69

JUST TYPE THE WORDS

Who do subtitlers think subtitles are even FOR? People who can hear what the characters are saying?

absolute-cinema go-ahead

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[-] hellinkilla@hexbear.net 27 points 1 week ago

Worse "FOREIGN LANGUAGE"

Sometimes when the language is in the title of the work, like a country or nationality.

[-] ggtdbz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 week ago

Oh there’s even worse. Post-9/11 media has only a small selection of villains, so the most iconic ones for me are like this:

“SPEAKS ARABIC” when they’re not speaking Arabic

"يتكلموا بالعربية” when they’re not speaking Arabic and the subtitles are in Arabic. Could you guess what that translates to?

[-] segfault11@hexbear.net 19 points 1 week ago

translators note: buenos means “good”

[-] TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net 5 points 1 week ago

Translator's note: the whole bit from The Hobbit when Gandalf owns Bilbo with facts and logic for saying 'Good Day'

[-] Kefla@hexbear.net 7 points 1 week ago

Tolkien was such a fucking nerd and that's part of what made his prose so delightful

Like of course this thousands-of-years-old angel who is here on a quest to save the world from basically Satan has time to blow smoke rings and go on a linguistics rant about meaningless pleasantries, what, did you expect him to take himself seriously or something?

[-] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 week ago

I loved watching Lost on my computer. Whatever files I downloaded had Sun and Jin’s lines translated to English, then superimposed ON TOP OF THEIR translated lines it said “(SPEAKING KOREAN)” every time they talked.

[-] KuroXppi@hexbear.net 15 points 1 week ago

Spanish speaker: buenos dias

Subtitles beanis dias

[-] pinguinu@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 1 week ago

Judías días a ti también

[-] TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net 4 points 1 week ago

Get that Spaniard shit outta here

[-] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 6 points 1 week ago

Cheesed to meetcha

[-] Lemmygradwontallowme@hexbear.net 14 points 1 week ago

Spoilers for the Thing (1982) to play devil's advocate for a bitUhm, well, tbf, let's say you have the movie the 'Thing', where 2 armed Norwegians in Antarctica tries to warn Americans at their base that the dog, that they're chasing and hunting down, is a monster. If you were Norwegian, you would understand the message, however, for the sake of non-spoilers, some subtitlers don't translate his message.

Other than one thing, generally I agree.

[-] naom3@hexbear.net 20 points 1 week ago

True, but having the subtitles be what the character is saying but untranslated is different from just saying “[speaking norwegian]”

[-] Lemmygradwontallowme@hexbear.net 15 points 1 week ago

I concede my point, then.

[-] Owl@hexbear.net 13 points 1 week ago
[-] CloutAtlas@hexbear.net 13 points 1 week ago

Ah yes, Chinese movie subtitles in the 90's translating "功夫" as "Effort"

[-] TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net 10 points 1 week ago

But how am I, a white American, supposed to know that this character's thoughts and language are nothing but threatening noises to me?

[-] volcel_olive_oil@hexbear.net 8 points 1 week ago

[TYPES REPLY IN ENGLISH]

[-] Le_Wokisme@hexbear.net 10 points 1 week ago

sometimes subtitles are elided because the POV character doesn't understand the dialogue.

a better solution there would be transcribing the spanish.

[-] Chronographs@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 week ago

A transcription is what OP is asking for.

[-] Chana@hexbear.net 9 points 1 week ago

[Speaking in foreign language]

[-] FlakesBongler@hexbear.net 5 points 1 week ago

It's a good thing I know Spanish

Also a little bit of German, but mostly swears and threats

[-] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 4 points 1 week ago

seriously. if they just transcribed it by default for universal subtitles, that would be ideal. from there forward, the user would pick a translation, if desired.

but having the spoken language written would be so much more enriching... even if i had no idea what it said because it was like logograms i don't recognize or whatever. it would be something, at least.... instead of [speaks foreign language].

this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2025
69 points (100.0% liked)

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