Yoruba movies and the problem of subtitling

Abstract

Yoruba movies producers seem to have devoted much attention to the visual quality and the thematic thrust of their works to the detriment of some seemingly unimportant aspect of their products. One of these neglected or underestimated aspects is the issue of subtitles, the written translations of the dialogues in English Language. This paper selects seven Yoruba movies for a detailed evaluation. Errors in concord, spelling, tense, aspect and wrong selection of words are very rampant in these movies such that one wonders why such neglect and carelessness should be allowed in such movies that are very rich in thematic thrusts and excellent in visual quality. These errors are not only highlighted, they are discussed, analysed and attempts have been made to propose what should have been the correct versions of the wrong translations that are pointed out. This paper throws a big challenge to films producers to pay attention to this important issue and allow specialists in different areas so that their products will not be lacking in quality