Why Non Spanish Speaking Power Fans Are Angry At Netflix

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If anyone is talking about power today it’s more than likely not a reference to the likes of Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin, instead it is referring to the hit American crime drama series which  originally premiered on Starz. The show which is simply named Power premiered in June 2014 and is centred around the story of its main character called James St. Patrick also known as “Ghost” who is a husband and father.

James runs a popular nightclub in New Your City called Truth. Besides being a family man and business man James is also a major player in a drug ring amassing millions of dollars at which point he is now trying to get out of the drug game in order to focus on his more legitimate ventures. He also battles between choosing to stay with his wife and mother of his children when he reconnects with his childhood sweetheart which has contributed to all the drama we all crave in a series. The show has cast actors/characters from diverse backgrounds and in turn you will often hear the characters speak in languages such as Albanian where the Albanian Mafia are after Ghost or conversations in Spanish. These Non-English conversations on the show are very limited and when they do occur subtitles and transcriptions are often available for the viewer.

**Minor Spoiler Alert**

In the most recent episode which appeared on Netflix one of the main characters Angela Valdez who is James’s childhood sweetheart is shown speaking to her sister about knowing about some valuable evidence which sufficed suggesting that he was innocent of a murder he was accused of. For most of the conversation she is heard speaking to her sister in Spanish however there was no Spanish translation provided! Now for anyone who has been following Power knows how passionate the fans of power are often flocking to social media platforms like Instagram or Twitter to vent their frustrations at the actors playing the characters despite this being all fictional. The fact that people could not understand what was being said in Spanish sparked many angry fans to take to twitter and bash Netflix on the mishap.

One viewer Gustavo took to twitter and wrote “The makers of Power must’ve just assumed everyone learned how to understand Spanish in episode 5 with these non subtitled conversations ?”.

Another twitter user called ‘Warning Track Power’ vented their frustration and tweeted “Don’t call asking if we speak Spanish. This is America we speak English or get yourself a damn translator”.

More tweets surfaced with some directing their frustrations directly @Netflix:

One thing for sure is that Power fans are extremely passionate about the show and its characters. Surely someone at Netflix is fixing the technical glitch that occurred or perhaps Netflix requires some professional translation services?

China aiming to eradicate translation fails

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We have all seen or heard of the dodgy translations (not carried out by professional translation agencies) that have been written up on signs, information boards and even advertisements from big businesses across China. You see China can often be a tricky place for English speakers whether you are a business trying to enter the market or just a tourist looking to get around. In fact we even dedicated a whole blog article about how big companies from the west such as Nike, Dior and Burberry; to name a few have gotten things so wrong in China with these retail translation fails.

As well as on the flipside how ‘DIY’ Chinese translation services carried out by Chinese locals can sometimes lead to confusion, frustration or humour amongst English speaking travellers. One time leading to a very heated argument between a shopkeeper and a customer over a “free tea” sign.

Well these tales of confusion and comedy might soon be a thing of the past according to authorities in China. The authorities in China announced that a new national standard of English translation will come into place from December that will affect 13 public domains such as financial, transport, medical and the entertainment areas according to the People’s Daily newspaper, China’s state newspaper. The aim is to implement proper localisation services which would spell the end of poor English translations that are too literal and riddled with grammatical errors on signs such as ‘Please do not feed the fish with your private’ or ‘Racist Park’.

This type of Mandarin to English translation is known as ‘Chinglish’ and is somewhat of an embarrassment within China as children are given English lessons early on. The newspaper goes on to say that the new English translations do “not contain content that damages the images of China or other countries”. So if you are out in China towards the end of the year, be sure to be on the lookout for such changes and let us know the worst ever translated sign you have ever seen.