Poland Public TV to introduce subtitles instead of dubbing

Poland Public TV to introduce subtitles instead of dubbing
http://www.polskieradio.pl/zagranica/news/artykul89969_Public_TV_to_introduce_subtitles_instead_of_dubbing.html

Polish television should introduce subtitles to English movies instead of the traditional dubbing and voiceovers as soon as possible - this is the opinion of Education, Culture and Higher Education Ministries, who have joined the "English First" campaign.
Sławek Szefs reports.
"English First" was initiated by one Polish daily to popularize English language. Only one in three Poles declares to speak English. This is one of the worst statistics among EU countries. For comparison: in Sweden, 89% of people speak English. In Germany, it is 59% and in Estonia, 46%. Poland needs to catch up, says MEP Konrad Szymanski who supports the project: 'English language is at the moment the lingua franca of politics, business and also science. If Poland wants to be involved in the mainstream, common knowledge of English is a basic factor.'
Original soundtrack movies with Polish subtitles would improve foreign language skills among Poles, say proponents of the idea. The experience of other countries where movies are shown in the original language proves that point, says Minister of Science and Higher Education Barbara Kudrycka: 'Many research methods have concluded that not only children, but also people with weak foreign language skills, are able to improve just by watching subtitled movies with the original soundtrack. They quickly learn to speak the language fluently.'
Kasia teaches English as a foreign language to students of all ages. She often uses movies in class and agrees that they are a valuable help in language teaching. 'It's one of the best ways to teach pronunciation and real, often used vocabulary. Often times textbooks use very sophisticated language and when they watch movies, they can grasp real language,' she says.
Poland neglected the teaching of English to its citizens for decades, because it was isolated from the outside world by the communist rule, says famous Polish film director Krzysztof Zanussi: 'We are in the process of ending some kind of cultural isolation. We had been an extremely neglected country, because of the Iron Curtain and traveling difficulties. So, for us, the contact with the world that speaks other languages is a problem to be overcome. This is not a problem for many other nations.'
Krzysztof Zanussi supports the idea of subtitles on television. He says voiceovers and dubbing are leftovers from communist times, when the propaganda sometimes used them as tools to change those dialogues in western movies, which were not in accordance with the communist ideology. 'There used to be a commonly accepted rule that movies should be ideologically refined, by means of changing dialogues to more proper ones than the original. There was a famous movie, "The Walls of Malapaga", where the whole plot was changed by censorship. A criminal on the run was turned into a communist on the run, who was persecuted. So dubbing and voiceovers were useful technologies for the communist propaganda,' said Zanussi.
Polish public television Channel Two is introducing the first regular timeslot of programs in English in September. Movies for kids and youth, documentaries about nature and cartoons without voiceovers will be broadcast Saturday afternoon.
Commercial stations are not planning to introduce the idea, they say the Polish audience prefers dubbing and voiceovers. According to TNS OBOP polling center, 19% of Poles would welcome subtitled movies.
Audio Description:
click "play" on below