Funniest Subtitle C..k Up You Have Seen?

[Sammy Chung was King]

Mine that i can remember a minute or two ago on match of the day-PINKO WINTERHORN !!-I'm sure he plays for neither Leicester or Norwich!.

[Dutch Uncle]

I must have come across many with living in non English speaking countries for nearly 40 years, but I can't recall any quickly. But I do have three experiences of frustration with subtitles:

In about 1970 I was in holiday in Greece with some mates and we went to the local outdoor fleapit to  watch 'Tora Tora Tora'  (the story of Pearl Harbour from American and Japanese viewpoints). My only recollection is that during 50% of the film I had the choice of the Japanese soundtrack or Greek subtitles - talk about rock and a hard place. 

Then a few years later, when I had just moved to the Netherlands but didn't speak Dutch, I was very excited to go and see Monty Python - The Life of Brian for the first time. Unfortunately the Dutch audience could read the subtitles much quicker than the actors spoke their words, and there were guffaws of laughter before the punchlines came and went unheard by me. Talk about frustration    But of course I have seen it many times since - absolutely love the film.

Then some years later, by which time I did speak Dutch,  I went to see 'A Bridge too Far' - the story of WW2 Arnhem air-drop operations. All the scenes were played in the appropriate language (German, Dutch, French, American, English....) and the typical multi-lingual Dutch audience could speak all those languages and did not really need the subtitles. The only problem was that the had a Scandinavian actress (Liv Ullman) playing a large role as a Dutch lady. Her accent was appalling and totally incomprehensible to the Dutch audience...........   and of course the Dutch parts of the film were the only ones without subtitles! 

That reminds me that I took a student friend of mine from London to see 'Kes' in its first week in Donny - and he was totally lost. I think the film was subtitled in any showing south of Bawtry...... 

[Sammy Chung was King]

I must have come across many with living in non English speaking countries for nearly 40 years, but I can't recall any quickly. But I do have three experiences of frustration with subtitles:

In about 1970 I was in holiday in Greece with some mates and we went to the local outdoor fleapit to  watch 'Tora Tora Tora'  (the story of Pearl Harbour from American and Japanese viewpoints). My only recollection is that during 50% of the film I had the choice of the Japanese soundtrack or Greek subtitles - talk about rock and a hard place. 

Then a few years later, when I had just moved to the Netherlands but didn't speak Dutch, I was very excited to go and see Monty Python - The Life of Brian for the first time. Unfortunately the Dutch audience could read the subtitles much quicker than the actors spoke their words, and there were guffaws of laughter before the punchlines came and went unheard by me. Talk about frustration    But of course I have seen it many times since - absolutely love the film.

Then some years later, by which time I did speak Dutch,  I went to see 'A Bridge too Far' - the story of WW2 Arnhem air-drop operations. All the scenes were played in the appropriate language (German, Dutch, French, American, English....) and the typical multi-lingual Dutch audience could speak all those languages and did not really need the subtitles. The only problem was that the had a Scandinavian actress (Liv Ullman) playing a large role as a Dutch lady. Her accent was appalling and totally incomprehensible to the Dutch audience...........   and of course the Dutch parts of the film were the only ones without subtitles! 

That reminds me that I took a student friend of mine from London to see 'Kes' in its first week in Donny - and he was totally lost. I think the film was subtitled in any showing south of Bawtry...... 

You must have been pulling your hair out!. You can see it's a good film but don't know what they are saying! .
Though the subtitles must be a godsend to the deaf community, i still feel they miss out vital parts of shows because the subtitles are often wrong.
 I have noticed lately they don't correct mistakes a lot of the time, i am frustrated on their behalf!.

[Orlandokarla]

I recall seeing an old movie where somebody attending a funeral, apparently said that they hoped the deceased could now finally "rest in pee".

[BobG]

Frank Bough, commenting on how hard it was raining, back in the days when BBC2 showed the John Player League matches on a Sunday afternoon: "And the rain here is absolutely sheeting down".

Couldn't believe my ears....

BobG