Lost in translation: Obama inauguration

Local adaptions and translations are all about what’s between the words. Everybody can translate the exact words. It becomes something special when the sentiment, the feel, the slang and the inside jokes are preserved and brought to a local audience. This goes for movies, for global advertising and for an inauguration.

In my opinion, the NOS (Dutch public television) did not get it right this evening. The crew seemed to do their best to neutralize all of the American excitement. I’m not even talking about the subtitling, which missed sentences and badly timed most of the time. The Dutch commentators in Washington and Hilversum kept going on about their own opinions on the event, which are completely irrelevant to me as a consumer, in such a understated fashion that I had to work hard to ignore it and enjoy the show. The killer was the leading question by one to the other, right after Obama finished his great speech: so, what is your opinion, was this really the great big speech everybody has come to Washington for? Ai.

Have a look yourself: http://www.nos.nl/nosjournaal/artikelen/2009/1/20/200109_washington_obama.html

Translations and local adaptations don’t have to be exact, but they have to mirror the words and all in between. What they don’t need is a subjective local cultural flavor, without me asking for it.