Motherland Netflix Subtitles

[LadyChamberlain]

My niece and I have been watching Motherland on Netflix recently with subtitles as she is partially deaf.

I'm irrationally irked by the fact that whenever anyone says "Mum" the subtitle says "Mom".

At one point Julia clearly says "arse" and yet it's changed on the subtitles to "ass".

I understand that Netflix is an American company but surely to God Americans can understand such obvious differences in how we speak and don't need it translating.

“Mom” is the norm in some parts of the UK though.

Is it that significant to take the Time out of your day to write a whole thread about 😳

But surely it's pronounced mom like in US and not mum?

Ha, no it probably isn't to be fair! Thanks for reminding me not to bother attempting chat on the chat thread 😀

🤣 😬

And yet you took the time to reply...

You realise it's the "chat" board, right? Most of what would constitute chatting in real life is also of no real significance but I'd be surprised if you take precious time out of your day to challenge anyone who says anything of no great consequence as part of day to day conversation. Being on the Internet isn't an open invitation to be snarky for no reason.

Not in London, which is where Motherland is set!

YANBU OP - the dialect used in the subtitled should be the same as used in the programme. Which is mainly a MC London dialect, except for Liz, who's northern.

Maybe but that's not what the characters say, it would be a very random to have changed it for that reason

Some American programmes on Channel 4 the subtitles will be in 'English'.
I've seen Bart and Lisa call Marge "Mum" on many occasions on The Simpsons.
In the big scheme of things....does it matter.
At least the subtitles are there.

Maybe when they say "Hello" to each other, the subtitles could say "Eh up" or "How do" instead, because they say those things elsewhere in the UK?😂

Yeah it's patronising to both sides, like British English needs correcting, and like American English speakers are too thick to be able to infer from context what "arse" means. Any American who's choosing to watch a British show is choosing to contend with a whole lot more linguistic and cultural differences than mum vs mom. And besides which, American English varies so much that it's not like Americans aren't familiar with the concept of different people speaking differently. The Americans I know don't like it when things like that are changed. It's probably just because "mum" and "arse" aren't in the dictionary being used for the subtitling, though.

I saw objections about the localisation of the early Harry Potter books, pointing out that too much localisation (like translating car park to parking lot, or cinema to movies) can spoil the flavour of a foreign media product, though to be fair I think children's books should have the standard spelling and grammar of the region in which they're published, and changing confusing things like "jumper" (which means a different item of clothing there) makes sense for a kids' book.

It's also mildly objectionable from the POV of providing equal access to deaf viewers. Subtitles should give an accurate representation of what's being said — for example, if the words being spoken contain unbleeped swearing, the subtitles should be uncensored too. It's a fairly basic principle of doing subtitles.

Have you got it set to English USA subtitles? I think there is USA subs and Uk subs? I could be wrong!

Well I appreciate you think my time is precious toastfiend xx

This is what I'm thinking too. I watched Motherland recently on Netflix with subtitles and I don't remember any Americanisms.

I often have subtitles on for thick accents as I'm ND and find it easier to understand what is being said. I've noticed so many times they don't write word for word what has been said and they shorten the sentence. Example "James took the cat to the vets, the vet said the cat needed an injection" will be wrote out as "James took the cat to the vet for an injection"