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Old 2009-08-14, 12:40   Link #189
chronotrig
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Buffer overflow
Yeah, I probably shouldn't do this, but let me step in here a second.
It's fine to say that you don't like Japanese words like those being left in, but calling it lazy is a little dubious to say the least.

Quote:
A lot of anime productions don't bother doing the simple stuff like translating sempai to leader or upperclassman or whatever and Sensei to teacher or doctor.
Well...I think you've just hit on the problem. Neither of these words has a translation. They can only be interpreted based on the setting. Since Umineko is an unfinished and very twisted mystery series, no one knows very much about the setting. So removing all such words would force the translator's opinion on the reader where it doesn't need to be forced.
This can only be done accurately after the series has been completed, but even then, it would probably end up removing certain 'wrong' theories that new readers should be allowed to make.

Quote:
I, My, Me Strawberry Eggs was so lazy in that they constantly usee baa-chan when they could have grandma. Two words, close translation, easy dub, but noooooo, they couldn't even do that.
Again, while Baa-chan sometimes means grandma, it doesn't always. The word is used several dozen times in the Umineko VN, and it means 'grandma' exactly 0 of those times.


Even without all of this, there is a very good reason for keeping some Japanese terms in Umineko. The whole setting for Umineko is supposed to be a mixture of Eastern and Western viewpoints (hmm, where have I heard that before...). The opening of the VN says "Welcome to Rokkenjima" in English, and English text and even titles (i.e. Madam) are used throughout the game. ...Not to mention the kind of character Kinzo is. Considering that most of the characters are Japanese, keeping Japanese terms in the translation seems only natural.

GG has been doing a very good job subbing Umineko, but even they've had some trouble with honorifics, basically being forced to ignore the reason for George's whole "don't call me sama" line. There is no way to adapt those perfectly without getting ridiculously complicated (what do you do if Shannon calls him George-san 10 scenes later?)
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