this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2026
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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 ๅฐ็‰ฉ (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 (ๅ…ฑ็Šฏ่€… or ๅ…ฑ่ฌ€) of a crime (like as in aiding the criminal).

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[โ€“] BCsven@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I didnt think acronyms got translated. Like majority of world knows what the FBI is, even without knowing what the letters represent. Like I know what the KGB is but I have no idea what it stands for.

What I've seen on some translations where the subtitles were German is if a person said OH my God! Rather than ACH de meine gutte! (Or however you'd say it in German) the translator put Jesus!.

In those cases it might get tricky, like the character didn't say that, but maybe it's a colloquial equivalent in some regions that expresses the same astonishment.

[โ€“] LtDan@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

In Jap, they replace that with ไฝ•ใฆใ“ใจ (Oh mein Gott). TV shows are unique since the subtitles temporarily formatted vertically from right to left but legible during opening credits of each episode after the intro in order not to obstruct the text (which isn't possible in German). Like this: