Subtitles for Almodovar

A bit of practice

Here there is an easy exercise for those interested. The original comes from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown/Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios, a 1988 film by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. For those lacking knowledge of the Spanish language a literal translation is offered in English.

The spotting of the dialogue exchanges has already been done for you. Having taken into consideration the time available for each statement, the maximum length of the English subtitle is indicated under the Spanish dialogue that needs translation.

You have to decide on:

• what information to include and what to leave out
• what cultural adjustments, if any, need to be made
• how to present the message: one or two lines
• how to break the lines in the case of two-line subtitles

Context: Two police detectives have come to Pepa's penthouse. One of them starts interrogating her. She clearly feels uncomfortable and tells him:

Still 1 from the Spanish original
		'Por qué no se sienta aquí y me interroga cómodamente? Es que me va a dar tortícolis.'   - Why don't you sit here and question me in comfort? Because I am going to get stiff neck Constraints: you are allowed to use a maximum of 60 spaces.

Still 1 from the commercial version with English subtitle
		Why don't you sit down? I'm getting a stiff neck.

Read more...Excercise Two  

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