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There's a good chance that the English-language translation of your
favorite show came from one of these four men. From left to right, they
are Neil Nadelman (freelance translator), Dan Kanemitsu (ADV Films), Dave
Fleming (Pioneer) and Takayuki Karahashi (Viz). They disagree on the methods
they use to create their translation, but they agree that the syntax and
grammar of Japanese is radically different than English. Something that's
explicit in English is only implied in Japanese, and the translators have
to create an interpretation that makes sense. A word-for-word translation
wouldn't make any sense, the panel noted. Even words borrowed from English
have different meanings in Japanese. "Feminist" refers to a chivalrous
gentleman in Japan, Nadelman noted, and "smart" means stylish, not intelligent. |
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Puns are notoriously difficult to move from language to language, Nadelman
noted, and he used the example of his translation of the way that Lina
Inverse was insulted in the first episode of the original Slayers TV series.
The character was called a "doramata," which Nadelman said meant something
so bad that a dragon wouldn't step on it. "I didn't want to explain that
(joke) because it took out the humor," he said. Nadelman finally came up
with the phrase "dragon spooker," and even made up an explanation: it was
an acronym meaning "Dragon Step Past Out Of Clear Revulsion." Nadelman
admitted he wasn't totally satisfied with that version of the pun. |
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Some fans think the best way to handle translations is to show the
more obscure details in footnotes in subtitled anime. Kanemitsu (pictured)
said that might work in a comedy, but it won't be effective in a serious
drama where viewers need to concentrate on every line. Karahashi was pointedly
opposed to footnotes in anime, calling them a "copout" for translators. |
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Then there's the spelling of character names, made complicated because
there are two or three systems of romanizing Japanese words - and anime
producers don't always follow these rules. Fleming (pictured) noted that
the producers of Vision of Escaflowne insisted that the name of the cute
catgirl sidekick be spelled "Merle," even though that name often is considered
a male name in English. Nadelman said that the producers of the Giant Robo
series wanted the real first name of Ginrei to be "Farmer," although that's
rarely anything but a last name in the U.S. Kanemitsu added that the name
of the series known as Martian Successor Nadesico could, depending on the
romanization system used, be spelled "Nedashiko" or "Nedasico." |
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Karahashi feels that dubs can have translations that are more accurate
than subs. Producers have to take into account the reading speed of viewers
and the number of characters they can place on a screen, and that limits
the number of words they can use. Dubs can use more words to get a line
across, limited by the need to match each line with the animation's mouth
movements. |
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