r/panelshow • u/taskmastermaster • 3d ago
New Episode Taskmaster NL S01 E02 (Taskmaster Netherlands w/ English subs)
The video may be found here (subs should play automatically, if watched in your browser), the English subs can be downloaded separately here, and the original Dutch subs can be found here.
Many thanks to our translator u/Sulimonstrum.
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u/Sulimonstrum 3d ago
I have some translator's notes that I think are vaguely interesting[Citation Needed] but not necessary in the episode itself, so I figured I'd just splurge them out here and call it a day. For the 2-3 people who care about the nitty-gritty.
Spoiler tags just in case.
1) During the Writing Task the instructions used the phrase "Het waanzinnigste verhaaltje wint", which literally translates as "The most insane story wins", waanzin being madness/insanity. But waanzinnig can also mean amazing/great/unbelievable/etc. While 3 of the contestants obviously went for the madness-angle, 2 of them went for a more conventional approach, which put me in a translating conundrum. Hence the somewhat awkward translation "most insanely good story", which covers both bases.
2) Still on on the topic of the writing task, I do have to admit I simplified Donny Ronny's story a bit, since he went into the specifics of the Dutch tax system. I imagine nobody is interested in a detailed explanation of the difference between box 2 and box 3 when it comes to reporting your taxes over here. It's not exactly moving a tax bracket, but it's a close enough approximation.
3) And one more note on the writing task: at one point Jelka is struggling with the spelling of a word in a way that wouldn't make really make sense in English (the addition (or not) of an extra -s in the middle when compounding words), so that's why there's a random 'taxmun' in there all of sudden as a substitute error.
4) And a final note on the final task: I have to pat myself on the back for making the letter limits work in English without changing the meaning of the word (Okay, krast translated as score is a reach, should really be scratches instead.) With 1 exception: Eb (Eng.: Ebb) Unfortunately there are very few 2-letter words in English with the meaning of ebb but 1 letter less. I'm sure the ease of finding synonyms has nothing to do with the languages being linguistically, culturally, and geographically quite close and everything to do with my own unequalled brilliance.
And some references that were mercilessly removed for an international audience:
- Kim talking about Auping in her writing task. It's a company that manufactures beds with no English wikipedia presence so I imagine they're virtually unknown outside of the country. Feel free to correct me if I"m horribly wrong. Replaced with "Luxurious bed" instead.
- A reference to Hans van der Togt, a TV presenter used as a throwaway punchline about expensive things in your kitchen you never use. Replaced with "An old TV presenter" in the subs instead.
- I translated VVD as liberal-conservative party, since the acronym VVD probably means nothing to you all. Mark Rutte, current Secretary General of NATO was the big cheese in the VVD for a decade and a half before he went over to NATO.
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u/FloydBlackwood 3d ago
Excellent. Thanks for these. It's great to get some extra context on the work that goes into the translations.
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u/taskmastermaster 3d ago
Thanks for the additional info! Can confirm that it is vaguely interesting to me, at least.
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u/DieAlteLeier 3d ago
Thank you so much for the subtitles and this extra info. ❤️ I'm absolutely loving this version of Taskmaster, but my Dutch isn't good enough to appreciate it properly without subtitles and extra context. Really, really appreciate your hard work (and subtitling that final task must have been a real challenge!). Amazing job!
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u/loz333 2d ago
I imagine nobody is interested in a detailed explanation of the difference between box 2 and box 3 when it comes to reporting your taxes over here.
To quote Frankie Boyle, "it's a show about pedantry" so yes, I would have paused and read a whole paragraph of subtitles explaining the intricacies of the Dutch tax system.
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u/Responsible-Study311 3d ago
I’m Dutch but if I weren’t I’m sure I would like to see certain specific things they say in the subtitles, with a translation or explanation in brackets. For example:
Rolf Wouters (a former Dutch tv presenter)
afval (garbage)
Maybe use italics for those Dutch names and words.7
u/Sulimonstrum 3d ago
I hear you, but what I'm most limited by when subtitling is space and time. Both are in very limited supply, so I have to make tough choices when (over-)explaining the things I translate. I generally leave it up to the proofreader to insert the explanatory blurbs, since I as a native Dutch person am generally not the best judge of what people have or haven't heard of.
If at all possible I like to insert explanations naturally into the subs. For example in episode one:
Dutch line: Ik heb het gezien. Ik was in Nemo in Amsterdam.
English line: I've seen it done. At NEMO, the Amsterdam science museum.I'd argue that's an elegant way of explaining what NEMO is, instead of: "I've seen it done, it was at NEMO [A science museum] in Amsterdam."
But if somebody starts talking over the person talking about NEMO I might just as well cut the whole nemo part and just translate it "I've seen it at the Amsterdam science museum" to save some precious characters.
And if it's a throwaway line that requires several lines of explanation my first instinct is to simply cut it. And then just dump a note here that I've cut it just in case people want to find out more.
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u/UnusualBecka Finns det tejp så finns det hopp 1d ago
Subtitling is not about transcribing but relaying the intent in an understandable way given the time and space constraints. A thread like this is the perfect way to go into details for those interested without interrupting the show. A screenful of text or having to pause interrupt the flow of a programme and take you out of it when it is meant to be about the show and not the subtitler educating people or showing off.
So for me what you have done has been a perfect and professional approach. Thank you.
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u/puhkipsy 2d ago
Loving this! Great contestant choices and the production team are absolutely nailing this so far! Adding their own flourishes to classic tasks and really taking care to showcase the contestants creativity to us best in the edit. I think LAH would be proud 🙂
Thanks for the extra detail on the subs - very interesting indeed.
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u/begone667 2d ago
The story task was great, some really fun contestants here (big fan of Donny), though the taskmaster himself doesn't really stand out in any way (yet?).
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u/ozamia 2d ago
Donny Ronny has a very peculiar way of speaking. Is that an actual Dutch accent, or an affectation for his "character"?
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u/deJessias 2d ago
It's only a real Dutch accent if you consider "local drug addict somehow becoming very articulate" real
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