Sewende Laan /Seventh Lane
Thumbs up to whoever invented subtitles. In a country such as ours where there are more languages you can shake a stick at, the little letters at the bottom of the screen are invaluable.
As an English South African, without subtitles the joys of local soap Sewende Laan, weekdays on SABC2 at 6.30pm, would have been completely wasted on me.
But thanks to subtitles, I get it. Sewende Laan is like the Mom ’n Pop store around the corner.
The sets are sweet, the characters down to earth and the script full of idioms and slang only a regte South African would “get”.
If I were a Generations gal, without subtitles I would miss out on a lot of the dialogue when catching my daily dose of the shenanigans of the well-heeled black elite on SABC1 at 8pm.
These are just two programmes where subtitles hold the key to unlocking plots.
What I would like to know is this: who are the brains behind the translations and have they ever got it horribly wrong?
There can be many a foot-in-mouth moment to be had when you start dabbling in languages and if you haven’t a clue what the dialogue is really all about, you have no choice but to trust the subtitles.
Ultimately our viewing pleasure lies in the hands of those faceless, nameless miracle workers who generate the subtitles that make our programmes make sense.
So thank you, subtitle makers. Whoever, and wherever, you are, may the god of the alphabet bless you today.
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