Perceptions of Characters in Subtitled Film

Strategies to Achieve Similarity in Japanese- and English-Speaking Audience Understanding

Abstract

Two studies investigated whether non-standard subtitling strategies that focus on vocabulary and grammar improve similarity of inter-lingual audience understanding of film characters. Participants (Study 1: N = 69, 28 Japanese, 41 English-speakers; Study 2: N = 88, 23 Japanese, 65 English) watched a segment of a Japanese film. In both studies, Group 1 (Japanese-speakers) watched without subtitles; Group 2 (English-speakers) watched with commercially available Standard Subtitles; and Group 3 (English-speakers) viewed Non-standard Subtitles that manipulated vocabulary, grammar, and subtitle length, to better preserve character voice. All participants rated the central character on 12 descriptors. Results showed that Group 3’s perceptions were closer to those in the Japanese group for several descriptors, suggesting that audience perceptions of film characters can be manipulated through targeted changes to vocabulary and grammar. Results provided preliminary evidence that non-standard strategies improve within-language consistency of character perceptions.