English vs Japanese?

I don't watch many dubs (not that I watch much anime to begin with) but...

Fansubs tend to suck. Or maybe just the ones I end up testing suck. :/ They're ALWAYS either too literal (ie they translate DIRECTLY from the Japanese and it sounds awkward and ridiculous) or else they take far too many liberties and get the feeling across but not the right meaning, making some characters far harsher than they actually are or a lot cuter than they are. :s

(Or they're just lazy as crap and leave half the words in untranslated for an "authentic" experience with tones of liner notes. No, that is bad "translation". Stop it. >:|)

Honestly, I think the fall in quality of proper dubs (and even subs) is probably because people are okay with the laziness that is fansubs. :/ I watched the official subs of Higurashi recently and was really annoyed that some things were translated really awkwardly. Don't they use editors? But of course, the fansubs I was introduced with Higurashi in were honestly not much better. I had to double take at the official ones a lot because they actually translated most words instead of just leaving Watanagashi as a Japanese word when it... didn't need to be.

There's a lot of issues with fansubs. They're definitely no superior, they're just an alternative with their own set of problems.
 
It all depends on the circle. I've seen crappy circles, and I've seen excellent circles.
 
Shanghai Alice said:
Not to start an argument...

Okay, yeah, I'm in the mood to fight. Put 'em up.

However, to get around that problem, start sticking to circles. For example, I've watched an a.f.k. anime or two, and know that they are fairly good quality.

That's why circles "stamp" their work.
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Circles? As in fansub circles? Of course, if the fansub circle has nearly accurate translations and many people can say so, I won't worry while viewing their work. I haven't really found fansub circles like that, but I've seen some, and they were great.

I usually run into fansubs that has unnecessary swearing and failed attempts to spice up the translations. As I hear, most fansubs don't have the actual knowledge of Japanese slang, culture or idioms. I'm very strict on things like that so I lean more on the official subs/dubs who work off a script.
 
Illustration said:
Circles? As in fansub circles? Of course, if the fansub circle has nearly accurate translations and many people can say so, I won't worry while viewing their work. I haven't really found fansub circles like that, but I've seen some, and they were great.

I usually run into fansubs that has unnecessary swearing and failed attempts to spice up the translations. As I hear, most fansubs don't have the actual knowledge of Japanese slang, culture or idioms. I'm very strict on things like that so I lean more on the official subs/dubs who work off a script.
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Official subs often ignore exactly the sort of things you mentioned in favor of ease of reading. Good fansub groups make something understandable without over-localizing. Some of the better ones are A.F.K., gg, and THORA.
 
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twocows said:
Official subs often ignore exactly the sort of things you mentioned in favor of ease of reading. Good fansub groups make something understandable without over-localizing. Some of the better ones are A.F.K, gg, and THORA.
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Really? :( I stopped following gg's subs because they were too loose/liberal with their translations.
 
It doesn't really bother me. I've watched some series with English subs and others that have been dubbed. Some animes have really good dubs but others sound better in Japanese. xD
 
Lightning said:
Really? :( I stopped following gg's subs because they were too loose/liberal with their translations.
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I'm not a huge fan of gg for exactly that reason, but they're pretty similar to official subs in terms of quality. They generally don't take any more liberties than "professional subs" do.
 
It really Depends on the series.

Hellsing Ultimate has a good English dub to it except when it comes to the German characters.

Coyboy Bebop I've only watched in English and I have no complaints with that.

A lot of the lesser known anime has really good English Dubbing to it but the more famous anime tend to have some of the worst English dubbing around.

Vic mangonia or whoever that guy who plays Edward Elric in the English FMAs (quite literally in both of them) needs to go away.

Also the FMA English dubs are both pretty good except the guy who plays Edward Elric and they person who play Envy in Brotherhood.
 
twocows said:
Official subs often ignore exactly the sort of things you mentioned in favor of ease of reading. Good fansub groups make something understandable without over-localizing. Some of the better ones are A.F.K., gg, and THORA.
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Seconding AFK and gg.

Transliteration of idioms is important, as well.

To elaborate, a good fansubber preserves puns, idioms, and slang, without over-localizing or simply translating it straight.

That's what translators notes are for.

For example, puns on kanji are replaced with English puns that mean the same thing (or close enough), etc.

I've seen good subs, I've seen bad subs. You tough it out, suck it up, and enjoy the anime.

And I've watched a pirated version of Shaolin Soccer, so I KNOW what I'm talking about.
 
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English dubs for most animes. I dunno why but if I watch the English dub first then I literally can't stand the Japanese dub (most of the time). I mean you just get so accustomed to the English that the Japanese sounds...weird.

Though if the anime is showing on anything but adult swim (not as censored there) then I go w/ Japanese.
 
It really depends on the sincerity of the voices, though. Typically, the Japanese VAs sound like they're into it, rather than just reading a script.
 
I don't really care about how exact the translation are in the fansub/official sub/dub. Just as long as it was semi-close to where it was before, and that I can understand that.

With this point, I usually go with weather the english voices, or weather the japanese voices are better. Usually, the Japanese Voices are better, but there have been some cases where I've liked the English Voices just a much, if not slightly more.
 
For me, it's just whichever language I saw the anime in first. For instance, since I first saw an anime like Pokemon or DBZ in English, I prefer it in English.

Anime that I have seen in Japanese first (with English subtitles, of course), I prefer to watch in Japanese.

When I start watching something, I like to stay consistent with the conditions that I first saw it in.
 
For me, watching InuYasha in Japanese with the English subtitles let the animé flow more for me, because I don't really know the Japanese language.

Also, it sounds better, as I don't really like the English-dubbed voices.
 
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