned on and decide whether the statements are true or false.

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Celia es feliz porque no pide demasiado.

Verdadero

Falso

Celia es feliz cuando ayuda a los demás.

Verdadero

Falso

Celia es feliz porque con su edad no tiene miedo.

Verdadero

Falso

Celia tiene grandes expectativas profesionales.

Verdadero

Falso

Celia es una buena ama de casa.

Verdadero

Falso

Actividad 21

Watch the final part of the video. Watch it without subtitles. Then put the following list of things Celia values in the order she mentions them in the video. Check your answer in the transcript.

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First:

Second:

Third:

Fourth:

Fifth:

Sixth:

La amistad

Hacer agradable la vida de mi entorno

Sentirme bien conmigo misma

Poner objetivos a corto plazo y a medio plazo

Ilusionarme con nuevas metas

La automotivación

5.2 Intralingual subtitles

To practise the use of intralingual subtitles, watch the video of Celia with Spanish subtitles. Make a note of five new words or expressions you are not familiar with.

Actividad 22

To practise the use of intralingual subtitles, watch the video of Celia with Spanish subtitles. Make a note of five new words or expressions you are not familiar with.

Video content is not available in this format.

Provide your answer...

Actividad 23

Add the five words and phrases you identified in Actividad 22 to the table below. Then complete the rest of the table by looking them up in a dictionary. The first link will take you to a monolingual Spanish only online dictionary, and the second to a Spanish-English one.

New word or phrase English Spanish definition
de trato fácil easy going persona flexible, agradable, positiva y servicial
entorno environment, context círculo(s) donde se vive o se mueve una persona, por ejemplo el trabajo, el hogar, etc.
Provide your answer...
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