Quote:
Originally Posted by lubczyk
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. It ticked me off in the translation of Lunar Princes Tsukihime and Great Teacher Onozuka..
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Another problem is if the translator knows the given project in its entireity first hand.
For example in Higurashi, the Dr. Irie was referred to by Mion and Rena as "kantoku." Now "kantoku" can mean two different job descriptions in Japanese: it can mean director (as in overseer of an establishment) or a coach (of a baseball team). Japanese wordplay was possible because Keiichi mistook "kantoku" as the former than the latter in Onikakushi. We later learn that Dr. Irie is really a coach for the local little league team.
Now how would a translator who has never heard of Higurashi, never played the game, supposed to translate that? Do they leave it "director" or as "coach" or leave it "kantoku" as it is? There in lies the dillemma.
We all know that Dr. Irie is a part time little league coach because we saw the anime already. But flash forward back to the time when no one knew about Higurashi except a few people like me. How are fansubbers going to translate something that they don't know about?
Supposed they translate it as "director." Later on, when the episode showing that Dr. Irie is really a "kantoku" for the local little league team, it won't make sense. Suddenly the translated text will change to "coach" and people won't get it without adding a footnote that "kantoku" was a wordplay for "director" and "coach." People will say the fansubbers screwed up big time.
Supposed someone who knows Higurashi did the translation, so they translate it as "coach." Now it won't make sense in Onikakushi. It will make sense later on the series, but now it's practically a spoiler as well. Waa!
And let's say if one leaves it as just "kantoku." Then they'll be people like you who complain that why didn't they translate this to English.