{"id":7399,"date":"2024-01-25T11:36:47","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T10:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linguaserve.com\/?p=7399"},"modified":"2025-06-18T13:30:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T11:30:55","slug":"mistakes-audiovisual-translation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linguaserve.com\/en\/mistakes-audiovisual-translation\/","title":{"rendered":"Big mistakes in audiovisual translation of Netflix series"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is no doubt about the fact that audiovisual content platforms dominate the current entertainment scene. Netflix, HBO or Prime Video are the most popular ones, although new platforms are constantly coming out. Also the offer within them, which generates a constant and huge workflow in the scope of\u00a0audiovisual translation<\/strong><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The repercussion of the most successful content also causes the mistakes in some of these\u00a0kinds of audiovisual translation<\/strong><\/a><\/span>,\u00a0such as\u00a0dubbing<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0subtitling,<\/strong>\u00a0to have a greater impact.<\/p>\n

In this post we will talk about some of the\u00a0best-known mistakes in audiovisual translation of Netflix series<\/strong>\u00a0(although we could talk about any audiovisual platform) and, in which most cases, the public sees them as being funny.<\/p>\n

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Some well-known mistakes in Netflix audiovisual translation<\/span><\/h2>\n

The following are some of the mistakes in series that have had the greatest repercussion (for better or for worse).<\/p>\n

1. LUIS MIGUEL: THE SERIES<\/h3>\n

One of the most recent cases happened in the Luis Miguel: The Series<\/em><\/strong> drama, an original Netflix series in which the translation of a typical Andalusian expression, (mainly from Seville), \u201cmi arma\u201d (honey\/darling) was translated as \u201cmy weapon,\u201d which may not have been very well-liked in the south of Spain.<\/p>\n

\"luis<\/p>\n

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2. SQUID GAME<\/h3>\n

Squid Game<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0has broken all the of the platform\u2019s records getting more than\u00a0111 million views during the first 11 days<\/a><\/span>. The Korean drama series, which is also a Netflix original series, also stood out for its subtitling into Spanish. The expression \u201cdamn it,\u201d which could be translated into many other foul expressions in Spanish, was translated as \u201cmaldita sea,\u201d which is much more polite and less used. It can be compared to the expression \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d, which has been translated as \u201c\u00bfqu\u00e9 diablos\u2026? If you\u2019re a Spanish speaker, have you ever used any of these two expressions in your day-to-day?<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s more to this Asian drama\u2019s translation. There were also problems with the phrase \u201cgo first,\u201d translated as \u201cdejar\u00e9 que vaya primero\u201d (I\u2019ll let him go first), which a human translator would have known it should have been translated as \u201cdejar\u00e9 que tire primero\u201d (I\u2019ll let him throw first) or any other informal expression like \u201cstart\u201d or \u201copen\u201d referring to the game.<\/p>\n

Translation mistakes were not only found in Spanish but in English as well. In this case, one of the fundamental problems was the difficulty in localizing Korean pop culture.<\/p>\n

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3. FRIENDS<\/h3>\n

Even though it can no longer be found on the platform, and it is obviously not a Netflix original series, the arrival of the legendary TV show Friends<\/strong>\u00a0to the platform was incredibly popular.<\/p>\n

Here we can also find some odd cases such as the translation of one of Ross\u2019s lines: \u201cWhy, does it look like I\u2019m having trouble with my misshapen claw?\u201d which was translated as \u201c\u00bfPor qu\u00e9? \u00bfCrees que tenga alg\u00fan problema con mi \u2018fractura de garra?\u2019\u201d which should have been translated as \u201c\u00bfPor qu\u00e9? \u00bfParece que tengo problemas con mi garra deforme?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s normal to find many mistakes in a TV show with so many episodes as this one. It also happens with one of Chandler\u2019s line: \u201dHoney, we\u2019ve been over this,\u201d translated as \u201ccielo, ya hicimos todo,\u201d when it would have been better to translate it as \u201cya hemos hablado de esto.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we mentioned, the best-known mistakes in audiovisual translation are those of the most popular series and movies. There are many more examples in productions that are or have been available on the platform, such as\u00a0Riverdale<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0The Big Bang Theory<\/strong>, whose subtitling has also caught people\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

Nowadays it is quite common to use automatic translation software to carry our most of the translations of these audiovisual projects. However, it should be remembered that\u00a0automatic translation and human post-editing<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>must go hand in hand. Expert translators will be capable of making the translation make sense and\/or adapt it taking the context into account.<\/p>\n

Specialized audiovisual translators will care for your project, thus avoiding the prospect that your TV show will be included in posts like this one. Your project succeeding or failing in any other country will greatly depend on the importance you give to its translation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Audiovisual content platforms dominate entertainment, creating constant translation workflows. Mistakes in dubbing and subtitling often gain attention, sometimes amusingly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":27736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-translation-localization"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaserve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaserve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaserve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaserve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaserve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linguaserve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaserve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaserve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaserve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaserve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}