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yaki-udon
Joined: 05 May 2015
Posts: 83
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Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2015 11:32 pm
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As someone who posts here in Engrish on a regular basis, I'm surprised I haven't been banned yet. But my motto is "making mistakes is the only way to learn a foreign language".
I think katakana is the very reason Engrish exists in the first place.
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leafy sea dragon
Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 6:30 am
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MetalUpa1014 wrote: | Anything from the Science Adventure series (i.e. Chaos;Head, Steins;Gate, Robotics;Notes, Chaos;Child). Considering that there's no semicolon in Japanese grammar and the fact that most native English speakers don't even know how to use it correctly, the use here feels kinda pretentious. Wonder who at 5pb came up with the titles. |
Not only that, but Robotics;Notes sounds like, well, someone's notes on robotics, or some sort of educational supplement for a robotics class. I first heard of this series looking through the anime section at Fry's Electronics and thought that was what it was, as such a thing wouldn't be out of place at Fry's.
Touma wrote: | And what about "Girls Bravo"?
"Girls" is obvious, but what does "Bravo" mean in that context. |
Quite clearly, it takes place after Girls Alpha and before Girls Charlie.
GrayArchon wrote: | Yeah, that's kind of one of the fallacies of the claim that the official translators have access to the original author to ask these kinds of questions. A lot of the time, they have to go through layers of bureaucracy, any one of which could say 'no, we already know this' or 'this isn't worth bothering the author over' leaving questions left unanswered. |
It's a case-by-case basis. For Viz's translation of Bleach, Tite Kubo provides spellings for all of the characters as they're introduced, but I don't know if there's any back-and-forth talk between him and Viz's English-adaptation team.
For One Piece, Stephen Paul is allowed to ask any of Eiichiro Oda's editors, but Oda himself seems off-limits. Most recently, Paul asked about possible double meanings of the name of a character introduced a few chapters ago, though I can tell he didn't always have this privilege, as characters' names got retconned a bunch in the previous arc.
LuScr wrote: |
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One Piece. 4Kids' "explanation" of it was ridiculous, but from what little I've seen of the series, the original didn't explain the term much better, if at all.
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Supposedly, Eiichiro Oda has a nice big satisfying explanation for why the treasure is called that when it comes time to show what it is. This was back when he didn't have as good a grasp on English as he does now (and even now, any longer phrase used in the series is taken verbatim from music lyrics, indicating he still doens't have that good a grasp).
Still, it is kind of weird to have a series sharing a name with a type of swimsuit. But hey, if you think about it, for fourteen years, it ran in the same manga magazine as a series whose name would translate to "Fishcake." (That's Naruto.)
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 7580
Location: Wales
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 9:16 am
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It still is "Horizon On The Middle Of Nowhere" in the UK
That was how it originally went through the BBFC for rating, and the title on the box had to match.
lossthief wrote: | And in a weird bit of life imitating art, the US release of BECK being changed to Mongolian Chop Squad is pretty funny too |
It wasn't actually changed since Mongolian Chop Squad was the original subtitle in Japan. It was even originally released in the US as "BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad". They just dropped the "BECK" for the... fourth completed series release, presumably for legal reasons.
NeoStrayCat wrote: | This Ugly yet Beautiful World (of course, the "yet" was originally "and"). |
That actually annoyed me since I didn't see the point. I always felt the dichotomy was intentional, and worked even if it wasn't.
Lili-Hime wrote: |
CorneredAngel wrote: | One word. Bodacious Space Pirates. |
I loved this title! Made it sound like some cheesy early 90's thing. It's still stupid though. The original translating to 'mini-skirt pirates' would've been false advertising though the show really isn't about fan service. |
"Miniskirt Space Pirates" is presumably a reference to "Miniskirt Police" rather than being specically about fanservice, and it the name of the original novel. The anime title of Mouretsu [space] Pirates came with the English translation of "Bodacious" from early on, even before it was licensed.
jenny10-11 wrote: | The Attack on Titan title always made me think it was a sci-fi space mecha story, so I didn't watch it for a long time. |
When buzz first started up about it I couldn't help every time I saw the title flashing back to a pair of CHristian scifi novels from my childhood titled "Operation Titan" and "Assault on Omega 4"
Nodz wrote: | "The Testament of Sister New Devil" |
I maintain that it should be called "My Little Sister Can't Be This Demonic!"
Beltane wrote: | I was under the impression that the author of No Game No Life was inspired by the corporate slogan of Tower Records in Japan, which is "No music, no life.", and that's how he came up with the title for his light novel series. |
I've seen the formation elsewhere; most notably "No nipslip, no life!" and similar from Sakurasou.
Penguin_Factory wrote: | I was always very thankful that Haibane Renmei just stuck with the Japanese title instead of trying to translate it, as I can't think of any version of "Charcoal Feather Alliance" (or whatever the name translates to) that isn't incredibly awkward. |
Canonically I believe it is "Charcoal Feather Federation"; you see "cff" in a few places.
jutsuri wrote: | Does it count if the spelling is correct but the pronunciation is off? Eureka 7 drove me crazy for that very reason.
I just kept wishing someone had heard the word pronounced properly and suggested using 'yuu' (ユー) instead of 'eu' (エウ) when they were going over things with the voice actors. |
Isn't this a case where the Japanese pronunciation is based on a language other than English? Like how Evangelion has a hard "g" (as in the Greek), unlike the English word Evangelist which was probably filtered through Latin.
yuna49 wrote: | "Tweeny Witches" was attached to the English dub of Mahou Shoujotai Arusu, or "Magical Girl Squad Alice." |
Tweeny Witches was attached to the show from the beginning, long before it was licensed. I even wrote Tweeny Witches on the discs I burned the (unwatched) fansubs to.
Quote: | "Chiko, Heiress of the Phantom Thief" wins my award for worst translation of a title I've seen. It's the official English title from the production committee for "Nijuu Mensou no Musume," or literally "Daughter of Twenty Faces," which would have been a perfectly fine title. While Nijuu Mensou is indeed a phantom thief, and Chiko is an heiress, she's not his heiress. In fact she's not his daughter at all. |
It's been a long time since I watched it (in part because the DVDs are unsubbed and the fansubs are lost somewhere in the same dusty pile as the above), but doesn't she in effect become his surrogate daughter and inherit his role, if nothing else?
Actar wrote: | However, sometimes companies go further than simply fixing the English or translating titles. That's when they actually give it a completely new title. That's a practice I cannot get behind. At all. |
On that subject, where the heck did "Origin: Spirits of the Past" come from?
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hyojodoji
Joined: 08 Jan 2010
Posts: 586
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2015 5:35 am
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Shiroi Hane wrote: |
jutsuri wrote: | Does it count if the spelling is correct but the pronunciation is off? Eureka 7 drove me crazy for that very reason.
I just kept wishing someone had heard the word pronounced properly and suggested using 'yuu' (ユー) instead of 'eu' (エウ) when they were going over things with the voice actors. |
Isn't this a case where the Japanese pronunciation is based on a language other than English? Like how Evangelion has a hard "g" (as in the Greek), unlike the English word Evangelist which was probably filtered through Latin. |
Yes, that is one of cases where Japanese people adopt the pronunciation of a Western term which is different from that of the Anglicised version when they mention a term which is related to continental European (and Mediterranean islands') culture. In the Japanese edition of Pioneers in Mathematics, the translator Matsu'ura Shunsuke, who is a scholar of philosophy of science, transliterated the famous exclamation attributed to Archimedes as 'エウレーカ 〔/eureːka/〕'.
In the passages about the Greek mythological character Europe in the Japanese book 『ギリシア神話を学ぶ人のために』 (For People Who Study Greek Mythology), the author Takahashi Hiroyuki, who is a scholar of ancient Greek literature, wrote, 'エウローぺー 〔/euroːpeː/〕.'
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yuna49
Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2015 11:52 am
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Shiroi Hane wrote: |
yuna49 wrote: | "Chiko, Heiress of the Phantom Thief" wins my award for worst translation of a title I've seen. It's the official English title from the production committee for "Nijuu Mensou no Musume," or literally "Daughter of Twenty Faces," which would have been a perfectly fine title. While Nijuu Mensou is indeed a phantom thief, and Chiko is an heiress, she's not his heiress. In fact she's not his daughter at all. |
It's been a long time since I watched it (in part because the DVDs are unsubbed and the fansubs are lost somewhere in the same dusty pile as the above), but doesn't she in effect become his surrogate daughter and inherit his role, if nothing else? |
I wouldn't say she inherits his role. After the explosion on the train Chiko spends much of her time looking for the supposedly dead Nijuu Mensou. She forms "The Detective Girls" with her maid and her friend but doesn't become a thief. Also, as I said originally, she's an heiress but not his heiress.
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russ869
Joined: 22 Dec 2006
Posts: 428
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2015 12:34 pm
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leafy sea dragon
Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2015 2:51 pm
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And Blame!! (Which, while not a swear word, is most certainly NOT about encouraging people to dramatically blame other people.)
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Alan45
Village Elder
Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9967
Location: Virginia
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:14 pm
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When Bastard!! came out on VHS in the US, one magazine reviewer stated something to the effect that "he literally is a bastard." I may have it a bit off but he used the word literally. Needless to say, I watched the whole show and no where do they discuss his parents including the presence or absence of a marriage. Perhaps his status was not that literal.
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Gina Szanboti
Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11546
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2015 5:16 pm
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A little late to the party, but while "bodacious" may have been picked up by surfers and "An Officer and a Gentleman," in the 80s, it's been around since the early 19th century and was coined in the Southern US, where it can still be heard today. Most likely a blend of bold and audacious.
Translations of the title Ai no Kusabi are always fun because rather than going by what's written, people seem to be guessing from what they hear and mistake the Ai (間) for love. So we get Wedge of Interval, The Space Between, Love Wedge (the Italian picked this one up), and Ties of Love. However, rather than translating each word separately, dictionaries tell me the title (間の楔) is actually a term for a type of wedge that holds things together (e.g. a nail or a doorstop), or a bond or tie. Which makes a lot more sense. Probably best to just stick with the Japanese title.
Night Head Genesis is another one I like. Since Night Head refers to the supposed 70% of our brains we don't use (which isn't even true, but never mind), I think they were going for something like Dormant Brain. Which I guess wouldn't have made it any better...
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Polycell
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 4623
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 1:56 am
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Ah, Akuma no Riddle. I honestly can't believe that Funimation went with the nonsenical, almost physically painful Engrish title, but I like how Seven Seas recreated the original Japanese release's putting both titles on the cover, with "Akuma no Riddle" clearly being the main one.
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SverreMunthe
Joined: 06 Apr 2016
Posts: 1
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Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 2:35 pm
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I know it's an old tread, but I think it's interesting so I'm reopening it.
ハヤテのごとく is translated to Hayate the Combat Butler, but ごとく, or rather 五徳 if it was written in Kanji (I don't understand why it isn't) means "The Five Virtues" or a bit sloppy translated "A Well Behaved Gentleman", which, for everyone who's seen the series will have to agree (right?) is a much better characterisation of Hayate.
So, why has it been translated like this? ごとく has only 2 meanings, as I know, "equal, like, as etc." 「如く」 and "tripod, family crest and five virtues" 「五徳」. Is there a way this can be "mistranslated" into "Combat Butler"?
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