2011-09-19, 00:10 | Link #1 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Suburban DC
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Question about Fansub Translation
I have a question about the translation part of the fansubbing process.
It relates to songs. I notice that there are multiple translations of a single song. And sometimes all those fan translations will be different from the official translation provided by a licence holder. I was wondering is it because the japanese songs are (grammatically, structurally and therefore conceptually) as wierd and obtuse as I think they are? I have been studying japanese for years and songs still trip me up. It's kinda like reading the Jaberwocky from Alice in Wonderland or trying to interpret those vague poems from high school english class? |
2011-09-19, 05:40 | Link #2 |
Aegisub dev
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Age: 39
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I think it holds true for all languages that songs and other lyrics twist and turn the language to the extremes, making it hard to translate the meaning in a sensible way, at least not without heavily interpreting and effectively composing an entirely new song.
It only gets worse when the Japanese writers decided to add in a couple of random English words, you often either have to twist your translation in unnatural ways to fit them in as-is, or change those for something in a different grammatical form or different words altogether, which can also seem odd.
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2011-09-19, 13:46 | Link #3 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Age: 42
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Some of those fan translations are done from the audio alone, before the official Japanese lyrics become available. So they're subject to mishears and other mistakes, or run into homophone confusion where the actual word can't be discerned from the audio and context. Like with one of the Strawberry Marshmallow OVAs, where translators basically had to do a coin toss between sukuu (scoop) and sukuu (save) before the single came out.
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Last edited by Zalis; 2011-09-22 at 05:02. |
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2011-09-20, 23:08 | Link #4 |
Honyaku no Hime
Fansubber
Join Date: May 2008
Location: In the eastern capital of the islands of the rising suns...
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Yep, most are done by ear before official lyrics come out of which by them some groups can't be arsed to correct the translations for the karaoke.
Also songs usually have hidden depth to the meaning beyond literal translation, so it depends on the skill of a translator to be able to determine the subject and nuance for English and yes, from experience, it is a bitch, a royal headache and totally obtuse. Not to mention, a 90sec anime OP/ED only takes the first verse, sometimes a bridge, the first and last chorus from a complete 3-4min tune, so we never get the full picture of a song at first. And sadly, many anime songs just add engrish to sound cool, they should be shot ><;; (one naruto tune comes to mind...)
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2011-09-27, 10:39 | Link #7 | |
born black and born poor
Fansubber
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Minnesota
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