British talk shows with subtitles

[Kenny同志]

My listening is still fairly weak so I am thinking about changing the situation by watching more talk shows. Ideally, the talk show should be subtitled and in British English with its duration between 20 min and 60 min. Personally I think The Graham Norton Show, Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, The Frank Skinner Show, and The Jeremy Kyle Show all make good listening materials but they are not subtitled nor can I find any script.

 

I am not sure if there are any subtitled talk shows similar to those I mentioned above but anyway, if you happen to know of any, please let me know. Thank you very much.

[anonymoose]

It may be difficult to find because unlike Chinese television, on which most programmes are subtitled, British programmes essentially never have subtitles. (Subtitles may be switched on separately, but are not part of the recording itself.)

[geraldc]

See if you can find a proxy server, so the BBC website thinks you're in the UK (try Hola plug in). All the BBC shows on iplayer have a subtitle option.

[Kenny同志]

I see. Thanks Anonymoose.

 

@geraldc

 

Thanks. I tried Hola but it didn't work well. If in the end I can't find any subtitled British talk shows, I will use some Australian or American talk shows instead.

[roddy]

You could try this one

https://mediahint.com/ - there's a free trial so you can see if it works or not. 

 

You probably need to search 'bbc iplayer proxy' or something like that and keep trying till you find one that works. Even if one does work though, there's no guarantee it'll keep working. 

[Kenny同志]

Many thanks Roddy.

 

To be honest, I don't think it's worthwhile to spend several pounds every month to be able to watch but the subtitled version of The Graham Norton Show. I have managed to find some subtitled British English 談話節目 on youtube.com. I will use those instead. : )

[roddy]

Personally I'm not sure I'd watch Graham Norton if I was the one getting paid  . So that's quite understandable. 

 

What are you watching? Will be happy to help out with any questions. 

[Kobo-Daishi]

In America, we have something called "closed captioning" for the hearing impaired. Essentially subtitles. I don't know if they have that in Britain though.

 

Some news and talk shows also sell transcripts of their broadcasts.

 

We also have something called "en SAP" for the English impaired. Mainly it's Spanish audio for our Spanish speaking viewers.

 

While we Americans call them "talk shows", I think the Brits call them "chat shows". And the Cantonese would probably call them "king gai shows"   ;-)

 

Kobo.

[Kenny同志]

It's too late. I will get back to you on this tomorrow. : ) 謝謝先.

[Kenny同志]

Now I am watching The Graham Norton Show on tudou.com. I have also found a few subtitled episodes of Piers Morgan's Life Stories. : D

[imron]

Just don't try and mimic graham norton's voice and you'll be fine.

[Kenny同志]

Don't worry. I won't mimic his voice. It's not my cup of tea.

[Demonic_Duck]

Personally I'm not sure I'd watch Graham Norton if I was the one getting paid .

I dunno, I'd watch Graham Norton over Jeremy Kyle or Piers Morgan any day

 

I do hope that these shows aren't providing you with your main cultural impression of Britain, Kenny!

[Kenny同志]

Don't worry, Duck. They will be used only as my listening materials.

 

Shows are just shows. After watching them, I may be able to quickly associate names with several British faces but that's all.  To know the true Britain, I'd go for books because generally speaking, they are more objective, more comprehensive, and deeper.

[Kobo-Daishi]

How's your English going?

 

I remember your first tape being incomprehensible.

 

When you slowed it down quite a bit it was more comprehensible, but, still you weren't liable to give Jeremy Irons a run for his money.

 

How is it now?

 

Kobo.

[Kenny同志]

How is it now?

 

 

Still struggling to have proper pronunciation and a British accent. If you are interested, you can listen to the attached recording, which I did this morning.

fossils.mp3

[anonymoose]

Kenny, I thought that was very good. There are still a few minor pronunciation issues you could work on (but as I say, they are minor), for example the vowel sounds in words such as "mud" should be shorter. There are many words like this in English. "Mud" is just an example, but really you should make all short sounds shorter.

[Kenny同志]

This is good to hear and very encouraging! Many thanks for the feedback, Anonymoose.

 

If I keep practising speaking like this for three months, what would happen? Hmm, it would be interesting to know.

[Kobo-Daishi]

It's still not Jeremy Irons (I mention Irons only because he's known for his clear enunciation of words), but, it's certainly a vast improvement since you first started.

 

The amount of scientific jargon in the fossil piece would prove daunting even to most native English speakers. It shows that you're willing to tackle the tough stuff. Good on you.

 

As the Chinese are wont to say, add oil, Kenny, add oil!!!!    ;-0

 

Kobo.

[gato]

How about practicing with Monty Python skits? Both video and transcripts are available.