h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Et hop, a little update: my brother got two days of work with Arte or something, so that is already something.

Regarding subtitles again, I watched 'das Boot' yeasterday and, as some of the actors didn't have a clear pronunciation (not to mention my blatant deficiency in German submarine vocabulary) I tried the subtitles. This was a most peculiar experience, as the written and the spoken text didn't really seem to have much in common. That is, the general idea was the same, but it sort of looked like two people had got an assignment to write the dialogues for the same story and came up separately with two different versions. Well in the end I switched them off as they were more of a nuisance.

Sometimes, they let people *backtranslate* the subtitles from ones that have already been done...

The trouble with subtitles - why they take real skill to do - is that you have a set number of characters each that you have to do them in. If you want more information on that, I suggest you talk to Otus (U653636) - he does subtitles for a living.

Though games are worse sometimes. We once had a Japanese game engine to deal with where they'd set the limit at three characters - per sentence!

And to your brother!

Three characters per sentence

That wouldn't do it even for miscchat

Actually I think that dubbing must be an interesting thing to do (no matter how loathsome dubbed movies are ). You have to get the same meaning in about the same time as it takes to pronounce it and if possible using words which have about the same vowels.

That said, I saw once in a French cinema a trailer for, er, was it Pearl Harbour? In any case there was a close-up of a guy apparently making a speech, while a voice-over was making some patriotic statements. After a while it became clear that it was the character speaking, with dubbing

Yes, that's the trouble. Cartoons are easier to dub

And cartoons are acceptable too, especially if you want famous voices for the characters. (I still like better the original though)

True.

But as I have no TV, I'm spared most of it - I just get DVDs and watch the original language

Except, as you pointed out, when the original doesn't exist We completed a conversation circle!

Hooray! Next loop

Translation maybe? Did you read umberto Eco's 'Mouse or Rat'?

I kind of sympathise with translators of his works by the way. I remember him being disappointed that translators din't notice one description which was written in the style of old Dutch paintings (maybe like Vermeer).

No, haven't read that particular one.

It's an essay on translation (I just noticed it wasn't really clear from the posting). If you speak enough French I can tell you another funny translation story too (but not with Eco).

Give it a try - it might be good enough

One author had written a book (non-fiction, maybe her biography) and one day received a call from a translator asking to explain what is "un essai historique". The author was at that time stressed and in a hurry, and explained a bit sharply what it was while at the same time being mildly irritated by the ignorance of the translator.

Much later (months or years?) the author was giving a conference about the events described in the book and listened at herself in disbelief when she mentioned her grandfather plying rugby, "avait marqué un essai historique".

To this day she still has no idea what the translation of her book looks like

(... when she mentioned *that* her grandfather, etc.)

That almost works in English, too!