Food for thought
I've been feeling dangerous for a week now. On Thursday, I was given some extremely interesting information that I haven't quite figured out how to use. So, I've been walking around the city, armed, ready to blow. In fact, I did blow in a lesson on Tuesday, and I saw the same expression creep across Zsolt's face that crept across my own the first time. He knew too, that this was some interesting shit. And now, he too is wandering around Budapest, primed to explode.
Anyway, here it is...
Subtitles have rules. And, the rules are strict. Translators working on film subtitling are given thirty characters only (including spaces and punctuation) in which they have to translate five seconds of speech. If the actor speaks for longer, they can add another line. But, that's it. Apparently, it's impossible to monkey around with those rules, which is why things aren't always translated word for word.
Speaking of monkeys, I've also solved the great King Kong mystery, a mystery not many people knew existed. Apart from me and the Budapest Sun. As stated in their newspaper, they rocked up to the cinema to review King Kong, but found that it wasn't showing anywhere. Instead they bravely lavished praise on Saw 2.
Anyway, the mystery was this. Why was a huge film like King Kong not listed in the Budapest Sun, and therefore seemingly not showing on any screens at the beginning of January, two weeks after its release? Had the Hungarian people lost patience very quickly with that big, fat, stupid, clumsy ape? Well, I cracked the case at the same time as I cracked the great subtitle mystery. It is showing, dubbed in Hungarian. It's too long, and too popular to show subtitled.
Yet, Harry Potter is still showing in a subtitled print in several cinemas around the city. A mere inconsistency or something more sinister?
Anyway, here it is...
Subtitles have rules. And, the rules are strict. Translators working on film subtitling are given thirty characters only (including spaces and punctuation) in which they have to translate five seconds of speech. If the actor speaks for longer, they can add another line. But, that's it. Apparently, it's impossible to monkey around with those rules, which is why things aren't always translated word for word.
Speaking of monkeys, I've also solved the great King Kong mystery, a mystery not many people knew existed. Apart from me and the Budapest Sun. As stated in their newspaper, they rocked up to the cinema to review King Kong, but found that it wasn't showing anywhere. Instead they bravely lavished praise on Saw 2.
Anyway, the mystery was this. Why was a huge film like King Kong not listed in the Budapest Sun, and therefore seemingly not showing on any screens at the beginning of January, two weeks after its release? Had the Hungarian people lost patience very quickly with that big, fat, stupid, clumsy ape? Well, I cracked the case at the same time as I cracked the great subtitle mystery. It is showing, dubbed in Hungarian. It's too long, and too popular to show subtitled.
Yet, Harry Potter is still showing in a subtitled print in several cinemas around the city. A mere inconsistency or something more sinister?
posted by andrew taylor at 9:48 AM
2 Comments:
i think you may have your harry potter facts wrong. it was dubbed dubbed dubbed and only one place was showing it in the original sans subtitles cuz they couldn't be arsed.
not that i care about harry potter.
A comment! Well, don't know about your Harry Potter facts, Sze. I distinctly remember watching it with subtitles.
Not that I care about Potter either.
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