Fascinating clip from BBC film critic Barry Norman about film subtitling in late 1980s 🙂 Maybe of interest to friends like @pizzaroquette.bsky.social & @subtleuk.bsky.social, @atrae.bsky.social, @ata-avd.bsky.social, @avue.bsky.social? www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEuv... #filmtranslationhistory

It’s the timing that’s the real headache, because AI-generated subtitles usually have line breaks that no human would come up with. So they have to be retimed, and it’s honestly easier starting from scratch.

Now that a lot of you are migrating here, I take the opportunity to say that the #INCREC project has a monthly podcast about #xl8n #creativity #technology. You will 💜 it! open.spotify.com/show/2Xk77k6...

Thinking of inaugurating a new hashtag about #opinionsonsubtitles. I feel this is a topic I'd like to be able to filter on! Comments welcome. :)

Check out The Loc'd Ones, a new AVT podcast! In its first episode, subtitlers Max Deryagin & Bill Skopelitis sit down with Scott McCarthy (DreamWorks) to talk SDH, industry news, and the Māori dub of Shrek. #avt #sdh #dubbing

Hard agree! Vertical video subtitles make me long for the subtitles of fuzzy telecine'd 16mm prints from the 1960s...

the single word subtitles piss me off thw most because THOSE ARENT HELPFUL. who are those even FOR

This includes voice actors and outsourced localizers, btw! #TranslatorsintheCredits (Looking at you, "Tales of" series, for leaving these people out of the credits despite reporting that 70% of players now come from overseas: bsky.app/profile/lizb...)

David Bellos, renowned scholar of French fiction and ‘totally brilliant translator,’ dies at age 80: www.princeton.edu/news/2025/11... | Princeton University (11/14/25) | By Jamie Saxon . . . #Passion #Dedication #Honored #Educator #Translator #Interpreter #French #Scholar #xl8 #1nt

Delighted to announce our **Translation & AI** / **Interpreting & AI** #CPD courses in collaboration with @iti-uk.bsky.social are back in Jan 2026. For #translators & #interpreters keen to explore how #AI can be used in professional practice. Registration: www.surrey.ac.uk/centre-trans... #xl8 #1nt

I always cheer a little bit for shows on CR where the subtitler has a credit (usually in the subtitles during the end credits or next ep preview of the show). Means the TL cared about the work they did, and we get to see that it wasn't done by a faceless machine.

Not 'grisly' but 'grizzly'. Apparently the subtitler thinks #Jigsaw is a bear. #Saw

Exciting news! 📣 We are delighted to announce the workshop strands for the BCLT Literary Translation Summer School 2026. Next year’s Summer School will take place online from Monday 20 July – Friday 24 July 2026. Bursaries are available. Find out more and apply: www.uea.ac.uk/groups-and-c...

I like when fansubs go "I have no idea what this is" in the middle of a scene . As if it's a personal failing on their part to not know absolutely everything about the show they are subing.

I love this - namedropping the famous subtitler who was in your restaurant a few weeks ago. Shades of Tom Stoppard's taxi-boatman in the film Shakespeare in Love going 'I had that Kit Marlowe in my boat once'...

So, I very very hate the Star Wars prequel trilogy, with the lone exception that I would give my actual eye teeth for a copy of this pirate Chinese version of Revenge of the Sith with subtitles from a completely different film. We wantsss it... #filmtranslationhistory #badsubtitles

The Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing at the University of Reading is advertising visiting fellowships worth £2000 for visits to their awesome special collections: research.reading.ac.uk/centre-for-b... Deadline is 16 January 2026

Film advertising the way it should be, with the subtitler named alongside other key creatives. Noelle Gillmor was a leading subtitler and dubbing scriptwriter from French whose untimely death in 1973 probably changed the course of #filmtranslationhistory in the US. #namethesubtitler #arthousefilm

Names are probably among the most challenging things to localize. Although sometimes... They can be a lot of fun to work with 🎭 In Once Upon a Puppet, most characters have tree names that pair as ordinary names in English. Let's see how we adapted them into Spanish 👇 🪵

As an autistic person I found this fascinating and feel that it explains a lot!

I saw this film at @wshed.bsky.social last night where it opened the fifteenth Bristol Palestine Film Festival. I don't have any words, but I encourage as many people as possible to see it when it is released.

BPFF 2025 is here! After months of hard work behind the scenes, Bristol Palestine Film Festival 2025 gets underway today with a sold-out screening of The Voice of Hind Rajab. All the programme is online! melissa-on-the-road.blogspot.com/2025/11/bpff... bristolpff.org.uk

Looking fwd to speaking at this online symposium tomorrow on audience perspectives in AVT. Sad not to be in Forlì in person, but event moved online because of the general strike. Anybody welcome to attend. Forms signup sheet is here: forms.office.com/pages/respon...

Fresh out of a lecture where I talked about gender in/and translation, here's this fascinating thread about Una mujér fantastica/A fantastic woman, which I happen to have recently seen, and all the stuff that I didn't pick up in the subtitles as a non-Spanish speaker... #subtitles

How fragile the lifespan of good subtitles can be, compared to, let's say, a good book translation. Subtitles don't necessarily get better over time. Often they get worse, as carefully curated versions are replaced, out of ignorance or greed, by cheap, hasty subtitling-by-numbers. :(

A salutary reminder that physical media is where it's at, if you actually value the media you're watching. #revengeofanalog #revengeofanalogue

The @cubecinema.com is yet one more reason why it is fun to be a film nerd and live in Bristol

Sydney Pollack’s Three Days of the Condor (1975) starring the late Robert Redford is on @cubecinema.com, Monday 24th November, 8PM. #NeoNoir #FilmNoir #Bristol : cubecinema.com/programme/ev...

A doozy of an example of why using cheap-ass free translation apps is often a terrible idea

#Subtitling is like working with dough. I let my subtitles rest for a day or two before refining them with a thorough review and simulation. #subtitlingmetaphors #translationmetaphors

Every time a attend one of @jossmo.bsky.social Joss Morken's speeches, apart from admiring the depth of insight, I love how he uses photos to accompany references. I think we should all do that in conferences. Emphasizes the real people behind quotations, and also shows how many women there are.

#zerosubtitles: deliberately omitted #subtitles for utterances considered to be easily understood without them, intentionally incomprehensible, or functioning as sound effects. The decision to omit can be made by the subtitler or the creator. people.com/movies/steve...

Watching Welcome to Wrexham, and it's another example of whatever method Disney+ is using to get Swedish subtitles is an insult to their subscribers and professional translators both. So much stuff a proper translator would never have done.

“But a better way forward would be to start celebrating the work of the subtitler; to praise their contribution to the global cinema landscape, and their vital role in bringing stories across borders.”

Thanks for following the IFFR24 edition of "say, who subtitled this film?" Time for stats! 15 films +1 without subtitles 3 properly credited their subtitler 2 credited a translator but no subtitler 1 credited a company 10 credited no one at all (or way too discreetly for my keen eye to catch it)

Been noticing that the subtitles on hbo have no idea what to do with any word that's AAVE. Eg a character said she got turnt but the subtitle was "turked"?

This is a good example of the subjective nature of what a good localization means. People who are interested in learning about Japanese culture and language will likely gravitate towards practices like "translator's notes" which are fairly prevalent in fansubs but are rare in official subtitles.

There was some ink spilled over the Japanese subtitles on "Barbie" not quite sticking the landing on "patriarchy" but I also want to bring attention to how the poor translator just completely gave up on attempting to localize "beach off"

This is a really interesting illustration of how the limitations of subtitling and dubbing affect localization choices! -- super quick thread! 🧵 As always, the question is: How do translators and adaptors make the decision to localize cultural references?

A fascinating piece of #filmtranslationhistory that I'm definitely going to add in to the book! #historyofsubtitling

I am so, so OVER short videos w/ basic subtitle transcription errors. Michael Rooker says 'robbing that camp BLIND'. Would it kill posters to proofread? Is there some deep technical reason why it's impossible to correct subtitles in vertical video? #subtitles #sloppysubtitles

These are some of the exact questions we've been trying to ask about via the UK Subtitling Audiences Network, only more pithily phrased :)

Glad to see I am not the only subtitle-watcher who really cares about typefaces...

What. The. Hell.

Uggg... I started watching that new film Weapons today and I HAD to have subtitles on because the damn ambient sound and music was like five times louder than the dialogue. I hate that so fecking much. I usually have subtitles on anyway but FECK it would still be nice to hear WTF people are saying!

Oh yes!!

Right? It's so upsetting It would be annoying anyways, but the fact they actually have "English (CC)" and "English (Subtitles)" as separate options to choose, and then IT'S JUST THE SAME FILE is so enraging

This is particularly baffling because one of the primary reasons to be using Sony's Crunchyroll instead of "general" video streaming sites is that Crunchyroll *does* have the better, properly typeset subtitles. If Crunchyroll stops providing those, what is the point of using Crunchyroll at all?

Definitely chimes with me. Accessibility is vital, but how then to make room for experimentation (and, crucially, engagement by creators of original content) with subtitles...? (thinking, for instance, of the subtitles for the Irish dialogue in Lance Daly's Black '47) #subtitles