A question for people who's Japanese speaking skills are excellent and native Japanese

Question

I asked a question before about why subtitles were used a lot on Japanese TV. Subtitles in Japanese, that is.

Im just wondering, can you understand what the person is saying without the subtitles a lot of the time? I ask because when I've seen them used, the person talking is usually talking to somebody else. I've seen them talking to a group of around 9 people, and they all nod their heads as if they understood the message. Are they just being kind, or do most people actually understand what is being said even when subs are used?

Answer 1

Native Japanese can understand what's being said on TV in Japanese ALL the time without subtitle.

Answer 2

subs are used because japan is becoming more english in a way.

katakana is used more these days more Japanese people are learning english. the subs are also used for deaf people.

hope i helped.

Answer 3

It's a kind of technique TV program maker use got popular recently.

more or less 15years ago, a TV show  called "Dempa syonen ga iku!" (An electric wave boy goes!)  use subtitles even the guest speak clearly plain Japanese, to emphasize the point of laughing (when TV watchers should laugh).

The technique is widely acceppted since Danpa Syonen ga Iku! got a great success.

Answer 4

My Japanese friends said the same thing that kb said. They also wonder why the subtitles are so prevalent and get annoyed with the subtitles.

Have you ever seen the old Batman tv show from the 60's? When Batman would punch someone there'd be big words on the screen like, "POW! BAM! BLAM!" or other words even sillier than that.

That's what Japanese comedy shows remind me of. Whenever something  totally stupid happens they'll put big words on the screen for comic effect, to emphasize something silly that someone said, etc.  

Answer 5

In the past, when people who speak dialect were interviewed on TV, what they were saying was translated into the standard Japanese language because people who don't speak their dialect can understand what they were saying by reading the translation/subtitle.

But these days, people who speak the standard language are treated the same way even though many Japanese people can understand what they are saying. So why do they start doing that?

Actually lots of Japanese people don't know why and they have the same question as you do. But I've read that the advantage of doing that is to raise TV ratings.

I really don't know how that can help raise TV ratings. But some people give an example that when a housewife is watching TV that is located in a bit far away from her kitchen, she can actually understand what's going on by reading the subtitles. And also some people are saying that when politicians are arguing something, they can't understand what they are saying word for word because more than one person is talking at the same time. So reading the subtitles really helps and also by reading the subtibles of what politicans are saying, they can see how politicians are: stupid or smart. Anyway, by having the subtitles, TV stations can emphasize the words that they want their audience to hear. So the subtitles on TV is  used like some shocking words in tabloid magainzes???? Or they want TV audience to feel shocked by reading the subtitles???I really don't know...

But anyway, lots of Japanese people are annoyed by the Japanese subtitles, too.

Answer 6

Native Japanese don't need subtitles to understand what's being said in Japanese, just like with Americans... unless the show uses old Japanese or inserts words from another dialect or language like Chinese. The subtitles are often there for hearing impaired people.

Answer 7

Ever thought of closed captioning? Or subtitles so the deaf can understand?

Anyway, I asked my host mother and a few colleagues and they said that sometimes they like the subtitles because they CAN'T understand the person. For example, if it's someone super old or if they're speaking in a dialect that isn't commonly heard or if they're just plain speaking weird (like too soft).

They do that all the time with English shows so you can easily make the comparison.

Answer 8

Sometimes Chinese stuff is brought over and subtitled in Japanese.