> I don't know if this extension foxes it, but I've found learning language through Netflix difficult as the subtitles and dialog don't match, neither for dubbing or original.
100 000 times this. I don't understand why it's like that but they simply often don't match. And it's not some automated translation that went wrong: it's as if the subtitles didn't match exactly the final "script". They don't match but the subtitles are still totally correct. Sometimes the sentences are formulated differently.
It's honestly both a mystery and a gigantic WTF for me. Are these only meant for deaf people? And how did they manage to get "correct but non-matching" subtitles?
They typically hire two different companies to do the translations, and the translations are optimized for different goals. Subtitles are just meant to be easy to read. With dubs they try to make what's being said at least vaguely line up with what the actors' lips are doing in an effort to avoid the infamous "1970s kung fu movie" effect.
Plus, dubbing is sorta kinda trying to match the length of time actors need to say stuff. You cant have sound going while actors mouth are not moving at all. Nor the opposite - translation is done and actors mouth is still moving. And so those movements can not look completely odd. Written subtitles has no such limitations, resulting in different translation.
Call me strange, I actually like the effect. I feel that parallel translations can provide a richer context of what's being said than a single translation. For example, idiomatic phrases are frequently split where the text will provide the meaning of the idiom and the speech will transliterate the words. The cultural exposure feels richer to me.
Interesting. I watch everything with English subtitles/cc and get irritated when the subtitles/cc don't match what is being said. But maybe - as you said - I am a minority.
If I had to guess, it just does not exists in subtitle form, no one ever added time information to the translation. Otherwise you had it in subtitles options with cc.
Some shows have two versions of subtitles available - one with cc other without. Likely, majority of consumers are not learning language specifically and are just watching the show and normal subtitles are superior in that case.
I always assumed the opposite: the translated subtitles reflect exactly what the script says, while the actor may have remembered an approximation of the exact line, which is normally good enough not to bother with another take.
I would assume it’s the same as book translations, the point isn’t to translate it directly but in a way that makes sense in the target language. Although maybe a lot of subtitles for lesser TV and movies don’t have a lot of human input and the handler just goes with the softwares suggestion a lot of the time.
Exactly. Japanese translations to English almost never match sentence-by-sentence, but then again a direct translation wouldn't be what an English-speaking person would say anyway.
They translate it idiomatically (which means sometimes completely different sentences) and are constrained by length. The might also start from a voice translation that tries to match the lips.
100 000 times this. I don't understand why it's like that but they simply often don't match. And it's not some automated translation that went wrong: it's as if the subtitles didn't match exactly the final "script". They don't match but the subtitles are still totally correct. Sometimes the sentences are formulated differently.
It's honestly both a mystery and a gigantic WTF for me. Are these only meant for deaf people? And how did they manage to get "correct but non-matching" subtitles?