Pitfalls and bloopers
Update October 2007: English, a very tricky language
Recent Dutch subtitling mistakes in English/American television shows, films and documentaries.
You can have fun with these blunders, but subtitlers and translators can also profit by studying them. They will learn to be on their guard against these disastrously funny mistakes. One wonders about the pressure subtitlers sometimes work under, lowpaid and with deadlines... A very insensible international development illustrating the penny-wise and pound-foolish side of human nature.
A blunder that can compete with the famous 'telephone call' in the Onedin Line: in a television series, Lincoln was assassinated during the American Civil War, 'while he was watching a show'. In the subtitle this had become, 'while he was watching tv'.
In a subtitle the spoken 'They sicked the dog on me' became something like 'they caused the dog to be nauseated by me'. Of course, they send the dog at him.
In a subtitle where a man is sitting in a car someone said, 'he cracked the window', meaning he opened it just a little bit. According to the subtitler, the man smashed the window.
In an episode of Dr. Phil, a man tells about the contact of his son with a pedophile via the internet. The pedophile tells all kinds of tales and the man says, 'he bought it hook line and sinker', which of course means that the boy believed it all. But the subtitler was on another track, according to him the boy had 'bought fishing gear'.
A viewer mailed us that he had seen 'chop-chop' (hurry up) translated in a subtitle as 'hack hack'.
'Pans of hot grease' became in a subtitle 'pants full of hot grease' (Gilmore Girls).
'I'm gonna have my hair cut. If I'm late, Kenneth gives me bangs' became '...Kenneth beats me up' (Thirtysomething).
'Remember the Donner Party?' became 'Remember that party at the Donner's?', while of course the Donner Party was this group of pioneers that resorted to cannibalism to survive.
'They're still getting antibodies from the mother'
became, 'They're still getting antibiotics from the mother' (Animal Planet).
'His family lives and breathes horses', meaning horses were central in their lives,
became, 'They also breed horses'
(Animal Planet).
'I'll kick that door in if you give me a little sugar', meaning he would kick the door in for a kiss, became, '...for a cup of sugar' (Friends).
'Bring him to the station' was the spoken text in a police-situation, so the subtitler was not amused when he was told that he mistakenly had subtitled, 'train station'.
In the film The Queen, says
Tony Blair after the death of princess Diana to the Queen, 'give my condolences to the princes', the bereaved sons, but the subtitler translated, 'to the princess', who was dead.
'The suit was custom-made' became in the subtitle, 'The suit was made by Mr Custom'.
Someone in a film, looking and pointing at the ceiling, says, 'See these doors?' And the subtitler forgot that 'doors' in ceilings have another word in Dutch ('luiken') and translated with 'doors' which in Dutch are the things you can only walk through not climb through.
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What happens when you translate literally
English is an idiomatic language. While translating from English into other languages translators and subtitlers have to be on their guard. A few sad/funny examples that can serve as useful reminders:
Static...
On the dvd Alive, about the plane crash of the Uruguayan rugby team in the Andes mountains, a Touchstone Pictures production, one of the survivors finds a transistor radio, keeps it to his ear, and cries out: 'I hear static.' In the very poor Dutch subtitling, this became: 'I hear static electricity.'
Where does this come from? - This was translated literally in a Dutch subtitle while there was nothing coming from anywhere. The person who said it was just annoyed at the outburst of another character. The subtitle should have been the Dutch idiomatic equivalent of 'Why do you suddenly react this way?'
You can't pull this off. - No sock or other garments were to be taken off, in spite of the literal translation. The translation should have been the idiomatic equivalent in the target language of 'You will never be able to do this.'
Are you getting cold feet? - Feet didn't play any role in the scene.
I'm speaking from experience here. - The literal meaning of 'here' was neither here nor there.
What are you looking at? - The literal translation ignored the anger and the tone of 'What do you want?'
My kid brother' - In the many cases there's not a 'little' brother in sight. Often it's said about a younger brother, who can be quite big. So it can be a little joke.
We've done it - the literal translation eliminated the jubilant feeling of accomplishment.
baseball - was and is often mistaken for 'basketball', maybe under the pressure of a looming deadline.
welcoming party - it clearly wasn't a party with drinks or dancing.
dog fight - there were no dogs fighting high in the air, but fighter pilots, obviously.
he hit on me - it wasn't an attack, in translating not all is fair.
Did you pack a gun? - this has been 'translated' as if a gun was put into a suitcase.
kids - often mistakenly translated as 'children', but of course kids are often older.
bathroom - often 'toilet' ( in US and Canada).
he's not such a bad fellow after all - 'after all' hardly ever is meant literally.
I thought you liked me.
-I do.
In other languages than English this 'I do.' cannot be just copied. In Dutch for instance you'll have to say something like 'But I like you'.
It's just - often translated literally, making it absolutely meaningless. An equivalent in the target language is a must.
What happened? - when someone is telling a story and at an exciting point the listener says, 'What happened?', the translation often is word-for-word, which makes it seem as though the speaker hasn't listened at all.
act of God - not literally but so to speak.
The pitcher struck out all. - he didn't hit them, he just threw the batters out with three strikes.
beast of prey - isn't the victim but the eater.
friend - often is female, which should show in other languages than English.
Thank you for seeing me - meant (not literally) 'thank you for not ignoring me'.
You're a son of your father - this doesn't look like an expression, but it is. Literal translation is a shame.
lip, 'don't give me your lip' - wasn't said by someone who didn't want to be kissed but by someone who was angry because of the other's offensive tone.
morning coat - to go out in, not a dressing gown.
sea dog - not an animal but a man who is a real sailor.
sleeping policeman - not an undercover agent nor a lazy policeman, but a speed bump.
sponger - not a window-cleaner, but a scrounger.
speechless - also euphemism for being drunk.
son of a b itch - often just an exclamation of surprise.
the police are - subtitlers often forget that 'police' is plural in English but singular in the target language. When referred to later, they mistakenly use the plural.
let me spell this out for you - this hardly ever means something is going to be spelled as in s-p-e-l-l-e-d.
AmbiguityA lot of words and phrases in English can have more than meaning, the one often totally different from the other. A few examples that often lead to mistakes:
provisions - food. The literal translation of this word into 'provisie' on Dutch television suggested poor Pierce Brosnan as Robinson Crusoe was talking about 'commission' instead of the food he had on his island.
address - can be where someone lives, but also a speech.
Dutch - when it concerns Dutch Pennsylvanians, they're not Dutch but German.
There is nothing to it - does this mean 'it's boring' or 'it's easy'?
cinema - can mean a particular cinema, but also the world of the cinema.
estate - means property, big house, but also an inheritance.
factory - can be a police station in Britain (J. Green, Contemporary Slang).
fabric - not only construction or building, also textile.
The extreme stuff
In extreme circumstances, under pressure of a deadline or while working out complex subtitling problems, extreme bloopers can occur. While they provide some fun for colleagues, they are also very useful. Studying them will make you much more alert to the dangers one runs when subtitling.
Wish him many happy returns for me. - This was translated in the subtitling with, 'Wish him many more reincarnations.'
after all he put you through - this was said to someone who had been given a hard time by her boyfriend. Still the subtitle read, 'after all, he connected you/put you through (by telephone)'.
Rest easy. - a soldier was shot dead, another soldier closes his eyes and says, 'Rest easy.' The Dutch subtitle said: 'Take a nice little break.'
A famous anachronism. In the Dutch subtitles of The Onedin Line one of the saddest/funniest mistakes ever was made. The series is situated in the pre-steamship era, a time when Alexander Graham Bell hadn't been born yet. From a sailing ship a character surrounded by old rope, old sails and old wood, shouts to the shore, 'I'll call you.' The subtitler, maybe focused on different things entirely, maybe under time pressure, translated: 'I'll phone you.'
Axe-murderer - without a script, a subtitler translated, 'ex-murderer'. In this case one might say, Wait a minute, once a murderer, always a murderer, right? So something's not right here.
in the direction of the sound - again, without a script subtitlers have to be extra on their guard for colossal mistakes: here the subtitles contained a mysterious kind of noise in the direction of which people in a helicopter flew. Unfortunately the scene was near Plymouth where there's the sea arm the Sound.
Roger Evans, your cousin three times removed - the translated text in the subtitle in Sister Sister was, 'Roger Evans, your cousin, who has already moved three times.'
Sometimes he didn't know which bar we were in. - Chet Baker was a great trumpet player but not a genius in musical theory, still the subtitler mistook the musical 'bar' for a café and translated, 'Sometimes he didn't know which café we were in.'
No one likes to eat pea soup at five. - this could have been theoretically '5 o'clock', but of course it had to be 'at the age of 5'.
read someone's rights - can and has been interpreted (possibly without a good script) as 'read his rites'; instead of being arrested someone was administered the last sacrament.
After the death of his family... (about a nine-year-old boy) - This has incredibly been translated as if the boy had a wife and children, while of course 'family' ofthen means 'parents'.
send me a carbon copy - this again incredibly was translated as 'send me a copy of coal'.
they mate for life (about swans which stick together their whole life) - this is continually wrongly translated in subtitles, usually implying vehement or continuous copulating, which forms a comic contrast with the almost conventional nature of swans (and other wrongly treated birds).
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