If you want to translate something 100% literal, then it's going to end up reading like you just put it through Google Translate. Foreign languages aren't just the same things with different words and even when there are words that are the same or that can be translated into English in certain ways, may not have the same meaning in English as they do in Japanese. So by literally translating what someone is saying, they may be being much more disrespectful to you, since they will most likely lose your meaning.
I think the old TV-Nihon example of the word "pinch" is a good example. They tend to leave it untranslated, because it's a word that makes sense in English.. however, in Japanese it simply means trouble or bad situation, when in English it's a much more trivial word and usually used for something that's totally inconsequential. So keeping the literal word can make a big event seem far less important than it actually is. (I'm sure there's better examples, but I'll leave that for those who know more what they're talking about).
If you really want to watch the shows as they are in their original language, then your best option is to learn the language and not rely on subbers at all.
Well, they have words to say, "Trouble", or , "Bad news", but they used the word, "Pinch". It would be obvious to anyone looking at a situation where this is used for it to mean "Trouble" or "In a bind". Smile Precure! is a solid example of this being used.
Japanese super heroes are not American super heroes -- they come from different cultures with different social concerns and values.
I think stripping the linguistic tone robs from the source material.
But why settle for "greatness" when you can strive for "super duper excellence!" :O_O:
I disagree. I'm not sure I could disagree more. Japan imported its idea of the superhero directly from the US, much like the rest of the world. This is extremely well-documented. At heart, Japan's superhero is a direct descendant of what DC and Marvel were doing in the Silver and Bronze Ages, and respecting that goes a long way toward making Japanese superhero stories sound coherent in English. Japan's heroes are more likely to explore themes of interest to the Japanese people, certainly, but they do it in a way that is consistent with the genre's familiar underpinnings. To write a genre well, you must thoroughly understand it. That includes being aware of its history and origins.
Every translation will end up robbing the source material, at least a little. You have to pick and choose what is important to retain. You can never get every single connotation into the English script due to linguistic differences. The only question is how much you're stealing away, and why, and which characteristics. And these are the aspects that will make translations feel inherently different, even if they're translations of the same material. I'm sure if you did superheroes the way you wanted, there'd be some elements of the text you also left out-- because you didn't realize they were there, or didn't think they were important.
It's not about settling, it's about time. It takes a lot of time to develop a really distinctive voice for a show, and to really suss out every single little connotations something has in Japanese. Kakuranger's translation style is the result of six months of discussion, just for an example. For the weekly Rider/Sentai subs, though, everything major really needs to be done in the first 24 to 48 hours after airing. That means a lot of times you can't dwell on a decision too long. You go with what feels right at the time and hope that pans out for you. If it doesn't, then you reassess next week.
The term's come up way before Nitoh..
"Pinch wa Chance da! Changeman", anyone?
Why are people using 'pinch' as there go to example of Wasei Eigo? Its not Wasei Eigo at all. People use the phrase "I'm in a pinch" all the time. Its the same as saying "in a jam", or "in a bind." For example, when people say something along the lines of "it could come in handy, in a pinch."
In this case you can use the English 'pinch' where the Japanese would use their 'pinch' and it looks fine! The sentence works and you'd get the intended meaning, and it avoids annoying literalists like yourself. Great, right?
No, actually! The two words have very, very different subtexts. In Japanese, pinch can be used to mean seriously big problems. Like, we're about to die, or the world's about to end. In English, I'd go so far as to say modern usage is actually to trivialize one's predicament? "Pinch" in English is almost always used sarcastically, or failing that for minor predicaments.
You would not say "We're in a pinch." if you're about to be murdered by a horrible foul wolf-beast from the misery dimension. Maybe sarcastically, but never seriously, and as such it's one of those wasei-eigo terms you owe it to yourself and your audience to change, because while it is not "wrong", there are objectively better ways of doing it.
The thing you have to understand however is, that if they can absorb words and give them meanings that wildly divulgent, they can also give them meanings that are similar enough - but not quite the same - to cause problems.
In this case you can use the English 'pinch' where the Japanese would use their 'pinch' and it looks fine! The sentence works and you'd get the intended meaning, and it avoids annoying literalists like yourself. Great, right?
No, actually! The two words have very, very different subtexts. In Japanese, pinch can be used to mean seriously big problems. Like, we're about to die, or the world's about to end. In English, I'd go so far as to say modern usage is actually to trivialize one's predicament? "Pinch" in English is almost always used sarcastically, or failing that for minor predicaments.
You would not say "We're in a pinch." if you're about to be murdered by a horrible foul wolf-beast from the misery dimension. Maybe sarcastically, but never seriously, and as such it's one of those wasei-eigo terms you owe it to yourself and your audience to change, because while it is not "wrong", there are objectively better ways of doing it.
On a more general note, the thing you have to remember is that wording choices affect how your audience sees the work. If you use "pinch", while your audience might be able to logically work out that it has different connotations, they first have to be struck by those connotations to do that. Overliterality might allow the audience to come to the correct conclusion in the end, but the point is it totally skews the dramatic impact the line is meant to have, the way it's meant to hit you the very first time you see it. Every time you use a word that implies the wrong subtext, you're robbing the viewer of how that line is meant to make them feel.
And my translator's opinion is that that is the most goddamn awful thing you could ever do to a viewer. Japanese is not some sacred cow of language that we should be paying reverence to when watching a work. Language is, in this context, nothing more than a conduit, a medium - an accident of who made it and where. It can have beauty, certainly, it can have soul and flow and emotion. But none of these things are because of the specific language itself, and to my mind, trapping yourself in the notion that you have to be slavishly obedient to the rules and whims of another language is a great way to ruin the one you're trying to write in.
As was pointed out a few pages back, the golden rule of translation should always be that whatever you're translating could be someone's first exposure to the source language. You cannot assume they're familiar with its intricacies, cannot assume people know Japanese does crazy things with English words, cannot assume they know honorifics, cannot assume they have any vocabulary in it at all.
It is not a medium where it is vital, but it came from Japan. Anything from another culture should be researched and understood beforehand; it makes it more fun to watch and makes the viewer able to understand some terms. If I watch a show from Spain, I would research everything before I saw it. I would get more out of the experience.Tokusatsu is not a medium, in my opinion, that one needs to be interested in Japanese culture to appreciate, and I don't think one should therefore force it down people's throats. It's primarily superhero stories. Sure, you get your Shinkengers, and your Hibikis, where Japanese culture is important - and there, you treat it with reverence because that is a facet of the story they're trying to tell.
But nothing about Go-Busters, say, is a story that can only be told through the language it's in, just as it is a story that does not have to be told through the medium it is. To bog people down in the nuances of the Japanese language or culture is, IMO, pure wankery in that context. It is to stand on a plinth and say "I know things! About the place this came from! Look at all the things I know!" It's arse. It doesn't improve or contribute to the understanding of the work, because nothing about the work was ever reliant on those things in the first place. The French language is more relevant to the writing of Go-Busters than the Japanese language is, to be honest, and I'm more than happy to treat it, hence, with more reverence.
...horrible foul wolf-beast from the misery dimension.
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