Subtitle Questions

[Carol the Dabbler]

There have been several comments lately on various threads questioning the accuracy of the Sherlock episode subtitles -- so it's about time those discussion had a home!

 

But first let me say that I love having the subtitles because they are usually very helpful.  But hey, nobody's perfect. 

 

 

[Bekah1218]

I've noticed that the subtitles on Netflix are often wrong- it seems whoever is doing the subtitles doesn't understand British English. when we had the episodes for the first 2 seasonson Amazon, they were almost always correct. Did anyone else notice this difference? 

~joan

[Carol the Dabbler]

I'm not signed up for Netflix, Joan, but I have seen some consistently awful subtitles -- though fortunately not on Sherlock.  Maybe Amazon's downloads use the official subtitles (same as on the DVDs), but Netflix does their own for some reason?

 

We're watching "Sign of Three" again, and I finally wrote down one of the worst subtitle goofs, one of  Sally's lines when she and Greg are entering the bank:

 

Davis, Wells and Christie are heading up.  Armed Response aren't mucking around.

 

... whereas I've always heard "... heading up Armed Response on Mafeking Road."  (And I don't even live on that side of the Atlantic!)

 

Ariane DeVere more or less agrees with me this time:

 

Davies, Willard and Christie are heading up our Response on Mafeking Road.

 

(I'm feeling too lazy right now to play that line over and over to verify, but I'd bet that she's right about the surnames.)

 

[sfmpco]

They are sometimes wrong, even in the ITunes ones that I have downloaded.  I can't tell you specifically where.  I watched all of them several times with subtitles to make sure I was 99% on everything, but even so they are sometimes wrong.  I don't use the subtitles anymore.  They are very annoying in TSOT because of trying to avoid all the other graphics in the best man deduction speech...so the subtitles can even be on top of BC's face... really annoying.  Whose bright idea was that????

 

 

[Ruthyone]

There have been a few series where you've needed to see subtitles because the accent of the actor was so hard to understand! On DVDs now, you get the whole film not just with subtitles but with someone narrarating as well.

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

The fact that some of the Sherlock subtitles on Netflix are wrong bother me, but at least it's not as bad as the errors in Merlin (which I really enjoy. I recommend it for all fantasy lovers.).

[J.P.]

I have the UK DVDs.

I think in Mrs Hudson's line: "who knows what is in that old little head", it would make more sense if it was odd little head, don't you think?

 

And there is this Ash(ton) in the drunk-Sherlock fighting scene.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I have the UK DVDs.

I think in Mrs Hudson's line: "who knows what is in that old little head", it would make more sense if it was odd little head, don't you think?

 

And there is this Ash(ton) in the drunk-Sherlock fighting scene.

 

Ariane Deviere (who transcribed every episode, the commentaries, & some other things of Sherlock) has her own little comment about the Ashton subtitle.  She thinks it's actually Ashtray, which is what I'm inclined to agree with mainly because Sherlock was talking with a smoker.

[sfmpco]

Ashton is a type of cigarette from what I've heard.  It's definitely not ashtray.  I thought he might be making an obscure reference to Ashton Kutcher.  Silly me.  

[Arcadia]

And I still hear "I know ash, John" every time I hear it. I have to force myself to hear Ashton.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Think I need to watch that part of the episode with the volume cranked to figure out what he is saying.

[sfmpco]

The subtitles and Ariane DeVere don't always have it right.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I trust Ariane more than the subtitles, but all she can do is her best -- she's just working with her own ears, same as the rest of us, and the dialog is occasionally very difficult to understand.  Once again, I sure hope they follow through with the idea of offering the filming scripts for sale.  I'm sure those aren't 100% like what's on the DVDs either, but at least we'd know what idea they started with.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

On 2/9/2015 at 11:09 AM, SherlockedCAMPer said:

Ariane Deviere (who transcribed every episode, the commentaries, & some other things of Sherlock) has her own little comment about the Ashton subtitle [in the bachelor party section of Sign of Three].  She thinks it's actually Ashtray, which is what I'm inclined to agree with mainly because Sherlock was talking with a smoker.

 

On 2/9/2015 at 3:19 PM, sfmpco said:

Ashton is a type of cigarette from what I've heard.  It's definitely not ashtray.

I just checked, and there's a brand of premium cigar called Ashton [here], so yeah, that might be what he's referring to.  "I know Ashton" sounds a bit obscure to me, but maybe that's what the Moftisses smoke?

ADDED:  Duh!  Just now thought to check what purports to be an official script (though not the final draft) here.  That has him saying simply "I know ash!" -- but a good bit of the dialog in that scene is considerably different from what made it to screen, so who knows?

 

 

[Arcadia]

You've been thinking about this ever since 2015? 

[Carol the Dabbler]

4 hours ago, Arcadia said:

You've been thinking about this ever since 2015? 

Not every minute!  But I came across this thread while, as usual, looking for something else, and got curious.