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Vahe Oughourlian's avatar

“New study showed that subtitles helped kids learn to read faster in European countries that went with subtitles instead of dubbing. I had definitely heard this before, but it's nice to see the idea validated”

For me, it was JRPGs. I want a study on that!

I have lately developed the bad habit of skipping through voiced dialogue sections in games once I’ve read the subtitle. I almost want a mode in modern games that just disables the voices in interactive sections (keep it in cinematics). I’m sorry but I don’t care very much about the heartfelt performance of what amounts to flavortext.

That said, I think there’s a major problem with subtitles, and it’s that your focus area is at the bottom of the screen as opposed to taking in the whole image. I think this can be addressed, but it’s almost like you have to watch a film in two passes to get something approaching a full experience (not mentioning the gap in cultural context, but the fansub wall of subtitle is…a solution, I guess?)

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