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What Did She Say? Subtitles And Movie Scripts 101
by Nathalie Fairbanks
If you are pretty new at learning your language, you're probably grateful for any movie that has subtitles in the original language of the movie. It helps immensely to see in writing what the characters are saying. "Star Wars" was revealed to me a few months ago after my husband offered to turn on English subtitles for me. Especially in fast-paced action movies, those little phrases that get thrown around completely throw me off. I end up missing half of what was said, even though I live and breathe English every day!
Subtitles are great. However, if you need to stop the movie every other minute because you can't read and understand the subtitles fast enough, you'll get frustrated and won't make it to the end of the movie.
This is where the movie script comes in. Fortunately for you, if you are learning English, American movie scripts are just a click away. Here's a site with an extensive collection of scripts you can download: The Internet Movie Script Database.
If you are learning a language other than English, you'll be lucky to find a handful of scripts, and some of them you'll even have to pay for. I can't tell you why, but I'm sure that asking a movie expert would shed some light on this. Needless to say, you're left hanging, desperately wanting to understand what Catherine Deneuve is really saying.
Unless...you're willing to learn a little magic and put together your very own movie script for just about any movie you'd like to see. Follow me into the world of subtitles!
There is a way to show subtitles in almost any language you want while you watch your movie. You can find an explanation of how to do that at Find Subtitles.
What I will focus on here is how to get your hands on the text file that you can then print and work with.
1. Go to Find Subtitles
2. Put in the title of the movie you want to work with (in its original language) and then download the subtitles for it! You can even download the subtitles in the original language as well as in your native language so you have an immediate translation. How's that for a gift?
3. This is what it looks like (excerpt of "Good bye, Lenin," once downloaded - we'll cover the downloading part in a minute.)
-------------------------------------------------------
107
00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:23,154
Vielleicht seh ich eure
Mutter im Fernsehen. - Aus'm Palast?
108
00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:26,912
Da kannst du aber mit der Lupe suchen.
109
00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:32,957
Ich weiss gar nicht, ob ich da hingehe.
Alle hohen Tiere von der Partei sind da.
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The first line is the screen number, then the exact time at which the subtitle would be displayed, then the text of the subtitle.
Caveat 1: From what I understand, these files are compiled by enthusiastic volunteers, and there's no guarantee for their accuracy. Usually, there are several files for each language for each movie, so you might need to download several and compare them.
Caveat 2: On this site, several subtitle files can be linked to the same movie. Some of them are misfiled, meaning you'll get subtitles for a different movie or in a different language. Just keep going through the links and you'll find what you're looking for!
Caveat 3: You'll eventually end up with a text file with all the subtitles for the movie. Special characters such as accents, umlauts and other language-specific variations often get mangled and replaced with another random character. Fortunately, it's consistent, so e.g. all letters with accents might be replaced by a "%." All it takes is to run the file through a text editor with a "find and replace" function to restore the correct characters.
Caveat 4: You can't see who's talking. Fortunately, this should be easy to recognize once you watch the movie!
4. The Download - Technical Instructions
4.1. Click on one of the links that shows a combination of your movie and the language you want. You can either use the movie title link to the left or the link in the middle column. They take you to a page with a picture of the movie cover.
4.2. A little further down that page is a button that says "Download Subtitle." Click on it.
4.3. You'll get a .zip file that, once opened, has a folder in it.
4.4. The folder has an .srt file in it, usually named after the movie, or something close.
4.5. You can open an .srt file with any text editor. If you need help with that, go here: File Info. This page gives you all the options of how you can open the file.
4.6. Once open, you have a basic text file that you can print and play with!
It sounds like a lot of work, but it's well worth the trouble! If you can't find subtitles for the movie you're looking for, try this site: Free Subtitles
Happy Movie Watching!
© 2008 Nathalie V. Fairbanks
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? You may, as long as you include this blurb with it: SpeakEZ Languages publishes "Language Learning Express," a free bi-weekly e-zine for language learners who are eager to discover the secrets of efficient language learning, transition seamlessly into a new culture and have fun on the way. Get your FREE subscription and your FREE e-book now at http://www.SpeakEZLanguages.com.
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