Japanese Subtitles

[jcor416]

皆さん、こんにちは！

I've always wondered why most Japanese television shows have subtitles.
Are they used to understand different dialects better, or something? I'm not really sure, but if anybody can shed some light on this, that'd be great.

ありがとうございます！！

[Jessi]

I think they're mostly just there for emphasis and comedic effect! You'll notice that there are always subtitles for the punchlines of jokes and stuff. I really like them, I've gotten used to them and now I think they add a lot to the shows, especially variety shows!

As for news programs and stuff, I think they're just used as a way to summarize what a person is saying, since often they don't include every word.

And like you said, subtitles are also used when a person speaks a non-standard dialect of Japanese, but most of the time they aren't there because the person is hard to understand or anything

[gerald_ford]

That's my assumption as well: it's for dramatic effect. They can be distracting a bit when you're learning to listen to Japanese more, but they help a lot with reading (along with a comprehensive approach to practicing your reading).

[jcor416]

Thanks for clearing that up, guys! I appreciate it