Mangled subtitling on live BBC programmes is providing viewers with some unintended comedy moments.
The BBC has come under fire from groups for the hard of hearing for its increasing number of bizarre gaffes, which have included calling the Labour leader Ed Miller Band and the Church of England leader the arch bitch of Canterbury.
The blunders are understood to be caused during live events where either a stenographer types words phonetically or by speech recognition.
The errors have become so common they have spawned their own dedicated website.
The BBC is the only broadcaster in the world that subtitles all of its programmes.
Groups for the deaf and hard of hearing have admitted they receive regular complaints about the issue and called on broadcasters to monitor the ‘quality of their subtitling’ and reduce mistakes.’
See: Daily Mail
Share an article »
ProZ.com blog »
Türkiye
Local time: 09:24
Member (2007)
Turkish to English
+ ...
I did not know that the BBC was the only broadcaster in the world that subtitles all of its programmes. I guess that is a price they are paying for this. Keep it up, BBC!
Spain
Local time: 08:24
Spanish to English
+ ...
... are generally quite difficult to get right, especially if translated by a non-native or someone not well versed in the culture of the source country/language.
The fact that even subtitling (in English) of English language programmes gives rise to complaint seems to bear witness to the overall fall in language standards of native speakers, or prove the adage "pay peanuts, get monkeys".
Brazil
Local time: 03:24
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
+ ...
...usually the mistakes are phonetically quite similar to what was actually said. The system the BBC uses for speech recognition apparently sometimes doesn't keep up with reality.
Have to admit that there are instances where the subtitles are indeed barely understandable. Sometimes the errors are also funny: the arch bitch of Canterbury is funny, doesn't matter how you look at it! The Ed Miller Band even more so.
To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:
You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »
This discussion can also be accessed via the ProZ.com forum pages.