Daily Show Subtitles

An-D

So, I'm teaching college kids in China and I'm trying to get a discussion going and they aren't biting yet. They're kind of hypnotized by the weiguoren teaching them how to talk more gooder.

My plan for next class is to take two videos and show them in class (one is a TED talks about Chinese learning English, and it has subtitles) and the other is the clip from the June 7th episode of the Daily Show (where there are protesters trying to stop kids from learning Chinese in schools...y'know, 'cause of the commie-factor).

My students speak...alright English, but I'm worried the Daily Show might be a too fast for them (And there would be no discussion), so I'm trying and failing at finding subtitles. Simplified Chinese subtitles would be rocking, but I'd easily settle for English (its English class, after all).

Anyone able to point me in the right direction?


(Both TED and Daily Show are not blocked in China, so I'm not showing them any information that they couldn't get anyway. This is all on the "level".)

CygnusZ

The Daily Show is one of the single hardest and most boring things you could try to show your students. As an American I totally love the show, but is it really going to be interesting to politically apathetic Asian English students? Also obviously, humor is one of the most difficult aspects of language to understand. One other things for you to consider is that you probably should not be showing something that could be interpreted as a negative message about Americans (or people from ANY culture for that matter) as an English teacher. The basic assumption is that foreign students have tremendous difficulty understanding foreign humor, especially sarcastic self-deprecating humor.

If you want them to have a discussion, try showing a picture that has multiple interpretations or posing a hypothetic situation. Simple questions generally work as well "What's more important, love or money?".

Didgeridoo

I agree with Cygnus-- the Daily Show would be very difficult for someone who doesn't have a very strong grip on the English language. Not only that, but they would need to have a sophisticated understanding of American culture as well.

You may want to start them off with something simpler. Maybe something along the lines of a sit-com? Those tend to have fairly obvious and easy-to-understand jokes, plus the laugh track might help them catch on to the meaning of what is being said.

winter_combat_knight

Man, i'm Australian and i find it hard to understand a lot of Jon Stewarts humour - simply because I dont understand a lot of US culture. I'd imagine with a language barrier like english/chinese, it would be even more difficult.

As for finding your subtitles - i know for sure Conan and Leno are subtitled overseas, but im under the assumption that it takes a long time to air in Asia. so if there are (going to be) subtitled versions, you may be waiting a while.

Aldo

I'm Dutch and find Daily Show and Colbert Report hilarious, it's still funny even if you don't catch every pop culture reference.

You might have some luck with the CNN International version, this is the page on CNN about it http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/daily.show/ . I doubt you can get subtitles from anywhere, though. :? Maaaaaaaaybe they can send you a tape or something.

Sir Carcass

Can you use something like Windows Movie Maker or whatever to just subtitle it yourself?

Wezoin

Or alternately just type out a 'cheat sheet' of the script in Chinese and provide it to them? Although that would probably distract them from the actual show

flowerhoney

So your second video isn't going to have a discussion afterward, but the TED talk will have a discussion?

If your second video isn't even going to be discussed, it might be more fun to just watch something casual and simpler like a cartoon

jomarlo

Hi everyone,
I am an english learner and it's been almost a year since I started watching the colbert report and the daily show. During this year I think I have really improved my understanding of this shows. Sometimes though, I have to repeat parts of them several times in order to catch up the ideas, and when this is not enough, I look for comments on the internet. I find the colbert report less difficult to understand, so I decided to focus mainly in the jon stuart show, which I consider by the way, more interesting than colbert's.

MKR

jomarlo wrote:

Hi everyone,
I am an english learner and it's been almost a year since I started watching the colbert report and the daily show. During this year I think I have really improved my understanding of this shows. Sometimes though, I have to repeat parts of them several times in order to catch up the ideas, and when this is not enough, I look for comments on the internet. I find the colbert report less difficult to understand, so I decided to focus mainly in the jon stuart show, which I consider by the way, more interesting than colbert's.

The general discussion thread for these shows is over here: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/140365/the-daily-show-colbert-report-schadenfreudegasm/p1

And reviving old topics (this one is from September 2010) is strongly discouraged.