When Hollywood Goes Global

Bloopers


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The Art of Subtitles

Many people in other parts of the globe base their views of American life on what they see in the movies. The dialogue for American movies is translated into many other languages. What can go wrong in the translation? How can non-English speaking audiences around the world understand the latest adventures of the nutty professor or Erin Brockovich?

Before a movie is released in countries where English is not the official language, the dialogue must be translated. One frequently used method is subtitles. The original dialogue soundtrack is left in place and the translation is printed along the bottom of the film. The translator of subtitles faces a unique challenge that few other translators deal with: The original words are presented simultaneously with the translation. Anyone who understands both languages can immediately spot any translation mistakes.

Vivian Vitler is a veteran translator of English and Spanish movies and television shows for Israeli audiences. She says that the challenge of having the original dialogue alongside her translation forces her to check and recheck her work to ensure accuracy. She relies on an array of specialized dictionaries (including ones that cover slang, visual definitions, and technical terms), extensive research on the Web, and consultation with specialists in order to catch as many of the unfamiliar phrases and specific references as possible.

Vitler gives the example of a mistranslation by one of her colleagues: The dialogue said that someone was so crazy he wanted "to build a Greyhound depot on the highway." The translator relied on a dictionary instead of consulting with someone who could provide the fact that Greyhound is the name of an American bus company. So, of course, the subtitle changed the intent: "He is so crazy that he wants to build a dog-racing track on the highway." Subtitles give the translator the option of explaining puns and jokes, if this can be done in a word or two. For example, Vitler recently translated a movie in which a young boy claimed that he was a pacifist so he would "pass-on-fist."

Obviously no translation is going to express this play on the sound of words. But with subtitles, the translator can add a brief explanation in parentheses, to help the audience get the full intent of the original dialogue. The Bloopers When Americans watch a subtitled Hollywood comedy in a European cinema, they often laugh at points in the film where no one from the native audience laughs. Sometimes the European's lack of laughter is due to cultural differences in perception of what is funny. In other cases it is because the translator has failed to translate the joke. In a handful of cases, the Americans' laughter is caused by the translation itself. Consider a simple word like "call." Webster's dictionary gives 15 definitions for the noun alone.

Here are two actual mistranslations from movie and TV subtitles :
A priest explains, "That's when I got my call from God."
The subtitle reads: "That's when God telephoned me."

A general has to decide whether or not to bomb an urban target, and he says, "It's a tough call." The subtitle reads: "It's hard to make a phone call."

In both cases, the translator didn't consider the various meanings of the word call.

Subtitles vs. Dubbing

There are two possible methods for providing the translation of a movie's dialogue: subtitles, where the original dialogue soundtrack is left in place and the translation is printed along the bottom of the film dubbing , where the dialogue soundtrack is replaced with one recorded in the viewing country's language by local actors.Each method has advantages and disadvantages. Subtitles enable audiences to hear the original soundtrack the way the original actors and the director intended. Subtitles also let people with some English vocabulary listen to the original, while aiding them when they need help understanding a specific phrase.

Subtitles:

Subtitles are limited by space and time. There is only room for a limited number of characters across the bottom of the film. The translator must break the translation into logical lines that fit into this space constraint. Also, each subtitle needs to display for two to six seconds to enable the audience to read it. If the dialogue is flowing quickly, the audience members may feel that they are "missing out on something," because obviously more is being said than they are being given to read.


Dubbing :

The advantage of dubbing is that it frees the audience up from the need to read, enabling viewers to enjoy the visual side of the film more fully. Dubbing is free of space limitations, so the translator is able to include more of the dialogue. However, there are still time constraints: The dubbed dialogue must take the same amount of time to speak as the original dialogue. It is unsettling for the viewer to watch one person's lips moving while another person's voice is speaking. Dubbing is necessary for nonreading audiences, such as preschoolers, who are incapable of reading subtitles.

For this reason, Disney movies are usually dubbed, including the songs. Have you ever seen a movie with subtitles or a dubbed soundtrack?

Did you enjoy the experience?

What did you dislike about the experience?

If you are going to a foreign-language film and have the choice between subtitles and dubbing , which would you prefer?

Why?