How to report subtitle translation errors?
Recently watched the Criterion Channel version of Come and See. (I feel compelled to say that it was a very powerful film, one which I've avoided for a long time precisely because of its reputation, and I couldn't sleep well after watching it. But that is a much longer discussion.)
While watching, I noticed quite a few translation errors in the subtitles. For example, in the partisan camp, there were at least two instances of the chief of staff not being referred to correctly:
- During the group photograph, when the young man with the curly hair and curved sword enters, the photographer calls him начштаба, short for начальник штаба, which directly translates to chief of staff. In the subtitles he is called "sergeant major". I read that this may be roughly equivalent in role (right hand man of the commanding officer), but I'm not sure. In any case "chief of staff" would be a more direct translation.
- A few minutes later, the partisans are assembled and the senior officers are giving a speech. The older one with the grey beard says, roughly, "and like our chief of staff says...". The older officer is lightly joking about the younger man's casual manner of speaking, and everyone laughs. But the subtitles instead say "commander in chief", which is a completely different meaning!
I think sergeant major might be fine, but the subtitles should at least refer to him consistently between different scenes. The officer in the second scene is not joking about Stalin, after all.
There are a few other errors I noticed as well, but I didn't write them all down yet. Some might just not work due to the nature of the language, like Роза из колхоза for example.