English on Viki vs English on other drama websites

Language Discussions
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Whenever I watch a drama on Viki, with the exception of medical/legal drama’s, I rarely need to look up the meaning of a word. So I thought my English understanding was quite decent. However, I’m currently watching a drama on another site because it’s not available for me here and the subs on that website (or that particular drama) are a lot more diffucult and it’s not uncommon having to look up the meaning of the words more than five times per episode in a dictionary or online. It has introduced me to many solemnly sounding words though like ‘tentamount’, ‘astride’, ‘mount’ ‘serquestrum’(<- This one is a medical term, but I had a hard time finding the meaning) and lastly a sentence that I still don’t found the meaning of ‘The doctors are stymied’. Can someone explain this sentence to me?

Anyway, I’m curious to know what you think about the English on Viki if you’re a native speaker. Of course, the quality is excellent, but do you feel the English here can be too simplified? I was just wondering that because the English on that other website is so different from the English here. And I also know that a lot of English subbers are not native speakers, so they might opt for the more well-known or easier to understand synoniem. Let me know what you think, please :slight_smile:

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Could mean a metaphor about chess; if neither you nor your enemy can do something and/or if it’s the end of the game when one of the players has no opportunity left to win. The verb is easy to find in dictionary, the sentence is written in passive form so you have to check for infinitive form :slight_smile:

About the wording… I’d say it is because of American vs British. It’s the same when you watch an US show in origin language or a British show in origin language. British dialogues are usually way more special/difficult in the wording compared to American dialogues so I’d say that for most non natives the American English is way easier to understand because it is super basic/simple in most cases (plus if you are used to more American English you might not know the British terms/words/wordings).

Another reason could be that on VIKI you have many simple word-to-word translations instead of content essence translations (that is also the case for other languages than English so usually the level of used words/wording is higher when you watch something with professional subs). If you compare VIKI with fansubs on youtube you might see that the wording on VIKI is better in most cases.

Another aspect is a story’s topic. If the topic is more complexe and special it usually needs a higher level of language/wording than a simple comedy romance (you can also realize that while working on different projects, the simple ones are very easy and fast to translate because the origin dialogue is already very simple but if you have a fantasy or historical story you need to think way more about the translation because the origin dialogues/languages is also different and more complexe and sometimes not that easy to translate for the origin=> English teams if they want to not use daily common terms).

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“It has the doctors stymied” means they are at a loss for the diagnosis or method of treatment. To stymie is to hinder, obstruct, prevent. An English editor on Viki will recognize that a word may be too hard or difficult for international translators, and s/he will add a translator’s note. This is a thoughtful community of volunteers, and translation editors do their best to translate precisely word for word.

Occasionally, I felt the exact word translated was unsuitable. I never change to another synonym without giving sufficient reason, as Viki’s policy is to respect the hard work of the subber/segmenter who precedes us. For example: Episode 26, Part 2, 14:47 ‘Blocks’ would mean it stops all mental function. ‘Obstructs’ would mean it stands in the way of function. I chose ‘inhibits’ as it slows down her mental function.

By the way, the correct spelling is tantamount not tentamount, and sequestrum not serquestrum. I’m sure you’ve seen mount like Mt. Everest, but you likely mean mount a horse, mount a campaign, or mount the stairs.

Everywhere on Viki, translators write, “I’ll send you home.” In English, we send a letter, package, but not a person, unless it’s a messenger. The wording implies a threat, “Behave or get lost!” Correct wording should be, “I’ll take you home/drive you home/walk you home.” But in the original language, they “send” you home. Most English editors don’t change that, but I feel I have to, as I’m a perfectionist when it comes to work.

My CM is also a perfectionist like me, and I highly respect her experience. She gives leeway to do what we think is best so I’m free to choose a synonym, although I always consider the translators who work after I’m done. Other CMs may be sticklers for the original word so synonyms are few. Plus, most viewers don’t watch Viki to learn new vocabulary, and some struggle to keep up with the subs. My CM likes us to limit lengthy wording to fit the timing, as it can be a pain to keep pressing the rewind button to read prolonged subtitles. I hope this gives you clarification :))

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I find professional subs on Netflix to be of the same quality or even less than Viki. They oversimplify or are not what is spoken when it is dubbed. Their incongruency is hard for me, because it’s blatantly apparent lack of teamwork and jarring to my sense of consistency.

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Ah, so the subtitles on the drama I’m watching are British English? I thought it was more a difference in formal vs informal worrd choice. But then, on the other hand I also saw a lot of informal words where they were not really appropriate, e.g. a servent using informal words to his master.

Not sure if I’m right, but I think Viki English subbers tend to be quite faithful in following the sentence order of the Original languages and they try to fit in as much as possible, because all other languages are relying on the English subs. And it’s not possible to know which words could be left out in other languages and which can’t. You’re more likely to see a sub like: 'I have to get a good grade, so I’m anxious’ than ‘I am anxious because I have to get a good grade’
So I think Viki has developed it’s own translation style and it’s interesting to see how shows get differently subbed on other websites. As long as I can understand it, that is :slight_smile:

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Ah, must have been my misspellings, thanks for pointing them out. Yes, I did know about ‘mount’ as in mountain, but didn’t know it could also apply to a horse. There were also other words that I can’t imagine seeing on Viki, such as ‘blubbering’ for ‘crying’ and replacing ‘noona’ with ‘sissy’. Also the subber really liked to subtitle any variation of ‘hurry up’ or ‘go faster’ with ‘chop-chop!’ The only time I heard ‘chop-chop’ being said was in High School Movie 2 by the manager of the holiday resort, so seeing it used in a historical drama looks really out of place to me.

I recently found a blog about Dutch subtitles that were too literally translated and had all kinds of anglicisms. It’s interesting that English subs also can suffer from ‘koreanisms’ I think one of the hardest parts of subbing is convey the meaning of the original language and still having a natural sounding subtitle in your target language. Especially for langauges that are more similar, it’s easier to get trapped in litterally following the OL’s word order.

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Unfortunately yes. This is a problem with non-professional translators, and it’s true for all languages. I’ve seen horrid literal translations which follow the source language too closely and make zero sense or sound “alien”. I make it my job, whenever I am an editor, to change it to English word order. It shouldn’t sound like translated Korean or Chinese, it should sound like normal English.
I will eat well, I will use it well, Eat a lot, Thank you for the food, You’ve worked hard, I’ll send you home, I have come, have you come? (Are you blind, man? Of course I’ve come, what do you think this is, my ghost?) and all the rest… In my opinion, they have to be replaced with proper English equivalents. It’s not always easy, though, so some may slip.
On the other hand, I never localize food words, currency (always the local currency, e.g. won and then the dollars in parenthesis), names of festivals, proverbs and myths (explained in a note) and all the other cultural stuff which is very interesting to most Viki viewers. I also love to keep “aigoo”, “Aish” etc. as well as all the dear ajeossis and ajummas, oppas and eonnis.
If you localize too much it loses all flavor. Moreover, if you use words with too specific American connotations, it is a problem for other languages: they might have trouble going back to the source in order to translate correctly into their own language.
Not to mention international viewers who choose to watch in English (because the translation in their own language sucks, or is not yet available), but English is not their first language so they struggle a bit.
Therefore it has to be “international English”, a bit more neutral, rather than completely and purely American English.
Especially so in historicals. I’ve had to edit many an “okay” from a Minister to a Joseon king. What is this “okay”, are you talking to your buddy?
Korean-English subbers, knowing that the English lacks most of the hierarchy intricacies of Asian languages, with different levels of formality etc., think that it’s a super-democratic language and they use great familiarity for every single character. But it is not so. English has its own way of showing respect to figures of authority, even without the presence of honorifics. Rather than using special suffixes, it changes the whole wording and style.
Consider “Yeah, bro, okay, I’ll do that, no problem” and “Yes sir! Certainly sir! It will be done!”

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I think Noona is an older sister or one you consider like an older sister so I think Sis would be appropriate. Sissy would not be suitable unless that’s actually her name, as I watched a classic show where the girl’s name was Cissy. I’ve watched Chinese dramas where they “send you home” so I think it’s more than Koreans.

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The title: English on Viki vs English on other drama websites

I think it’s not about the website (fansub, professional, Youtube, Netflix), more about the translator and editor’s:

  • knowledge (vocabulary)
  • ability (in picking words and making clear sentences: is this word/sentence appropriate with the scene)
  • time (to look it up in dictionary or to rephrase)
  • preference (for a word or a sentence wording) and style

Netflix:
I have watched subtitles done by 2 different people on Netflix (the first episodes done by A and the other episodes by B), and I found that B did less mistakes (grammar or typo) and the flow of the sentences was there for me (the sentence was correctly formulated and it’s a sentence I would expect to hear in my life).

There was also a movie (Crouching Tiger) on Netflix, the start has missing subtitles (a big chunk of the beginning to understand the context) and the subtitles were not in sync (nothing was said and subtitles appear?). It was not professional and for the first time, I stopped the video and looked for a button to report this quality problem on Netflix. This button exists, so it means that even if they are professional (it’s their job?), there is a button to report quality problems.
Maybe you can observe this if they didn’t add subtitles yet.

I wonder whether we could or no have a button like that on Viki to tell there is a problem of timing or subtitles for edited episodes.
(For that, Viki has to be informed that episodes are edited and edited for real.)

Another website:
They upload fan subtitles that were made by an Indonesian translator.
I enjoyed the movie, but it needed heavy edition (grammar, meaning, punctuation, conjugation). Probably the translator knows it, I think he did what he could with what he knows. The goal was to share and I thank the subber’s efforts despite mistakes.

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Each one’s knowledge and experience is not the same.
Free time neither and also investments that people are willing to make (look it up, ask, read).
There are people who will agree that it’s enough like that, it’s understandable and there are people who will want to look it up.

I don’t think it’s right or wrong, just that it’s depending on people’s opinion on what is fine for them.
When I see different editions done by different people on Viki, I can see that some English editors share the same vision I have when I edit in my language (same preference or same vision or same style?). But as I say, a preference doesn’t mean other options are wrong.

That’s why I think to subtitle and edit could be really personal and subjective. There is a canevas with a frame, but in the canevas, you still have some freedom despite the frame. Each one will paint something different if we ask them to draw a sun.

I think that it’s complicated to edit when we don’t know the original language. Like for Korean or Chinese, it’s complicated to pick a better word if we don’t know exactly the meaning. It’s like the topic about “making love,” “having sex,” there are subtle differences and when you’re confronted to it, I have to ask the TE and it’s a chance if the TE can explain.
So if the TE has good knowledge in the original language and the targeted language (sentence construction and vocabulary), it is really a chance.

I agree with the comment that people watch dramas not for the vocabulary (but it doesn’t mean that we should reduce the language to eat, sleep and walk), except if they use the learning mode.

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Yes, Sis would have been a decent alternative if the subber didn’t want to use Noona, but they literally translated it with Sissy which means something totally else.

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I’m not watching that drama on Netflix, I know NF has its own subbing rules. Although some people might not like that NF subs sometimes loose the local flavour, subbing rules are applied consequently from what I can tell.

  • knowledge (vocabulary)
  • ability (in picking words and making clear sentences: is this word/sentence appropriate with the scene)
  • time (to look it up in dictionary or to rephrase)
  • preference (for a word)

This is a good list to be aware of. Yes, it can take up a lot of time looking for the right definitions and also choosing the best option.

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I can’t bear watching VIKI with German subs in general - with few exceptions but I’m always watching shows (no matter what the origin language is; not only Asian languages) with German subs on Netflix and the quality there is higher because they are usually able to adjust the sentences to German language so it keeps the essence and don’t make you getting headache or make a diashow out of it because you have to stop it all the time… if you look on average German VIKI subs it is no fun to read because most don’t take advantage of the German language in a way to cut lines down to the essence to make it easy to watch and read at same time (usually an average German sub on VIKI keeps even the English grammar order of a sentence what makes it hard to follow while watching; another aspect is that it is not allowed to use <br between long lines because of technical issues for mobile users - the English teams are still using <br to keep sentences in the middle of the screen but German teams don’t use it unless it is a dialogue with different speakers). Of course good editors could fix that but! VIKI has tons of new shows/months, VIKI has many shows with 40+ episodes… you’d need ‘editing only’ volunteers but usually the German editors are also subbing so if the translation is ‘okay’ you can let it be as it is even though the quality is not on a level it could be if there were more editors/subbers (besides the amount of time you need to organize, sub, edit dramas with many, many episodes is quite high and at a certain point one has to decide how much time one spends for unpaid work + if it is better to offer a wide range of dramas in many languages or to offer less dramas for many languages but with highest possible editing level).

One argument used to be ‘but only VIKI translates lyrics’ well Netflix does this too now… so I disagree that the quality on Netflix is lower than on VIKI. The only aspect that is mostly still different are the additional translators notes that are interesting for certain topics/shows but don’t say anything about the general quality of the subtitles in a certain language.

PS:

This is a bit OT maybe but it could happen and I saw it in many different dramas that even after an episode was edited and released for all other languages it still had mistakes in the English subs, sometimes in a way that subbers either translated it - of course - wrong to their native language or that they were unable to understand the true meaning; not because their English was too bad but because the English version didn’t fit to the origin version/scene …
I also checked such aspects with subs on Netflix but I didn’t found this problem there.

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I don’t know which drama you’re talking about, there are lots of dramas with horses xd
:thinking: the Eternal Monarch with Lee Min Ho?

Oh no, let’s set aside the local aspect in subtitles.
I think in your message you were talking, not about the local aspect in subtitles (specific words or cultural words), but more about the lexicon and why we had differences in the wording between websites.

My explanation is going everywhere, I know. To sum it up, I think:
it depends on the person who translates and edits, the Chief Editor’s style and personality, and their own purpose.

  • If the subtitler has experience in horse riding or has read a book about it or learnt the expression and remembers it, he will use it.
  • If the subtitler is in the stage of learning a language (like the Indonesian fan subber toward Korean language), I won’t expect him to use a wide range of lexicon. His first concern won’t be to use a better word (a synonym for ex), his first concern would be to get the word right and make a sentence that has more or less some sense.
  • if it’s a professional subtitler or in a professional situation or company, I would have higher expectations. A work with very rare or 0 typo, grammar mistake, mistranslation and adequate wording with a wide lexicon. All the more reason if subtitling is his job, his specialization.

It’s expectations adapted to the context and the person in front of us.

Depending on each one’s level of knowledge and also time, each one will have a different purpose even if the global purpose is to subtitle it.

Each one has a goal or style in a team:

  • conveying the meaning correctly with fewer corrections possible.
    One editor’s concern could be that one so his priority will be to check the meaning and keep it, doing fewer corrections possible if the meaning is there. Synonyms won’t be his priority.

  • all words subtitled (small words like “very” or “Madam”).
    This type of editor will check every sentence carefully and add every detail, from small words to translation notes (money conversion, explaining the petals shape, the specificity of the working contract in this culture, etc.).
    In that style, I think the person would use synonyms.

  • a summary. Being concise.
    Being concise with a few words because of timing or because the editor prefers a short sentence over a long sentence because it’s easier to understand. In that style, I think the person would use synonyms (common or less common synonyms).

  • poetry and diversity: if the editor’s goal is not only to convey the meaning, but also convey poetry and make people learn more vocabulary through dramas, then the prerequisite is to have a very good level in the original and targeted languages + poetry => sensibility to arts.

But each profile has a risk: for ex, a summary could lack details. A poetry style or rephrasing a sentence could go out of the frame: the meaning has changed.

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That is why I think the style of a subtitler or editor is deeply linked to his own personal goal: what do I want to convey? Knowing what I want to convey and my ability + time, how can I convey it?

It’s also because of this diversity that it could be interesting to work with more than 1 editor and observe how they work, because each one could share the same focus or each one will focus on 1 different matter (for ex one cited above).
But different styles and personalities also could be the root of divergence and so potential fights?

That’s why either a collaboration can work, either it doesn’t work.

To tell the truth, I think the final version of subtitles most of the time is what the Chief Editor will decide. So in a sense, his style because either he changes it to his own style, either he doesn’t change it (he judges the subtitler’s or other editors’ style is fine: not changing it because it fits).

I think it depends on subber + editors + Chief editor’s styles (a combination):

  • If the style of the subtitler is already pretty good and he used different expressions or words + the Chief Editor judges it’s fine, most of the time, it will be the subtitler’s style we’re reading and sometimes, the editors and Chief Editor will add or correct subtitles.
    (When it’s the case, I guess the subtitler has the potential to be an editor himself.)

  • If the subtitler doesn’t use a wide range of vocabulary, different expressions or words, but the word is still correct and the Chief Editor guideline is to make fewer corrections (for diverse reasons like time, the same style…), then the subtitle will stay as it is, even if another word would have fit.

  • On the contrary, if editors and finally the Chief Editor judges a word fits better (being concise or a better word used in this context or a note), you’ll see the editors and Chief Editor’s edited subtitles.

That’s how I think we can have differences in wording or no.

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I don’t know which pages you are watching in general. I just added this example because American vs British is different even without subbing and sometimes people wrote here in the forums that the ‘English’ subs are wrong and use words, verbs in wrong context and were always told VIKI uses American English instead of British English.

Imo the wordwordly translation is a big problem here for having fun with reading the subs because it often makes sentences unneccessary long. For formal/informal speech… some dramas here have mixed addressing between two characters even within the same dialogue; in some Chinese dramas they switch from ni to nin and back; in some dramas even the emperors and kings are addressed with ni but of course with additional respectful titles. In English it doesn’t matter - they use you anyway - but for other languages it matters so usually German teams use a respectful addressing in the way it is written in German and not in the way it is spoken in Chinese.

I’d say deciding who addresses another person in which way is often the most difficult and complexe decision (would be easier if we’d translate it from subtitles of a language that makes this difference by default like French, German, etc. …)

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It can be confusing at times. In some Japanese shows, for example, some people are using polite forms even towards the person they sleep with.
We can of course look at the French, German, Finnish, Spanish, etc. translations while we’re translating to see if they used a polite form or not … But then there can still be the problem that one language might use it more often or in a slightly different way than others.

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I’ve to say that a direct translation of native speaker to target language feels often much more lively than origin language > English > other language. Even the editing is easier then because you just need to adjust little things for grammar instead of rewriting a sentence bc the meaning got lost.

One post was somehow about word to word translations. I’m not sure if I got it right and it was really about wordwordly translation but I’ve seen such subs in ‘other language’ and I had to re-translate the whole text because it was completely wrong and the real meaning gots completely lost so if that even happens with a translation from English to another European language I somehow doubt that wouldn’t happen if you translate wordwordly from an Asian language to English.

Japanese has also a complex and different addressing system compared to Europe. I don’t look at other languages on VIKI to see how they chose the addressing; I thought more about if we’d have another basic language as world language instead of English (you cannot know if e.g. a French translation is already edited/checked so I’d rather ask a native speaker for certain scenes than reading other languages subs :slight_smile: )

I think this decision is also a bit subjective as piranna mentioned… because for the addressing a team could also decide to adjust that on the target language’s audience to give a more natural feeling (otherwise most Chinese shows would have 90% use of ‘du’ between everyone because they usually say ni :rofl: but imagine if you watch a fantasy or historical and then the servants, warriors etc. say Hi, du Herrscher :rofl: but for modern stories you can use it, e.g. I watched synced scandinavian shows and 99% of the characters even when they aren’t friends said du to each other because it is usual in that country so the German synced script authors kept that - for historical stories, even when it is Chinese, they don’t they use formal Ihr then so I think the way it is handled by professional sync and sub studios is a good guidance).

I had a funny experience once with a friend who asked me to translate some short message from English to German and asked me to ‘keep’ the origin words. The thing was if I ‘kept’ the origin English words he wrote the meaning in German would have been completely different to what he wanted to say… In the end he wanted only 2 lines of the whole text because he only wanted to use the sentences that had almost the same words in both languages English and German… he didn’t think about it before that you cannot transfer something 1:1 from language A to language B but he was glad that I asked & explained it to him because otherwise he would have ‘said’ something he didn’t want to say (and that was just a relatively simple and short text; dialogues in many dramas are way more complex and often one needs the context to know/understand the meaning, especially in English with the same word for X different meanings; sometimes even opposite ones).

Oh and sorry for the trashy English wording, I’m too tired to write a proper English text right now :woozy_face:

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I have learned some simple tricks to decide this by myself.
In Korean shows, you already know it is formal when they are talking to elders, superiors at work, even youngish people older than themselves, to show respect. Children to adults, vendors to customers, anybody who addresses another with -nim or bows low when meeting them. What is different than Europe is that superiors address casually (tu, du) their subordinates. In Europe we speak formally to janitors, cleaning women and everybody generally, but in Korea the superiors take full advantage of their position.
Also, if there is a fight and people are insulting each other, they automatically switch to informal. For instance a policeman to a criminal: “I caught you, son of a b***!” would be in informal speech.
Then, open your ears and listen carefully for endings at the very end of the sentence (that’s where the word is).

  • mnida (mnikka for questions) : formal
  • yo: polite
  • nothing: casual

When in doubt, ask on Team Discussions, but with these you should be okay in most situations.

It’s true for Korean dramas as well.

In “Five Children”, the woman addressed her husband as “Team Leader Lee” even after marriage. And of course used a polite form of address (-yo).

In “Memory”, the husband uses informal speech and his wife formal towards him. Same with the ex wife, although he was a mere lawyer and she was a judge.

In “Encounter” the couple switched to casual speech only at the very last scene of the very last episode, when they were married.

The children all use polite speech (not formal, but polite) with their parents, and sometimes formal with the grandparents (or just polite with the “keso” honorifics).

In “I’ll Go To You When The Weather Is Nice” we see a senior high-schooler scolding his schoolmate, who is one year younger, because she doesn’t use formal style with him, being her sunbae.

All this would have been absurd in Italian, so I just put informal style for the two students, for the husband and wife pairs.

I have made a rule for myself and my teams. It’s completely arbitrary, but it saves me from sleepless nights thinking about it.
My rule is: Once two people kiss (not accidental or drunken kiss) and it’s understood that they are a couple, I make them transition to informal speech. And that’s it.

What’s tough is, of course, if there is a scene discussing the issue (like the two high-schoolers in I’ll Go To You), and you’re caught red-handed for not translating precisely all this time.
For instance, in “Five Children”, at some point the man says “When are you going to stop calling me Team Leader”?
And then you, the translator-editor, are in deep shit, my friend! You have to find a way around it.

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Let me come back to culture-bound terms, because I think this is the main difference between Viki and other translations.

The nine strategies of translation according to Mailhac

  • cultural borrowing (using a term untranslated, ex. oppa)
  • literal translation (translating without explaining, ex. older brother)
  • definition (put the explanation instead of the word. For instance: The Mills and Boons section of the library ==>“La section des livres romantiques”)
  • cultural substitution (substitute with something that makes sense in the culture of the reader or viewer) Ad esempio: mandu => ravioli, kimtchi=>sauerkraut
  • lexical creation (create a corresponding word)
  • deliberate omission (avoid the problem word)
  • compensation* (add some info that will make it clearer)
  • combination of procedures
  • footnote (you know that one, we do it often here)

About compensation:
Compensation is probably the best concept to account for the way in which certain cultural false friends have to be rendered. Thus the term Europe, in British English, does not usually correspond to l’Europe but to le reste de l’Europe, since, in most cases, it tends to exclude the British Isles. In a similar vein, the French will use the word anglais loosely with the meaning of British, and sometimes the English can be guilty of the same sort of improper use with the term English, which may call for a rectification when translating.
Ex. We walked to Sainsbury’s. (Sue Townsend, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole) ==>; Translation: On est allés faire des courses à Sainsbury. What “faire des courses” does is compensate for the unavailability of adequate shared cultural information by providing a clue to the target reader.

Jean-Pierre Mailhac: The Formulation of Translation Strategies for Cultural References (1996), (in C. Hoffmann (ed) Language, Culture and Communication in Contemporary Europe, Clevedon, Philadelphia and Adelaide: Multilingual Matters, 132-151)

Coulthard underlines the important of knowing who the target audience is.
For instance, if you were to translate subtitles for TV viewing, you would definitely have to make them shorter, because there’s no time to read long ones and no possibility to go back if you missed something. But people on Viki can have the luxury of stopping if needs be (although it can be bothersome). And also Viki viewers hang out here because they love Asian culture, they are not casual viewers who just happened to watch an Asian series. Therefore they are thirsty for info and love the cultural notes. The public of Netflix is much more diverse, they may watch Asian series once in a while, among many others.

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I might have misunderstood the topic XD

I thought she was asking how come she has to look up in the dictionary for English expressions such as “mounting a horse” or “astride” and “tantamount” more often on the other website than on Viki.

In short:

  • why we don’t meet these English expressions on Viki?
  • she infered, maybe it’s because the English subtitles are too simplified on Viki? Let’s ask English natives.

It’s a comparison (I think) between the use of some words (pure English words focus):
Ride a horse (Viki) / mount a horse (the other website).
Equivalent to sth (Viki) / tantamount to sth (the other website)

And the conversation turned toward:

  • synonyms use and vocabulary of the translator and editor.
  • Another lead: could be because of time,
  • guidelines of one lambda team
  • the style and preferences of the one who decides (Chief editor).

In short, how it is organized on Viki in general and specificity for each team.
I think that in general, if the subber’s translation is correct, the general guideline I saw on Viki is keep it (ride a horse over mount a horse). So yup, the vocabulary of the translator first.
Then the editor: his vocabulary and his own guideline.

Typically: I wouldn’t have edited ride or mount a horse. Or tantamount to or equivalent to.
Both are correct for me.
Just it depends on what the translator has picked first.

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I think the title is wide, but reading the first post, I have understood that it focused on 1 particular aspect of English subtitles.

But everything you said enters the topic’s title: comparison of English subs between Viki and other websites. It’s always interesting to have this type of conversation and I understand when we want to develop more other aspects because it is an interesting topic (and a wide subject). Plus others add their own experiences, so I like this type of exchanges.

:thinking: I just think also at what you previously said somewhere else: subbing a drama could give a false feeling of security to a new subtitler when he has only subbed fantasy romance dramas or romcom with easy vocabulary and simple sentences. The script and the format.

I often have this false sense of security and I have realized it when I’ve read books written in English. One page of a book could make me look up words and expressions in the dictionary, more often than on a romance drama. And that’s also the reason why I added that viewers are not really there for the vocabulary. Dramas are good to learn vocabulary and practice everyday expressions (not talking about legal or medical dramas), but there are some limits (due to the format, the script and the translator’s own vocabulary and the goal of the team) and I can only encounter some expressions or new expressions in books to have more vocabulary.

That is why I understood what she felt.

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Doesn’t mount a horse just refer to the process of getting on the horse, i.e. something you have to do in order to be able to ride it?

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