Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

You know what really annoys me (fansub related)?

Professor_Chris

Professor_Chris

Active Member
Fansubbers/scanlators who, instead of outright translating or transliterating, substitute one Japanese word for another in their translation. It's like "WHAT THE HECK? Why is there this Japanese word sitting here in these subtitles that nobody even said?"

I was just watching ef, and usually I have no problems with Conclave, Mendoi, or the joints they produce, but then a character says "ero hon" and the subtitles show "ecchi book." "Ero" is even closer to English, so what's the point?

Another example off the top of my head comes from a scanlation of One Piece. In an early volume with Yosaku and Johnny, the scanlators, in their infinite wisdom, decide that no one knows what "aniki" means, substitute it with "senpai" and even leave a little translation note to tell what they've done. WHAT? If you're gonna leave a translation note, then tell them what aniki means and start using it. :\

/rant
 
This is exactly my complaint regarding their turning Inkidasu (literally "to pull <something> out") into Iaido (a specific term regarding drawing one's sword) in the Final Fantasy Tactics remake, instead of the more literal "Draw Out" they used in the PSX version. They did this in spite of the fact that the skill involves drawing spirits out of a sword, not drawing a sword from its sheath. Amusingly they left Shirahadori ("white edge catching", a real-life samurai technique where you catch your opponent's sword in your hand; "Bladegrasp" in the PSX version) in the exact same class alone.

So, summary, it's even more frustrating when they use an entirely wrong word, rather than just using something in the same ballpark.

Edit: Added some clarifications to some JP words. Also same time posted with Chris.
 
Does it matter? No, probably not. Does it annoy me? Yes, yes, it does.

It just seems so pointless to substitute one foreign word for another in the same language when you're supposed to be translating it. Now, I'm all for leaving certain Japanese words untranslated in the script. Sometimes it makes sense to do so. However, I cannot think of one good reason why you would substitute one Japanese word for another in lieu of translating or leaving the original word in.

It's also mildly annoying to hear English words in the original, but not have them appear in the subtitles. However, I'm more forgiving of that since sometimes they just don't make sense after translating. (It does sadden me when they remove a perfectly fine RPG reference and replace "level up" with something else. =( )
 
I love when Otome from Da Capo II calls Yoshiyuki Otouto-kun and put Otouto-kun in the subs rather than little brother-kun
 
Well, yes. Keeping things like imouto, otouto, onee, onii, nee, nii preceding an honorific make sense. I actually like it better that way since sometimes in English its awkward to refer to siblings directly this way. Basically, it just starts getting weird when you mix honorifics and English. However, it would be terrible if they started swapping out otouto for nii and imouto for nee.

While I'm on the subject of things that annoy me, I hate when they use honorifics, but get the wrong one. However, I'm not too bothered by it because its almost certainly a mistake that slipped through QC.
 
well, I've seen that like once or twice. though, it does tick me off that I have to rewind a bit to listen to that part again
 
Yes, it's not very common, and unlike what I described in the original post, it's more likely to be something completely unintentional that just happened to slip past the QCer.
 
Another reason NOT to watch fansubs, but to wait till the professinals at an anime distributor (hopefully) translates it properly for a DVD release.
 
EricDent said:
Another reason NOT to watch fansubs, but to wait till the professinals at an anime distributor (hopefully) translates it properly for a DVD release.
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Which could be anywhere from a year to never.

There are a lot of high-quality, professional level fansubs out there. At the same time there are plenty of low quality amaturish ones that still manage to do a decent job. However, even the professional dubbers make dubious decisions at times and sometimes make mistakes.
 
Marril said:
I've seen better fansubs than official subs.

I've also seen better official subs than fansubs.
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I agree, And most, if not all of the time, Japanese voice acting > English voice acting (even though I don't understand Japanese lol). It just sounds more natural with Japanese > English.
 
Eh, for me, it's gotten to the point where I won't buy a series until I've at least seen part of it on a fansub.

Oh, and english dubs aren't bad, I've seen quite a few that have surpassed the japanese versions. Cowboy Bebop, anyone?
 
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