What exactly is wrong with TV-Nihon subs?

[Magenta]

Well there we go, I make one random post and I get King to come to the defense of TV-N.

Thread over, let's all go home. :V

 

[ziggaboogi]

I can't vouch there as I don't speak the language, but it does seem possible they've improved in the past eight years. Their DVD second version of the first episode is more accurate it seems, so they could do that for the whole show if they had time. Anyways, just a note, if we're comparing them to other groups, for all we know 85% could be on the high end. I'm assuming the improv jokes that aren't translations that say O-T does would count as wrong in your measuring?

I dig all the groups, but just curious, have you watched other groups and what are your thoughts there? Also, while a nitpick, how did you come up with 85%, just gut feeling I'm guessing not number crunching? Could it be 87.6%? :coolshades:

It's not really the improve jokes so much as they mishear or misinterpret what the original Japanese said. Which is understandable with translations but sometimes they make absolutely zero sense from the context. Though to be fair, tokusatsu does have some very unusual dialogue.

As for the other sub groups I don't really pay a terrible amount of attention as I usually try to find soft subs so I can just turn them off.

The 85% was also just a gut feeling. But you're right though. 85% is enough to at least understand the important points.

 

[bleachjoj]

It's not really the improve jokes so much as they mishear or misinterpret what the original Japanese said. Which is understandable with translations but sometimes they make absolutely zero sense from the context. Though to be fair, tokusatsu does have some very unusual dialogue.
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That's not the case either. They explain in post why they translate jokes the way they do. It's because they try to keep the meaning of a joke why while making more understandable in English like Gentaro's friendship joke in episode 27

 

[ziggaboogi]

That's not the case either. They explain in post why they translate jokes the way they do. It's because they try to keep the meaning of a joke why while making more understandable in English like Gentaro's friendship joke in episode 27

I wasn't talking about their translations of jokes though. I meant their translations in general.

 

[SamuraiEchidna]

Speaking as a native Japanese speaker about 85% percent of the translations were right. But I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that 15% of the translations were done wrong. It wasn't a matter of word choice or connotation or nuance, they were just plain wrong.

That makes sense.

Someone once said that their tokusatsu subs are usually okay for the most part because they are subbing kids shows; where they speak very plainly and explain in-show the meaning behind some of the more complex words and phrases. Weird example, but I remember comparing TV-N's subs of Kamen Rider THE FIRST against the subs from the official DVD release, and they were virtually identical.

But like others have said, that's just the easy stuff. I fear how badly they would get it wrong when it comes to shows for older audiences. I really wish someone would scrub Keitai Sousakan 7. The dialogue in their subs were so clumsy that I still don't fully remember what I watched all those years ago.

Only problem I have with TVN is they're utter cuntmonkeys! Their forum moderation leaves something to be desired! I personally got banned for about 3 months not long after joining just for asking about he status of Kuuga. No warning just straight ban! Utter joke!!!!!!

I actually have to agree with this. Many years ago, back when I was a TV-N fan, I joined the forum and got banned because I asked if someone could share some DL links to toku-related music. I honestly didn't know they had a rule about it! I read some of the rules, but I guess I must have missed that. Still, a warning would have sufficed! Even when I waited a few years and tried to rejoin the forum, I was still blocked and denied from joining. Even when I asked about it, they didn't do anything. And when I tried to e-mail the staff about translation corrections when I couldn't get on the forum, they just shot down all my e-mails and told me that I was the one who was wrong.

 

[Shynilyte]

As for the other sub groups I don't really pay a terrible amount of attention as I usually try to find soft subs so I can just turn them off.

This is one tricky issue with judging fansub quality. People who speak the original language don't need fansubs, and people who don't can't be sure whether the translations are correct. And it's not like I can expect somebody to just sit down and spend the time needed to compare translations. That does not sound very fun.

 

[PsychoGokaiger]

Those groups are usually connected by relationships it seems. It's not some conspiracy against Tv-N. And a lot of the time they're re-subbing shows they did anyway. Nihon is the one who doesn't like to acknowledge other groups.

Not saying it's a conspiracy, but it does seem like a deliberate snub. And I can say in some cases they literally list every active group in the scene, where they aren't all connected. When it's a smaller list I don't think anything of it, but when you're going out of your way to list everyone it stands out leaving an omission.

Plus, its a little odd that you say that using the word "conspiracy", and then say TV-Nihon does it. If you consider TVN not acknowledging others to be a negative, wouldn't the same apply to other groups not acknowledging them?

 

[kuroihikari]

The only ones who can really answer the question are the other sub-groups. The rest of us can only guess.

For what it's worth, though, it seems that every other sub-group does not think too highly of TVN's translation style.

 

[bleachjoj]

Not saying it's a conspiracy, but it does seem like a deliberate snub. And I can say in some cases they literally list every active group in the scene, where they aren't all connected. When it's a smaller list I don't think anything of it, but when you're going out of your way to list everyone it stands out leaving an omission.

Plus, its a little odd that you say that using the word "conspiracy", and then say TV-Nihon does it. If you consider TVN not acknowledging others to be a negative, wouldn't the same apply to other groups not acknowledging them?

They are connected though. A lot of time they're the same people under a different group name and sometimes share translators. Lynxara is an example of that. TV-N doesn't use the same translation practices as those groups anyway. Which is why Gomen Rider redid Garo and now there is a Goseiger re-translation.

 

[SamuraiEchidna]

This is one tricky issue with judging fansub quality. People who speak the original language don't need fansubs, and people who don't can't be sure whether the translations are correct. And it's not like I can expect somebody to just sit down and spend the time needed to compare translations. That does not sound very fun.

You can't expect everyone to know someone who speaks Japanese and English fluently, either.

Also, I've done a little bit of the comparing. Not fun, especially when what you compare are virtually identical to each other with just some minor differences.

But really, that all sounds like an extreme situation, when you can't be sure of yourself or the translations presented that RAW is better than any fansub at all. As it has been said earlier in this topic, there is no perfect fansub group. None of them can get in contact with the Japanese studios, executives, and/or creators to make sure their translations are correct. Really, it's about picking your poison. Would you rather have the fansub group that is 85%, 90%, or 95% accurate? Are you determined to watch the newest show, or wait til something is old enough that all the accurate translation material is available?

Personally, I pick softsubs. They give you the freedom of sharing the highest video quality you could want, and the subs are easy to edit. Any mistakes can be changed just by staying plugged in to the community, and other nuances can be edited to your liking (such as keeping in Honorifics, if that's you're thing).