As a student of Chinese I enjoy watching Chinese movies and learning from them. However everytime I go to the cinema to watch a Taiwanese or Chinese movie they always have English subtitles on the bottom of the screen. This has happened during the last 4 new releases that I have been to see.
Does anyone know if this is related to the movie theatre or the movie itself? Can I find a venue that does not have movies with English subtitles.
The problem is that I cannot help but reading the English subtitles if they are available. I cannot force myself not to look at them and thus I don’t make the effort to listen and read the Chinese.
Perhaps the re-run theatres won’t have the subtitles?
Subtitles are mostly created and provided by the film companies themselves and they always come together with the movie thus what you see. I am not sure if there are any movie theaters like that in Taiwan or any where else in the world but I highly suggest you should force yourself to ignore it. I know its not easy because it’s not easy for me too. I am an Overseas Chinese who can speak basic Mandarin. For now, I still can’t read much Chinese characters but I always make effort to listen to them, ignoring the subtitles and only read the English subtitles if I don’t understand something. ^^
Thats “progress”. I dont remember ever seeing a chinese movie with an english subtitle. Course i dont even remember the last time i saw a chinese movie in taiwan
Well, I have no idea about Taiwan movie theaters since I live outside of Taiwan but most of the Chinese movies or dramas I watch comes with Chinese & English subs… o.O
[quote=“Milkybar_Kid”]As a student of Chinese I enjoy watching Chinese movies and learning from them. However everytime I go to the cinema to watch a Taiwanese or Chinese movie they always have English
Perhaps the re-run theatres won’t have the subtitles?[/quote]
When I used to go to rerun theatres in Taipei, the Chinese or Taiwanese movies always had English subtitles. Usually Chinese subtitles too - made for a rather crowded screen. When I want to watch a movie to practice Chinese, I just watch it at home and take the subtitles off. I used to cover the bottom of the TV screen with a strip of paper; now it’s a lot easier.
I have the opposite problem. I want English subtitles so I can confirm that I am understanding correctly, but I can rarely find Chinese movies at the theater with English subtitles.
What movie theaters show Chinese and Taiwanese movies with English subtitles?
And is there a way to know before you go to the movie theater?
Taiwan tries to be a movie center and have a lot of movie activities but they don’t have a standard way to identify which movies are in which languages and what subtitles are included.
For example, when watching a movie in France, theaters more than often will have an identifier such as “VOwES” which means “Version Original with English Subtitles”.
Nope. I have called… only to go there and be told no. Usually they are honest when you are buying the ticket. It is a hit and miss, as the same movie may or may not be shown somewhere with English subtitles, but it changes from movie theater to movie theater.
That say, usually Vieshow has English subtitles. Sometimes the movie reviews include this info. But yes, it would be nice to know in advance from a reliable, cosnistent, trustworthy source. Competitiveness and all that jazz.
