The film director Ken Loach has, since the 1960s, made a series of films that are well known for their social comment but also renowned in many cases for their value as finely crafted works of art. In both cases the director uses non professional 'genuine' characters and his choice of settings in the industrial north of England, working class Glasgow, London building sites, etc. has led to the creation of numerous 'local' personalities whose regional speech patterns add texture and warmth to this often bitingly realistic films. This has created numerous problems for those who have to translate this characters' discourse into languages that do not readily bend to the very specific linguistico-cultural contexts or to the lip synchronisation requirements of dubbing directors. In the case of translation by subtitles, the move tot the written mode is jeopardised by the fact that Loach's characters often do not work to an original written script but improvise on the set. The consequent need to transpose original spoken language to written subtitles carries its own potential for inaccuracy or inadequacy.