Kamen Rider Kuuga Fansub Project

[Miaka975]

i agree with KouAidou that the grongi shouldn't really be translated...
when i watched the show i had a window open with the site below to read off the grongi, only cuz i was too lazy to watch the eps twice

http://www.geocities.jp/moa_da/Kuuga/Top.html <-- this is the top of the page and has a detailed description of how to trans the grongi --> jpn and even translations of the pictographs that they use
http://www.geocities.jp/moa_da/Kuuga/Grongigo-Japanese.html <---line by line translations of the entire series

^^^^ this site is easily found on the wiki for the grongi language

anyway, i thought that the whole aspect of having a separate language for the grongi was very important to the plot, and if someone was readily able to understand their "language" they're going to be sitting around wondering why the other charas don't. the whole point of having a separate language was to show that they were slowly adapting to jpn and learning it... you can see this in the tapering of the lines in grongi towards the later eps.

it also adds a layer to the show to be able to go back later and research more in depth into the language. this was actually my favorite aspect of the show i find that in translating it, the english speaking viewer does not realize that they are speaking a different language, BECAUSE it is so similar to jpn (since it essentially is), and it brings away from the show a little.

there is only one disadvantage to not having the translations, in that... once in a while i could almooost understand what was being said. this is because only the consonant sound was changed between grongi and jpn, and jpn relies more heavily on vowel sounds than consonants (like english does) it would be difficult to translates something of similar effect that an english speaker would be satisfied with, and totally beyond the scope of something that is done for free and for fun. (i don't want to invent a new language, do you? ) ^^v

my suggestion... is a similar post like http://www.geocities.jp/moa_da/Kuuga/Grongigo-Japanese.html ... in which people are able to see the meanings behind each line, and still be satisfied in the secrecy that they were meant to have in speaking their own language.

 

[KouAidou]

i find that in translating it, the english speaking viewer does not realize that they are speaking a different language, BECAUSE it is so similar to jpn (since it essentially is), and it brings away from the show a little.

I hadn't thought of that, but that's actually a very good point. It could make things actively confusing if you don't make it very clear that those guys are speaking an entirely different language in scenes where they're interacting with the main characters.

 

[MaiKobayashi]

Our intentions were to sub the japanese text in off white with a font similair to the one in the karaoke (smaller font size) However for the grongi we were planning to both use a diffrent color for the subtitles, and display the phonetical Japanese grongi thats beeing spoken where the subtitles normally are in a distinct diffrent color (Kind of like the Romanised karaoke), with a translation beeing given on the top of the video in italics similair to a normal translators note. So the english translations would be in a small font and easy to ignore.

 

[Chronotia Archzenom]

Oh boy! Thank goodness! A good sub for Godai Kuuga's series. Man! The HK subs sucks so badly for changing the names of places with Chinese wherein Kuuga is set in Japan. This is why I hate it when names of people and places are altered except when it is justified by the plot. Grr... In other words... Thank you and may you guys keep the GrongiGo/Grongi Language not translated so as to maintain the feel and experience of the show. And... Beware! Grongis are brutal jejemons.

 

[Kamen Rider Rage]

the grongi language was translated in japanese when it was airin'g

 

[KouAidou]

the grongi language was translated in japanese when it was airin'g

No it wasn't. It was a complete mystery. Fans on the internet at the time went crazy trying to decipher it.

 

[Inui Takumi]

Probably the best way to satisfy both sides (as suggested earlier) is to either make two versions, ones with the grongi translated and ones without. That way everyone can pick their poison. Another way, also suggested, is to include a text file with the translated grongi.

At first, i didnt really care if the grongi was translated or not because honestly, this show seems like its cursed as far as subbing goes. So I was in the mindset that as long as its translated well, Ill gladly watch it. But, after watching the first 10 or so eps and after reading these comments by Kou and Miaka, i agree that it does take some of the mystery away from the show. Since we do wanna watch the show the way it was meant to be, it makes sense to leave the translation of the grongi as an option for viewers. It sorta keeps the fiction alive and helps you get a bit absorbed in the show cuz you are also trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

 

[Miaka975]

the grongi language was translated in japanese when it was airin'g

no it was not.

i hate to quote wiki but .... http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/グロンギ語

more specifically:

字幕等が用いられなかったのは意図的なものである。番組序盤では人を襲う理由、基本的に一度に一人しか行動せず、他の者は攻撃されても無抵抗で逃げることなどグロンギの行動が番組上の「謎」とされていたが、グロンギ達は序盤からグロンギ語でその「謎」の回答に当たる内容を話していたため、字幕等を使うとそれが全てバレてしまうからである。

* 但し、本放送が終了し「謎」の答えが提示された後の一部の再放送やDVDでは字幕がつけられている場合がある。ただし字幕は直訳ではなく意訳の場合もある。

first bullet point basically says that the subtitles were left out on purpose, and explains that basically the writers wanted the reasons for the grongi attacking humans to be a mystery. becuase they freely talked about those answers to those "mysteries", if they were to use subs, everything would be revealed.

2nd bullet says that after the airing was finished, and those "mysteries" were revealed, a portion of the reruns/dvds had subs. (and goes on to say that sometimes the subs weren't direct translations, but rather just liberal trans - basically just complaining about the quality of said subs )



see why i say what i say?

EDIT: oops, didn't mean to come off sounding like an attack, haha i took so long to type that everyone else typed up stuff too ^^;;

 

[Shougo B'Stard]

Here's Toei Channel's listing for the Grongi subtitled airing of Kuuga: http://web.archive.org/web/20040313145759/www.toei.co.jp/cs/tv/04_01/20.html

They showed the whole series with the Grongi subbed in Japanese, but this was in 2004 before most American fans even cared enough about Kuuga to find downloads of this particular airing.

 

[Igadevil]

I just have to say thanks to everybody posting links and stuff about the Grongi language, because I've been trying to actually write out some new lines of Grongi for a story and actually get it somewhat right.