I normally use same-language (almost always English) subtitles when I watch
movies. The sound and volume control on my TV (or maybe it's just my
hearing) aren't very good, so without the subtitles I tend to miss little
nuances.

stevo

On Sun, Jul 8, 2012 at 6:38 PM, Claude Almansi <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> No particular example - but  you accurately describe a running
> frustration I feel when I do subtitles. Not only translated subs, also
> same-language: subtitles are static, even running live subs don't
> quite flow like speech - and anyway, I can't do live subtitling, only
> on recorded videos. So it's compromises most of the time, trying to
> cut the sub at the less bad place, taking into account allowed length,
> speed of delivery. But the frustration is compensated by the thought
> that for people who can't use the original audio, imperfect subs are
> better than nothing.
>
> What I find fascinating is dynamic (karaoke-like) same language
> subtitling: see the videos of the PlanetRead.org
> <http://www.youtube.com/user/planetread> channel or those made by Greg
> McCall's students with reading difficulties:
> <http://www.youtube.com/user/zwgm/>. True, there too, you get "too
> much" in a single subtitle, but then the eye focuses on the moving
> color: even more so with the "bouncing ball" ones, perhaps.
>
> Best,
>
> Claude
>
>
> On Mon, Jul 9, 2012 at 12:11 AM, George Corley <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Bringing up dubbing of Yoda made me think about how subtitles can
> > occasionally be in a way out of sync with the dialogue of a movie simply
> > because of word order.  The langauges don't even have to be typological
> > opposites for this to occur -- note this example from Pan's Labyrinth:
> >
> > Spanish: "Yo he tenido tantos nombres que solo pueden pronunciar el
> viento
> > ... y los árboles."
> > English subtitle:  "I have had many names which only the wind / and the
> > trees can pronounce."
> >
> > Since English doesn't normally allow for the kind of focus movement that
> > the original Spanish uses, the subtitles end up somewhat rearranged,
> making
> > the poetic style of the line less noticeable.
> >
> > There's a lot of other things that can occur with this sort of thing,
> such
> > as screwing with comic timing and punch lines, screwing up a revelation
> by
> > giving up a name too early, etc.  Have any of you seen particularly
> > noticeable examples of this?
>