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Language Learning with Netflix extension

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41–50 of 146 posts

Re: Language Learning with Netflix extension

#43

In practice, the foreign subtitles do not line up with the foreign words as well as the native subtitles line up with the native words. It took me years to figure out why this was. In a conversation I had with someone who knew the business, the new language subtitles don't line up with the new language audio because the new language subtitles are translated from the original language subtitles, not the new language a…

This can reveal some interesting insights into how the film was made. I often notice extra lines that got edited out to make the scene more concise. Sometimes the director changes a whole shot.

Re: Language Learning with Netflix extension

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still can't get my head around how user hostile they made this. I mean, why? I understand showing the most likely languages on top, but why hide content that's available? I have bilingual kids (Dutch and Danish, living in NL) and the amount of setup we have to do each week to get and keep Danish audio for cartoons on Netflix is pretty nuts.

Not sure, but maybe the subtitle tracks have different licensing?

It's available, you just need to jump through undocumented hoops to get it. I know not to underrate the media industry on this stuff, but I doubt they have licensing that says "make available but only through shitty UX".

Re: Language Learning with Netflix extension

#45
post #42

This is nice, but all I really want is the ability to nicely see both English and German subtitles simultaneously. This is overkill for me and requires me to use chrome. Is anyone aware of a better solution for me?

    mpv --sid=auto --secondary-sid=auto --sub-pos=95  --slang de,en movie.mkv
Same works for youtube URLs. If it doesn't work, changing "de,en" to "en,de" may help.

Re: Language Learning with Netflix extension

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure, but maybe the subtitle tracks have different licensing?

Wouldnt they need to check this based on location, and not on user interface language though?

Shouldn't they just ask the user what their preferred languages are?

Re: Language Learning with Netflix extension

#47

In practice, the foreign subtitles do not line up with the foreign words as well as the native subtitles line up with the native words. It took me years to figure out why this was. In a conversation I had with someone who knew the business, the new language subtitles don't line up with the new language audio because the new language subtitles are translated from the original language subtitles, not the new language a…

But why are the original language subtitles not accurate ? and I am referring even to "simple" local TV series that didn't undergo several rounds of editing.

As part of my Swedish learning I watch a lot of Swedish shows with Swedish subtitles, there are always discrepancies

Re: Language Learning with Netflix extension

#48

In practice, the foreign subtitles do not line up with the foreign words as well as the native subtitles line up with the native words. It took me years to figure out why this was. In a conversation I had with someone who knew the business, the new language subtitles don't line up with the new language audio because the new language subtitles are translated from the original language subtitles, not the new language a…

There's practical reason too. Translations made for overdubbing are designed to roughly take the same amount of time to say, and ideally to carry the punch in the same part of the sentence (so it fits with when the actor makes the corresponding funny face). This is not always trivial, to the point that sometimes translators change the meaning entirely (especially with eg comedy - entire jokes are reinvented because they were untranslateable so they just put a different joke in).

Subtitles are translated with brevity and ease of reading in mind. Translators typically take more freedom with nuances and emotion because, well, you're hearing the actor say it out loud in the original language and that's where you get the emotion from. So it's ok if the subtitle has it in a different order / different "punch", etc.

I'm also pretty sure that translated subtitles have as their primary target audience people watching the movie with the original audio. Taking the two step process of going from the source audio, to translated audio, to subtitles seems like a needless detour for that (both organizationally, but also qualitatively).

Re: Language Learning with Netflix extension

#49

In practice, the foreign subtitles do not line up with the foreign words as well as the native subtitles line up with the native words. It took me years to figure out why this was. In a conversation I had with someone who knew the business, the new language subtitles don't line up with the new language audio because the new language subtitles are translated from the original language subtitles, not the new language a…

That would be extremely frustrating. Due to certain sensory issues, when possible I often have the (English) subtitles displayed while watching a show, as I'll otherwise just miss the odd word or phrase.

If the subtitles do not exactly match the dialogue, it is very frustrating. This happened a lot with some older shows I have the DVDs of, where the subtitles are... abridged versions of what is spoken. Impossible to use really unless you are stone deaf.

Re: Language Learning with Netflix extension

#50

In practice, the foreign subtitles do not line up with the foreign words as well as the native subtitles line up with the native words. It took me years to figure out why this was. In a conversation I had with someone who knew the business, the new language subtitles don't line up with the new language audio because the new language subtitles are translated from the original language subtitles, not the new language a…

"Maybe it's a drill." Said stormtrooper, when Luke and Leia hid and siren was on background.

Finnish translation was originally a physical object drill, and not drill as a practice .

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