When words fail BBC’s subtitles: Ironic mess up on Breakfast show
DO not adjust your sets! This is the moment yesterday when the subtitles went awry – during a discussion on poor subtitles.
Viewers of BBC Breakfast using the subtitling service were left scratching their heads when the word “weasels” appeared instead of “resources”.
The technology also inserted the gobbledegook phrase “Western Mark there is an answer” during the interview into subtitling gaffes. It should simply have written “enough”.
Embarrassingly the bloopers happened during an interview with Jean Gough, an award-winning subtitler, and a volunteer from charity Action On Hearing Loss.
One viewer said: “I couldn’t believe these mistakes occurred when they were talking about the poor subtitling standards – talk about irony!”
Viewers have been left baffled in the past when subtitling has transformed “toddlers” into “Ayatollahs” and confused “sources” with “sauces”, a study found.
The errors were highlighted in a report by the communications watchdog Ofcom, which said people relying on live subtitles had an “inferior” experience to other viewers.
The BBC said yesterday the error was a genuine mistake.
