With
the proliferation of foreign films released in cinemas,
on satellite TV channels and inflight entertainment,
on video and DVD, subtitling as a means of globalization
is in huge demand. The special constraints imposed
by the medium and the time sensitivity of the film
industry can be compared to some of the challenges
faced by the localization industry. This article
revisits the recent furor over the Japanese subtitling
of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the
Ring and considers a solution for consistent
quality in subtitling by drawing parallels to localization.
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Introduction
Subtitles as a means
of facilitating the understanding of foreign films
long preceded the birth of the localization industry.
The first showing of a sound film with subtitles
was The Jazz Singer, which opened in Paris
with French subtitles in 1929 (Ivarsson, n.d.).
In Japan, the very first foreign film to be screened
with Japanese subtitles was Morocco in 1931
(Shimizu, 1992).
Although regarded as
a branch of translation, subtitling differs greatly
in some respects from translation of written texts.
The title of a Japanese book 映画字幕は翻訳ではない
[Film Subtitling is Not Translation] (Shimizu,
1992), aptly makes the point. Translating for subtitles
involves taking spoken dialogue as input and producing
written text as output. The discrepancy between
the speed of actors' speech and the audience's ability
to read written words, plus the restriction on the
available space on the screen, all impose a severe
limitation on the amount of text allowed for subtitles.
This can be likened to the word limitation sometimes
imposed on the localizer due to pre-defined string
lengths when localizing software. However, while
a localizer can, if necessary, make adjustments
to multimedia objects, the subtitler is unable to
modify the images or audio of a film. The subtitles
must be meaningful to the target language audience
in relation to the particular scene being shown.
All these constraints and requirements make subtitling
a specialized task that demands creative linguistic
solutions.
Opening a can of
worms
The opening of The
Fellowship of the Ring, the first episode of
The Lord of the Rings (LOTR), in March 2002
in Japan caused outrage among some LOTR fans over
the quality of its Japanese subtitles. Numerous
Web sites appeared detailing the unfaithfulness
and inadequacy of the subtitles, often alleging
how little the subtitler had understood the whole
nature of Tolkien's mythical epic story. In May
2002, the controversy led some 1300 fans to sign
a petition of complaint directed to the film's Japanese
distributor, Nippon Herald, against a well-known
subtitle translator who had undertaken the assignment.
Having received an unsatisfactory initial response
with no apologies from the distributor, the same
group then sent their complaints directly to Peter
Jackson, the director of the film. Subsequently,
in a TV interview in December 2002, Jackson reportedly
said that he would replace the existing Japanese
translator for LOTR's second installment, The
Two Towers (Botting, 2003).
Dynamic interpretation?
Specific LOTR Japanese
subtitle errors are discussed in detail on various
Web sites. The following often quoted examples from
the Fellowship of the Ring are extracted
from such sites (see http://herbs.tsukaeru.jp/english_top.html
and http://sa.sakura.ne.jp/~straydog/bard/toda.html)
in order to indicate the nature of the complaints.
Interestingly, it cannot be argued that any of the
following instances was caused by the imposed limitation
on the number of words. Note: the Japanese subtitles
are re-translated into English and compared against
the original English lines.
- Boromir's line "And the tower
guard shall take up the call 'The Lords of Gondor
have returned'" is rendered as "And the tower
guard will cry 'The King of Gondor has returned.'"
Boromir only calls Aragorn his king at his death,
so this line spoils the climax of the film.
- When Boromir comes under the
dominion of the ring, Frodo utters: "You are not
yourself." This line is translated as "You are
a liar!", thus creating the impression that Boromir
is a dishonest character, rather than stressing
the power of the ring.
- Knowing the ring's power, Frodo
asks Aragorn, "Can you protect me from yourself?"
This is followed by the ring whispering to Aragorn
in order to tempt him to come under its dominion.
The above line is translated as "Don't you need
this?" making it sound as if the tempter is Frodo,
not the ring.
- "Long has my father, the Steward
of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay" is
changed to "My father who was the Steward of Gondor
had kept the forces of Mordor at bay," thus causing
the audience to think that the Steward of Gondor
is no longer - yet he appears later in The
Two Towers.
In addition, the
translation of the title The Lord of the Rings
has also been controversial. For the translation
of Tolkien's book, the title is rendered in Japanese
words as 「指輪物語」
[The Story of Ring(s)] whereby dropping the word
"Lord", but conveying the message that the story
is weaved around ring(s) [in this case, the Japanese
language makes ambiguous the distinction between
the singular and the plural]. By comparison, the
film title 「ロード・オブ・ザ・リング」
[Lord of the Ring] is a straight transliteration
(i.e. the English words written phonetically in
Japanese script), but "Rings" is rendered unambiguously
in the singular. The contention is that it could
wrongly imply that there is only one ring involved
in the whole saga. The reason behind the change
of the title from the original translation used
for the book seems to be largely motivated by commercial
rather than literary reasons to attract moviegoers.
Under any circumstances
it is a true nightmare for any translator or localizer
when his or her work is brought under the microscope
and criticized in a very public manner. But, the
reality is that commercial feature films are public
media and that all subtitlers for commercially released
films have to be prepared to face such scrutiny.
While most localization work is unlikely to have
the name of a single individual as the localizer
on the packaging, a film's credits often identify
the subtitler. The Japanese fans of LOTR maintain
that errors in the subtitles affected the film adversely
by not providing viewers with accurate information
about the complex story and failing in many places
to provide the right context for the audience.
Troubleshooting
The scale and breadth
to which viewers' complaints concerning the subtitles
for this film have escalated seem unprecedented,
at least in Japan. This is even more surprising,
given that the subtitler in question is a widely
known expert with many blockbuster films to her
credit during the last twenty years. In Japan's
conservative film industry where she reigns as the
"Subtitle Queen," this has caused something of a
shock. A number of factors seem to have led to this
rather dramatic development.
- Unlike most typical Hollywood
productions, LOTR had very avid fans who were
thoroughly familiar with the story and naturally
critical of any liberty taken by the subtitler.
This audience factor seems to have been underestimated.
- Subtitlers generally seem to
able to handle their task without ever reading
the original story on which a film may be based.
However, in this case, the fans insist that the
apparent lack of familiarity with the very particular
Tolkien universe was fatal. Their claim is that
the understanding of specific types of vocabulary
and the unique atmosphere of the whole epic were
central to "getting it right."
- Ridiculously short deadlines
for the subtitling of big commercial films seem
to have become the industry norm (with LOTR, the
subtitler allegedly had only one week). Furthermore,
the conservative nature of the Japanese film industry,
along with a certain degree of monopolization
of high-profile subtitling work by a few top subtitlers,
seem to ensure that the work is invariably handled
by the same individuals.
Under these conditions,
something obviously had to give. However, the problem
was not without a solution, namely to involve as
a general reviewer/checker the translator of the
original book on which the film is based. This practice
is not uncommon. A recent example is the Japanese
subtitling for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's
Stone for which the subtitler (interestingly,
the same subtitler as the LOTR) worked closely with
the Japanese translator of the book. In addition
to the quality issue, this process avoided any possible
confusion for the many young Harry Potter fans familiar
with the translations used in the popular books.
Unlike the case of LOTR, the film and the book shared
also the same title in Japanese.
Literary translators
are generally likely to have spent more time than
subtitlers can afford, pondering over appropriate
translations for titles, certain names, expressions,
etc. Therefore, reuse of the translator's work,
where appropriate, has obvious potential to improve
subtitling quality. Having said that, however, this
solution does not solve all subtitling problems,
even when a film is based closely on an existing
book that has been translated. This is because the
written words intended for books are not always
suitable as direct substitutes in subtitles.
A case in point is
the handling of Aragorn's nickname, "Strider," in
LOTR. The translation of the book had used a rather
archaic but poetic Japanese term "Haseo" (馳夫)
to suggest a man who "strides" along. However, the
subtitler avoided the term for the reason that it
would be too difficult for young viewers to understand
the meaning and because it would not look good on
screen. Although this decision turned out to be
unpopular, particularly among those viewers who
were familiar with the original translation, it
does point to the difference between subtitling
for films and translating for books in print.
Subtitling and
localization
Some differences
between the overall processes involved in subtitling
and localization are apparent. For localization
tasks, the correct and consistent use of technical
terminology in translation is of paramount importance
both for quality assurance and for efficient handling
of repetitive texts. This aspect is increasingly
supported by computer-based tools. For localization,
the use of specialized tools is often not an option,
but a necessity, to achieve efficiency and quality.
By comparison, while
today's subtitles are produced using a computer-based
subtitling system, the role of technology in the
subtitling process is clearly different from that
in localization. For example, it is the human subtitler's
task to grasp the essence of the given dialogue
and to express it succinctly and appropriately.
This dimension of the subtitling process is largely
unaided by any tools. Today's subtitling systems
are there to facilitate purely mechanical functions,
such as cueing the subtitles to the right scene
in the program.
On the other hand,
we can draw some similarities between subtitling
and localization. First, the two tasks both aim
to adapt an original product in order to recreate
an impact on the target language audience similar
to the one experienced by the source language audience.
Second, both are used
for widely-distributed commercial products. This
normally means a tight production schedule imposed
by a client who stands to suffer huge financial
consequences if the release date is missed. Although
the deadline issue is applicable to all commercial
translation work, the stakes seem to be particularly
high with commercial mainstream films and popular
software products with pre-announced release dates.
Furthermore, a wide distribution of the products
means that the consequences of translation errors
can be far-reaching.
Third, both are affected
directly by the introduction of new technologies.
For example, localization work has been extended
with the advent of the Internet and the Web to cater
for new demands such as Web site localization. Similarly,
subtitling has been required to cater to new technologies
such as DVDs.
In view of the similarities,
are there any lessons that the localization sector
can offer to subtitlers?
Collaborative screen
translation
The localization
industry has been striving to both improve the quality
of localized products and to work in an increasingly
cost-efficient manner. These efforts have resulted
in the development of quality control measures,
as well as dedicated tools for localizers. Similarly,
efforts to establish good practice guidelines for
subtitling have been made by groups such as the
European
Association for Studies in Screen Translation (ESIST).
However, anecdotal evidence in both Europe and Asia
points to concerns over variable standards that
are becoming particularly noticeable with the increasing
demand from satellite TV channels, and occasionally
from mainstream feature films.
In comparison with
localization, subtitling is primarily not considered
to be a task based on teamwork. While a subtitler
usually works alone for translation, localization
typically involves several translators and/or reviewers.
With increasing project size and requirements for
different kinds of expertise such as a localization
engineer, several translators, a project manager,
etc, localization is handled by a team of people.
Accordingly new tools are geared for such modus
operandi, e.g., workflow programs to integrate input
from dispersed project members, translation memory
systems designed for networked translators, etc.
This may be an area where subtitling could emulate
the methodology of localization by more frequently
adopting a team approach.
Building on the existing
solution of drawing on the literary translator's
work to formulate the subtitles where the film is
closely based on the book, a collaborative subtitling
environment could enhance the resulting quality.
This would allow the team members to discuss and
choose the best solution from suggested translations
by the collaborators. This model would be the exact
opposite to the current approach to rely on an individual
subtitler selected from an elite group, which seems
common at least in Japan. For the reason stated
earlier, this approach is problematic.
The fact that some
of the Japanese viewers who protested against the
LOTR subtitles even offered their own translations
as alternatives comes close to the phenomenon called
"fan-subs". Fan-subs are subtitles produced unofficially
by fans for non-Japanese viewers of various Japanese
animation (anime) productions. Despite their dodgy
legal status, fan-subs have been in existence since
the late 1980s due to the increasing popularity
of anime outside of Japan. These enthusiastic amateur
subtitlers are nevertheless known to sometimes arrive
at innovative solutions quite by instinct (Nornes,
1999), pointing to the importance of the subtitler's
genre knowledge. The fact that LOTR has a cult-like
following with fans who are thoroughly acquainted
with the Middle Earth lingo and its nuances makes
the audience factor very similar to the anime following.
The fan-sub phenomenon perhaps provides food for
thought for film subtitling, particularly in relation
to the problems raised by LOTR.
Given the likelihood
of further growth in demand for subtitling in terms
of volume and of variety by the entertainment industry,
the centralized model reliant on one high-profile
subtitler seems increasingly out of step with market
requirements. It is simply impossible for a single
individual to be expert at all film genres and to
produce high quality work in huge volume and under
tight deadlines. With the maturing of teletranslation
and virtual work environments, remote collaborative
subtitling by a virtual team, which may include
a devoted fan or expert in the genre, could well
offer the best outcome for certain films. Following
the fan-sub development, it is not entirely unthinkable
that frustrated moviegoers, disappointed by official
subtitles, are driven to produce their own, aided
by digital technology which provides subtitling
facilities on standard PCs relatively easily.
Watch the space
In anticipation of
the second installment of LOTR, The Two Towers,
about to open in Japan, New Line Cinema, the film's
global distributor, released a special
statement regarding its handling of subtitles
in reference to the earlier "comments" (the distributor
has never acknowledged them as complaints) made
by some Japanese fans on The Fellowship of the
Ring. It explains the complete auditing process
for The Two Towers that extensively involved
the translator and the publisher of the Japanese
version of the LOTR book as well as New Line Cinema
stepping in to approve the Japanese subtitles which
were especially translated back into English for
that purpose. In any case, the fans will, no doubt,
report back on whether the new quality control measures
prove satisfactory.
The availability of
platforms such as the Internet has clearly contributed
to the ability of film viewers to bring their critical
comments to the public arena and to stimulate a
public debate using specific examples for contentious
points. This type of reaction could equally arise
in the localization industry where a user group,
unhappy with a certain localized product, could
launch such a campaign. Electronic word of mouth
over the Internet travels a vast distance extremely
rapidly and can have considerable impact. The LOTR
subtitle campaign seems to have succeeded to some
extent in raising public awareness of what is involved
in subtitling and how it can go wrong, even in the
hands of a professional. Using the same platforms,
the film industry could move into a new collaborative
mode of subtitling whereby ad hoc teams could be
set up on the network appropriate to the type of
film. With the rapidly diversifying market for subtitling
propelled by digital technology, the drive to achieve
quality within time and economic constraints is
growing in importance.
One hopes that the
LOTR experience will prompt the film industry, along
with its subtitle suppliers, to reflect critically
on the current process and methodology. The entertainment
industry looks set to grow further in the global
marketplace, and language support will be a critical
factor in this growth. Now seems to be a good time
to think creatively about ways to augment the unique
human talents of subtitlers.
Acknowledgement: I
would like to thank Dr Eithne O'Connell, subtitle
expert, of SALIS, Dublin City University for her
valuable comments on my earlier draft.
References
Botting, G. (2003, Jan.
5). "Rings fans put 'subtitles queen' to sword."
Sunday Mainichi.
Ivarsson, J. (n.d).
"A short technical history of subtitles in Europe."
Nornes, A.M. (1999).
For an Abusive Subtitling. Film Quarterly,
52,3:17-34.
Shimizu, S. (1992).
映画字幕は翻訳ではない
[Film Subtitling is not Translation], Tokyo: Hayakawa
Shobo.
Reprinted
by permission from the Globalization Insider,
18 March 2003, Volume XII, Issue 1.5.
Copyright
the Localization Industry Standards Association
(Globalization Insider: www.localization.org,
LISA: www.lisa.org)
and S.M.P. Marketing Sarl (SMP) 2004
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