Ernest Schaal wrote:

> Okay, I will accept that you didn't mean your comments the way they
> originally sounded.
>
> I assume then that you agree that, while knowledge of the language is
> preferable it is not essential.

I don't care where the understanding comes from. Yes, those movie and DVD magazines
and TV interviews promoting films can contain useful information someone at home or
in the theater would not get (unless included in some DVD extras). I have never
seen anything like contained in the LOTR Extended Edition complete12 disc set. That
plus reading the books will tell people a lot more.

Do you know what else I am doing when reading subtitles to watch some movie which I
have already seen, or can follow the native dialogue of? I want to see what kind of
spin they put on it. I just completed watching Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
which includes I assume, dated Australian slang and stylized language for the film.
It seemed the Japanese subtitlers had trouble with it or took the simple way at
some points. Other points were rather interesting.

Now I am watching Devil in a Blue Dress, laden with racial tension, and on this
DVD, like releases I have noticed in recent years, Japanese subtitlers avoid using
derogatory terms and slurs. Little need for Japanese to learn those words, but it
is more representative of what went on or how older movies were. [A pity what I
hear is happening to Sizemore these days.]

I am not going to read the rest of this; a lot of the bad blood was due to a
misunderstanding. But me being more polite about it wouldn't have been much better.

Eric: Ernest, your Japanese is much better than you let on.

Ernest: What makes you say that?

Eric: Because you can understand those movies you are talking about.

That could have set you off anyway.

Something else I noticed fairly recently. If your DVD player is one of those that
can play audio and video at double (or more) speed without distortion, you may be
surprised at how well you can follow along and improve your listening
comprehension.