What is more faithful?

Ask specific questions about your target languages. Beginner questions welcome!

What is more faithful to the original?

Foreign Language subtitles
5
29%
Foreign Language audio track
3
18%
I use both
5
29%
I use neither
0
No votes
I mix it up
4
24%
 
Total votes: 17

User avatar
luke
Brown Belt
Posts: 1243
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2015 9:09 pm
Languages: English (N). Spanish (intermediate), Esperanto (B1), French (intermediate but rusting)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16948
x 3631

What is more faithful?

Postby luke » Fri Nov 12, 2021 8:35 pm

Foreign language subtitles often don't match the foreign language audio track.

Foreign Language subtitles is closer in matching the meaning
Foreign Language audio track is closer
I use both (sometimes subtitles and audio don't match - I make my opinion of which is better in my choice of the first 2 poll options)
I use neither
I mix it up (audio and subtitles are not in the same language)

What do you find more faithful?
Last edited by luke on Fri Nov 12, 2021 9:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1 x

jmar257
Green Belt
Posts: 268
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2020 2:41 pm
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), español (Intermediate), français (Lower Intermediate), deutsch (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... hp?t=15645
x 680

Re: What is more faithful?

Postby jmar257 » Fri Nov 12, 2021 8:48 pm

I really like having both, I don't know I can say what's more faithful on average as I don't watch a ton of TV. I have been watching Squid Game in Spanish and the subs and voiceover definitely do not line up, sometimes it's small things like using tu forms in one with usted in another, sometimes it's whole sentences that are different (without the meaning of the moment necessarily changing). Luckily my Spanish is good enough that as long as the accent isn't tough (looking at you, Potro from Club de Cuervos) I just ignore the subs and listen. Mostly I watch stuff natively in Spanish or French so when the subs don't match the audio is obviously more faithful, as it's what the actor/actress actually said. For Squid Game, well, I don't speak Korean.

Seriously though, why not have the same translation team do both?
2 x
Feel free to give me corrections in any of my target languages!

User avatar
Le Baron
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3507
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:14 pm
Location: Koude kikkerland
Languages: English (N), fr, nl, de, eo, Sranantongo,
Maintaining: es, swahili.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18796
x 9384

Re: What is more faithful?

Postby Le Baron » Fri Nov 12, 2021 10:30 pm

I mix it up. The audio is clearly the most faithful, right? The subtitles are for the audio, not the other way around. The subs tend to be 'abridged' when the dialogue is wordy or many people are speaking in succession otherwise they'd never fit onto the screen! So if one wants to know what the people in a film are saying, you need the audio and to be able to comprehend it. If you want to know what they mean, you can rely on the subtitles when there's a listening gap.

I've done both many times when necessary. In fact since TV in particular became strange and mumbly, I've even used subtitles to watch things in my native language. I'll bet I'm not alone in that.
4 x

白田龍
Orange Belt
Posts: 242
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2018 6:54 pm
Languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, French, Persian, Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese.
x 444

Re: What is more faithful?

Postby 白田龍 » Sat Nov 13, 2021 7:52 am

Nowadays, when the original producers oversee the dubbing in multiple languages, both the dub and the subs tend to be very accurate.

Independent dubbing studios doing only one language take more liberties in re-writing the text.
2 x

User avatar
MorkTheFiddle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2113
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:59 pm
Location: North Texas USA
Languages: English (N). Read (only) French and Spanish. Studying Ancient Greek. Studying a bit of Latin. Once studied Old Norse. Dabbled in Catalan, Provençal and Italian.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 11#p133911
x 4823

Re: What is more faithful?

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Fri Nov 19, 2021 7:26 pm

Le Baron wrote:I've even used subtitles to watch things in my native language. I'll bet I'm not alone in that.

Yep, you're not alone. But only once for me. An Australian flic, which without subs would have been incomprehensible for me, an English speaker from the USA.
So far as I could tell, the subs were accurate. ;)
3 x
Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson


Return to “Practical Questions and Advice”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests