Submitted by spwf t3_ygyxt9 in television
apple_kicks t1_iucacwc wrote
This article from a while back might reveal more. Plus heard translators of manga say it’s different styles per translator and no such thing as word to word perfect with different grammar styles in languages and interpretation .
> The dialogue used on closed captions is usually a direct transcript of the dubbing script. Subtitles use another script entirely. These, too, are subject to constraints: the translation has to fit across the screen and correspond to a preset reading speed. But they are often seen as a more accurate translation than the dubbing script. Subtitling legend and film critic Darcy Paquet, who worked on Parasite, tweeted: “I didn’t do the subtitles for Squid Game, but note that for this show there are two sets of English subtitles. There are the “real” English subtitles, and there is the transcription of the dubbed version [closed captions]. Choose the real subtitles!”
> These conversations have been going on in the subtitling world for some time. A dubbing script translation is always going to be less accurate as it faces two challenges. First, it must translate a phrase in such a way that it takes exactly the same amount of time to say out loud in both languages. Second, if there is any opportunity to copy the mouth movements, then you’re supposed to take it. This is why in Squid Game the Korean honorific “oppa” was translated as “old man” in the dubbing script. It’s “babe” in the subtitle script. In fact, in Korean it’s a term of respect meaning “older brother.”
> Deryagin explains how differences between different languages present challenges for him and his peers. “English is considered compact, like Japanese and Chinese. Arabic and Spanish not so much.” These differences have huge ramifications if you are trying to fit a translation into a few words on screen while respecting the viewer’s reading speed. The Scandinavians are the most experienced at all this, he says. “In Scandinavia, they believe in longer subtitles that linger. The reading speed is around 12 characters a second. But in other countries they want shorter subtitles that preserve more of the dialogue but retain the gist.” (If this sounds an impossible task, then that’s pretty much because it is.) Subtitlers are constantly cutting out “filler words” (um, er, you know). With closed captions, the constraints are even greater: “You need the translation to fit the lip movements of the actor. Sometimes you have to take big liberties.”
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