Why do Americans need subtitles for english launguage?

Killer Wench

MadsL wrote: »

Mostly filmed in New Mexico

Best thing with a Texan accent has to be Miranda Lambert, Gawd Damnnn....(bites knuckles)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB7ONnfIjaI

Tommy Lee Jones is Texan.

Ms. Ann Richards. The quintessential Texas accent.

Irish Guitarist

In fairness I often have to use subtitles when watching The Wire or when watching any film with Juliette Lewis.

Having said that I do agree that they have an insular culture. For instance Americans often use the term 'British accent' as if everyone from the British isles speaks with a Hugh Grant accent.

Cú Giobach

languagenerd wrote: »

Even some of my English friends sometimes ask me to repeat things (and I have a fairly neutral accent) even though I never have any trouble understanding them.

There is no such thing as a "neutral accent". To someone from the Bayous of Louisiana, the Scottish Highlands or Cork/Derry (which ever is furthest from where you're from) you have an accent, and it depends on where the person listening to you is from as to how strong that accent of yours is.

Think about it, if you moved into the "wilds" of wesht Kerry that "neutral" accent of yours would stand out as different and quite strong compared to everybody else's, and would be therefore quite distinctive.
Someone from Dublin has a different neutral accent to someone from Belfast's neutral accent, which are both different to someone's from Cork, in fact this so called neutral accent is a strong accent in itself.

Beefy78

First time I went to the States I remember flicking through the channels one night and Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrells was on TV. It was subtitled and I can understand why. The first time I watched The Wire I didn't use subtitles and enjoyed the show. The second time I watched it I turned the subtitles on and got a lot more out of it

Deleted User wrote: »

Just a general wondering, is there more actual variation in accents this side of the Atlantic than in America? There's 3 or 4 distinct, even to my ear, Yorkshire accents, a load around Liverpool and Lancashire, the Scottish ones, Welsh ones, West country, Devon, Cornwall, Tyne, etc. etc. before even getting into the Irish ones. .

Liverpool and Manchester is the one which always surprises me. 15 miles down the road yet completely different and distinct accents.

MadsL

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

In fairness I often have to use subtitles when watching The Wire or when watching any film with Juliette Lewis.

Having said that I do agree that they have an insular culture. For instance Americans often use the term 'British accent' as if everyone from the British isles speaks with a Hugh Grant accent.

Not so much insular (the UK can be incredibly insular) more that with 300 million people there is a lot going on that grabs attention. It's a bit like saying the French are insular because they only consider things that are French or European.

And you seriously have never used the expression "American accent'? Kinda surprise me there.

Toby Take a Bow

I find it interesting the posters claiming a 'small-minded' American culture (way to generalise) based on some tv shows/media outlets using subtitles and then everyone comes in saying they can't understand the Baltimore accent. I can't either.

I use subtitles a bit. I think it's natural when you've got a heavily accented speaker. If the theory is correct and you don't have a huge variation in accents in America (or if the accents of the minorities are rarely heard) then it would make sense that you find it harder to understand the more pronounced accents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXLcxKFYTpc

conorhal

TAlderson wrote: »

Honestly, most times I've seen this (I'm an American) is for other American accents, especially on older people who tend to have thicker accents and also have problems speaking.

The other thing in play is the fact that most Americans don't watch British, Irish, Scottish, etc. TV shows and the like regularly, so we're overall less used to those accents. America is also huge, and Europe is a long plane ride away, so people tend to travel more inside the US, rather than going over to the UK or Ireland, where they'd be exposed to other accents.

That said, it is too bad we don't get more exposure to other accents. I showed a few of my friends some Rubberbandits videos and they just looked at me blankly...

-Tyler

I never understood why so few Americans had a passport until I spent some time there, even just being based in California you were only a few hours from the desert (Vegas) the more European climate of San Francisco or the forests, mountains and Ski resorts of the national parks to the north. There is such variety to explore, from Yellowstone to Utah, New York to New Orleans that I began to wonder instead, why so many Americans actually bothered with passports?
There's a whole continent to explore. There are probably loads of Irish people that consider themselves widely traveled that have never gone beyond Europe.

Abi

jonniebgood1 wrote: »

Why do American programs have subtitles for people speaking english. Not all the time but if the person has a slightly different accent than they are used to. Its annoying, like they are to lazy to actually listen and und understand.

So why is this?

Well not all English speakers have the same dialect.

I think they should dub Cheryl Coles hair ads, I don't catch most of what she says. Not that I particularly care what she says, but it's such a harsh dialect.

Beefy78

conorhal wrote: »

There's a whole continent to explore. There are probably loads of Irish people that consider themselves widely traveled that have never gone beyond Europe.

Exactly. It's an easy stick to beat American with but I doubt that the number of Europeans who have gone outside of Europe is significantly higher than the nubmer of Americans who have travelled beyond their borders.

summerskin

Beefy78 wrote: »

First time I went to the States I remember flicking through the channels one night and Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrells was on TV. It was subtitled and I can understand why. The first time I watched The Wire I didn't use subtitles and enjoyed the show. The second time I watched it I turned the subtitles on and got a lot more out of it



Liverpool and Manchester is the one which always surprises me. 15 miles down the road yet completely different and distinct accents.

35 miles, and as you travel between them the accents sort of meld into each other. people from Warrington, for example, sound like a hybrid of both.

The town where I come from has totally different accents depending on whether ou are from the east (saddleworth) or the west (chadderton/hollinwood side). One side sounds similar to Yorkshire, the other more Mancunian. It's quite a pronounced difference in the space of ten miles.

Cú Giobach

Beefy78 wrote: »

Exactly. It's an easy stick to beat American with but I doubt that the number of Europeans who have gone outside of Europe is significantly higher than the nubmer of Americans who have travelled beyond their borders.

The big difference though is that travelling across Europe you will meet a wide range of cultures and languages, there wouldn't be as big a difference between a middle-class Floridian and a middle-class Oregonian as there would be between their Greek and Finnish counterparts. Hence a European who only travels around Europe would be much more used to accent, language and culture change than an American travelling just around the US.

Beefy78

Cú Giobach wrote: »

The big difference though is that travelling across Europe you will meet a wide range of cultures and languages, there wouldn't be as big a difference between a middle-class Floridian and a middle-class Oregonian as there would be between their Greek and Finnish counterparts. Hence a European who only travels around Europe would be much more used to accent, language and culture change than an American travelling just around the US.

Well that goes without saying. But America is a huge and diverse country and language aside, I'm sure someone from New York or San Francisco would consider themselves very culturally and politically distinct from someone from North Carolina or Arkansas.

Plus a lot of people in Ireland and the UK's idea of a holiday is a week in a Spanish resort speaking English and eating the same food as they would at home.

Funglegunk

Cú Giobach wrote: »

There is no such thing as a "neutral accent". To someone from the Bayous of Louisiana, the Scottish Highlands or Cork/Derry (which ever is furthest from where you're from) you have an accent, and it depends on where the person listening to you is from as to how strong that accent of yours is.

Think about it, if you moved into the "wilds" of wesht Kerry that "neutral" accent of yours would stand out as different and quite strong compared to everybody else's, and would be therefore quite distinctive.
Someone from Dublin has a different neutral accent to someone from Belfast's neutral accent, which are both different to someone's from Cork, in fact this so called neutral accent is a strong accent in itself.

Meh. People always mistake me as being from Galway or Dublin. I'm from Dundalk. I apparently have an accent that apparently covers a large swathe of the country and is easily understood by English and Americans. That's pretty neutral I suppose.

Cú Giobach

Beefy78 wrote: »

Well that goes without saying. But America is a huge and diverse country and language aside, I'm sure someone from New York or San Francisco would consider themselves very culturally and politically distinct from someone from North Carolina or Arkansas.

But as I said, that difference would be nowhere as big as between Europeans. The only way to get anything like the differences encountered in Europe one would have to travel between Native American tribes, they would be the equivalent of European countries today with the diversity of cultures and languages if they had developed without the invasions and genocides.
There is nothing biased in saying the US is more homogeneous than Europe (or Asia) it's just the result of history, politics and mass media.

Plus a lot of people in Ireland and the UK's idea of a holiday is a week in a Spanish resort speaking English and eating the same food as they would at home.

Interesting point because doing that around Europe is not the norm and would be given a "roll eyes" type of attitude as you allude to in your post, but it would be quite normal and not even thought about in the US.

Beefy78

I'm not really saying anything against that sort of holiday, I just don't think that for a lot of people a holiday in Europe is a quest to satisfy their appetite for different cultures and languages; it's an opportunity to find some sun and drink a lot of alcohol.

Cú Giobach

Funglegunk wrote: »

Meh. People always mistake me as being from Galway or Dublin. I'm from Dundalk. I apparently have an accent that apparently covers a large swathe of the country and is easily understood by English and Americans. That's pretty neutral I suppose.

I know the accent you are talking about and round here we have a different "neutral" accent, you might have an accent that is unplaceable to some people from certain areas, due to media and travel playing a part in the homogenisation of regional dialects and accents, but that homogeneous accent is in itself an accent, it might be easier than others for outsiders to understand but it is still an ordinary everyday accent.

I would love to get a group of people together from different areas of Ireland and Britain who all claim to have neutral accents and see if they notice something.

kylith

Solair wrote: »

Because, unlike people based in Ireland or the UK, they're rarely exposed to any non-American accents and, other than maybe strong accents Boston, New York, Texas and parts of the Deep South / Louisiana etc, American accents are incredibly standard.

A significant % of Americans simply do not understand non-US standard accents. They really struggle with British, Irish and possibly Aus/NZ accents because there's more elision (running words into each other) and dropping of endings / silent h's in some versions etc etc.

A lot of it is just "Hollywood" (the US entertainment industry) presuming that audiences are completely thick though. To be fair, they may have a point for some audiences

It's even worse when they edit classic literature and have Sherlock Holmes on the sidewalk at Picadilly and High Street.

Oh, that bugs me! How do they expect to learn new words if they never get to see them? Infer from context, FFS!

Funglegunk

Cú Giobach wrote: »

I know the accent you are talking about and round here we have a different "neutral" accent, you might have an accent that is unplaceable to some people from certain areas, due to media and travel playing a part in the homogenisation of regional dialects and accents, but that homogeneous accent is in itself an accent, it might be easier than others for outsiders to understand but it is still an ordinary everyday accent.

Right but earlier in the thread someone said this:

Solair wrote: »

Because, unlike people based in Ireland or the UK, they're rarely exposed to any non-American accents and, other than maybe strong accents Boston, New York, Texas and parts of the Deep South / Louisiana etc, American accents are incredibly standard.

I'm just saying that there is a similar phenomenon in Ireland: That there is a large chunk of the population whose accents only differ very slightly, and so it is hard to place where they are from beyond 'somewhere in Ireland'. So when you hear someone with a neutral accent, apart from knowing they are definitely not from Cork, Donegal, majority of Northern Ireland etc, it would be difficult to place it.

Cú Giobach

Funglegunk wrote: »

I'm just saying that there is a similar phenomenon in Ireland: That there is a large chunk of the population whose accents only differ very slightly, and so it is hard to place where they are from beyond 'somewhere in Ireland'. So when you hear someone with a neutral accent, apart from knowing they are definitely not from Cork, Donegal, majority of Northern Ireland etc, it would be difficult to place it.

That is just a particular accent becoming the norm, to describe it as "neutral" is misleading because an accent being widespread doesn't mean it's neutral.
There was a time when you could tell what village someone was from by their accent but travel and media has changed that, your accent is just part of that change.
You accent might be hard to pin down to a certain geographical area but that accent is still a distinctive one, there is nothing neutral about it.

Funglegunk

Cú Giobach wrote: »

That is just a particular accent becoming the norm, to describe it as "neutral" is misleading because an accent being widespread doesn't mean it's neutral.
There was a time when you could tell what village someone was from by their accent but travel and media has changed that, your accent is just part of that change.
You accent might be hard to pin down to a certain geographical area but that accent is still a distinctive one, there is nothing neutral about it.

That's kind of what I meant though. An accent being widespread and difficult to pin down gradually starts being called 'neutral' because it can't be associated with a particular place. Yes, it has it's own characteristics as any accent does and there is no such thing as a truly neutral accent, not even Stephen Hawking has one, but people use the word 'neutral' to describe it. What would you consider a neutral accent?

Did tv5 not used to have french subtitles on their shows sometimes

With such a range of dialects/accents in english or any language it's not that surprising people would want them

conorhal

Cú Giobach wrote: »

But as I said, that difference would be nowhere as big as between Europeans. The only way to get anything like the differences encountered in Europe one would have to travel between Native American tribes, they would be the equivalent of European countries today with the diversity of cultures and languages if they had developed without the invasions and genocides.
There is nothing biased in saying the US is more homogeneous than Europe (or Asia) it's just the result of history, politics and mass media.

Interesting point because doing that around Europe is not the norm and would be given a "roll eyes" type of attitude as you allude to in your post, but it would be quite normal and not even thought about in the US.

I don't know about that, your average middle class Irish, Spanish or Greek person are pretty homogeneous in their tastes adn lifestyles or at least no less homogeneous then a middle class person from New York or New Orleans.
There really is a broad range of cultures across America though, accents and ethnicities that are very recognisably destinct from one another, Cajun, Creole, Noo Yawk, Deep south Alabama, Mid Western, Cowboy Texan, Mex-Tex, Alaskan Fronteersmen, Amish, Boston Irish.... The list goes on and on. Pretty diverse bunch.

pickarooney

El Horseboxo wrote: »

It's the same in other languages too. I struggle to understand parts of Spanish from Argentina or various dialects from Spain despite being a native speaker. I may get 90% of dialogue in a scene but there could be 10% I wasn't sure of. So while I'm trying to figure that out I'm missing other parts of the film or whatever. Subtitles can help a lot. I don't live in Spain or Argentina so why should I expose myself to their accents? Same goes for America. Why should someone from the arsehole of Oklahoma expose themselves to Scottish accents on the off chance they may need to understand them without subtitles one day? It's not ignorance or laziness. It's just not necessary. Especially in a country as big as the US in which each state can feel like a foreign country.

French accents, by contrast, are much more homogenous, at least in Europe. It's difficult to place anyone's accent as anything more precise than 'south west' or 'near Paris'. Even Belgians and Swiss have only mildly different accents in general. I usually switch on subtitles watching Canadian films though.

MadsL

Cú Giobach wrote: »

The big difference though is that travelling across Europe you will meet a wide range of cultures and languages, there wouldn't be as big a difference between a middle-class Floridian and a middle-class Oregonian as there would be between their Greek and Finnish counterparts. Hence a European who only travels around Europe would be much more used to accent, language and culture change than an American travelling just around the US.

Just within a few hours driving radius of where I live there are 19 separate Native American pueblos each with its own language and culture. It has an area of town known as the International District with immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and many other countries. I can attend a Juega Flamenca in the centre of town and watch flamenco dancers taught by fourth generation teachers in a city that traces some families lineage back to the settlers from Spain. There is a huge Mexican population that brings food, music and dance influences. I can go and watch traditional Mexican bands and dancers, and eat some damn fine Mexican food. And that food is different to New Mexico's traditional food. I know well that eating chilli in Texas is very different to eating chile in New Mexico.

There is not one America, there is a massive melting pot of many different Americas. If I miss Czech food or language (lived there for a while and speak some Czech) there are small towns in Texas that have Czech restaurants and bakeries, and where the residents still speak Czech.

The remarkable thing about America is not how homogenous it is, but how it functions as a single nation, despite the huge cultural differences across its population.

One America. There isn't even one Texas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JREkqCvLzSo

Madame K

jonniebgood1 wrote: »

Why do American programs have subtitles for people speaking english. Not all the time but if the person has a slightly different accent than they are used to. Its annoying, like they are to lazy to actually listen and und understand.

So why is this?

Are these the captions for the hearing impaired or actually subtitles?

Cú Giobach

MadsL wrote: »

Just within a few hours driving radius of where I live there are 19 separate Native American pueblos each with its own language and culture. It has an area of town known as the International District with immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and many other countries. I can attend a Juega Flamenca in the centre of town and watch flamenco dancers taught by fourth generation teachers in a city that traces some family back to the settlers from Spain. There is a huge Mexican population that brings food, music and dance influences. I can go and watch traditional Mexican bands and dancers, and eat some damn fine Mexican food. And that food is different to New Mexico's traditional food. I know well that eating chilli in Texas is very different to eating chile in New Mexico.

There is not one America, there is a massive melting pot of many different Americas. If I miss Czech food or language (lived there for a while and speak some Czech) there are small towns in Texas that have Czech restaurants and bakeries, and where the residents still speak Czech.

The remarkable thing about America is not how homogenous it is, but how it functions as a single nation, despite the huge cultural differences across its population.

One America. There isn't even one Texas.

I mentioned Native Americans earlier, and Mexican culture is naturally very strong in places that were once Mexico.

Big big difference between dipping a toe into immigrant cultures and being in the "home country" any well educated person knows that, for example anyone who said they know Ireland or the Irish from just living in the Irish American community as well as if they actually came here to visit or live, would be laughed out of any pub on this island.
I lived near Southhall in London which has a huge Indian/Pakistani population (the largest outside India/Pakistan) and spent quite a bit of time there, but again I would be laughed at if I tried to tell an Indian I knew India or was as "world wise" as someone who had been there from just from hanging out in that community, I might have gotten an idea of what the place and people would be like, but in no way comparable to travelling to India and experiencing the country for real.

The thing with experiencing these things in the US is that you are still in the US surrounded by all that is familiar, once outside things change quite a bit.

Cú Giobach

conorhal wrote: »

I don't know about that, your average middle class Irish, Spanish or Greek person are pretty homogeneous in their tastes adn lifestyles or at least no less homogeneous then a middle class person from New York or New Orleans.
There really is a broad range of cultures across America though, accents and ethnicities that are very recognisably destinct from one another, Cajun, Creole, Noo Yawk, Deep south Alabama, Mid Western, Cowboy Texan, Mex-Tex, Alaskan Fronteersmen, Amish, Boston Irish.... The list goes on and on. Pretty diverse bunch.

The broad range of cultures in the US comes from the broad range of cultures in Europe and Asia, but in Europe and Asia we have not come together as much as the peoples of the States have, therefore the place couldn't be as diverse as the places those people originally came from, think about it.

Just to add, in the States you would have (say for example) German communities, German regional restaurants, quite a bit of German spoken etc..., here in Europe we have Germany.

Reindeer

Cú Giobach wrote: »

I mentioned Native Americans earlier, and Mexican culture is naturally very strong in places that were once Mexico.

Big big difference between dipping a toe into immigrant cultures and being in the "home country" any well educated person knows that, for example anyone who said they know Ireland or the Irish from just living in the Irish American community as well as if they actually came here to visit or live, would be laughed out of any pub on this island.
I lived near Southhall in London which has a huge Indian/Pakistani population (the largest outside India/Pakistan) and spent quite a bit of time there, but again I would be laughed at if I tried to tell an Indian I knew India or was as "world wise" as someone who had been there from just from hanging out in that community, I might have gotten an idea of what the place and people would be like, but in no way comparable to travelling to India and experiencing the country for real.

The thing with experiencing these things in the US is that you are still in the US surrounded by all that is familiar, once outside things change quite a bit.

You've made a good point. And there is no substitute for visiting another country to explore and immerse in the culture. But remember that it was only a few generations ago that parts of the South West of America belonged to Mexico. And, unlike Ireland, Texas has a lot of border cities with Mexico which are basically one city separated by the border. Having spent plenty of time in Mexico, and a lot of time in El Paso, sometimes the only difference is the English on the money.

I wonder how many outside of Texas even know what a Tejano is.

On another note, I have no issue with Cheryl's accent(sounds almost ozzie to me) or Juliette Lewis(which is sort of southern california orchard accent - AKA grapes of wrath/depression displaced midwestern), nor do I have any issue t all with the following:

MadsL

I'm confused. Are you saying America is too homogenised or ther aren't enough foreign countries in it?

Reindeer

MadsL wrote: »

I'm confused. Are you saying America is too homogenised or ther aren't enough foreign countries in it?

Yes. He said all that. Now, if he had subtitles, we would have understood him better.

Speaking of which, I rarely see subtitles on the TV in the US. Where is the original poster seeing these? It's rare unless someone has a very thick accent, or there is a lot of background noise. In any case, I have met more than my share of Irish that can not understand my dialect(as well as other Irish dialects), so I am not so sure it's fair to try and chastise Americans for the same.

I can understand the frustration, though. I was watching a BBC documentary not too long ago and they subtitled an American on it that was perfectly clearly understandable to me. *Shrug*

Wibbs

I don't even have to go as far as America. Was watching a very good documentary the other night on Irish writer Con Houlihan. A fascinating, very erudite man and wonderful writer who I've read in the past(sadly recently passed away). I could barely make out a word the chap was saying at times. Very strong near mumbled Kerry accent. I've been in Mayo with a non Irish ex when she asked about a bloke in the pub "is he speaking Irish?". It took me about 4 overheard sentences before I could be sure that no, he wasn't conversing as Gaelige, but was in fact speaking English. I'd have understood him better if he'd been speaking Ulster Scots. There's also that odd accent you sometimes hear in the Irish army of all places that can require careful thought to get the details.

I've heard one explanation for this that went along the lines of the accent can be difficult for non locals to get if the folks are from a strongly Irish speaking area/background. I dunno about that. I've hung around Donegal types whose first childhood language was Irish and they were perfectly clear. When I was a kid I met an elderly chap in Galway who hadn't learned much English at all until he left the Irish speaking Island he grew up on in his 20's and he was very clear in diction.

Actually I think it's that. Some people can be "lazy" with their diction regardless of background accent. I've met a couple of fellow native Dubs that required more concentration than average. That aforementioned elderly Galwegian apparently had wonderfully clear diction in Irish and English.

languagenerd

Cú Giobach wrote: »

There is no such thing as a "neutral accent". To someone from the Bayous of Louisiana, the Scottish Highlands or Cork/Derry (which ever is furthest from where you're from) you have an accent, and it depends on where the person listening to you is from as to how strong that accent of yours is.

Think about it, if you moved into the "wilds" of wesht Kerry that "neutral" accent of yours would stand out as different and quite strong compared to everybody else's, and would be therefore quite distinctive.
Someone from Dublin has a different neutral accent to someone from Belfast's neutral accent, which are both different to someone's from Cork, in fact this so called neutral accent is a strong accent in itself.

Well, I know what you mean, I'm not saying I don't have an accent or anything like that! But I definitely think that there are some accents that are stronger than others (in general) - in that there are some accents that are closer to a dialect because they're so different from other accents of the same language. (Think of the Glasgow accent, for example)

All I'm saying is that my accent (Dublin, but neither skanger nor D4) is less "strong" than some of the other Irish ones to an English person's ears - they can't understand some people from the North or West at all. It's about mutual-comprehensibilty. I probably picked the wrong word in "neutral", to be fair.

Reindeer

Biggins wrote: »

They were that screwed when to came to The Commitments in the states, they at various cinemas, by default, had the subtitles turned on.
Add to that they had to hand out a booklet to explain some of the expressions and it shows that its just another nation which to be fair, has its own expressions which added to national/regional accents, are just hard to understand.

One of the most difficult parts of understanding other accents is the slang. Many UK and Irish pepper their English with a good deal of it. The Wire is a good example of an American show that uses plenty of it. We often forget that others simply do not use the same slang we do.

For me, "The Wire" is plain as day, including the slang. I'm used to hearing those accents.

Reindeer

Cú Giobach wrote: »

But as I said, that difference would be nowhere as big as between Europeans. The only way to get anything like the differences encountered in Europe one would have to travel between Native American tribes, they would be the equivalent of European countries today with the diversity of cultures and languages if they had developed without the invasions and genocides.
There is nothing biased in saying the US is more homogeneous than Europe (or Asia) it's just the result of history, politics and mass media.

Interesting point because doing that around Europe is not the norm and would be given a "roll eyes" type of attitude as you allude to in your post, but it would be quite normal and not even thought about in the US.

Native Americans can be difficult to understand at times:

mathepac

Biggins wrote: »

They were that screwed when to came to The Commitments in the states, they at various cinemas, by default, had the subtitles turned on.
Add to that they had to hand out a booklet to explain some of the expressions and it shows that its just another nation which to be fair, has its own expressions which added to national/regional accents, are just hard to understand.

What?

Fuinseog

jonniebgood1 wrote: »

Why do American programs have subtitles for people speaking english. Not all the time but if the person has a slightly different accent than they are used to. Its annoying, like they are to lazy to actually listen and und understand.

So why is this?

would you prefer if Rab C. Nesbitt was subtitled?

jonniebgood1

Fuinseog wrote: »

would you prefer if Rab C. Nesbitt was subtitled?

No- I speak English. There was a point in the OP...

Cú Giobach

Reindeer wrote: »

You've made a good point. And there is no substitute for visiting another country to explore and immerse in the culture. But remember that it was only a few generations ago that parts of the South West of America belonged to Mexico. And, unlike Ireland, Texas has a lot of border cities with Mexico which are basically one city separated by the border. Having spent plenty of time in Mexico, and a lot of time in El Paso, sometimes the only difference is the English on the money.

I wonder how many outside of Texas even know what a Tejano is.

Cú Giobach wrote: »

I mentioned Native Americans earlier, and Mexican culture is naturally very strong in places that were once Mexico.

True indeed that quite a few people are unaware just how big and important the Hispanic population in the States is, 40 million native Spanish speakers, Hispanic population (50 million) doubled in the last 20 years and estimated to grow to 140 million in the next 40, the US could be the largest Spanish speaking country in the world by the middle of this century. California, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Utah all lost by Mexico to the US in 1848 (half of Mexico's territory).

In the coming century the Mexican population of the States is going to play a very big part in the politics of the country, and if/when Mexico grows economically things will be very interesting regarding relations between the countries with large parts of the south western states having very strong ties to Mexico and with parts already being more Mexican than "American".