Why Don't Subtitles Match Dubbing?

[00:00] On most devices, you can call up YouTube’s settings, you’ll find that outside the original language, English, Which happens a lot, mostly in professional TV shows,

[00:16] who like to listen but also use subtitles. subtitles and dubbing are usually done by different teams of people. I need to take you on a journey that’s going to involve

[00:30] geese, a roller coaster, and this advert. That’s not a joke, this video is actually sponsored by NordVPN, Visit nordvpn.com/tomscott to find the best deal they’re offering right now.

[00:47] Now, in most of the languages that advert was translated into, In French, Spanish and Portuguese, and it’s a simple translation.

[01:00] the company name sits in the middle of the sentence, is to match lip movements as closely as possible. so that the company name sits at the end.

[01:17] and the lip movements pretty much match. and so the lines are different. the dubbing team instead found a translation

[01:30] But why don’t they just take the dubbing script, Why translate everything twice? I gave the translation teams for this video

[01:45] A few years ago, I made a video on YouTube’s copyright systems, and it included this sidebar about a song that I don’t like: that uses the start of the melody of Canon in D but never resolves it,

[01:59] as the jingle from Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man, The modern approach to subtitling in most languages and that even for fast talking like that,

[02:11] But that wasn’t always the case. like reruns on television or movies on DVD, Style guides used to emphasise the skill in “careful and sensitive subtitle editing”,

[02:30] even if they were a slow reader, And besides, why would someone who can hear watch video with subtitles? or sound mixing changes would mean

[02:45] In the original English version of that Maroon 5 rant that I just did, which isn’t that well-known even in English.

[02:57] the local subtitle translator decided to remove the reference entirely Opinions can differ, but I think that’s a pretty solid decision.

[03:10] of the Japanese voice actor, And well done to the voice actor, by the way! And this is just to translate one person performing a script!

[03:25] with six people shouting and talking quickly The subtitles would have to summarise, while the voice actors for the dub can shout over each other.

[03:38] for some Japanese viewers, that reference is lost. How much do you translate the words versus translating the meaning?

[03:50] “Anyone want to buy some goslings?” The English version of that joke is pretty much impossible to translate!

[04:02] You have to know that “going” can mean “making a noise”. for the noise that baby birds make, cheep-cheep-cheep, is slang for “on sale at a good price”.

[04:20] A couple of folks translated it word for word, But I do want to highlight a couple of them. The Portuguese subtitle and dubbing teams came up with the same joke!

[04:34] ‘Ganso’ in both languages means ‘goose’, and ‘cansado’ means ‘tired’, and now I’m asking if anyone wants the goslings And both the French and Spanish dubbing teams came up with

[04:49] their own puns based on their languages’ words for bird noises, because yes, the sounds that animals are said to make differ in each language! This is translating meaning and intent, not just words.

[05:03] a large language model to translate this stuff, capturing that nuance, that meaning, that performance, the translators didn’t have to match my lips.

[05:19] Because I talked over it, copy and paste the background noise and a different goose honk from there, Someone had to lip-sync a goose.

[05:34] …I don’t think they have lips. where I tried to get over my phobia of roller coasters. And just after my terror changed to joy, on a ride called Nemesis,

[05:49] I shouted this: Yes! Have it! How on earth do you translate “have it”?

[06:01] Different people in different parts of Britain and it’s almost impossible to Google. excitement, triumph, adrenaline, encouragement, success.

[06:14] or to cheer on your friend after they’ve successfully It feels very male? Very “drunken lads’ night out’?

[06:26] but for many productions they won’t be working with notes. They’ll only have the original show, and maybe the script, if there is one. So, here is that cry in all the video’s languages.

[07:04] but they have to fit the words on the screen. to emote in the studio as much as possible… That’s why subtitles and dubbing differ.

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[08:19] Lovely.