It's serious fkn business.
Or sometimes not quite serious enough.
As a translator-to-be I (probably) shouldn't find joy in the errors of others, but sometimes you just got to applaud. I'm not saying I'm a super editor, especially since I've been on break from it for a month, but I like to think that I double-check my work before handing it it, just to make sure the person doing the final quality control doesn't have to weep blood because everything's all wrong. And especially the cases where you have to play around with multiple languages...
Example of this:
My flatmate showed me a page where there was French (original) and English (translation) text.
Readers who don't know French probably don't mind, but mixing up "baby carriage" and "jewelery store" definitely gets an uhhh-reaction from the readers who can read both French and English.
Then there's the times when you read something wrong and end up typing something that fits - maybe - but either sounds real funny or just plain weird.
ゴスロリ [gosurori] = Go slowly
Actually it's supposed to be read to mean goth loli or gothic lolita. And the talk was about a clothes store.
From time to time you see subtitles which are ridiculously hilarious, I can only imagine the translator/typesetter facepalming because there just was no other way to type it. The lines which me and my flatmate have roared to include but are nowhere near limited to:
"I will not let you come inside me!"
This is not the exact wording because I've forgotten what it was, but it's close enough to get you the idea why it's facepalm material. And the real context involved mecha, i.e. entering a machine...
Sometimes you get lines that just make you go "...what?", not because of situations mentioned above, but because they just don't make any sense at all. I'm prone to more or less loyal translating, but word-to-word will just confuse people.
"This place is full of ridicule! But somehow I felt that once debunk I will lose what’s going on?!"
Sure makes you go "HUH?", doesn't it? And even knowing where this quote came from and the exact timeframe, I still have no clue what the translator was thinking.
"Get ready to experience a 24 hour without a chance to relax."
From the same series as above. Like someone else pointed out: A 24h what?
This morning's "Ehhhh"-moment and the thing that got me writing this was when the latest episode of one of my current favorite series cropped up with this scene:
L: ...it's called the Brown Lady.
C: Did you say a lady in white?
That remark is actually different, since it's not the subtitle's fault. The characters actually say the lines as they are, yay for smooth dialogue and paying attention to what your company is saying.
Now for things I need to point out since this is not a hidden entry. I'm not judging the subbers or editors, I like their work and I in no way intend to imply I'd do a better job, far from it. This is merely to point out things that sometimes happen and cause a fit of giggles, and to remind me that double-checking is always a good thing. Also I was surprised to see - in reference to the title of this entry - how seriously people actually take subtitles and edited text and how even the tiniest typos sometimes cause huge commotion.
Also the remarks quoted are in fact not mine, but made by another typesetter who's blog I read since it's entertaining.
As a translator-to-be I (probably) shouldn't find joy in the errors of others, but sometimes you just got to applaud. I'm not saying I'm a super editor, especially since I've been on break from it for a month, but I like to think that I double-check my work before handing it it, just to make sure the person doing the final quality control doesn't have to weep blood because everything's all wrong. And especially the cases where you have to play around with multiple languages...
Example of this:
My flatmate showed me a page where there was French (original) and English (translation) text.
Readers who don't know French probably don't mind, but mixing up "baby carriage" and "jewelery store" definitely gets an uhhh-reaction from the readers who can read both French and English.
Then there's the times when you read something wrong and end up typing something that fits - maybe - but either sounds real funny or just plain weird.
ゴスロリ [gosurori] = Go slowly
Actually it's supposed to be read to mean goth loli or gothic lolita. And the talk was about a clothes store.
From time to time you see subtitles which are ridiculously hilarious, I can only imagine the translator/typesetter facepalming because there just was no other way to type it. The lines which me and my flatmate have roared to include but are nowhere near limited to:
"I will not let you come inside me!"
This is not the exact wording because I've forgotten what it was, but it's close enough to get you the idea why it's facepalm material. And the real context involved mecha, i.e. entering a machine...
Sometimes you get lines that just make you go "...what?", not because of situations mentioned above, but because they just don't make any sense at all. I'm prone to more or less loyal translating, but word-to-word will just confuse people.
"This place is full of ridicule! But somehow I felt that once debunk I will lose what’s going on?!"
Sure makes you go "HUH?", doesn't it? And even knowing where this quote came from and the exact timeframe, I still have no clue what the translator was thinking.
"Get ready to experience a 24 hour without a chance to relax."
From the same series as above. Like someone else pointed out: A 24h what?
This morning's "Ehhhh"-moment and the thing that got me writing this was when the latest episode of one of my current favorite series cropped up with this scene:
L: ...it's called the Brown Lady.
C: Did you say a lady in white?
That remark is actually different, since it's not the subtitle's fault. The characters actually say the lines as they are, yay for smooth dialogue and paying attention to what your company is saying.
Now for things I need to point out since this is not a hidden entry. I'm not judging the subbers or editors, I like their work and I in no way intend to imply I'd do a better job, far from it. This is merely to point out things that sometimes happen and cause a fit of giggles, and to remind me that double-checking is always a good thing. Also I was surprised to see - in reference to the title of this entry - how seriously people actually take subtitles and edited text and how even the tiniest typos sometimes cause huge commotion.
Also the remarks quoted are in fact not mine, but made by another typesetter who's blog I read since it's entertaining.