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I don't know if this is different for other languages of the series. But in the German version of Game of Thrones, the spoken language when the stories come to Daenerys part is neither translated nor subtitled (except for season 5, but stopping at season 6 again).

I couldn't connect it to any real spoken language, so I assume it is not like the audience is supposed to speak this language. For season 5 with subtitles I was fine since I finally could follow up in depth.

But before It was more like just grasping general emotions of characters to each other but having no idea what is being spoken about.

And for a series as complex as GoT, I really feel like, it would be easier to follow on the political events around Daenerys.

Is it just the German version? Or for what reason they explicitly don't want the audience to understand the foreign language?

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    Strange, there should be a subtitle.
    – madmada
    Aug 15 '17 at 7:48
  • I have an original copy of it and in German it isn't showing the subtitles. Well I never tried to turn on subtitles in the settings as I haven't expected that this might be required if I want to see subtitles for an fictional language. Even for season 5 the subtitles of the German original copy had been English. ( no trouble for me, but for a friend I'm watching the series that didn't help much either). Also if this isn't a stylistic decision having been made, how it can be that I have to watch it on youtube to get the quality, the paid version is missing?
    – Zaibis
    Aug 15 '17 at 8:01
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    If I remember rightly sometimes the conversations between Daenerys to the Dothraki and to her dragons are intentionally left un-subtitled though not the majority of them.
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Aug 15 '17 at 8:14
  • @TheLethalCoder: I just yet realized that it were 2 different languages spoken... I asked my self all 5 seasons long I watched so far, how all of them learned Dothraki, and now Valyrian was mentioned, I asked my self why Daenerys had to learn it in the first season. and nope... turning on the subtitles just puts the spoken language in letters helping me nothing at all...
    – Zaibis
    Aug 15 '17 at 8:20
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    The English Official HBO version contains subtitles for the dothraki sections, how are you watching the show?
    – Michael Darlington
    Aug 15 '17 at 9:09
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Daenerys speaks High Valyrian to her dragons, Dothraki to her Khalasar and Low Valyrian to other characters in prior seasons. All* of these interactions are subtitled, by default.

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In your German version, it may be necessary to activate subtitles manually, whereas these are usually hardcoded into original (English) versions of the video, so that even people who don't turn on subtitles can follow along with the narratively important scenes containing the fictional languages.

*Practically all - some instances like extras, crowd noise or Daenerys saying "Dracarys" aren't always subtitled. This is usually because it is either unimportant or the audience already knows what it means.

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    Hm thanks for the info. Then I just bought some kind of broken DVD boox.... Nice to know I wasn't supposed to not understand what they are talking, but unsatisfying to realize I'm mid season 6 now and missed most of the important conversations of all the 5 previous seasons....
    – Zaibis
    Aug 16 '17 at 6:29
  • This may also be a mistake by the German dubbers. English hardcoded subtitles are often removed from versions that are intended to be dubbed (since dubbing implies that the viewers are averse to hearing the English, presumably also reading), with the intention to have it dubbed (or resubtitled in the native language). Similarly, children's cartoons often omit written English (e.g. newspaper headlines) as cartoons are likely to get dubbed, and I have seen some cartoons where they forgot to put text in the open space (e.g. newspapers without headlines in the finished product).
    – Flater
    Aug 21 '17 at 10:41

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