Anyone who’s seen enough foreign films is bound to have noticed typos, punctuation gaffes and head-scratching translation choices. So why exactly is sub-par subtitling so common? What is it about the process that leads to such clumsy work?
Elbows on the table and forehead scrunched, Goldmacher – leaning over for emphasis and dramatically lowering his sandpaper voice – says, “People who thought they were living the American dream are now seeing that it’s becoming a nightmare. And the question is: What will they do about it?”
“If you listen to a song on the radio – a rock song or whatever – it could just be an overwhelming amount of ‘This song is very sad,’” says Alam. “But if you listen to Indian music, it seems to me like it goes in and out of feeling sad. There’s joy, there’s sadness, there’s pathos, there’s heroism, there’s devotion, detachment, wonder.”
