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Wasted Efforts
Fri, 12/19/2008 - 19:01 — Jonathan_Avery
So, my wife is a big Dr. Who fan. I'm not a fan of the show, although I have found some episodes interesting. She has mainly been watching the more recent shows, I'm not sure what doctor's or seasons they are, but the most recent ones.
Well she has watched all those and decided to download some of the older shows. She watches on them computer and I rarel pay attention to them, except yesterday I went over and glanced over her shoulder and just lost all brain function.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Dr. Who," she shrugged after taking off her headphones and glaring at me for interrupting her.
"Is is it in Spanish or something?" I asked
"No."
"Then why the hell are their subtitles on it?"
She looked at the screen and then at me. "I have no idea."
"It is English, right?"
"Yes."
"Not some weird accent that sounds like a 4 year old with marbles in his mouth?"
"Nope, normal BBC English. Good quality, too."
And I stared at her and stared at her, and she rolled her eyes, which probably meant I was looking at her like she was crazy. I mean why would anyone ever subtitle an English program into English?
"Don't look at me. I was subbed when I downloaded it."
I just shook my head and walked away before stopping and turning back. "Are the subtitles at least the same as the dialogue?"
"Not really. They mostly follow what is being said."
"So someone took the time to subtitle an English program into English, and got it wrong?"
"I'd go with mostly right."
"Mostly right?"
At that point I gave up and returned to my computer and wondered about the idiot or team of idiots out there who would waste their time like that and then not even get it right. All I can say is that the world is full of insane people, and I'm probably one of them.
-Jonathan
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Comments
Subtitles
English subtitles for an English program would be for those that are hard of hearing, and they rarely follow the script exactly.
Yes, but that is Closed
Yes, but that is Closed Captioning and is an on and off feature. This was hardsubbed into a video file after recording and made no mention anywhere of it being subbed or closed captioned. And the subtitles were actually trying to, well, translate English slang and terminology. And failing.
I also understand that some programs have English subtitles on English for foreign students learning the language.
All around, this was just odd.
- A good novel is an indivisible sum; every scene, sequence and passage of a good novel has to involve, contribute to and advance all three of its major attributes: theme, plot, characterization.
Ayn Rand - The Romantic Manifesto p. 74 (pb 93)
I would hazard a guess...
...that this would be "English for the hard of hearing". I could be very wrong, but I do often have trouble figuring out what the difference between that and just plain "English" would be. There does seem to be a fair it of paraphrasing goes on.
As for "failed effort", I would guess that quite a bit of the problem lies in how fast some people speak compared with how fast it's possible to jam the words up on the screen while keeping them legible.
The question of sub-titles on videos is a contentious matter these days across the Internet. There are various "accessibility standards" which say they should be there, but precious little agreement as to how to get them into place, and how to arrange that people can gain access to those subtitles they want...and indeed switch them on and off as they wish.
Outside of the UK I don't
Outside of the UK I don't think that Dr Who is available for legal download so anything available is suspect :) I think sometimes stuff is subbed becvause people outside the UK can have problems with regional accents.
Anyway, the Christmas special is eagerly awaited at Parakletos Towers.
Subbing
Like your wife, I'm a Dr. Who fan although I watch it only on TV as my computer download speeds are too slow for video. Unlike a lot of North American fans, I grew up hearing a British accent (Midlands that is ) and therefore I'm somewhat used to it. But when you have fast back and forth dialogue set in an action scene against a background of battle sounds and music, even an ear used to the Brit accent can miss bits of dialogue so I can see why there's subbing on the online episodes. There's times I wish that I had them on my TV! One of my discussions with a friend and fellow fan after the last episode run here in Canada was, "What did they say when...?"
And as for the subbing not being exactly what is being said on screen, that seems to be something that shows up in many places. After years on watching subtitles for Opera performances, I can only conclude that the translater/subber is doing an approximation of the dialogue in order to give the viewer/reader a good idea of the dialogue with out having to take their eyes away from the on-screen action for too long. Either that, or they don't read the script themselves LOL
I have noticed that even
I have noticed that even when watching German stuff. I'll get quite annoyed by the 'inaccurate' subtitles! Sure it will essentially say the same message etc but I'll be spluttering over the fact that they said five more words than was listed in English.
not matching is normal
Even in multi-million dollar movies, the subtitles normally don't match what's said exactly. I suspect that because the subtitles were written off the script and the spoken words were either ad-libbed or the director changed them at the time of shooting. I regularly turn subtitles on for movies because I can't turn the volume up very loud on the TV because the kids are sleeping, so I like the option of having them there.
Kevin