Anime Fansub Documentary!

[Flash Kid]

Hello my SPC pals!

I was on YouTube the other day and I found this neat little video which is a mini-documentary on how fansubs used to be and how they are now. The gentleman narrating is a professional manga translator and he points out the many flaws in today's fansubs. I thought it was really interesting so I thought I'd post it here to show you all!

FK

Part 1
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUYlqLlbix0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUYlqLlbix0</a>

[Fureon]

I watched it now... This is so very true.
Had a couple of nuances I didn't agree with, but other than that... hit the nail on the head.
A sentence in the part 4 pretty much sums it up:
"The purpose of translation is to translate. Not to say "oh, it can't be translated" and leave it in japanese".

Actually this is the reason I haven't watched Onmyou Taisenki in its entirety yet.
There are two fansub groups translating it, Ryuu-Rogue and TV-Nihon.
While Ryuu-Rouge do fine, TV-Nihon's subtitles have nearly all of the faults presented in the documentary.
It's nearly uncwatchable with all those "onii-san", "ojii-sama", "kisama", "Ten-ryuu" etc. It's almost like watching it in japanese...

[sjonnoh]

wow, actually I never thought it that way but now they mention it....subs are pretty annoying X3

ok there's 1 thing to do.....learn japanese so I don't need any subbed versions of animes!

[Gabya]

I also watched it, and agree on most points.
I , personally, think that some things can't be properly translated. Not stuff like onii-san, nee-sama, etc. but foodstuffs and other things that dont have exact equivalents in my own language like Daikon, katsudon and miso ramen (Asian radish, fried pork on rice and noodle soup just dont sound right to me). Might have to do with me being a food enthusiast, but thats my opininon none the less.

To be honest, I haven't had much problems with gratuitious subbers. Maybe the stuff i watch isn't mainstream enough for the subbers to want to brag about themselves to the extreme extent he showed in the documentary.

[sjonnoh]

forgot to add this: about those subbers placing themselves at the top during the end song, that's really nasty....

can't they also make a vid about dubbers? X3
I still think it's annoying when you hear a Japanese name while it's an English/American person that speaks out the name.....just give the characters English names like spc did! (if they are going to make that vid, they can use knt/spc as example X3)

[Gabya]

can't they also make a vid about dubbers? X3
I still think it's annoying when you hear a Japanese name while it's an English/American person that speaks out the name.....just give the characters English names like spc did! (if they are going to make that vid, they can use knt/spc as example X3)

Wouldn't it be weirder having a samurai named Bob?

[Fureon]

I also watched it, and agree on most points.
I , personally, think that some things can't be properly translated. <...> foodstuffs and other things that dont have exact equivalents in my own language like Daikon, katsudon and miso ramen

Well no one does translate these anyway, officially or not. And there's nothing wrong with it. I have pelmeni in Russia and no one says "dough-covered meat chunks".

forgot to add this: about those subbers placing themselves at the top during the end song, that's really nasty....

can't they also make a vid about dubbers? X3
I still think it's annoying when you hear a Japanese name while it's an English/American person that speaks out the name.....just give the characters English names like spc did!

Nononononono. It's subjective, but I am against renaming the characters unless their names are common words (like Spirit Of Fire etc), in which case they may be translated.
It's stupid when, for example, a chinese warrior is named Lenny (which is clearly not a chinese name) instead of Ren or Len.

[sjonnoh]

part I agree with it but still it annoys me to hear a "not japanese" accent speaking a japanese name...

[Fureon]

Well, a good voice actor says the name like it is said in Japanese, without an accent.
But then again, the topic is about fan subtitles, so... yeah.

[Gabya]

I also watched it, and agree on most points.
I , personally, think that some things can't be properly translated. <...> foodstuffs and other things that dont have exact equivalents in my own language like Daikon, katsudon and miso ramen

Well no one does translate these anyway, officially or not. And there's nothing wrong with it. I have pelmeni in Russia and no one says "dough-covered meat chunks".

I know, but from they guy's logic they should be translated! That is why I wrote this.

[Tigriss]

I still think it's annoying when you hear a Japanese name while it's an English/American person that speaks out the name.....just give the characters English names like spc did! (if they are going to make that vid, they can use knt/spc as example X3)

part I agree with it but still it annoys me to hear a "not japanese" accent speaking a japanese name...

Gonna have to disagree strongly here, sjonnoh! As long as they can pronounce the name correctly (mispronounced words/names make me unhappy) then they should keep the name as it is. There should never be a reason to change a character's name anymore like they did in the old days, unless it comes out as a dirty word in another language or something like that. If there's a Japanese character named "Tanaka", it should not be changed to "Timmy", "Tanner", or anything else like that. Leave it alone.

[Teyandee]

Very interesting video.

"The purpose of translation is to translate. Not to say "oh, it can't be translated" and leave it in japanese".

And not to translate just to show it can be done and bring it to the fans without paying attention to quality.

ok there's 1 thing to do.....learn japanese so I don't need any subbed versions of animes!

It is true. But when you know very little Japanese, I think the subs will be better (than dubbing)

1) You can hear the original Japanese audio ans enjoy the original seiyūs voices.
2) I think I would prefer to hear "Hissatsu: Haato Bureikaa" and read "Hissatsu = Final attack; Haato Bureikaa = Heart Breaker" than hear "Finishing move: Heart Breaker".

Wouldn't it be weirder having a samurai named Bob?

And why should it? We have Madonna, Prince and Michael in KNT (Himitsu Ninjatai Yankii‎). And Ball & Honey.

[Tigriss]

Wouldn't it be weirder having a samurai named Bob?

And why should it? We have Madonna, Prince and Michael in KNT (Himitsu Ninjatai Yankii‎). And Ball & Honey.

To be fair, they're all Americans.

[Teyandee]

To be fair, they're all Americans.

Yes they are In that case one must leave the "original" names.[

As long as they can pronounce the name correctly (mispronounced words/names make me unhappy) then they should keep the name as it is.

Got to agree with that.
I can name Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) as an example. In the Russian dub I remember the names were leaved the same as in original Japanese version.

As for KNT->SPC. Well, they may thought that the original characters names would be weird (and may be not "funny" to the kids)

[Gabya]

As for KNT->SPC. Well, they may thought that the original characters names would be weird (and may be not "funny" to the kids)

Or they just didn't have the script.