TV Subtitles are rubbish and misleading

GemJar_2

missesther wrote: »

One of my favourite subtitling moments came when I was watching "Border Force" (or something similar) and they'd caught three people for drug trafficking or something and the officer was repeating their names and the last names were bleeped out, except the subtitles kept it in! In which case - I know who you are, you drug traffickers, you!! And anyone else watching with subtitles.

Wish Lovefilm's online streaming did subtitles, I can never hear when I'm drying my hair and watching.

Didn't see this before I posted my last comment, this was the same thing I was watching!

ivylinn

Lorraine on itv has come up with a few odd ones.

colonel gaddafi was surrounded by spores.
A poop pie was being made in the kitchen.

:rotfl:

delain

I have found the subtitles quite good, at one point I had 3 toddlers so no chance of hearing the tv!

Someone (cant remember who now!) gave the girls a pirate version of shark tale once... It was in English with subs, the subs were quite clearly written by someone who had no grasp of the language, the words 'elephant' and 'f*#@' :eek: cropped up repeatedly, niether word being needed in a kids film about fish :think: it went in the bin after first watch!

blossomhill_2

Thanks for all your replies folks - I for one am not glad they are there regardless, that's like saying it's good to have an accessible bus even if it takes you to the wrong destination! I think the companies are paying lipservice to providing a service for impaired users and could and should do better

munchpot

blossomhill wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies folks - I for one am not glad they are there regardless, that's like saying it's good to have an accessible bus even if it takes you to the wrong destination! I think the companies are paying lipservice to providing a service for impaired users and could and should do better

Think you should name and shame them.
There are some companies that provide well over their requirements and yes sometimes mistakes are made. This is often because they want to provide a wide and avried selection of programmes for hearing impaired viewers.

There are some channels that only make their targets by showing repeats of the same subtitled programmes.

Have you thought about contacting the broadcasters you're not happy with and talking about their Access Services?

Unintentional

augustsmummy wrote: »

The best error I saw was the designer Gucci being written as "goo shay". This was on a replay in the early hours.

My personal favourite was on sky sports. Where apparently Chelsea 'bombed' Wigan instead of beating them.

chewynut

I can't speak for all deaf people but I find it easier to read inaccurate subtitles and fill in the gaps for myself, than attempt to watch a show without subtitles. It's easier to fill in gaps than work out what people are saying. No offence to Americans but their shows seem to be the worst for mumbling actors speaking very quickly. What even happens on Warehouse 13 anyway?

The SyFy network does my head in. They have shows I love like Buffy and Smallville but if there are subtitles available, I can't find them anywhere. Are deaf people not allowed to like sci-fi or something?

wellused

I remember watching an episode of the Irish series Ballykissangel where one of the characters named Padraig was written as Porridge.

OneYorkshireLass

chewynut wrote: »

The SyFy network does my head in. They have shows I love like Buffy and Smallville but if there are subtitles available, I can't find them anywhere. Are deaf people not allowed to like sci-fi or something?

There are a large number of TV channels where none of the shows have subtitles so I can't watch them (mainly American-based). I like fly-on-the-wall documentaries and it is virtually impossible to follow these as the sound levels vary wildly and accents are difficult to follow.

What's even more annoying is you're into a programme and the subtitles disappear half way through or they're out of sync.

I watched my local news with the sound turned down yesterday lunchtime and could not make head nor tail of what was going on. It's impossible to grasp the story when one in three words is completely wrong.
On the main news yesterday the Bahrain Grand Prix kept coming out as the Bahrain grumpy, on the morning news, the lunchtime news and the teatime!

wellused

"Bahrain grumpy" quite apt considering?;)