I-It isn’t that hard, you idiot! I’m just explaining it so you won’t keep on bothering me…
Who did you just imagine saying that? What gender or age, what personality and temperament? Well, I did just lead you into an obvious assessment of a tsundere, but what if I instead phrased it like this?: “It has a piddling difficulty, you fool. My explanation is simply to ensure you don’t waste any more of my time.” Both could potentially come from exactly the same Japanese, and yet they convey completely different characters. Characterization is a vital part of the translation process that allows for the conversion of not just meaning, but emotion and nuance.
The choice of catchphrase translations greatly affects the overall impression
In Aikatsu, atsui means “passionate” 95% of the time… unless Juri is around
The simplest way to understand what direction to take in translating a character is by their level of 敬語 (keigo), how much formality they use. I won’t turn this into a Japanese lesson, but you should understand that depending on who you’re talking to (friends, family, acquaintances, strangers, superiors) you speak differently. Otsuka, otsukare, otsukare-sama, otsukare-sama-deshita all mean exactly the same thing (“you worked hard[, and good job]”), but depending on circumstance and conversation partner you can translate them into a variety of forms. This is also done to avoid too much repetition in the script, because Japanese has this little quirk where despite having the potential to be very flowery and evocative, there isn’t really a variety of ways to say common phrases. You will also come across times where you’ll need to “translate around” some sort of linguistic joke that takes a common phrase in a different direction.
Exactly the example listed above
One simple application, or rather rule of thumb that I use, is to generally make ohayou into “Morning” and ohayou gozaimasu into “Good morning” as a form of greeting. This is what I consider the bare minimum of characterization, so much so that I wouldn’t even grace it with the use of that word. But let’s take a look at some actual examples to illustrate what I mean.
Word choice, and especially use of contractions and slang, is vital
Mezashite is the only group subbing Aikatsu so it might be hard to tell, but it’s immediately apparent when you compare subs between two sources how much of a difference this makes.
CR: “Thanks for waiting.”
“I, Saotome Shizuno, feel like I’ve done a pretty good job.”
“I’m going for a small butt.”
Yes, you probably noticed the point I was trying to make. I find most official simulcasts are absolutely horrid at characterization, accuracy aside (Funi being the worst offender I’ve come across). Many of their translators just have at it and go full literal, don’t bother to take into account personality and situation, and sometimes even commit the sin of blatant mischaracterization. That is not to say I find them all bad; in fact, there’s at least one show I actively look forward to watching with subs each week.
There are too many subtleties to capture in one shot, but overall Tribe Cool Crew is high quality. Brave Beats is looking to be the same level
Good characterization also ties in with good consistency. If there’s one thing I pride myself on, it’s translating vital phrases consistently (I also make mistakes consistently: Is it “photo shoot” or “photoshoot”?). This can lead to some interesting outcomes when one character starts to take on traits of another. I’ve mentioned in the past that Sakura and Otome began to share speech patterns after they formed PowaPuri with Shion, and if you watch Precure then last year Hime decided to start speaking like Namakelda more and more as time went on. More recently and a bit easier to see is that towards the end of Aikatsu S3 and very much in S4 Hinaki has taken on Kayoko’s manner of speech a bit.
I tried to give Kayoko-san a Valley Girl style accent…
…which Hinaki naturally picks up much later
So at the end of the day, what does this all mean? My view is strongly related to how I used to revere “literal” subs up until the very moment I started subbing for myself. You can find all sorts of translation theory from experts in books and the internet about things like translating meaning instead of words, and using equivalency and localization, but I just want you to know about the effort (or lack thereof) that goes into making each character sound unique. It’s not about making up your own image either; it’s about understanding them and going inside their heads one at a time to find their own voice. That’s how you gain an understanding of characterization, and in the process perhaps learn a little bit about yourself as well.
[This post originally written two weeks prior, before either of Nina’s episodes aired]
Edit: By the way, you can ask me questions and stuff anytime on my ask.fm profile. I like talking about anime and subbing, but shoot for whatever you think is interesting.
Well put, thanks. I’ve long suspected the process is more complicated than I would have thought, and my suspicions were right.
And then there’s the dubbing process. Now I think I understand why Miss Osaka (Azumanga Daioh) sounds like she’s from the southern US in the dubs. 🙂
Well put, thanks. I’ve long suspected the process is more complicated than I would have thought, and my suspicions were right.
And then there’s the dubbing process. Now I think I understand why Miss Osaka (Azumanga Daioh) sounds like she’s from the southern US in the dubs. 🙂
Very interesting read, it’s nice to see all the care you guys put into the show.
I can understand where you’re coming from, but I honestly don’t mind literal subs.
With dubs there’s always some amount of change that has to be done just to make the dialogue sound like natural conversation. They have to carry over all the nuances of the Japanese as best they can or at the very least come up with a compromise if it won’t make sense in English. If you want to see a worst case scenario where they skip this process, watch Sentai’s Penguindrum dub.
But when it comes to subtitles I don’t mind the bare minimum as long as they can get the message across adequately and without any major errors. I can physically hear what the characters are saying so I can already understand the intention. In fact, overly liberal subtitles tend to annoy me more than overly liberal dubs.
I can understand where you’re coming from, but I honestly don’t mind literal subs.
With dubs there’s always some amount of change that has to be done just to make the dialogue sound like natural conversation. They have to carry over all the nuances of the Japanese as best they can or at the very least come up with a compromise if it won’t make sense in English. If you want to see a worst case scenario where they skip this process, watch Sentai’s Penguindrum dub.
But when it comes to subtitles I don’t mind the bare minimum as long as they can get the message across adequately and without any major errors. I can physically hear what the characters are saying so I can already understand the intention. In fact, overly liberal subtitles tend to annoy me more than overly liberal dubs.
My only issue stems when there’s an obvious disconnect in the subs and the situation. It was too much effort to do so, but in Aniplex’s Charlotte right from the beginning you have this scene where Yuu is talking quite respectfully to the student council president, but the subs make it sound like he’s talking in a schoolyard fight or something (I won’t not say I didn’t not have nothing not to do with the pastebin floating around about how terrible a job they did on it). Funi’s Wixoss was also absolutely horrid for that. The literal spectrum still requires a level of accuracy to be considered acceptable.
Oh boy, This arguement has been raging on for years. The earliest I became of the literal vs. liberal argument was in 2004, but I imagine the there has been discussion of this since well before then. I believe a lot of the arguement stems from a particular person’s viewpoint of the character not matching up with the translator’s viewpoint of the same said character. Yes liberalization can be taken too far. For this reason Funimation staff has been directed to translate as literally as possible in almost all cases. Prior statement coming from the mouth of Gen Fukunaga during a Q&A I recorded at Purdue University a few years ago.
Personally, I prefer consistency in subs more than anything. If I get annoyed at a particular way a group has translated something, then I either get from a different source or I change the subs myself. One thing I think most people who complain forget is that a fansub group is spending lots of time and often money to give you something for free. I feel one shouldn’t complain about something you’re given for free. This particularly applies when you have no hand in any of the time and effort in the creation of this free product.
Haters are always going to hate. It is a shame some people still bother the fansub group staff enough that said staff felt it was necessary to make such a long and well thought out post. To those whom practice this bit of anger, my only advice is to chill out and accept what has been released as you had no time or effort in the product. If at that point you are still not satisfied, then quit wasting someone else’s valuable time. Modify the files yourself to fit your own standards, create your own group/release, etc.
Okay, I’m tired of writing. To everyone who spent their time reading this post have a good rest of your day.
This wasn’t a literal vs liberal post (and in fact over the last several years you’ll find subbers and fans pulling away from such a distinction), nor was it in response to any complaints. I do sometimes write in reaction to things, but this time I just wanted to put my thoughts into words and show some of how I work. Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
Oh boy, This arguement has been raging on for years. The earliest I became of the literal vs. liberal argument was in 2004, but I imagine the there has been discussion of this since well before then. I believe a lot of the arguement stems from a particular person’s viewpoint of the character not matching up with the translator’s viewpoint of the same said character. Yes liberalization can be taken too far. For this reason Funimation staff has been directed to translate as literally as possible in almost all cases. Prior statement coming from the mouth of Gen Fukunaga during a Q&A I recorded at Purdue University a few years ago.
Personally, I prefer consistency in subs more than anything. If I get annoyed at a particular way a group has translated something, then I either get from a different source or I change the subs myself. One thing I think most people who complain forget is that a fansub group is spending lots of time and often money to give you something for free. I feel one shouldn’t complain about something you’re given for free. This particularly applies when you have no hand in any of the time and effort in the creation of this free product.
Haters are always going to hate. It is a shame some people still bother the fansub group staff enough that said staff felt it was necessary to make such a long and well thought out post. To those whom practice this bit of anger, my only advice is to chill out and accept what has been released as you had no time or effort in the product. If at that point you are still not satisfied, then quit wasting someone else’s valuable time. Modify the files yourself to fit your own standards, create your own group/release, etc.
Okay, I’m tired of writing. To everyone who spent their time reading this post have a good rest of your day.
Awesome stuff. Keep up the good work~
Sugoissuneee~~ I’m doing Puri Para~ and this was a great inspiration to change a little my subs os some characters~
A great Happy Lucky post~ Thanks~
Wait, you’re subbing PriPara??
Where? When? Please, I need to know!
I join that Pripara subbing quesiton 🙂
Wow! This was pretty enlightening, you’re doing such a great job!
Thank you so much for subbing Aiktsu! and putting so much passion into it.