This thesis is particularly about the translation done on the subtitles of
the movie entitled American Beauty. In doing the research the writer would like to
find out (1) what kinds of mistakes appear in the subtitles that do not convey the
meaning of the original utterances, (2) which mistake mostly occurs in the
subtitles (3) what the quality of the subtitles is. To do the research, the writer
would like to make use of the qualitative approach. The data of the transcription
of utterances are obtained from the internet and then compared to the VCD (Video
Compact Disc) entitled American Beauty. The seventy-six scenes in the film have
three parts - the beginning, the conflicts, and the ending. The subtitles being
analyzed are from twelve scenes which belong to the three parts, having more
utterances than the others. The analysis is based on the theories of translation. The
translation theories are those of Peter Newmark?s, about unit of translating,
audience criteria, the categorisation of translation mistakes; and of Christine
Durieux about the criteria of a good translation. The findings of the analysis
reveal that the mistakes occurring in the subtitles are of two kinds. They are
having misleading mistakes and having nuanced mistakes. The acceptable
subtitles are the most samples found in the data. The subtitles of having
misleading mistakes are in the first position while of having nuanced mistakes in
the second. The quality of the subtitles is good.