But I don't speak a second langaue well enough to tell the difference.

Although I do think I've encountered this with foreign movies, where the english dub and english subtitles don't always match...

Slumdog Millionaire was bad enough without the English subtitles (which didn't even match).

But The Dark Knight in French.. wonder if there's an option on the DVD.

Slumdog Millionaire was bad enough without the English subtitles (which didn't even match).

 

But The Dark Knight in French.. wonder if there's an option on the DVD.

'Tis a fairly significant and popular film, and it's always those which get the foreign audio and subtitles.

Also, on many DVDs I come across, even the English audio doesn't match up with the English subtitles.

Yeah, they do it all the time. Usually they translate puns differently in the dialogue than in the subtitles. Not that I care, I always watch movies in their original English.

Oh, and as of yet, my DVD only lets me play the movie. No menu whatsoever.

EDIT: It's funny, only the English language lacks a menu, as if they didn't expect anyone in Spain and Portugal to want the extra content in that language.

I really have to wonder the logic behind this. They pay a guy to translate the script into French and Spanish so that they can hire new voice actors to dub the movie. Then they pay another guy to translate what the subtitles say rather than transcribe what the first guy actually wrote. Call me crazy, but this sounds like a ridiculous waste of time and money. I mean, how hard is it to put stuff into a movie THAT YOU'VE ALREADY WRITTEN?! Like is there some point down the line where they realize "oh wait, we totally already got a guy to translate the script." "Well, should we just fire the guy translating the subtitles?" "Nah, he's almost done anyway."

Most likely it's because the guy who added the subtitles didn't have access to the script spoken in the audio. Keep in mind that making a dub takes a lot longer than simply translating a written text.

Maybe both translations really did come from the same source material, but it was the actor(s) that decided to add minor changes, in order to add more "life" to their characters. Sometimes there's also a problem with the timing - if a character moves its mouth for two seconds, which is just fine for the English dub, the French or Spanish equivalent of the same line may be harder to say within that time limit. So if the script translation had the line "that's really awesome, man", the actor might find it easier to simply say "awesome, dude".

I really have to wonder the logic behind this. They pay a guy to translate the script into French and Spanish so that they can hire new voice actors to dub the movie. Then they pay another guy to translate what the subtitles say rather than transcribe what the first guy actually wrote. Call me crazy, but this sounds like a ridiculous waste of time and money. I mean, how hard is it to put stuff into a movie THAT YOU'VE ALREADY WRITTEN?! Like is there some point down the line where they realize "oh wait, we totally already got a guy to translate the script." "Well, should we just fire the guy translating the subtitles?" "Nah, he's almost done anyway."

Most likely it's because the guy who added the subtitles didn't have access to the script spoken in the audio. Keep in mind that making a dub takes a lot longer than simply translating a written text.

 

Maybe both translations really did come from the same source material, but it was the actor(s) that decided to add minor changes, in order to add more "life" to their characters. Sometimes there's also a problem with the timing - if a character moves its mouth for two seconds, which is just fine for the English dub, the French or Spanish equivalent of the same line may be harder to say within that time limit. So if the script translation had the line "that's really awesome, man", the actor might find it easier to simply say "awesome, dude".

Well then why not transcribe that rather than make an inferior product? It's these little corner cuts that just make no sense to me.

I really have to wonder the logic behind this. They pay a guy to translate the script into French and Spanish so that they can hire new voice actors to dub the movie. Then they pay another guy to translate what the subtitles say rather than transcribe what the first guy actually wrote. Call me crazy, but this sounds like a ridiculous waste of time and money. I mean, how hard is it to put stuff into a movie THAT YOU'VE ALREADY WRITTEN?! Like is there some point down the line where they realize "oh wait, we totally already got a guy to translate the script." "Well, should we just fire the guy translating the subtitles?" "Nah, he's almost done anyway."

Most likely it's because the guy who added the subtitles didn't have access to the script spoken in the audio. Keep in mind that making a dub takes a lot longer than simply translating a written text.

 

Maybe both translations really did come from the same source material, but it was the actor(s) that decided to add minor changes, in order to add more "life" to their characters. Sometimes there's also a problem with the timing - if a character moves its mouth for two seconds, which is just fine for the English dub, the French or Spanish equivalent of the same line may be harder to say within that time limit. So if the script translation had the line "that's really awesome, man", the actor might find it easier to simply say "awesome, dude".

Well then why not transcribe that rather than make an inferior product? It's these little corner cuts that just make no sense to me.

Because it takes a lot more time and effort for something that isn't really worth it?

Well then why not transcribe that rather than make an inferior product? It's these little corner cuts that just make no sense to me.

Oh come on, first you were complaining that they were wasting money by hiring two separate factors, and now you're saying their cutting corners by not having the two sides working closer together with each other. BE CONSISTANT MAN!

What I've found is thus -

Spanish audio = Win.

French audio = Sucks (mainly due to Kiina >_<)

I really have to wonder the logic behind this. They pay a guy to translate the script into French and Spanish so that they can hire new voice actors to dub the movie. Then they pay another guy to translate what the subtitles say rather than transcribe what the first guy actually wrote. Call me crazy, but this sounds like a ridiculous waste of time and money. I mean, how hard is it to put stuff into a movie THAT YOU'VE ALREADY WRITTEN?! Like is there some point down the line where they realize "oh wait, we totally already got a guy to translate the script." "Well, should we just fire the guy translating the subtitles?" "Nah, he's almost done anyway."

Most likely it's because the guy who added the subtitles didn't have access to the script spoken in the audio. Keep in mind that making a dub takes a lot longer than simply translating a written text.

 

Maybe both translations really did come from the same source material, but it was the actor(s) that decided to add minor changes, in order to add more "life" to their characters. Sometimes there's also a problem with the timing - if a character moves its mouth for two seconds, which is just fine for the English dub, the French or Spanish equivalent of the same line may be harder to say within that time limit. So if the script translation had the line "that's really awesome, man", the actor might find it easier to simply say "awesome, dude".

Well then why not transcribe that rather than make an inferior product? It's these little corner cuts that just make no sense to me.

What if you want to hear the English audio with the Spanish/French subtitles, or vice-versa?

Anyway, always watch movies in their original language if you can. Very, very rarely some joke becomes better in the translation.

What if you want to hear the English audio with the Spanish/French subtitles, or vice-versa?

 

Anyway, always watch movies in their original language if you can. Very, very rarely some joke becomes better in the translation.

Well the changes they make to the dub should be similar enough to the film that you can get by with using the subtitles for what they say in the dub. All I'm asking is for a universal translation, not two altered ones.