Am I the only one who hates...

Jolene

Jolene

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    Am I the only one who hates it when Japanese terms are used in translated manga? It really bugs me because all of the other words are translated perfectly into English, yet for some reason the translators decided to leave in a couple of random Japanese terms like "oneechan" or "senpai". I'd understand it if they didn't have counterparts in the English language, but they usually do. It really clatters my cage.
     
    That's annoying, but what bugs me more is what sometime happens to the subs in anime.

    Just as keikaku.
    Translated note: Keikaku means planned.
     
    I think it depends on how much you know.
    For me, since I've been exposed to those words more than I'd care to analyze, it makes sense whether they translate it or not.

    But for someone who's newer to manga/anime, I can see how it'd be annoying.
    All I can say is, don't read/watch Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
     
    I like the usage of honorifics in translated manga, but not in dubbed anime. I agree with Dunsparce- they help to express relationships between various characters. :3
     
    Mmm... sometimes they bring over the worlds because they don't have an English Equivalent. ^^; I mean, there really is no way to describe that Upper Classmen in Japanese Highschools pay a much bigger role in the highschool experience than they do in America. ^^; One of my Japanese instructors told me that this is why some words in subs of things like Japanese movies are left.

    In America, we only have a few ways to describe "Big Sister" but in Japan, there's at least four I can think of off the top of my head [Aneue, Onee-shan, Ane-san, Nee-chan etc etc] and the levels of politeness and the occasions when you would use them vary. It's annoying in the dub but you'd lose so much more in translation than you already would, you know?

    There's a big big difference in politeness levels too. I won't go too much into it but in the Japanese corporate world you've got the entire politeness system of Keigo to deal with. It's not just Mr. Smith, it's Smith-sama and sometimes the suffix is even more honorofic than that. :x Just saying Smith-san would be considered rude and inappropriate in some instances.

    If it bothers you, watch the subbed. ^^;
     
    Yeah I hate it. If you're going to dub the show or translate the comic then convert everything into that language. The only exception would be names of people I guess.
     
    Although i do find it somewhat irritating, I think I find it more annoying when I see it written as "Big brother" and such. Reason being that I don't think I've actually heard many people call out to their brothers like "Hey, big brother" etc. As far as my experience goes (which isn't much to talk about) I've only known siblings to call each other by their names. Other times because it's a nickname, etc. [And no, i'm not talking about moms and dads, those should be left as "mom" or "dad"]

    as far as honorifics go, I'm fine with them staying in.

    ....Then again, i don't have much manga with brothers/sisters in it XD
     
    I'm fine with senpai, onee-chan, and things of the like, but I hate it when they leave whole phrases in. Like "Mou hitori no boku" in the Yu-Gi-Oh! sub.

    Mou hitori no boku translates as 'the other me'.​
     
    I like seeing words left untranslated. Leave them long enough and you don't even realize they're there. It's like how you don't see people using "japanimation" and "Japanese comics" much/at all. Everyone says anime and manga because they're used to the words.
     
    I'm going to try not to repeat what's already been said, but I do believe it's important at times for those words to be left it.

    Well, I take Japanese at school so the majority of the time I can understand the terms that translators have left in their translations. I don't mind it or really care to be honest, as long as I can read it. I can understand for those who don't know what the words mean that it can be frustrating, but it just looks wrong at times with literal translations. I can't think of an example off the top of my head where it's just weird, but names is one of the main things that are almost always left in. -chan, -san, -sama, (even -tan!) suffixes with names shows a level of respect in how you address someone. This is an area where I definitely prefer seeing in manga like this rather than Mr. and Miss so-and so. Naming as well, I prefer keeping to the Family name, First name method of writing, even though it's in English, it feels weird to read it the other way round (but that's most likely because I learn Japanese).

    I feel the same with anime subs. Besides, most fansub groups won't do the direct "localized" (I believe the term is) translations, at least from my experience. The only time I've seen fully untranslated sentences is when it makes no sense (one example I remember is during ToraDora!, where Minori's lines are generally nonsensical). And that is perfectly reasonable. If you're annoyed with it, watch the dub then. Or learn Japanese. Fansubbing isn't their job and aren't making money out of it, so they'll allowed to do what they want and some groups will tell you this. If it's the official stuff, then subtitles still aren't as bad with them, it only annoys me when they just to add them to normal English during dubs. That is unnatural and plain weird.
     
    I'm fine with stuff like Sempai and -sama etc.. Since there really isn't an english translation for those but it annoys me when they leave stuff like "Shittenou" untranslated. There's a perfectly good translation for it and it's "Elite 4" and it's used in more than Pokemon, like Yugioh! The Shadow Games for instance.
     
    Honorifics and terms that have really awkward translations are fine by me. ie, I don't mind if they toss on that Smith-san or leave in an onee-san. (Especially since terms like the latter may have a direct translation but it almost NEVER sounds right in English.)

    However anything else usually bugs me immensely. :| I will literally drop a fansub if they use unnecessary Japanese in their subs. Especially if I don't know what the word is after however many years of Japanese I've taken--whether you explain it in tiny font that stays on the screen for a minute or not, it's lazy work.

    If it's a dub, there should be no Japanese unless absolutely needed. I can't think of any time when it would be appropriate though.
     
    Every time I see a japanese word that could be translated into english but was left untranslated in anything, manga, anime, heck even games, (looking at you Persona 3 and 4, Jesus ****) I die a little inside. I just hate translators who don't bother to do their job properly, even with honorifics as most of the common ones could retain their meaning if they were translated as "miss," "master" etc. But I rarely see that happen. See this video for most of my issues with translations of Japanese content.
     
    It doesn't bother me when they translate some words into english, or fail to translate some words into english. There's sometimes a good explanation. For example, -chan can be translated a number of ways into english, but all are completely inaccurate. In order to get the point across, -chan needs to be kept in as is. For example, in Bubblegum Crisis 2040, they made the poor decision to translate -chan into "poo," as if the character Nene was calling him "Leon-Poo" to be cutesy. However, she's actually adding -chan incorrectly on purpose in a form of a different social interaction.

    The things that DO bother me about translations, is when they decide to use BOTH the english and japanese and mix it up back and forth. For example, there was something I watched in which they couldn't make up their minds if "chibi" was to be translated or not. They also changed the translation of chibi when they decided to translate it, over 2-3 times.
     
    Dunsparce said:
    I'm a big fan of Honorfics and such. They help express the relationship between two characters better.

    I feel like the minority here >.>;
    Click to expand...
    That's because the meanings of honorifics can be conveyed in English through more subtle means. If you choose to write "Jessy" instead of "Jessy-sempai," you can still convey what the honorific approximates to by adjusting the other words that the character uses. English has a plethora (a ton, a bunch, a lot, a wealth, an overabundance, a butt-load) of words that mean the same thing but have different connotations. These connotations can be used to designate formality, colloquialism, respect, contempt, jest, etc.

    Fansubbers would like you to think that English isn't as versatile a language as Japanese because we don't use honorifics to directly state the relationship between two people. This is absurd, because we imply those relationships through our wider vocabulary.
     
    See here is the thing: There are no direct translations for certain Japanese terms. If you have a term for "-chan," or "-kun" for the English language you are a linguistic genius. Sure, for Senpai or San it's different. However for the former, saying "Roger Senior or Senior Roger" sounds awkward. -San can be translated to "Mr." "Ms." and what have you, but otherwise it doesn't always work.
     
    Akio123 said:
    See here is the thing: There are no direct translations for certain Japanese terms. If you have a term for "-chan," or "-kun" for the English language you are a linguistic genius. Sure, for Senpai or San it's different. However for the former, saying "Roger Senior or Senior Roger" sounds awkward. -San can be translated to "Mr." "Ms." and what have you, but otherwise it doesn't always work.
    Click to expand...
    It's not like you need to translate everything in a sentence to make it a good translation. Even if you don't have a single term for an honorific, you can still convey the relationship between two people by adjusting the choice of the other words in the sentence. Direct translation rarely produces a good adaptation. A good adaptation must give sounding natural top priority, there are no exceptions.
     
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