<p>There are not just different accents in different regions.  There are different spoken languages, using essentially the same written language.</p>
<p>And on this point, very distinctive English accents such as Jamaican or deep country accents from Appalachia are sometimes subtitled on American English language television.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-18T05:20:35.200Z
Yeah, regional differences are much, much more dramatic in China.  Comparing to the USA is a telling example...   Before Europeans, there were many prominent and significantly different languages in North America, but they were largely wiped out.  The groups of east Asia that ended up in modern China didn't face that and their languages continue.
Mike M
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-04T18:40:32.900Z
I think your view is correct. The most upvoted answer just talking about this is a rule of authorities, but he didn't go deeper to interfere why authorities need to do that.
Kevman
CC BY-SA 4.0
2015-06-29T21:44:08.090Z
2021-01-07T02:14:40.657Z
2021-01-07T02:14:40.657Z
Colin McLarty
<p>That is mainly to make sure deaf people can understand.</p>
<pre><code>2012年实施的《无障碍环境建设条例》规定：公开出版发行的影视类录像制品应当配备字幕。
</code></pre>
<p>Ref: <a href="https://www.zhihu.com/question/21650286/answer/43756154" rel="nofollow noreferrer">为什么在中国流通的影视作品普遍显示字幕？ - 知乎用户的回答 - 知乎</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-07T02:01:33.927Z
2021-01-07T02:12:35.980Z
2021-01-07T02:12:35.980Z
River
<p>Chinese can't be without the subtitles.
Except those people study few years and speak like a broadcast man/woman.
Other people cannot make it 100% clear even if they're speaking the mandarin.
This is for a normal people, needless to say seniors/disability people.
Those actors clearly not gonna spend few years to learn that. So it needs a subtitle.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-06T04:53:04.527Z
2021-01-06T04:53:04.527Z
Jianjun
<p>1 reason is that it helps disambiguate homophones.  You're not talking with the person on screen, so you can't just ask them to disambiguate.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-05T21:28:44.277Z
2021-01-05T21:28:44.277Z
kwaalaateimaa
<p>Chinese has a lot of dialects, but most of them are written the same way. And in the country with the most people in the WORLD, some of them are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Hardcoded subtitles are also the best option, because some people mightn't be able to switch on optional subtitles because they might have a very old TV or can't find the remote.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-28T17:19:23.577Z
2018-01-28T17:19:23.577Z
blahblahblah
<p>River的答案不错。</p>
<p>最早，至少是我小时候90年代，电视剧啥的都没字幕。只记得《三国演义》在咏诵古人文言文的时候有字幕。
一次偶尔看到采访一位聋哑人，他提到他喜欢看的电视剧是《笑傲江湖》（张纪中版），因为那个有字幕。这大概是我记忆中最早的有字幕的电视剧了吧。</p>
<p>另外我补充一点，因为中文阅读起来辨识度很高，有时候可能比声音感知还要快，所以很多用户要求有字幕，B站很多视频，如果不带字幕，有观众就提出要让加上字幕，即使视频作者普通话清楚，录音效果良好，也总有人提这样的要求。</p>
<p>我想起一个事，以前说中文学习需要五年才能达到读新闻的水平，这比起表音文字差太多（通常只需要半年时间就可掌握。）但是我家孩子从小看动画片，同时看中文字幕，在她上小学一年纪的时候，大概常用汉字都能认识了。之前的那个统计，应该是基于50年代，大家文化水平普遍较低，接触到文字机会较少得出的结论吧。
印象最深的一次，我给我家看英文动画片《少年泰坦》，我为练她英文听力，把字幕用一个窗口挡上（为避免影响观看效果，我尽量让这个窗口窄点，大体挡上就行了），就像这样：</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Irxtg.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Irxtg.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>有一次听到一个词，我不知道是什么，我提议关掉遮挡，看一下中文字幕是什么。结果她拦住我，&quot;唉唉，不用了，这是‘花生酱’&quot;。我第一反应是，她难道在学校学过‘Nutella’这个单词？因为我都不知道这是什么。她说看中文就知道了啊，又挡得不严实。当时确实震惊到我了，一个小学一年级的学生，仅仅看到中文的上半边和下半边，就猜到了是什么汉字……中文的辨识度确实高。</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-07T02:51:01.033Z
2021-01-07T02:51:01.033Z
Zhang
<p>For English (or other languase) TV series, without subtitles ordinary people can't understand or follow them.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/4IJMj.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/4IJMj.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-15T14:24:27.150Z
You already [answered this question](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/42540/12003), in a more substantial way. In this case it's better if you edit it, instead of posting a new one.
blackgreen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-15T09:58:05.943Z
2021-07-15T09:58:05.943Z
Zhang
<p>There are Chinese-language-only reasons like the many mutually-unintelligible dialects/topolects, the huge difference between spoken and written Chinese languages, but this doesn't explain why subtitling is ubiquitous, even when the entire show is in perfect Mandarin.</p>
<p>This is because subtitles are somewhat required under PRC state authorities, so there are a few other benefits/purposes for subtitling.</p>
<ul>
<li>It improves literacy; according to OECD standards of literacy, China has about 80% literacy rate, meaning there are large sections of the populace that are illiterate. SLS (same language subtitling) has been shown to improve literacy, and apart from China this is also done in parts of India for the same reason.</li>
<li>It makes it easier to understand regional colloquialisms, as the subtitles will replace them with Mandarin versions. For example, the Cantonese &quot;nei hai bin dou&quot;, instead of being shown as &quot;你喺邊度&quot;, will be subtitled as &quot;你在哪里&quot;.</li>
<li>It is more accessible to deaf viewers. Note that most other countries provide optional closed captions for this purpose.</li>
<li>It pushes Mandarin/putonghua hegemony, national unity and so on.</li>
</ul>
<p>This is all enforced by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Administration_of_Press,_Publication,_Radio,_Film_and_Television" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SAPPRFT/SARFT</a> (the equivalent of FCC, but much more powerful) under something called the <em>Language Law</em>. It is constantly evolving, and only really became prominent around the late 90s I believe. This is why if you look at older TV shows, they may not have subtitles. This state organ enforces many other things like requiring Mandarin proficiency for TV presenters, standardised Mandarin terminology, quotas for types of shows deemed less beneficial like reality-TV, historically-inaccurate dramas etc.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-08T01:54:14.207Z
Israel has similar practices.
Dr. Shmuel
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-17T03:04:35.967Z
Singapore has similar practices. I watched a show that the host switched between Cantonese and Mandarin. The subtitles provide explanations such as "馬騮" in Cantonese is "猴子".
Anonymous CS
CC BY-SA 4.0
2015-06-30T01:41:34.410Z
2021-01-07T02:14:04.570Z
2021-01-07T02:14:04.570Z
congusbongus
<p>This is my question, almost every program, TV Show, movie...
everything has subtitles, one reason could be that there are many different accents in different provinces but I don't really find that convincing, because that happens in every language.</p>
<p>Does anyone know the real answer?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-04T18:32:22.640Z
Similar question and better answer: https://www.zhihu.com/question/21650286
Kevman
<culture><learning>
Why do Chinese people always use Chinese subtitles?
# Why do Chinese people always use Chinese subtitles?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-06-29)

This is my question, almost every program, TV Show, movie...
everything has subtitles, one reason could be that there are many different accents in different provinces but I don't really find that convincing, because that happens in every language.

Does anyone know the real answer?

**Tags:** culture, learning

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Similar question and better answer: https://www.zhihu.com/question/21650286  

---

## 8 answers

### Answer by username_10 on 2015-06-30. Score: 19 | Accepted answer

There are Chinese-language-only reasons like the many mutually-unintelligible dialects/topolects, the huge difference between spoken and written Chinese languages, but this doesn't explain why subtitling is ubiquitous, even when the entire show is in perfect Mandarin.

This is because subtitles are somewhat required under PRC state authorities, so there are a few other benefits/purposes for subtitling.

* It improves literacy; according to OECD standards of literacy, China has about 80% literacy rate, meaning there are large sections of the populace that are illiterate. SLS (same language subtitling) has been shown to improve literacy, and apart from China this is also done in parts of India for the same reason.
* It makes it easier to understand regional colloquialisms, as the subtitles will replace them with Mandarin versions. For example, the Cantonese "nei hai bin dou", instead of being shown as "你喺邊度", will be subtitled as "你在哪里".
* It is more accessible to deaf viewers. Note that most other countries provide optional closed captions for this purpose.
* It pushes Mandarin/putonghua hegemony, national unity and so on.

This is all enforced by [SAPPRFT/SARFT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Administration_of_Press,_Publication,_Radio,_Film_and_Television) (the equivalent of FCC, but much more powerful) under something called the *Language Law*. It is constantly evolving, and only really became prominent around the late 90s I believe. This is why if you look at older TV shows, they may not have subtitles. This state organ enforces many other things like requiring Mandarin proficiency for TV presenters, standardised Mandarin terminology, quotas for types of shows deemed less beneficial like reality-TV, historically-inaccurate dramas etc.

> **Comments:**
> **username_11**: Israel has similar practices.  
> **username_12**: Singapore has similar practices. I watched a show that the host switched between Cantonese and Mandarin. The subtitles provide explanations such as "馬騮" in Cantonese is "猴子".  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-06-29. Score: 6

There are not just different accents in different regions. There are different spoken languages, using essentially the same written language.

And on this point, very distinctive English accents such as Jamaican or deep country accents from Appalachia are sometimes subtitled on American English language television.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Yeah, regional differences are much, much more dramatic in China.  Comparing to the USA is a telling example...   Before Europeans, there were many prominent and significantly different languages in North America, but they were largely wiped out.  The groups of east Asia that ended up in modern China didn't face that and their languages continue.  
> **username_1**: I think your view is correct. The most upvoted answer just talking about this is a rule of authorities, but he didn't go deeper to interfere why authorities need to do that.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2021-01-07. Score: 4

That is mainly to make sure deaf people can understand.

```
2012年实施的《无障碍环境建设条例》规定：公开出版发行的影视类录像制品应当配备字幕。

```

Ref: [为什么在中国流通的影视作品普遍显示字幕？ - 知乎用户的回答 - 知乎](https://www.zhihu.com/question/21650286/answer/43756154)


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2021-01-06. Score: 2

Chinese can't be without the subtitles.
Except those people study few years and speak like a broadcast man/woman.
Other people cannot make it 100% clear even if they're speaking the mandarin.
This is for a normal people, needless to say seniors/disability people.
Those actors clearly not gonna spend few years to learn that. So it needs a subtitle.


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2021-01-05. Score: 0

1 reason is that it helps disambiguate homophones. You're not talking with the person on screen, so you can't just ask them to disambiguate.


---

### Answer by username_7 on 2018-01-28. Score: 0

Chinese has a lot of dialects, but most of them are written the same way. And in the country with the most people in the WORLD, some of them are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Hardcoded subtitles are also the best option, because some people mightn't be able to switch on optional subtitles because they might have a very old TV or can't find the remote.


---

### Answer by username_8 on 2021-01-07. Score: 0

River的答案不错。

最早，至少是我小时候90年代，电视剧啥的都没字幕。只记得《三国演义》在咏诵古人文言文的时候有字幕。
一次偶尔看到采访一位聋哑人，他提到他喜欢看的电视剧是《笑傲江湖》（张纪中版），因为那个有字幕。这大概是我记忆中最早的有字幕的电视剧了吧。

另外我补充一点，因为中文阅读起来辨识度很高，有时候可能比声音感知还要快，所以很多用户要求有字幕，B站很多视频，如果不带字幕，有观众就提出要让加上字幕，即使视频作者普通话清楚，录音效果良好，也总有人提这样的要求。

我想起一个事，以前说中文学习需要五年才能达到读新闻的水平，这比起表音文字差太多（通常只需要半年时间就可掌握。）但是我家孩子从小看动画片，同时看中文字幕，在她上小学一年纪的时候，大概常用汉字都能认识了。之前的那个统计，应该是基于50年代，大家文化水平普遍较低，接触到文字机会较少得出的结论吧。
印象最深的一次，我给我家看英文动画片《少年泰坦》，我为练她英文听力，把字幕用一个窗口挡上（为避免影响观看效果，我尽量让这个窗口窄点，大体挡上就行了），就像这样：

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/Irxtg.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/Irxtg.png)

有一次听到一个词，我不知道是什么，我提议关掉遮挡，看一下中文字幕是什么。结果她拦住我，"唉唉，不用了，这是‘花生酱’"。我第一反应是，她难道在学校学过‘Nutella’这个单词？因为我都不知道这是什么。她说看中文就知道了啊，又挡得不严实。当时确实震惊到我了，一个小学一年级的学生，仅仅看到中文的上半边和下半边，就猜到了是什么汉字……中文的辨识度确实高。


---

### Answer by username_8 on 2021-07-15. Score: -1

For English (or other languase) TV series, without subtitles ordinary people can't understand or follow them.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/4IJMj.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/4IJMj.png)

> **Comments:**
> **username_9**: You already [answered this question](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/42540/12003), in a more substantial way. In this case it's better if you edit it, instead of posting a new one.  

---

