Dicrel Seijin
02-20-2006, 10:36 PM
I've been seeing postings in other threads about this topic and thought to combine them.
There was a time when you hoped the dub won't be too campy or that the subs did not have funky "Engrish", for the most part those days are past us now.
I want to limit this discussion to the professional translations, so no boots, scans, and such, please.
When there are translations now, I see them heading in two directions: there is the gateway to Japanese culture and the other is accessiblity to the masses.
When it is a gateway to Japanese culture, I see the occasional Japanese word that has no counterpart in English, or if there is one, it is cumbersome. There is no attempt to 'Americanize' the material. I would say Del Rey's manga line is a good example. The extensive notes at the end usually explain quite a bit about what is going on in the context of Japanese culture. I remember that in one volume of XXXholic, they made a point of noting that the Star Wars reference was really in the original.
I will state now that I am rather biased toward this direction. The one argument against this is the reason for the other direction in translation. That this kind of translation does not allow for a broader audience.
The other direction of translation, especially it seems for the ones targeting younger audiences, is the accessibility to the masses. Everything is translated and then most likely adapted for the demographic. (The one example I can cite is Yu-Gi-Oh G/X. In one episode, the main character is happy that he picked the pastry that had strawberry in the center. It was actually musubi (rice ball) with umi (pickled plum/apricot) in the center.
I am somewhat ambivalent toward this type of translation as a kind of necessary evil. Money is a driving force, and if the product is incomprehensible to your intended demographic, then you won't be in business to long. I will grant you that this is rather simplistic and that there are probably other considerations, but I am trying to keep it brief here.
The thing is, I think that those making it more accessible, are selling their customers short. It's okay not to understand everything--some will be okay with that, others will go research.
What do you think? Are there other directions translations are headed? What kind of translation do you prefer? Are you hardcore enough to learn the language to avoid this issue altogether?
Well, I welcome other opinions, and hope that those that favor accessibility chime in as I do want to understand why one would favor it.
And please, if you feel a rant coming on, please pause, and take a few deep breaths.... then rant /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif
There was a time when you hoped the dub won't be too campy or that the subs did not have funky "Engrish", for the most part those days are past us now.
I want to limit this discussion to the professional translations, so no boots, scans, and such, please.
When there are translations now, I see them heading in two directions: there is the gateway to Japanese culture and the other is accessiblity to the masses.
When it is a gateway to Japanese culture, I see the occasional Japanese word that has no counterpart in English, or if there is one, it is cumbersome. There is no attempt to 'Americanize' the material. I would say Del Rey's manga line is a good example. The extensive notes at the end usually explain quite a bit about what is going on in the context of Japanese culture. I remember that in one volume of XXXholic, they made a point of noting that the Star Wars reference was really in the original.
I will state now that I am rather biased toward this direction. The one argument against this is the reason for the other direction in translation. That this kind of translation does not allow for a broader audience.
The other direction of translation, especially it seems for the ones targeting younger audiences, is the accessibility to the masses. Everything is translated and then most likely adapted for the demographic. (The one example I can cite is Yu-Gi-Oh G/X. In one episode, the main character is happy that he picked the pastry that had strawberry in the center. It was actually musubi (rice ball) with umi (pickled plum/apricot) in the center.
I am somewhat ambivalent toward this type of translation as a kind of necessary evil. Money is a driving force, and if the product is incomprehensible to your intended demographic, then you won't be in business to long. I will grant you that this is rather simplistic and that there are probably other considerations, but I am trying to keep it brief here.
The thing is, I think that those making it more accessible, are selling their customers short. It's okay not to understand everything--some will be okay with that, others will go research.
What do you think? Are there other directions translations are headed? What kind of translation do you prefer? Are you hardcore enough to learn the language to avoid this issue altogether?
Well, I welcome other opinions, and hope that those that favor accessibility chime in as I do want to understand why one would favor it.
And please, if you feel a rant coming on, please pause, and take a few deep breaths.... then rant /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif