The Death of Yugoslavia (1995–1996)
2/10
lost in translation
7 September 2016
Whoever translated the Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian portions of this program into English ought to be ashamed of themselves. There are so many instances where the meaning of the speakers' words is obscured or distorted. Here are just a few examples:

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Speaker: "They simply could not believe their eyes, how it could all have been filmed in the offices in which they were conferring…not conferring, in which they were talking about the heinous crimes that they want to commit."

Subtitles: "They could not believe their eyes! They had been filmed planning murder and treason."

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Speaker: "They have an ethnically pure republic, they have no territorial disputes."

Subtitles: "It was an ethnically pure republic - no Serbs."

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Speaker: "I asked him if they are aware that they chose war."

Subtitles: "I said: 'This means war'."

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Speaker: "Until then, I never in my life saw a man who was as scared as him. I think that in a period of 30 minutes, he went to the toilet 10 times. Most likely he got, uh, diarrhea or something similar."

Subtitles: "I have never seen a man so scared. He went to the toilet ten times. Perhaps it was something he had for lunch."

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Such shoddy translation might be acceptable for a Hollywood action film, but it completely ruined what could have been an excellent war documentary.
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