foreign subtitles - my new hobby

[sashh]

For anyone needing something to do in lockdown, I accidentally came across 'the young ones' on youtube, but not any old recording, this has Dutch subtitles.

So far so boring, but watching the subtitles has become a source of fun.

My favorite so far is the translation of, "hate mail" as "voodoo post".

I now I need to get out more, but I can't. Anyone else come across some interesting translations?

Not foreign ones, but the live subtitling on news programmes (where they are obviously struggling to keep up) can sometimes be hilarious!

That's my job Witches

live sub titling can indeed be hilarious
is that what you do for a living @WellThankyouAJPTaylor , wow

Plenty of interesting translations from French to English- I watch a lot of France cinema. Translation of 'merde' varies a lot!

That sounds like a really interesting job, AJP - though typing at 90 miles an hour must be exhausting!

live sub titling can indeed be hilarious

Yes, it can be. My favourite (and no, it wasn't me!) was the live sub that had a politician declaring that Batman must never be prime minister - was supposed to say "that man"!

Batman must never be prime minister

Personally I think Batman would make an excellent prime minister.

I do this for a living (foreign language translation and subtitling) for Netflix, Disney and cinema.

There are phenomenal translations out there and some real hack jobs.

I would love to know how you get into subtitling as a job!

Sometimes almost all the professionals I know have masters/degrees in Linguistics or Translation Studies.

Vendors like Netflix, Disney or Deluxe usually require native speakers of the target language. They also have tests.

Live subtitling can be machine(thus Batman!) or human generated.

Live subtitling in a newsroom is pretty stressful, for example.
But not as stressful as interpreting - I'm pretty sure that blows a few million brain cells per second.

I'm a fan of 'My Kitchen Rules' - the NZ version had some subtitles that were totally wrong.

Also some regional accents / dialect can be interesting.

Sometimes almost all the professionals I know have masters/degrees in Linguistics or Translation Studies.
Thanks! I have a Master's in Linguistics so there is hope! Off to investigate...

I’ve noticed that Icelandic uses ‘fuck’ - no need to translate!
That is according to The Valhalla Murders (BBC4).

But not as stressful as interpreting - I'm pretty sure that blows a few million brain cells per second.

The BSL interpreters used at the Scottish covid briefings have been fantastic.

The ones in England not as good, this could be because they are not physically in the room (no chance to discuss things with speaker / see script) or because Boris is a nightmare to interpret.

sassh simultaneous interpreting is such a difficult job.

I worked in that capacity with some governmental bodies and never had previous knowledge of their speeches/comments. To be fair, we usually worked in pairs and took regular breaks every 10 minutes or so.

I also did full days of consecutive interpreting during bilaterals trade agreements and once told the Scottish official that his Brazilian counterpart commented on his "potato-like qualities"

I'm hooked on Walter Presents on All4. I love it when the character babbles away and the subtitle says - OK.
The French 'On the Lake' series is excellent.

@sashh
I know, I have done it,

With BSL there are so many English phrases that just don't translate, a friend interpreted a lecture and the lecturer said something along the ones of, "don't just repeat this parrot fashion", my friend interpreted it as something like "don't copy and not understand, learn".

When the student got the notes from the note taker she was upset my friend had not told her about the parrot.

There are cultural norms too (as with any language) rg 'positive' is only used for, well positive / good things, so if you interpreting, "you are HIV +ve" it should be "HIV have"