[Brad Lockyer]

A recent poll conducted by YouGov in the US has found young Americans are more likely than others to watch TV with subtitles and for many of them the reason is difficult-to-understand accents – including our own.

The survey found 38 per cent of respondents of all ages preferred to watch TV with subtitles, even when the program was in English. But break respondents up by age and the differences are stark. A whopping 63 per cent of those under 30 said they ‘always’ or ‘almost always’ use subtitles, 37 per cent of 30 to 44-year-olds and 29 per cent of 45-64-year-olds.

Of those that use subtitles, around 40 per cent said they primarily used them to understand accents, and with streaming bringing Australian programs such as Bluey to global audiences, there are sure to be at least a few Americans bewildered by our accent and lingo.

The most famous example of Americans struggling with the Aussie accent is the original Max Max movies, which were dubbed with American accents for the US release. Even Bluey herself almost copped the same treatment, but eventually the idea of dubbing the quintessentially Australian show was shelved.

Imagine how much different (and worse) Bluey would be if they’d done that. How often do you use subtitles when watching TV?

[Jim]

Use subtitles almost all the time, we are in our late 70s and we have found as we have got older the new thin tv’s have very poor sound, even with a sound bar. We both wear hearing aids so I thought that might be part of the problem, but after looking through different media sites many people complain about the poor sound that often needs cleaning up with expensive equipment.

[Alan Potter]

We use subtitles a lot partly because we can’t understand the american accent but also because we are a bit hard of hearing but not at the hearing aid stage yet.

[rtrish]

I use subtitles all the time, as I’m getting hard of hearing. Starting the process of getting hearing aids, whether I like it or not. Have avoided them so far – too fiddly, and “I can manage.” Geriatrician pointed out that poor hearing is the first step on the road to dementia. So, reluctantly, I’m doing it. As to needing subtitles for Aussie accents, no, never needed them for that.

[Peter Bungay]

These days I always have to use subtitles. The diction of a lot of younger people these days leaves to be desired and when they talk fast it is hard to understand what they are saying. Also, the music that accompanies some programs make it difficult to follow the dialogue and when actors are crawling around in the dark whispering you need to subtitles to follow what is going on.
I also think that when we get older it takes our brains a litt longer to keep with rapid speech. A big bugbear is when the subtitles are on with live news etc, they are always behind and sometimes the dialogue is left on the screen when the next item comes on.

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