justeleblanc wrote:Please provide us with an example of an inter title translation, which was botched by Kino, but which was preserved with the Lubitschian flavor in your box.
Sure. But first, for the record, I didn't write (earlier in this thread) that Kino "botched" their intertitle translations on the Lubitsches; I wrote that the comic tenor and gist in the German dialogue was, in places, lost in the Kinos. Translation is an intuitive balancing act: one tries to replicate the tone and the swing of the original, while also attempting to nail all the diction as exactly as possible. (One example: I don't think it's right to simply gloss over a "denn" in a German sentence. There are a hundred ways to convey a "denn-sentence" in English — all up to the context, but it's ultimately the responsibility of the translator to choose what is, in his or her estimation, the most skillful solution. That said, one can't just ignore a word because there's no 1:1 equivalent in English. A German term might 'pervade into' three or four words in the respective sentence's English equivalent, and vice-versa.) And then also, in the context of motion pictures, a translation has to take into account the body language of the actors and the tone of the scene.
What mostly occurs in the Kino intertitles on the Lubitsch films are translations that take a literal, very prosaic bent, and which don't necessarily capture the sparkle or relatively colloquial quality of the German originals, or the frisson of the scene that contains them. Whether or not the subtitles on the MoC editions come closer to the mark of what I feel is a translation that 'works,' the presence of the German intertitles provides the irrefutably fundamental, non-subjective, and totally unfiltered 'essence' of the film's dialogue and narration.
So going through the subtitles for a few differences —
(1)
Right off the bat, three-and-a-half minutes in on ICH MÖCHTE KEIN MANN SEIN:
A chastised Ossi Oswalda runs into her uncle's house, sits down at the table, and downs three or four consecutive shots from a bottle of spirits. Her uncle strides into frame scowling and barks:
"Was machst Du denn da?"
I've rendered this as: "Now what's all this?" The Kino presents it as: "What are you doing?"
Ossi whips her head around and snaps —
"Ich schlucke meinen Aerger herunter."
I've rendered this as: "I'm slugging back my troubles." The Kino: "I'm drinking my troubles away."
(2)
At the close of the same film, during the 'morning-after' the salacious goings-on at the ball, there's a line of dialogue which stands as the provocative punch-line of the whole show — classic Lubitsch note.
Ossi's guardian, in reference to their dalliance (with his ward sporting the guise of a rather 'delicate' boy), asks the girl:
"Und Sie haben sich von mir küssen lassen?" (MoC: "And you let yourself be kissed by me?" Kino: "And you allowed yourself to be kissed by me?")
— to which she petulantly replies:
"Na — hat's Ihnen nicht geschmeckt?" (MoC: "Well — didn't you like how it tasted?" Kino: "Well — didn't you like the taste?")
— and, approaching him while he's seated, with his head roughly at the level of her groin, Ossi bends over him, shakes a finger, and repeats a line used by the guardian earlier in the film when he first attempted to assert his own power:
"Ich werde Sie schon kleinkriegen!"
I've rendered this as: "I'll break you down yet!" The Kino: "I'll bring you into line yet!" — On the one hand, the latter loses the wordplay about size/height/stature (punned on-screen here with the guardian seated, and Ossi now towering over his figure, in a final reversal of power- and gender-roles); on the other hand, the latter doesn't quite convey the S&M undertones or sexual charge of the master/ward relationship that's there in the German.
(3)
In DIE AUSTERNPRINZESSIN. —
A governess teaches Ossi how to take care of a child by using a plastic baby-doll as a stand-in. Ossi matter-of-factly holds the doll by grasping one of its legs and allowing it to dangle upside-down.
The governess, alarmed:
"Aber so dürfen Sie doch kein Kind halten!"
I've rendered this as: "You shouldn't handle any child like that!" Kino have this as: "You must not hold a child like that!"
Ossi replies, again, perfectly matter-of-factly:
"Ach, man darf so'n Kind erst garnicht verwöhnen."
I've rendered this as: "Well, children really shouldn't be coddled." Kino: "Oh, but children mustn't be spoiled."
(4)
Last example for now — DIE PUPPE. —
The upper-crust guests of the wedding party depart. A tipsy pair of old women say goodbye to each other out in front of the manor.
"Auf Wiedersehen, Frau Bizeoberzollinspektorsekretär!" "Gute Nacht, Frau Unterkassenrevisionssupernumerar!"
I've rendered this as: "Goodbye, Mrs Executive Customs Inspector Secretary!" "Good night, Mrs Substratum Appellate Supernumerary!" Kino have rendered the exchange as: "See you later, Honorable Mrs. President-Governor-Interior Minister- Secretary of State..." "Good night, Honorable Mrs. President-Governor-Interior Minister-Secretary of State..."
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Hope this helps to clarify the differences in our approach. Note that these particularly examples were literally plucked at random from skimming through my subtitle files. There are lots more differences, some minor, some significant, throughout all six features.
best,
craig.