Omission errors

The second subcategory under overt error is omission errors. The omission errors accounted for 19.7 per cent of all of the translation errors. From the total of 8,025 translations in the material, 114 omission errors were found, thus, the portion of all translations that included a semantic error was 1.4%.

As mentioned before, the limitations of time and space in subtitling causes the inevitable need to compress, as not everything that is said, or at times written, on screen can be fitted in the subtitling (Vertanen 2007b: 152). Especially in a show such as Gilmore Girls, where the dialogue is known for its speed and amount (discussed in subsection 3.2.), the need to compress is imperative to ensure that the plot and what happens on screen is not overpowered by the subtitling. However, as Vertanen (2007b: 152) mentions, the subtitling should still convey the essence of the original utterance. In addition, Vertanen (ibid.) mentions that the subtitling should be proportional to the rhythm of the original utterances,

60 therefore short expressions should not be subtitled as long, explanative captions and long, explanative speeches should similarly not be subtitled as short statements. In accordance with these guidelines, this thesis will not consider every omission a translation error, as they are a necessary part of subtitling. However, when something that is important to understanding the plot has been left out, an omission error has occurred.

In addition to the necessary compressions made in the five episodes of Gilmore Girls, omissions that affected the essential aspects of a character‟s line were found. Similarly to the semantic errors, an omission error can occur in both omitting a singular word from the subtitling and the omission of an entire phrase. An example of an omission error, where a necessary part of the original utterance has been omitted from the subtitling out by excluding a singular word is found in example 11 below from S08E02.

Example 11.

I saw you inhale a BLT at the diner yesterday.

Hotkit eilen voileivän kahvilassa.

In example 11, the town of Stars Hollow is holding an international food festival, and Kirk is upset that there is an entire pig being roasted, when he has a pet pig, Petal. Lorelai‟s boyfriend, Luke, is attempting to reason with Kirk that pigs are meant to be eaten, and that Kirk himself had eaten a BLT – bacon, lettuce, tomato – sandwich the day before. However, in the subtitling, only a sandwich is mentioned. The fact that Kirk had eaten bacon is left out completely from the following captions as well. Therefore, the entire essence of the scene, Kirk screaming at the man roasting the pig and then realizing he himself had eaten bacon the day before, is completely omitted. Another example of the essence of the original utterance being omitted from the subtitling by the omission of a singular word can be found in example 12 from S07E18 below.

Example 12.

and neglecting financial security. eikä huolehdi turvallisuudesta.

In this example, Lorelai is discussing with Rory‟s boyfriend, Logan, about a job Rory has been offered and if she should take it or reject it in hopes of a better offer. The job would offer financial security for Rory, who is just graduating from Yale, but Logan argues that Rory should reject it as she is still young and now is her time to do some more exploring instead of settling for just any job offer. Lorelai, however, argues that Rory should take financial

61 security into consideration instead of only following her „whims‟. This, being in the beginning of the conversation, should have been included in the subtitling, as Lorelai is concerned for specifically Rory‟s financial security, as she views Logan as a gambler who just recently cost his father‟s company millions of dollars in a failed business attempt and was fired from the company as a result. As a major thematic aspect of the episode is precisely Lorelai‟s concern about her daughter‟s newly self-supporting boyfriend, who does not seem to be aware of the financial realities in life, the subtitling only discussing security is too broad a subject in the context.

In addition to the omission errors occurring in the omitting of singular words, translations that omitted a larger portion of the original utterance were discovered from the episodes. An example on a larger omission that is considered a translation error due to its effect on the understanding and following the plot is presented below in example 13 from S03E07.

Example 13.

Boy, her flames are getting really good. Hienot liekit.

In the scene, Rory is participating with Lorelai in the town‟s 24 hour dance marathon, and is discussing with her friend, Lane, who is serving sandwiches for the contestants. Her mother, Mrs. Kim, is a devout Christian, and throughout the series is working to convert „sinners‟ to the religion. Therefore, Lane has to serve booklets about Hell along with the sandwiches. One of the continuous topics of the series is Mrs. Kim attempting to convert „sinners‟ to Christianity, therefore not approving many of the things Lane wants to do, and thus, causing Lane having to hide many aspects of her life from her mother. Therefore, by omitting the fact that Mrs. Kim has drawn the flames of Hell herself, and that they are getting good with the continuous practice of drawing them, not only is the compression done in this caption in conflict with Vertanen‟s (2007b: 152) call for proportional subtitling, it also omits from the essence of the original utterance, Mrs. Kim‟s continuous practice with converting sinners.

Another example of an omission done by omitting a phrase is presented below in example 14 from S08E01.

Example 14.

- I don‟t need a child, I have you. -Olet kuin lapsi.

62 In this scene, Lorelai is discussing with the manager of her inn, Michel. Michel is telling Lorelai how his husband has suddenly started talking about having kids, and Lorelai is annoyed that her best friend and business partner, Sookie, has taken time off to focus on other things than being a chef at their inn. Lorelai, hoping that Sookie will come back soon, refuses to find a permanent solution for the lack of a chef at their kitchen, and is complaining to Michel about their pop-up chefs. Michel, finding Lorelai‟s complains childish, returns to their earlier topic saying that he would not even need a child, as he has Lorelai. The reference of the original topic has therefore been omitted from the subtitling, as in the caption, Michel merely refers to Lorelai as a child. Referring to the earlier topic brings the conversation to a full circle in the original, whereas in the translation, the reference is more obscure.

Another type of an omission error is the complete omission of a character‟s line.

In the episodes, many of the smaller, often one word, expressions, such as “Yes.”, “Sure.” and

“No.” were omitted. Again, not all of these omissions are considered as erroneous in this thesis. An erroneous omission has been included in this calculation only when the omitted utterance was important to understanding the plot. Even though these words are often the ones most people that have limited skills in the English language would still understand, must the exceptions be taken into consideration. Another reason for these omissions to be considered as errors is the unnecessary attention it draws to the subtitling, when something that is clearly important for understanding the plot has not been translated.

As mentioned earlier, compressing the original dialogue to adhere to the spatial and temporal limitations is a necessity in subtitling. However, the compressing and omitting should still preserve the essence of the original utterance. In the examples above, as well as another 110 translations, the unnecessary omissions can possibly convey the message differently than it was originally intended, thereby altering the viewing experience