Do you pay much attention to typesetting?

KingRanger said:

Since you know so much Japanese, why aren't you translating?

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I don't know much Japanese, yet somehow even I can find issue with their translations. Also side note: Don't be a douche.

Papercut said:

Subs are supposed to translate things into their English definitions, don't be dumb. ..or should I say 'don't be a baka'. That's how you'd like it subbed, right?

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Nah but I'd rather have half translated subs than ones that read weird because they no longer fit the context due to oversimplification. Because they do that. they're constantly throwing in cursing when characters aren't using angry/disrespectful japanese, it comes off very weird to me. KIT and GUIS are far and beyond my favorites but they have a limited selection so sometimes when I can't get a series another way I will always go to TVNihon because honestly they're half translations don't bother me. Not to mention the myriad of phrases that english doesn't have a basic explanation for. so shut up and quit pretending you're clever.

LaZerwolfX said:

I don't know much Japanese, yet somehow even I can find issue with their translations. Also side note: Don't be a douche.


Nah but I'd rather have half translated subs than ones that read weird because they no longer fit the context due to oversimplification. Because they do that. they're constantly throwing in cursing when characters aren't using angry/disrespectful japanese, it comes off very weird to me. KIT and GUIS are far and beyond my favorites but they have a limited selection so sometimes when I can't get a series another way I will always go to TVNihon because honestly they're half translations don't bother me. so **** off and quit pretending you're clever.

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You at least have my respect for putting the unpopular opinions on fansubs out there.

Gokaichanger said:

They dont translate Sentai unless the team is apart of a "special group" like "Cell" for gobusters or "Police" for Dekaranger.

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The actual "rule" here is honestly "when the translator thinks something might sound cool and his QC people agree." In the case of Sentai -> Police in Dekaranger, it's so the translation fits the S.P.D. initials. I think that's fine, myself, good translations tend to be very dependent on context.

LaZerwolfX said:

they're constantly throwing in cursing when characters aren't using angry/disrespectful japanese, it comes off very weird to me.

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When exactly has Over-Time done this, besides the OOO anniversary episodes?

I watch a lot of OT stuff, and I don't recall any out-of-place cursing in any of their W, Gokai, normal OOO, or Fourze eps. Go-Busters has included some cursing, since the eps where Jin clearly yelled ****! in English were rendered faithfully. Generally anything that airs in morning time slots is translated not to include cussing, and the only exception to this I can think of are the OOO anniversary episodes.

Now, I do want to say some mild cursing was included in OT's Daimajin Kanon, Garo, and Akibaranger releases, but those shows aired in post-midnight timeslots and clearly targeted adults. So I'm not sure why you'd even complain about cursing there? It's extremely defensible to translate rough language as mild cursing in stuff intended for adults, it's done in professional work all the time.

Incidentally, it's very weird to see a guy who talks about how much he likes GUIS complaining about OT adding cursing, since I know the GUIS main translator and he absolutely insists on doing stuff like translating "kuso!" as "****!". Which isn't wrong, but is usually something people who don't want cussing in their subs complain about. It makes me wonder what OT is doing that's so much worse?

I think the issue is more to do with upping the swear factor where their is no need to.

I have seen sub's (don't want to point to any group in particular) where terms like Kuso or Onore (Crap and Damn, more or less i recall) was translated as "****" or "Fucking Hell".

So turning any kind of remotely disrespectful Japanese term into it's most extreme English partner for seeming no reason other than a belief that all vulgarly is equal regardless of language or context.

It seems impossible to discuss this subject in HJU without half the people involved in the thread actually knowing (for better or worse) some of the subbers. So a lot of the time it comes across that people base their arguments on sticking up for their friends and bashing those they don't get on with, rather than purely on translational merits. I don't know any subbers, and I don't speak any Japanese either, but to me all the different groups have advantages and disadvantages.

TV Nihon tend to throw in sentences that aren't grammatically correct; sometimes to the point of "yoda-speak". As I said I can't speak the lingo, but I guess they're keeping the structure of the sentence much more like the original Japanese in those cases? They also sometimes leave words untranslated except for a note at the top, which is definately unneccessary. But I can't say their habit of leaving honorifics in bugs me. I wondered what the hell it was, googled it, read the wikipedia page, and now when I watch groups that don't include them I find myself aurally picking out the honorifics so I can quickly establish the relationships between characters. Yay, "I learned something today".

Over:Time tend to produce sentences that read more like how people really speak English. They seem quite natural to me. On the other hand, they have on occasion outright ignored English words the characters use, come up with a few translational horrors themselves from time to time (such as Date's nickname for Goto *shudders*), and for some reason it does bug me that their Go-Busters sub contantly dances around the word "sempai". Just use it already. It's easy to look up on wikipedia, and there's no good English translation for that word.

Knowing in advance that Akibaranger was a short series, I made a point of watching both groups subs. The Over:Time version of the theme tune lyrics seemed to make a lot more sense. Yet the TV Nihon version seemed to match up a lot better with other fans' personal translations that were posted online. In the show itself, Over:Time seemed to have the most natural language, yet TV Nihon pointed out some puns (that seemed to match the intent of the scene so much it seems that they were in the original rather than placed in by the translators) and English words that Over:Time missed. So which is better? No idea. To this non-Japanese speaker, it comes across as very much a case of "swings and roundabouts" really.

At the end of the day, I talk to people on here because them and I both enjoy the show/shows in question. That's what matters, not whether we watched the same sub group's version or not.

Well the Gotou-Chan/Brotou thing was just using chan.

Chan (ちゃん?) is a diminutive suffix; it expresses that the speaker finds a person endearing. In general, chan is used, but is not limited to, babies, young children, grandparents and teenage girls. It may also be used towards cute animals, lovers, close friends, any youthful woman, or even between friends. It can be used for males in some circumstances, but in general this use is rather condescending or intimate. Using chan with a superior's name is considered to be condescending and rude.

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You can tell it holds a meaning but at the same time it's sort of a buddy friendship the two have so it wouldn't be too far fetched that Date would refer to Gotou as his "Bro" in some way if they were both English speaking.

And it was the same concept with Ankh-Chan becomming Ankhy (Though I think once it was as far as Ankhypoo *Don't hang me up on this*)

But in general I'd say Over-Time tries to make it feel familiar to western fans and build the sentences more fluidly like you'd say it yourself.

Toku Prime said:

At the end of the day, I talk to people on here because them and I both enjoy the show/shows in question. That's what matters, not whether we watched the same sub group's version or not.

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If I had more space in my Signature area, this would definitely go in it; completely agreed.

LaZerwolfX said:

I don't know much Japanese, yet somehow even I can find issue with their translations. Also side note: Don't be a douche.

.

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You aren't finding issues with the translations. You have issues with their CHOICES of how they translate. What you say is wrong, isn't wrong.

Whats the difference between Aesir's and Over-Time's Foruze sub?

Hell Kaiser Andy said:

Well the Gotou-Chan/Brotou thing was just using chan.

You can tell it holds a meaning but at the same time it's sort of a buddy friendship the two have so it wouldn't be too far fetched that Date would refer to Gotou as his "Bro" in some way if they were both English speaking.

And it was the same concept with Ankh-Chan becomming Ankhy (Though I think once it was as far as Ankhypoo *Don't hang me up on this*)

But in general I'd say Over-Time tries to make it feel familiar to western fans and build the sentences more fluidly like you'd say it yourself.

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I always figured a big part of why Date started using chan when referring to Gotou is that one of Date's big things is trying to get Gotou to loosen up a bit. Gotou is the kind of uptight, proud person who would really find it grating to be referred to as chan (he mentions that he finds it embarassing and thinks Date is mocking him by using it), and getting him to accept and not be bugged by this would require him to not take things (like honorifics and other peoples' perceptions of him) quite so seriously. Only later, when it actually does stop bugging him, does it seem to become affectionate. Or at least that was my interpretation of it. But as I said before, I don't know anything about the language.

Isn't 'Aniki' supposed to be the equivilent of calling someone who isn't actually related to you "bro"? I dunno. I'll admit it's just a personal preference. Attempts to translate honorifics tend to feel somewhat awkward to me, or come across as childish ("Mr <first name>" sounds like a little kid speaking).

Cirno said:

If I had more space in my Signature area, this would definitely go in it; completely agreed.

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I know when we're on here it seems like there's always lots of people online, and you hear loads about conventions dedicated to Godzilla or Power Rangers, but the English-speaking tokusatsu fandom really is a very small group of people compared to anime fans, comic book fans, or even a specific franchise's fans like the transformers fandom. Gotta stick together a little bit