Lost in translation part 2
posted by Glen Stidolph in Humour |
I make no apologies at all for stretching a theme, particularly as I’ve recently watched a version of Helen Mirren’s stellar movie success ‘The Queen’ where the hilarity of the subtitle mistakes warranted the film a second viewing and deserved their own Oscar. If anyone wants a copy please comment!
Companies that look to outsourcing purely on a cost reduction basis….be warned..there is more to outsourcing than meets the uninitiated eye.
London: They are some of the highest grossing movies ever made, but it seems that in a bid to cut costs, moviemakers outsourcing their films to inexperienced and unqualified translators in countries like Malaysia, Taiwan and India are ruining the movie experience for audiences, thanks to all those horrific subtitles.
And, if you think that this is pure exaggeration, well then here’s a look at what audiences have to deal with when movies are lost in translation.
Uma Thurman’s line in ‘My Super Ex-Girlfriend’, “We have a zero-tolerance policy for [sexual harassment]” was translated for Taiwanese audiences as, “We hold the highest standards for sexual harassment”.
In the Spanish DVD of the Tobey Maguire s Seabiscuit, the line “It was a ball to shoot”, which means it was easy, became “It was like filming a dance scene”.
The Taiwanese version had audiences listening to the line “I introduce the ambassador of UN, who raises his voice to represent US citizens”, where as the original version said “I introduce our new ambassador to the UN, and the representative to the world for all US citizens”.
In an English to Danish translation of one film, the line “Jim is a Vietnam vet” became “Jim is veterinarian from Vietnam”.
In another, the line “flying into an asteroid field” was translated as “flying into a steroid field”.
Inexperienced subtitlers translated a television programme’s line “she died in a freak rugby accident” as “she died in a rugby match for people with deformities”.
Deborah Chan, who specialises in Chinese translations for films, said that in a bid to lower cost, moviemakers were giving their films to inexperienced translators, and this was causing both audiences and movie bosses dear.
“There are some ridiculous mistakes. The general public suffers and the film-makers suffer,” the Daily Mail quoted her, as saying.
Brit Kenn Nakata Steffensen, who has subtitled films like British film Sixty Six (from English to Danish) as well as Spirited Away, the Oscar-winning animated film (from Japanese to English), also shared the same feelings as Chan.
“Experienced subtitlers are being replaced by inexperienced and unqualified translators who produce poor work for incredibly low pay,” Steffensen said.
