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NEWS: Funimation Streams Free Ouran, School Rumble 2 Episodes

AirCooledMan_2006 wrote:

MorwenLaicoriel wrote: I disagree on the honorifics. For a show like Ouran, that's set in a Japanese school, I think they're important. They carry a lot of weight, and they're part of the culture. They're easy to explain with a insert in the DVD, too. I learned about honorifics when I was first getting into anime and manga, and it didn't take me long to figure them out with help from translator's notes. No, they're totally unnecessary, and a form of language-mixing. Get rid of the damn honorifics. The relationships are IMPLIED anyway, so you're not missing anything. Again, it's just pandering to weeaboos who think Japan is holy. We don't use Japanese honorifics in the West; why include them in an English anime dub other than to pander to weeaboos, or as a mark of hypocrisy or laziness!? A translator cannot and must not leave some words in Japanese (Or any other language) while translating others. He must choose ONE meaning, ONE interpretation, which means finding ways around honorifics and other nuances. This puts the skills of the translator to a severe test, giving him a mental challenge. To say "Oh, it can't be translated" and then leave it as is is the mark of a lazy translator who has no business even translating anything in the first place!

Funny because you just remarked in an earlier post that Japanese is a SACRED language that should never be tampered with. Sounds pretty weeaboo to me.

Honorifics in dubs are unnecessary and usually sound awkward. If honorifics are that important to you, then watch the Japanese version (and, no, honorifics don't need to be subtitled, either, because you can hear them). Yes, they convey concepts that aren't exactly translatable into English, but there are a lot of other elements of Japanese that don't translate, either. Should they slap 'masu' and 'desu' at the end of sentences of characters who are speaking politely? Or have them use 'ore', 'boku', 'watashi', 'atashi', or any of the many other personal pronouns that exist in Japanese in the English version, just because translating them all as 'I' loses the original feeling? Hell, why not just have them repeat the entire script in badly mispronounced Japanese, with translator's notes to explain what's going on ? If all of the original intricacies of the Japanese language are what you're looking for, don't look for a dub to recreate them, because it's simply not possible. The Japanese version should sound natural to the Japanese audience, and the English version should have the same effect for English viewers, not sound like an awkward attempt to replicate the original.

EDIT: Waitwaitwaitwaitwait...that's VIC singing the ED "Shisshou?"

JesuOtaku wrote:

EDIT: Waitwaitwaitwaitwait...that's VIC singing the ED "Shisshou?"

Actually no, it's not Vic. He adapted the lyrics, and there was a demo floating around on Youtube of him singing it, but the song that was used in the actual dub was someone else...I forget what his name is, though.

I know! What's cool about this dub is that it's not only "well-translated" or whatever, but that's it's actually FUNNY in English, and you don't have to be an anime fan to think so.

The way Vic pronounces things as angry Tamaki is silly in general because he enunciates so well when he's being charming, but he gets all drippy and babyish in his speech when he's mad.

"I don't understand how you're so popular with the ladies when you yourself are a LAY-DAY!" I nearly bust a lung and fell out of my chair.

EDIT: Waitwaitwaitwaitwait...that's VIC singing the ED "Shisshou?"

Regarding honorifics in dubs:

The Tagalog dub of School Rumble season 2 has a few scenes where Harima is addressed as "teacher", which is obviously a mistranslation of sensei. In this case it would've been better to not translate sensei. A few series have been dubbed here with senpai intact.

fuuma_monou wrote:

Regarding honorifics in dubs: The Tagalog dub of School Rumble season 2 has a few scenes where Harima is addressed as "teacher", which is obviously a mistranslation of sensei. In this case it would've been better to not translate sensei. A few series have been dubbed here with senpai intact.

Well I'd say that was an exact translation of "sensei" but it sounds awkward (most countries refer to teachers as "sir", "madam" or "miss").

MorwenLaicoriel wrote:

JesuOtaku wrote: EDIT: Waitwaitwaitwaitwait...that's VIC singing the ED "Shisshou?" Actually no, it's not Vic. He adapted the lyrics, and there was a demo floating around on Youtube of him singing it, but the song that was used in the actual dub was someone else...I forget what his name is, though.

Oooookay, thanks for weirdin' me out. I thought that sounded waaay out of his range. But I could almost hear some of his timbre in it after I had been fooled.

Yeah, it isn't him. That makes way more sense. -.-'

MorwenLaicoriel wrote:

JesuOtaku wrote: EDIT: Waitwaitwaitwaitwait...that's VIC singing the ED "Shisshou?" Actually no, it's not Vic. He adapted the lyrics, and there was a demo floating around on Youtube of him singing it, but the song that was used in the actual dub was someone else...I forget what his name is, though.

Oooookay, thanks for weirdin' me out. I thought that sounded waaay out of his range. But I could almost hear some of his timbre in it after I had been fooled.

Yeah, it isn't him. That makes way more sense. -.-'

Harima's not a teacher, but he is a manga artist. Manga-ka tend to be called sensei just like teachers and doctors.

(As for "sir", the Japanese dub of the Peanuts cartoon had Marcie calling Peppermint Patty "senpai".)

enurtsol wrote:

Actually, theme song dubbing seems to be a lost art. It used to be done a lot more in the 90's, especially by Pioneer (since they either own the songs already, or the Japanese owners weren't complaining/suing).

Which shows were these? I don't own many of those old Pioneer shows beyond anything related to Tenchi Muyo, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Sailor Moon.

Asrialys wrote:

enurtsol wrote: Actually, theme song dubbing seems to be a lost art. It used to be done a lot more in the 90's, especially by Pioneer (since they either own the songs already, or the Japanese owners weren't complaining/suing). Which shows were these? I don't own many of those old Pioneer shows beyond anything related to Tenchi Muyo, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Sailor Moon.

I can't think straight right now, but I recall Viz dubbing several Ranma songs, even as far as a group forming Doco USA (Doco was the Japanese group who sang the songs).