Fun with Subtitles: Difference between revisions

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[[Running Gag|(åÿnd zë mãjestík møøse.)]]

** How to best explain it... The episode starts with the flying words in space, ala [[Star Wars]]. The words are in English, but it's a Japanese series so they provide a Japanese translation at the side, and the narrator also speaks out the Japanese translation. If you watch it in the original Japanese or the English dub, that's it. But watch it with English subs, and you'll get not only the original English text, but also a translation of the Japanese translation written on the side of the screen, and a translation of the narrator's reading of the translation. All of this results in the screen being full of text, with three different English versions, each with subtle differences.

* ''[[Monty Python and The Holy Grail]]'', which inspired the writing of this trope: the opening credits are in English, with subtitles in a faux-Scandinavian language. Eventually the subtitles transform from fairly decent [[As Long as It Sounds Foreign]] to a weird ramble about Sweden and a moose biting someone's sister--clearly in English, but with a few spelling eccentricities to retain the Scandinavian edge.

* ''[[Snatch]]'' had Mikey the Pikey, who spoke English with a very thick accent. An extra on the DVD has Mikey subtitled; the subtitles once read "[[Even the Subtitler Is Stumped|?????????]]".

* ''[[The Man With Two Brains]]'' jokes goes [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0MXU3J6Qbs like this]: The character is arrested, and the policeman addresses him in subtitled German. When he is answered in English, he exclaims "Oh, you speak English!" before telling his associate to drop the subtitles.

* ''[[George of the Jungle]]'': when George is speaking "gorilla" to his ape friends. Normally George has about as basic a vocabulary and grammar rules as anybody, but apparently he speaks gorilla like a [[Shakespeare|Shakespearean]] scholar, complete with a calligraphy-style font for the subtitles.

* In ''[[Wayne's World]]'', there are subtitles when Wayne speaks Cantonese. However, at one point he stops talking, and the subtitles keep coming. The actors sit there in silence, looking slightly bored, while this goes on.

* The Bilingual (French/English) movie ''[[Bon Cop, Bad Cop]]'' the two main characters switch back and forth between French and English. In the "English" version, only when they're speaking French do subtitles appear, translating the dialog into English (and the reverse happens in the so-called french version of the movie). It is also possible to display the entire movie with English or French subtitles, or to have each language subtitled only in itself. David, the Quebecois cop, assuming that his Ontario counterpart, Martin, only understands English, makes snarky remarks about him in French.

* ''[[Crank]]'': two men having a conversation where one was subtitled. When the camera cut to the other's perspective, the subtitles could be seen floating in the air back to front. Hard to explain. Just watch it.

* One of the major appeals of the subtitled version of ''[[Night Watch]]'' is the use of subtitles. The subtitles for a vampire's psychic lure turn red and dissipate like blood in water, text read off a computer is typed out (complete with cursor), a woman's shout takes up a good bottom sixth of the screen.

** The old ''SNL'' sketch with Eddie Murphy as Buckwheat advertising his music album. Because of his ... idiosyncratic pronunciation, every song is pretty much unintelligible. But when he starts singing "Bette Davis Eyes," the subtitles which have up to that point been giving the names of the songs default to "?[[Even the Subtitler Is Stumped|?????????]]"

* The ''[[Look Around You]]'' DVD subtitles are designed to look like classic Ceefax ones. In the extras, one of the special features has deliberately corrupted subtitles, similar to what you would see if your TV reception was poor.

* CNX once did an ad for some sort of contest in which what the narrator said was subtitled, with one exception -- when the narrator said "brave contestants", the subtitles read 'crazy fools'.

* Frequently on ''[[Viva La Bam]]'', Don Vito's near-unintelligible speech is subtitled exactly how it's pronounced, which possibly makes how he talks even more confusing.

** The season three opener, "The Jailhouse Job," subtitles the apartment above McRory's as "Nate's Apartment" but quickly deletes it and replaces it with "Leverage HQ."

* In ''[[Survivor]]'', they had fun with Phillip where he said he was a former federal agent, but nobody really believed him. For the entire season, his occupation was "Former Federal Agent?"

** When Britney was tethered to Brendon, they were both sitting in the diary room while Brendon described another punishment he took, wherein he was taking a bath in chum. Britney looks at the camera and mouths the words, "Help me" and they subtitled her.

* ''[[The Goon Show]]'': a Nazi officer says "Speak English, you fool! Zere are no subtitles in zis scene!" Um, well of course not, it's [[Radio]]...

* In ''[[Quest for Glory]] 4'' there is a group of inn patrons whose voice actors improv much of their dialogue, despite what the text reads. At one point, the written dialogue says "No one goes out at night", and the voiceover adds "except my girlfriend, but she's working."

** Or on Elephants, one of the men claimed [[Crowning Moment of Funny|that his wife was one of the elephants that ran away]]

** It became a running gag in one episode where ''numerous'' banners would block his subtitles. This made everyone he talked to, ''including Ling-Ling's own father'', stare at the bottom of the screen in utter confusion since they could no longer understand what he was talking about.

** Another episode has two Brazilian men jumping out of a crashing plane and cursing at each other as they parachute to the ground. The subtitles are in Korean.

* BBC News tends to add subtitles to thickly-accented or dialectic English speakers, even if they are otherwise intelligible.

** This was used as a gag in a comedy skit where a female British reporter was interviewing a terrorist who stopped mid-interview when he saw subtitles and became angry that he was being subtitled. It gets funnier when his partner talks with just as much accent, doesn't get subtitles and he storms off...still being subtitled.