In praise of subtitles

My wife and I have watched subtitled films and series for many years: French, Italian, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, Rumanian, Korean, Japanese, Irish, Welsh and even Baltimorean.

We have never found it tiring to read the subtitles. Admittedly we have dozed off occasionally, but I do that with English-language content too.

In Britain, subtitled content is the exception, not the norm. Shows like The Killing, The Bridge, Wallander and Montalbano are broadcast on niche channels, not mainstream channels.

There are countries where subtitles have been the mainstream norm for decades: the Netherlands, the Nordics and Portugal spring to mind. These are countries where many people speak good English because they’ve heard it so much on TV.

There are countries that have always tended to dub local language over the original dialogue: France, Germany, Italy and Spain are the big ones in Europe. These are countries where far fewer people speak good English because they’re not exposed to it on TV, although far more people there speak English than thirty years ago.

So, what’s the point of watching sub-titled content when there’s an almost infinite supply in English?

It occurs to me that watching subtitled films and programmes confers several great benefits. It’s a cognitive work-out, requiring one to pay attention to the moving images AND the written words. It accustoms one to hearing the sound of foreign languages and even noticing words in them. It keeps one’s reading skills sharp. It respects the art: you hear the cadence, emotion, and "soul" of the original tongue. It requires intellectual engagement with our entertainment rather than letting it wash over us. In an era of second screens and background viewing, that seems increasingly valuable.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Reading subtitles while processing visual and audio information simultaneously is genuine multitasking—one of the few kinds that doesn’t degrade performance. Studies suggest it enhances reading speed, improves attention, and may even help with pattern recognition across languages.

Subtitles train us to tolerate slight difficulty. Not hardship, just friction. A tiny delay between sound and meaning. A need to stay present. In that sense, subtitles are almost a micro-practice in attentional discipline.