Where there is a choice of word between BE and AE, we put AE, because most of the subbers (Ko-En, Chi-En, ■■■-En) are mostly in America.
What I mean by “international” English is to avoid all idioms, words, acronyms and references that would be understandable only in the US.
Recently we had a sentence in “One The Woman” which used the word “jackshit”. The General Editor, who is Australian, didn’t even know what it meant, and I also had to look it up. We substituted it, which is sad because it’s very colourful and it matched the style of the character very well. Now the subtitle is bland and I’m still looking for a stronger alternative. But if the viewers have to scratch their heads and stop to go to a dictionary, that’s not good.
This doesn’t mean dumbing down and shunning less-used words. But this was particular to only one nation of all the ones who use English.
Let me make an example I remember vividly. I’ve already mentioned it in another thread, but let’s repeat it here because it is pertinent.
In “Legend of the Blue Sea”, someone comments on someone else’s tracksuit colour saying “What are you, Rudolf?” I was an OL mod in that show, so I went to TD and asked the CE if what was meant was Rudolf Valentino or Rudolf Nureyev, because the connection with the tracksuit didn’t make sense in either case. It was replied to me that they referred to a character well-known in the US, Rudolf the raindeer. I had never heard of him. I know Disney characters, I know the Simpsons, Charlie Brown, and a few other US characters, but my knowledge isn’t all-comprehensive. So the CE went and changed the sub because she figured that if I didn’t know him, many other international viewers who use English subs here would also be baffled.
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