I watch a lot of foreign films, and this means I read many subtitles. I was wondering who writes and posts these subtitles on the film, and are they ever listed in the credits. And, if so, under what title?
valis1949 Slacker Posted 10 October 2009 10:02 AM I watch a lot of foreign films, and this means I read many subtitles. I was wondering who writes and posts these subtitles on the film, and are they ever listed in the credits. And, if so, under what title?
An important question. I can only guess. I recall seeing along with the subtitles, credits for translation or subtitle credits that are added to an original movie on top of the movie itself. Therefore, the original movie likely never has the credits contained within the original movie. I imagine that there are several companies that bid for or already have negotiated with the producer for the foreign distribution rights and its this company that then contracts with another subtitle company which then modified the original film with adding subtitles. The reason I believe this question is important is that there are differences in intrepretation and translation and sometimes the subtitles don't match the actual translation or at least the literal translation of the movie. It would be fascinating to discover the controversy contained within subtitling and how often significant changes are made or interpreted that significantly alter how a movie is understood or experienced. Who is responsible?
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As a foreigner I have watched practically all English-language movies with subtitles, and I can say from this experience that even thought in many places alot have been left out from subtitles due to the space thing, most of it still rings true to the movie. Generally, from what I have gathered subtitles often lack much of the subtle vibes of the original, but nothing big is changed and I am yet to find a case where it would seriously change the way the movie is understood.
Then again English is an easy language to translate and the one most often translated, but I doubt it is much different from any other language.
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