from what i know of pro subtitling - which is always going to vary in quality and have flaws - the idea of english matching the original language is something of a red herring. subs are an adaptation of the sentiment, not of the literal dialogue, and seem to be a form of rewriting the film so it all makes sense. all kinds of factors i suspect - ability to read has a different speed limitation to ability to listen to a language if you already speak it and understand it. i'm no translator, but i do have one good friend who professionally subs japanese films, so i've gather a little sense of it from that perspective.
i'd imagine, outside of the field, subbers identities wouldn't register with viewers all too often, even if always named at the end of releases; i've noted lots of mentions that USA companies releasing anime have based their official releases on what they seem to assume are good fansubs done for torrents when a show first airs. there's always a sense, perhaps naive expectation from those of us who are customers more than business operators / self-employed, that if you're paying you'd expect to get perfection - but there's a compromise that's always being balanced out, and it's the ability to make a profit from the slice of time you can afford to allocate to any one job.
i remember watching a lot of the noshame USA releases and being surprised by how much dialogue was on screen - very hard to read, but always felt unusually close to the amount of stuff being spoken. at the other end of the scale, some foreign dramas on TV are subbed very lightly, with bold, simple lines for a much broader audience. most stuff i've seen on DVD has been a middle ground, i'd guess. raro, whose subs i've not experienced much of (because i don't buy into the picture quality when reviews come around, so i often back out of buying their stuff) seem all kinds of unpredictable.
