Idiomatic errors

The most common subcategory under covert errors is idiomatic errors. In the 8,025 translations of Gilmore Girls, the number of idiomatic errors was 114, thus, the portion of all

67 translations that included an idiomatic error was 1.4%. The idiomatic errors accounted for 19.7 per cent of all of the translation errors.

Idiomatic errors are errors in the translation, where the translation conveys the accurate information and style of the original, yet the translation is linguistically not idiomatic in the target language, or the word choices and sentence structure are not something that a native speaker of the language would use (Vehmas-Lehto 2005: 54). The idiomatic errors can refer to either singular words that are used in the translation or how the words are connected to each other. As Immonen (2005: 166) mentions, even though the conventions of subtitling differ from other translating conventions, the Finnish subtitling still needs to follow the linguistic conventions, established patterns in speaking and writing and grammar of the language. When the language does not adhere to the conventions of Finnish language, but is clearly influenced by another language, it can cause the subtitling to seem strange, confuse the reader and thereby affect the comprehension negatively (Vehmas-Lehto 2005: 56–57).

The idiomatic errors found in the translation were mainly caused by the aforementioned interference of the original language. An example of this interference is presented below in example 22 from S03E07.

Example 22.

- I have no partner. -Olen ilman tanssikaveria.

In this example, Lorelai is disappointedly telling Rory and Emily that her dance partner has decided that he will not participate in the 24 hour dance competition. In this context, the subtitling does not necessitate breaking the linguistic conventions to convey style, nor is Lorelai stating that she will then dance without a partner. There is, instead, a clear interference of the source language affecting the translation. In this situation, the expression

„olen ilman‟ is rather foreign to a native speaker of Finnish, and would be understandable, if Lorelai was stating that she will then dance alone. However, that is not the case in this example. In this case, a more idiomatic translation would have been „minulla ei ole‟. As the whole phrase “-Minulla ei ole tanssikaveria.” is 30 characters in total, the translation decision cannot be explained by the length limit being exceeded, when the line limit on Netflix is 42 characters per line. Another example of the translation being affected by the original language is presented in example 23 from S01E16 below.

68 Example 23.

Oh well, it was just sort of a spur of the moment thing.

Se oli hetkellinen päätös.

Similarly, in this example, the influence of the source language is apparent in the translation, causing the translation to seem unnatural or strange for a native speaker. In this translation, the cause of this is the word choice „hetkellinen‟. Technically, the translation describes the original utterance accurately, however, the word „hetkellinen‟ is mainly used to express a moment that is brief, i.e. comes suddenly and is quickly over. However, in this situation, the

„spur of the moment‟ means that the decision was made spontaneously, and even though the decision to do something was fast, the moment may continue longer, as it does in this context.

In this example, a common translation would probably have been “Se oli hetken mielijohteesta tehty päätös.” (even though „hetkellinen‟ could have been easily replaced by

„spontaani‟). The idiomatic errors can, at times, be caused by the need to compress due to limitations of time and space. However, not all idiomatic errors made in the research material aided in shortening the translation, as can be seen from example 24 from S01E16 below.

Example 24

Like it's your three-month-anniversary with your boyfriend.

Kuten kolmen kuukauden yhdessäolon juhlapäivä poikaystäväsi kanssa.

In this example, the word „three-month-anniversary‟ has been translated to „kolmen kuukauden yhdessäolon juhlapäivä‟, and the translation is carried out in full for nearly the entire episode. Not only is the term not idiomatic, its length is also excessive when the limitations of subtitling are taken into consideration.

In addition to the word choices of translations, the readability and fluency of the subtitling can be influenced by their sentence structure. As the Finnish language is quite liberal in the way a sentence can be constructed, the sentence structure of a translation can be easily influenced by the source language. The sentence structure choices can, at times, be used to emphasize or create an illusion of style. However, when there is a clear influence by the source language, i.e. the translation clearly follows the structure of the source language, it can cause problems in the readability of the translations, if the sentence structure becomes too foreign and complicated. An example of the sentence structure being influenced by the source language is presented below in example 25 from S01E16.

69 Example 25.

maybe, just maybe, let her, just this once, not come to dinner on Friday.

tämän kerran antaa hänen olla poissa perjantaipäivälliseltä.

In this example, the sentence structure of the translation clearly follows the sentence structure of the original line. The interference of the source language here can cause the translation to suffer in readability, as the predictability of the language is hindered with foreign elements, such as the sentence structure of the original language (Vehmas-Lehto 2005: 57).

As mentioned before and demonstrated in examples 22, 23, 24, and 25, the idiomatic errors are the errors that may convey the information of the original accurately, yet the language of the translation does not adhere to the conventions of the target language.

These errors are in using language that a native speaker would not use when producing language independently, yet in these translations with an idiomatic error, the influence of the source language is visible. As the language is not idiomatic Finnish, according to Vehmas-Lehto (2005: 56–57) it can cause the viewer to be confused and thereby affect the viewing experience negatively.