What exactly is wrong with TV-Nihon subs?

[Herman the German]

I just asked them, its probably an oversight.

… oversight? Uhm, no offense, but you might be a weeeee bit optimistic there.

 

[Dr Kain]

All I'm going to say about that post by Take on Nihon's main page (whcih I just saw for the first time) is this:

 

[Lynxara]

I would've like direct feedback as well.

Everyone would. But, something every creator needs to understand before they release their work into the world is that they're not entitled to that. There's all sorts of vague complaints about things I've worked on that I wish people would email me about, but ultimately, it is not required that they do so. If they want to just bitch on Twitter or wherever, they have the right to do that.

Since i dont speak japanese i dont feel entitled to blame them for doing huge mistakes, when i watch a show i just try to get the global meaning.

So, I see this defense deployed a lot to defend dodgy subtitles. (I'm not even calling out TVN here, I've seen it for plenty of other groups, some of whom are far worse in all respects.) The issue I have with this is that if you just want the "global meaning," that's... not really what subtitles are meant to convey. If you want "global meaning," then read a synopsis and watch the raw.

Subtitling is an extremely meticulous process in which you go through dialogue line-by-line. If your staff are capable, they will be able to discern and convey the meaning of every single line. The only way you can fail to really get a line is if the audio quality created difficulties hearing it, you just don't have the translating power to grasp the Japanese, or the people who should be handling editing and QC are asleep at the wheel.

The whole point of subbing these shows is to convey a detailed impression of what is going on in the original series. Subs should convey tone, nuance, and little niceties like foreshadowing and significant turns of phrase. Our viewers should be able to understand what every line means to the point where they could hold a debate about it on a forum like this. If someone doesn't want that detail, then they hardly need to watch things with subs at all.

I like to get things quickly , to be honest. But on the other side, this is free, i havent preordered or bought anything to get those subs.

Fansubs aren't free. Watching them costs you the most precious, irreplaceable commodity that human beings have: time. If someone watches your fansub and leaves confused, or having had an unpleasant experience, then you've caused them to waste time they can never get back. So I think, to an extent, people who bitch about us subbers when we fail are totally justified. We've robbed them of their leisure time.

Last point, translations: who speak japanese?

This argument's a total boondoggle. People who do speak Japanese have already weighed in on the subject, but people will generally choose to ignore authorities who are saying inconvenient things (or go find another authority to contradict them). Personally, I don't think you need to speak Japanese to know when something is confusing or difficult to enjoy. Even if the sub isn't inaccurate, there's probably something subpar about it that could be improved.

 

[Mecha Kiryu]

Their subs aren't very accurate but I'm talking as if my mediocre crap is any better. XD

 

[SentaiRiderFan]

^Must you continue to bring up old threads like this? Seriously.

 

[Mecha Kiryu]

^Must you continue to bring up old threads like this? Seriously.

Sorry.