So
you're watching an anime DVD, and just out of curiosity, you turn on
the subtitles and the English-language sound track at the same time.
Not
only is the subtitle script different from the dubbed dialogue, but the
words in both versions don't appear at the same time. What's going on?
According to veteran translator Neil Nadelman, it's because people
perceive written words differently than they handle spoken dialogue, so
the different translations are written differently. And there's also
the factor of what each translation has to achieve. A subtitle
translation has to get the point across in a limited amount of time and
space on screen, based on assumptions about the average viewer's
reading speed and a typical TV screen's size and resolution. A dub
translation has different limits on
time - the time that each character speaks on screen. That precise
timing makes Nadelman's translation job a little more difficult,
because he has to produce words that exactly match the characters' on
screen lip flaps, a practice which he says is more exacting in dubs
than
in the Japanese originals.
In
the U.S., the midwestern way of speaking is considered a neutral accent
and everything else is called a regional dialect. In Japan, the dialect
spoken in Tokyo is considered standard speech and all other versions
are nonstandard. Nadelman has to take the regional variations into
consideration when he writes a translation, especially when the
dialects are supposed to show a character's personality. The best
example for anime fans is the Osaka dialect. Osakan are considered to
be the aggressive, hard driving business leaders in Japan - and
sometimes its biggest crooks. An Osakan accent has much the same
meaning to Japanese audiences as a Brooklyn accent to Americans,
Nadelman said. In each case you don't need to hear much beyond the
character's voice to get a first impression of what the character is
all about.
Nadelman
said you get an idea of the Osakan character if you see Bugs Bunny in a
Warner Bros. cartoon. "I'm one of the people who argues that you should
translate an Osakan accent as speaking like Bugs Bunny," said Nadelman.
"It's like Meowth in Pokemon - the reason he speaks that way
(in the English dub) is because he speaks that way in Japanese." Kyoto
accents are a little harder to get across in English. Nadelman noted
that Kyoto is considered Japan's historic and cultural capitol, but
there's no direct comparison in the U.S. (Some have tried British
accents for Kyoto characters, but that gets complicated because there's
also more than one kind of British accent.) Dialects are just part of
the translation challenge: puns are so deeply rooted to Japanese
culture that often new jokes are written for an English version, for
example. And professional translators such as Nadelman face business
pressures that fansubbers never face. His translations are carefully
examined by the dub producers, import companies and the Japanese
license holders, all which can insist on odd changes that Nadelman can
never anticipate - or explain.
So
you're watching an anime DVD, and just out of curiosity, you turn on
the subtitles and the English-language sound track at the same time.
Not
only is the subtitle script different from the dubbed dialogue, but the
words in both versions don't appear at the same time. What's going on?
According to veteran translator Neil Nadelman, it's because people
perceive written words differently than they handle spoken dialogue, so
the different translations are written differently. And there's also
the factor of what each translation has to achieve. A subtitle
translation has to get the point across in a limited amount of time and
space on screen, based on assumptions about the average viewer's
reading speed and a typical TV screen's size and resolution. A dub
translation has different limits on
time - the time that each character speaks on screen. That precise
timing makes Nadelman's translation job a little more difficult,
because he has to produce words that exactly match the characters' on
screen lip flaps, a practice which he says is more exacting in dubs
than
in the Japanese originals.
In
the U.S., the midwestern way of speaking is considered a neutral accent
and everything else is called a regional dialect. In Japan, the dialect
spoken in Tokyo is considered standard speech and all other versions
are nonstandard. Nadelman has to take the regional variations into
consideration when he writes a translation, especially when the
dialects are supposed to show a character's personality. The best
example for anime fans is the Osaka dialect. Osakan are considered to
be the aggressive, hard driving business leaders in Japan - and
sometimes its biggest crooks. An Osakan accent has much the same
meaning to Japanese audiences as a Brooklyn accent to Americans,
Nadelman said. In each case you don't need to hear much beyond the
character's voice to get a first impression of what the character is
all about.
Nadelman
said you get an idea of the Osakan character if you see Bugs Bunny in a
Warner Bros. cartoon. "I'm one of the people who argues that you should
translate an Osakan accent as speaking like Bugs Bunny," said Nadelman.
"It's like Meowth in Pokemon - the reason he speaks that way
(in the English dub) is because he speaks that way in Japanese." Kyoto
accents are a little harder to get across in English. Nadelman noted
that Kyoto is considered Japan's historic and cultural capitol, but
there's no direct comparison in the U.S. (Some have tried British
accents for Kyoto characters, but that gets complicated because there's
also more than one kind of British accent.) Dialects are just part of
the translation challenge: puns are so deeply rooted to Japanese
culture that often new jokes are written for an English version, for
example. And professional translators such as Nadelman face business
pressures that fansubbers never face. His translations are carefully
examined by the dub producers, import companies and the Japanese
license holders, all which can insist on odd changes that Nadelman can
never anticipate - or explain.
