[JITF2020] Subtitle Translation Is Simultaneous Interpretation!? Tips for Drafting Japanese That Does Not Get in the Way of the Film

Izumi Iwabe

After graduating from university, she got a job of editing and writing for a women’s magazine.  After studying at the University of Chicago graduate school, she worked as a writer while studying at the Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy and in the seminar of Mr. Takashi Anze at the Fellow Academy for one year.  Since 2002, she has been working on multilingual subtitles focusing on English and French works.

Films that she subtitled include “For Sama,” “Doubles vies,” “Woman at War,” “Les Grands Esprits,” “Battle of the Sexes,” “Le sel de la terre ,” “The Human Centipede” trilogy, Shochiku Broadway Cinema’s “Cyrano de Bergerac” and the TV drama series “POSE,” “Billions,” etc.  The movie “Mid90s” will be released in September 2020.

Subtitle Translation Is Simultaneous Interpretation!? Tips for Drafting Japanese That Does Not Get in the Way of the Film

Subtitle translation must condense dialogue into two lines of 13 to 16 Japanese characters.  Of course, it is not possible to capture all the original contents, some of which might have to be omitted and discreetly added elsewhere.  Someone once noted that the ability to decide this without hesitation (?) is similar to that required for simultaneous interpretation.  

Whether or not this is true, subtitle translation is liable to be targeted by the mistranslation police because the original voice track may not match the subtitles. Where is the line between liberal translation and mistranslation?  Isn’t it possible to reduce the number of characters using more kanji?  How to write long names (like Schwarzenegger!) that give the subtitler a headache?  What to do about LGBT-related words and discriminatory words that are often an issue these days?  These and other topics will be discussed using illustrative translations.

It is hoped that it will help to tone down enforcement by the mistranslation police.