Entertainment Translation Services

Most of the time, subtitles are limited to two lines of text. Media giants such as Netflix have strict guidelines requiring that each line does not exceed 42 characters, with the reading speed not exceeding 17 characters per second for adult programs and 13 characters for children’s programs.

This can be particularly difficult when factoring in the nature of the source and target languages. The subtitle length may expand up to 40% when translating content from English into most European languages. As a result, subtitlers likely have to reduce the length by omitting some elements.

Such a strategy further raises the question of which elements must be translated and which could be condensed or removed to save space. Generally, elements that are important to the plot should be maintained. But in reality, this is left to the discretion of each subtitler.

People have their own way of using vocabulary and grammar when communicating with each other. Such distinctive communication styles and speech patterns are important forms of personal expression. In entertainment media, how a person speaks is often used to express their unique personality, upbringing, and motivations.
Unfortunately, transferring these linguistic subtleties into another language is not an easy task. To comply with time and space restrictions, translated subtitles may lose some shades of meaning, which inadvertently causes plot holes.
For example, in the movie Donnie Brasco, the main character, Joe Pistone, was an FBI agent who had to pretend to be a criminal in order to take down a mafia group.
When asked what he was running from, Joe said: “I ain’t running from nothin”– definitely not how an educated FBI agent from a middle-upper class background should talk.

The scene took place during his conversation with his wife and their marriage counselor. He did not have any reason to use this type of speaking, yet he did it unconsciously, to the dismay of his wife. This is important to the plot as it shows how Joe was starting to adopt the way mobsters spoke, losing himself in the process of his mission.
The Chinese subtitle for this line simply says “我没逃避什么”,which means I’m not running away from anything. Despite being a correct translation, the Chinese subtitle uses proper language and thus, cannot convey the implications of the source text.

Cultural elements such as local customs, events, or famous figures of one culture may not be widely known in other cultures. In this case, the translators need to either provide explanations or adapt the references in a way that makes sense to the viewers.
For example, in the American comedy-drama series M*A*S*H, Colonel Flagg, a US Army intelligence officer, was explaining how he trained himself to refrain from laughing:
“I watched a hundred hours of The Three Stooges. Every time I felt like smiling, I jabbed myself in the stomach with a cattle prod.”
When translated into Danish, the subtitle says:
“Jeg sa˚ Gøg og Gokke film i 100 timer.”
This essentially means “I watch Laurel and Hardy for 100 hours.”
The reference to The Three Stooges was changed to Laurel and Hardy. While The Three Stooges was a famous comedy group in the US, they were not known in Scandinavia. Therefore, the Scandinavian audience would not know why watching The Three Stooges helped the character with his anti-laughing training.
The Danish subtitler made an ingenious change, replacing The Three Stooges with Laurel and Hardy, a comedy duo from the same time as The Three Stooges but well known in Scandinavia during the time the series M*A*S*H was set in. Thanks to this adaptation, the subtitle became relevant to its audience.