TV or Not TV? Subtitles and English Skills

Abstract

We study the influence of television translation techniques on the quality of the English spoken across the EU and OECD. We identify a large positive effect for subtitled original version as opposed to dubbed television, which loosely corresponds to between four and twenty years of compulsory English education at school. We also show that the importance of subtitled television is robust to a wide array of specifications.

We then find that subtitling and better English skills have an influence on high-tech exports, international student mobility, and other economic and social outcomes.

Keywords: English, language skills, subtitles, television

JEL Classification: I21, N00