History Main / SoundingItOut

* When cartoons that was originally pantomime (''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'', ''WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther'') are imported to other countries, it's common for them to actually give these characters VOICES for the sole purpose of having someone read the English signs in another language. Another variant is having a narrator read it. In one particular ''Tom and Jerry'' short, a disgruntled mouse-hunter paints over the "MOUSE" part of his sign and replaces it with another word. Tom decides to [[SuddenlyVoiced spell it out]] for us: "C... A... T. Cat."

* A lot of kids' cartoons do this to benefit those that can't read yet. In fact, when ''WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker'' cartoons started airing on TV they often dubbed in Woody reading signs because of this.

-> '''Dr. Scott:''' But he must have been drawn into something / Making him warn me in a note which read:

->''"Reading ancient books silently in your head can be a great way to learn about monsters and how you might potentially defeat them. Reading them aloud is a good way to call down the end of the world."''
-->-- Tip #16, ''[[http://monsterlibrarian.com/horrorsurvive.htm Horror Survival Guide]]''[[note]]Also touching on the UnspokenPlanGuarantee.[[/note]]

* Alot of kids cartoons do this to benefit those that can't read yet. In fact, when ''WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker'' cartoons started airing on TV they often dubbed in Woody reading signs because of this.

[[folder:Films]]

* In ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'', there is a weird halfway version. When Harry writes in Riddle's diary, he sounds out his words as he writes them. (If Harry does that whenever he does writing, it must be very annoying to work on homework with him.) At the same time, Harry doesn't read Riddle's responses aloud. Instead, the camera just zooms in on what Riddle wrote.

* [[FridgeLogic Unexplainable]] example from the dubbing variety: the opening scene of ''Film/IndependenceDay'' is set on the Moon, where a large shadow (the alien ship) comes over the Sea of Tranquility, which features a plaque left there by the Apollo 11. In the Brazilian dubbing, the plaque's text is read in Portuguese by an in-character voice-over. And the aliens in that movie don't have oral means of communications, and they wouldn't know the Earth languages....
** The Brazilian distributors may have simply found it an easier way to translate what was on the plaque.
* Averted in the [[LordOfTheRings Fellowship of the Ring]]. As Gandalf reads about Isildur taking the ring, Gandalf is heard as a voiceover.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* In an episode of ''{{Series/Eureka}}'', Jo read something off her computer aloud, although there was no one else in the building.

* Happens in ''{{Series/Smallville}}'' almost every time Clark or Chloe read something that isn't shown on screen.
* ''Series/WakingTheDead'', "Wren Boys".

* When cartoons that was originally pantomime (''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'', ''WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther'') are imported to other countries its common for them to actually give these characters VOICES for the sole purpose of having someone read the English signs in another language. Another variant is having a narrator read it.
** In one particular ''Tom and Jerry'' short, a disgruntled mouse-hunter paints over the "MOUSE" part of his sign and replaces it with another word. Tom decides to [[SuddenlyVoiced spell it out]] for us: "C... A... T. Cat."

* In the episode ''Read it and Weep'' of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Rainbow Dash reads her book out loud, even though the only other person in the room is unconscious and probably not interested in the story anyway. This might be [[FridgeBrilliance because]] [[DumbJock she's not read much before]], [[JustifiedTrope so she's doing it to sound out the words]]/doing it unconsciously.

* The same was the case in monastic institutes in Medieval Europe. It was considered dangerous, and even sinful to read alone, as it could lead to producing ideas that are out of mainstream. Thus, the reading sessions were always group-affairs, and presumably documents were copied through dictation, rather than at the copiers' own pace.
** Copying through dictation is easier, as you don't have to constantly move your eyes between the book you're copying from and the book you're writing.
** Saint Ambrose is reported to have stunned people with his ability to read and understand anything without even having to move his lips.

* Subverted at the beginning of ''TheLeagueOfGentlemen'', episode 1, where [[spoiler:the voiceover speaking the text of a letter turns out to be the woman sitting next to Benjamin on the train]].

-->-- Tip #16, ''[[http://monsterlibrarian.com/horrorsurvive.htm Horror Survival Guide]]''

The main way to [[AvertedTrope avert this trope]] is to have a voiceover of the writer instead (see VoiceoverLetter). Can be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] if you have them reading to another character whilst they continue searching the room or what have you. With electronic messages it might be averted via PopUpTexting.

And of course, a popular [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] is to have somebody standing just out of shot reading the note aloud.

* Every time Professor Layton (of [[ProfessorLayton the game series of the same name]]) gets a letter, he hands it to Luke and asks him to read it to him.

* ''WakingTheDead'', "Wren Boys".

* Played only slightly less straight in ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', when several characters receive written notes from the Phantom and read them out ''to each other'', introduced by dialogue to the effect of "How dare you send me this?" "Send you what?" "[reads out note]" The last note does fade into a voiceover from the Phantom, however.

* In ''EternalDarkness'', at the beginning of the second flashback, that level's character is (somewhat dramatically) reading a book about the defeat of Mantorak aloud. After about thirty seconds, the scene fades into a separate flashback of the event, with the understanding that this is what she's seeing in her head.

* ''HotelMario's'' opening scene. "[[MemeticMutation Dear pesky plumbers...]]"

* ''BrokenSaints'' features a lot of InnerMonologue, but some it is spoken aloud every now and then, even when said character is alone.

* Played with in ''Theatre/{{Nunsense}}'': During the skit where three nuns try and sell their cookbook, they read it aloud for the audience's benefit as there is no fourth wall, and they know that the audience is there. However, one of the nuns, Sister Amnesia, is a little on the slow side and has to be prodded into reading her recipe out loud.

* In ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' when [[spoiler: General Nortier forces Franz Depinay to read aloud the true account of his father's death, previously believed to be a suicide]]

* Always subverted in ''SheepInTheBigCity'': whenever Sheep looks at a sign or something, we hear an old man's voice reading it -- cue panning over to the old man who would then say, "I like to read."

* Alot of kids cartoons do this to benefit those that can't read yet. In fact, when ''WoodyWoodpecker'' cartoons started airing on TV they often dubbed in Woody reading signs because of this.
* When cartoons that was originally pantomime (''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'', ''PinkPanther'') are imported to other countries its common for them to actually give these characters VOICES for the sole purpose of having someone read the English signs in another language. Another variant is having a narrator read it.

* The necessary defining character moment of any episode of ''InspectorGadget''. He constantly reads his otherwise secret assignment letter aloud, including the clause where [[ThisPageWillSelfDestruct the message will self-destruct]], then carelessly tosses it and it accidentally lands near or on the Chief just prior to exploding.

* Film/JumpinJackFlash does this to an extreme, due to the amount of online chatting Jerri does with Jack -- she even says what ''she's'' typing, so we don't have to keep the camera on that, either. Becomes half-VoiceoverLetter after Jerri hears Jack's voice, we then hear his voice when he types (as she imagines it).

----

Related to ICantUseTheseThingsTogether in that both exist because of the RuleOfPerception. Not to be confused with TalkingToHimself or TalkingToThemself. Compare RepeatingSoTheAudienceCanHear for this trope applied to phone conversations.

Related to ICantUseTheseThingsTogether in that both exist because of the RuleOfPerception. Not to be confused with TalkingToHimself or TalkingToThemself.

->''"16. Reading ancient books silently in your head can be a great way to learn about monsters and how you might potentially defeat them. Reading them aloud is a good way to call down the end of the world."''
--> -- ''[[http://monsterlibrarian.com/horrorsurvive.htm Horror Survival Guide]]''

* JumpinJackFlash does this to an extreme, due to the amount of online chatting Jerri does with Jack -- she even says what ''she's'' typing, so we don't have to keep the camera on that, either. Becomes half-VoiceoverLetter after Jerri hears Jack's voice, we then hear his voice when he types (as she imagines it).

* In ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', the Marauder's Map insults Snape when he tries to use it (after taking it from Harry). No problem in the book, but in the film, they had [[JustifiedTrope Snape tell Harry]] to read it aloud, like a teacher catching a student passing a note in class.

* In an episode of ''{{Eureka}}'', Jo read something off her computer aloud, although there was no one else in the building.

* Happens in ''{{Smallville}}'' almost every time Clark or Chloe read something that isn't shown on screen.

The main way to [[AvertedTrope avert this trope]] is to have a voiceover of the writer instead (see VoiceoverLetter). Can be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] if you have them reading to another character whilst they continue searching the room or what have you.

!!Examples

** The second film has a weird halfway version. When Harry writes in Riddle's diary, he sounds out his words as he writes them. (If Harry does that whenever he does writing, it must be very annoying to work on homework with him.) At the same time, Harry doesn't read Riddle's responses aloud. Instead, the camera just zooms in on what Riddle wrote.

* In ShriekIfIKnowWhatYouDidLastFridayThe13th, one character literally has to sound out the death threat the killer left him (he's an illiterate drunk). IIRC, he gives up when he gets the word "Chanukkah"

This is very common in dubbing, where any form of writing which is merely shown in the original version is spelled out in the dubbed version. Sometimes, they use one of the character's dubbed voices.