Norwegians read around 1,400 novel pages a year, on screen. This means that translated TV subtitling is among the most read literature in Norway. So why do the streaming services have so many errors in the Norwegian translations of films and TV series? Here are some examples of bad translations: “Go for launch.” “Go to lunch.” (Apollo 13) “You will be invincible.” “You will become invisible. » (Star Wars – Attack of the clones) «Fuck off, shiner.» “Go to hell, skin guy” (Blade Runner 2049) “Oh my God, there’s nothing left!” “My God, there’s nothing to the left!” (Independence Day) “Yippie ki-yay, motherfucker!” “Hip hooray, club face!” (Die Hard) «I don’t think you have the balls for this.» “I don’t think you have enough trunk power for this.” (Tomorrow Never Dies) – At the same time as the volume of assignments has increased, delivery deadlines have often become shorter. Series and films are often released shortly after they were launched in the US. Nevertheless, fee levels have largely stagnated, with some agencies they have also decreased, says Morten Gottschalk. He is chairman of the board of the Norwegian Audiovisual Translators Association and has subtitled several of the major TV series on HBO. Now he works faster than he is comfortable with. WRONG: A Norwegian Twitter user discovered this translation on one of the most popular streaming services. Photo: Twitter Gottschalk and Navio are in ongoing contact with the Language Council about the problems in the Norwegian translation industry. – What is new now is the large amount. There are an incredible number of TV series and films to be translated into Norwegian, says Lars Ivar Nordal, head of section at the Language Council. And as we all know: – A bad translation can totally ruin a TV series or a film, says Nordal. The machines have arrived In 2020, the everyday working life of many Norwegian TV translators changed, perhaps forever. Then the international text agency Iyuno decided to use machine translation. Iyuno is Norway’s largest employer of translators. Before, it was the TV subtitlers who formulated the text you see on the screen. Now it is increasingly often a machine that has made the choices, and a texter who has to check whether the machine has guessed correctly. The company expects the translators to spend 30 percent less time on their work when doing machine translations. But after several years of use, the texters are fed up. The work does not go any faster, and the salary has in practice been reduced by 30 per cent. In addition, it is difficult to get a comprehensive translation, when the job only consists of checking whether the machine has translated correctly. – The machine translations that have been introduced in recent years do not take compression into account. They basically translate the script. The texter then has to compress and reformulate himself, and thus the labor savings are minimal, says Gottschalk in Navio. Many translators have chosen to discard the tool altogether. CHILDREN’S PROGRAM: The children’s series ANT Farm ran into trouble after using automatic translations almost a decade ago. The series had to be pulled from Netflix after the error was discovered. Photo: Screenshot: Netflix In addition to the time pressure, the translators feel neglected by the streaming services, channels and agencies they work for. – There is a difference in how much the individual streaming services, agencies and channels care about quality and whether they offer any follow-up or proofreading at all. This has a lot to say for the final product, says Gottschalk. Netflix not satisfied You might think that the problem of translations into Norwegian is extra difficult, since we are a small language in a large TV world. But the problem is just as big in the big languages too. Not even Netflix itself is satisfied with the subtitles they provide. – In general, we think our subtitles and dubbing are good, but not very good. So we are constantly working to improve them, says a spokesperson for Netflix to the Hollywood Reporter. Extra-vulnerable humor Jon Iver Helgaker is producer and screenwriter for the hit series Vikingane, which has peculiarly Norwegian language jokes and internal humor that is difficult to translate. HUMOR: The Norwegian comedy series Vikingane has been seen by many people who do not speak Norwegian. Does the rest of the world get all the jokes? Photo: Viafilm / news – Humor is vulnerable and dependent on nuances to work. After all, we spend a lot of time writing dialogue. So then we hope that the translators also understand and familiarize themselves with the whole of the dialogue, so that they choose the right synonyms, jargon and expressions that are specific to the various characters, he says to news. The Language Council tells news that they do not have a mandate to do anything about the poor translations, but that they are watching with concern. – We have had contact with Navio for several years. We know the problems they experience, with increasing price and time pressure. The quality of the text and translation is important, and it would be a shame if the quality were to deteriorate. news has been in contact with Iyuno Media Group for several weeks. They do not wish to comment on the matter.
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