When subtitles go wrong: misunderstanding from inaccurate subtitles on international media

Movie Tittles Retrieved from  https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/home_alone  Translations don't only seem to be confusing or misunderstood inside movies and shows, but the title of them can also become misinterpreted at some points.      The aim of this tittle is to reflect the main ideas of a movie and also to attract the viewer into giving an insight of what the movie may be about and something that can be related to it. When it comes to translating these, it can be quite challenging, as each culture and language have their own adaptation of word meanings and can even have no sense if it is translated exactly word by word. An article written by Mathew A on cultures suggested that for example, in French, "the title of a film must not exceed nine syllables". So, many times it can become really hard to express the exact same meaning because of cultural barriers and norms. Titles need to communicate with the potential viewer, and the problem comes when they change t...

Empresses In The Palace Retrieved from  https://www.amazon.com/Empresses-Palace-Complete-English-Subtitled/dp/B00YAZQNMAhttps://www.amazon.com/Empresses-Palace-Complete-English-Subtitled/dp/B00YAZQNMA   The Legend of Zhenhuan , a hit Chinese TV drama about Imperial Harem in the Qing Dynasty, has been introduced into foreign markets by Netflix in the name of Empresses In The Palace in 2015 with great anticipation. Except for the dramatic and stirring harem rivalry scenes, it is a good chance for the foreign audience to take a glimpse at the ancient Chinese culture and its political system since the drama is adapted based on a true historical story.  

British comedy-drama Sex Education Retrieved from  https://collider.com/sex-education-season-4-netflix/ Netflix’s comedy series Sex Education has become a huge hit around the world. It has also been heatedly discussed in China among many young people and can be perceived as epochal in Chinese market since there has never been a drama that boldly talks about sex specifically with a target audience of the younger generations. There is no surprising that the series contains many sex-related terms, same sex-related terms and private organs as its theme intends to provide youngsters with proper sex education. However, when subtitling into Chinese, there seem to be some problems regarding “sex” and its related terms.  “Do you know what sex is?" Sex Education Season 1 In the story, Jeans is Otis’ mother and a sex therapist. She is quite open-minded and tries to provide Otis with sexual knowledge from his childhood. The following dialogue is one of the examples happened when Otis wa...

illust by Weibo@-Ask-- Anyone who is interested in Japanese anime should not miss Eva . Neon Genesis Evangelion ( Eva ) is regarded as a phenomenal masterwork of Japanese anime. It tells a dark and extremely complicated story that touches on a diversity of themes , including spiritual development , romantic relationships , social values of that age , culture, and religion. Among these , one of the most popular subjects of fan discussion is the delicate relationship between two of its characters , Shinji and Kaworu. And our story starts here. Eva was first broadcast in 1995 in Japan and was then released on many streaming platforms after it earned its reputation in the following years. In 2019 , Netflix ’ s re-release of a new version of this anime aroused heated discussion about several changes in the English translation from the original one. Shinji and Kaworu.  Retrieved from  https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/6/24/18701179/netflix-neon-genesis-evangelion-kaworu...

English translation and Chinese script Chinese and English subtitles retrieved from https://yts-subs.com/movie-imdb/tt7605074 From the Chinese movie The Wandering Earth Liu Qi , the teenager protagonist of the Chinese sci-fi movie The Wandering Earth , aspired to see the “ outside world ” . When he came to the gang leader of the underground city Yi Ge to exchange things for some necessary equipment , Yi Ge was absorbed in his video game and ignored the visitor. Liu Qi then took out a bag of skewers bought on the way and said to Yi Ge: “还给您带了串，趁热吃”( And I got you [ honorific ] skewers too. Eat while they ’ re still hot ) . In the subtitles , the sentence , “趁热吃” ( Eat while they ’ re still hot ), is translated into “ freshly made ” . So it goes like “ And I got you [ honorific ] skewers too , freshly made. ” Well , this piece of translation sounds fairly natural and understandable , since it does address the meaning that the skewers are still hot and fresh and edible. But so...