One of the things you begin to notice when in China is the prevalence of subtitles in television, no matter the genre or what’s on. From TV shows, news programs, or even movies, you can be sure to encounter subtitles.

You have to wonder why the use of subtitles is generally embedded into whatever content you are watching on television. The reasons can simply be because of the enormity of China and the way to connect everyone through the Chinese language. As you may already know, the official language of China is Mandarin written in simplified Chinese characters. The rest of the country though, is made up of 22 provinces, 4 municipalities, 5 autonomous regions, etc. Each area may have its people speak their own dialect, but no matter the dialect, all of them use the same characters. Likewise, most of the population has attempted to speak unified Mandarin.

Having subtitles in television does have its obvious positives, like increasing the literacy rate nationwide. Most many can speak Mandarin fluently, but having subtitles enables people to improve their literacy. Subtitles are almost always standard and embedded into the programming, meaning you can’t remove them unless you’re watching from a DVD. For those who are learning Chinese as a second language, immersion through watching TV allows learners to listen and read simultaneously, truly a great learning tool.