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If you speak another language besides ENG, are the subtitles terrible? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by LtDan@lemmy.zip to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I'm mainly talking about watching a TV show or movie that's originally in English enabling subtitles that's either in Spanish, German, Russian, Finnish, etc. and can mistakes in translation still occur? I recall watching Lie to Me with Japanese subtitles during a scene involving an interrogation but a key word within the dialog was not translated correctly based on context.

For example, the protagonist said "You're an accessory for murder" towards the suspect but subtitles used the wrong word choice 小物 (which means "accessories" as in small goods, i.e. stationery or trinkets) when the intended meaning for "accessory" from that context leans more on being a conspirator (共犯者 or 共謀) of a crime (like as in aiding the criminal).

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[–] VonReposti@feddit.dk 3 points 1 day ago

I hate Danish subtitles on English content. Not because they're inherently bad but because it is extremely distracting. English on English is fine but only if it is word for word what they say, otherwise I turn it off and just pay more attention.

Thing is, jokes cannot be translated easily, meanings change, and so on. That makes it so that the translated version isn't carrying the same punch as the original. And I simply don't have the mental capacity to read Danish and listen to English simultaneously (or ignore the subtitles).

And it's like that in reverse too. I've been showing some Danish movies to a foreigner, obviously she needed English subs, which proved to be hard to cancel out for me.