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Do English subtitles match the foreign language being spoken?

When you see a movie and someone's speaking in a foreign language, there are English subtitles. Are the actors saying the right words in that other language;like if someone who spoke Spanish heard them, would they really be saying what the English subtitles say? Just curious. :) thanks,<3

Public Comments

1. no sometimes when you watch a spanish movie with english subtitles sometimes the translationis all wrong. there some spanish words that they don't translate it well and especially when they are swearing and stuff
2. No usually not the same words, it's supposed to have the same meaning though, I guess it depends on who translates them. For example Guillermo Del Toro wrote the subtitles himself for his film Pan's Labyrinth because he wasn't happy with the translations for his previous films. Hope this helps! :) x
3. It is meant to portray the same meaning but not necessarily the same words. There are times when the same words, or a literal translation, will not work. For example, if the translation is too wordy to fit on the subtitle. Good subtitling organisations have rules about how many words should be on a title and how long it should be shown on screen (so it can be read and understood). Also, if a song or poem is being translated, a good subtitler will write a version that rhymes, so she will come up with appropriate words of similar meaning. I used to work for SBS in Australia which had a very large subtitling department. Their method was to first translate the words. Then an editor would read the result and sit down with the subtitler to amend it so that it met the rules I mentioned and made sense to an english speaker.
4. Most of the time it's different but with the same context. I remember when Titanic came out. I was in Germany and watched it there with English sub-titles. When I came home and watched it again, it was the same story but told completely different.