Comedy of errors in subtitling

KUALA LUMPUR: Anticipating a suspenseful evening in front of the big screen, ardent fans of the latest thriller waited for the “murderer in an ice hockey mask” to start slashing and killing partying teenagers.

However, some 15 minutes into the movie, there were sniggers among the audience, which later erupted into guffaws.

The reason?

“Serial killer” was subtitled as “pembunuh bijirin” (cereal killer) in Bahasa Malaysia.

In another cops-and-robbers movie shown on TV, during a shootout scene, “fire” was subtitled “api”. And when a man kissed his daughter and told her, “Goodnight, cutie pie”, the subtitles read, “Selamat malam, kuih manis.”

Such scenarios have placed translators of subtitles in a bad light.

However, according to Universiti Sains Malaysia lecturer Dr Hasuria Che Omar, audiovisual translation in the country has improved in recent times.

“It was quite bad many years ago due to factors like hiring untrained and inexperienced subtitlists. Some of the subtitlists did not really understand and had no knowledge in the target language,” said Dr Hasuria, the Human Sciences Studies head for Bahasa Malaysia and Interpretation Programme.

There were also phrases in the figurative form and these had posed problems, as they could not be translated directly, she said.

Dr Hasuria said this was where the subtitlist’s experience and skills came into play, to relay the right message to the audience.

She commended RTM and TV3 for bringing about improvements in the field of subtitling.

“They may have trained in-house staff or hired those who are really qualified to translate.”

However, the quality of subtitles on the big screen has yet to reach the desired stage, said Dr Hasuria, who authored Penterjemahan Audiovisual Televisyen (Audiovisual Television Translation).

She said that apart from making the TV programmes “more interesting”, subtitling also improved the language skills of viewers.

Translating was not an easy task, she said, and not everyone could provide good translation, despite knowing more than one language.

“Good subtitling is supported by, among others, the subtitlist's intellectual level, skills, general knowledge and familiarity with other cultures,” she said.

To boost the quality of subtitles translation in the country, TV stations, post-production firms, film producers, distributors and advertising and communication firms should play the role of language protectors, she said.

This would maintain their credibility.

However, there were TV stations which hired unqualified translators and the results were usually disastrous, she said.

She said there were also calls for professionals to be involved in the translation of subtitles, especially in relation to technical terms, and added that degree holders and those with a high education should also join the industry.

Dr Hasuria, who is also course programme director of the Malaysian Translators Association, said the association was willing to offer short-term courses and workshops on subtitles translation to TV stations and other companies.

Among the courses already being held were translating and editing subtitles, she said.

She said Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka had also offered incentives and prizes for television subtitlists. – Bernama

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