there may be words

I think watching something subtitled (or writing fic for it) is pretty different from reading a translated novel (or writing fic for it), because the original-language version is always there in the viewer's awareness, even if they don't understand a word of it. So fic gesturing back towards that original version's language (as much as it can) rather than simply taking the subs as "canon" makes sense to me, since fic already refers to the original in every other way (the visuals, the tone of voice, etc.), unlike a novel, where the translated text is the entirety of what the reader experiences ...