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Answerman - Why Does The Same Title Get Translated Differently For Anime Vs Manga Releases?

zensunni wrote:

everyone KNOWS that the "L" sound isn't natural in Japanese

I know you're being facetious here, but I really hate this argument that "Japanese doesn't have Ls, only Rs." Anglocentrism at its best, really. There is not a perfect, direct correlation between the English alphabet and the sounds used in Japanese.

The entire reason the R/L debate exists is because sometimes it sounds closer to a R, sometimes it sounds closer to a L, depending on both the speaker and the listener. To shoehorn it into always being an R is to willfully ignore the fact that... as another commentor eloquently said, "Translation is a hard job."

Gina Szanboti wrote:

And there are still those who insist on Arucard (Dracura? Would he then be Brad Tepes?)...

I remember Crispin Freeman mentioning once that the dub staff basically had to fight tooth-and-nail to be able to use the correct name there. Whatever production committee representatives they were in contact with kept insisting on Arucard, and when they brought up the name-reversal, the response was something like, "Exactly, from Dracura!" I feel like my immediate response would have been to find the thickest, heaviest Bram Stoker edition I could get my hands on and shove it straight in their face.

relyat08 wrote:

But also, why does everyone translate 巨人 as "Titans". Shouldn't it really be something like "giant"?

The proper word would be eoten. But the author wanted "Titan" as the translation, even though it introduces irrelevant connotations of Greek mythological references.

Oh yes because that's a big problem. They should think about why manga called Shingeki no Kyojin is translated into Attack on Titan when in one of the newest chapters 進撃の巨人 is translated into "Attacker Titan" not Attack on Titan

Seriously though, which of the three would you pay more attention to? "Attack on Titan", "Attacker Titan", or "Vanguard Titan". AoT may be an awkward title due to the name drop aspect but it does work well as the series title from a marketing perspective.

The other thing is that often times there just isn't a direct translation, whether it be for a title or dialogue. That way you either end up with wordy explanations of the original word from the other language, or words that are "close enough." Also you can sometimes ask 10 different translators to translate the same dialogue and get 10 different translations, for the reasons I just mentioned. I mean just look at how -san is handled. You sometimes get people replacing it with Mr., but if schoolmates are talking you wouldn't say "Hey Mr. Xyz, ready for class to start?" You sometimes keep the -san suffix and assume your audience knows how it works, you sometimes just drop it, and sometimes they just put the person's first name even if the character said their last since in most English speaking countries in that context they would have said their first name. And that's just names, think about how many words have similar meanings in English, or how you would rearrange longer sentences to have a more natural flow since Japanese and English grammar are so different.

Translation is a hard job.

May I present one of my favourite "official" translations: I Wanting strengthen most in the worlds.

Yep! My favorite, though it isn't about a title, is the whole argument about whether the main female character of Spice and Wolf is "Holo" or "Horo". You will still see people calling her Horo on message boards because that is what the fan translations called her when the first translations came out and, everyone KNOWS that the "L" sound isn't natural in Japanese so it wouldn't be that. There were all kinds of arguments about a word that had the meaning of wolf in the language of the Ainu people or something like that being similar as well. This persisted ever AFTER the Spice and Wolf II anime came out with the clear picture on the screen of Holo signing her name and spelling it in clear, cursive letters H O L O. In the original Japanese language version... (My favorite argument was that nobody ever complained about Lawrence being Rawrence...)

Something else to consider, at least where dubs are concerned, is lip-synching. Lip-syncing often requires brevity that a full, proper translation of the Japanese cannot convey.

For example, in Naruto, Pain has an ability called Chibaku Tensei (地爆天星). A proper literal translation, since its phrased as a yojijukugo (four-character idiom), would be something poetic like, "Earthly Devastation, Heavenly Formation."

A whopping 12 syllables compared to five syllables in the original Japanese. And thus in the dub, it becomes abridged to "Planetary Devastation," which is still pretty long.

Likewise his Shinra Tensei (Omnipresent God, Heavenly Subjugation) becomes "Almighty Push" and Bansho Ten'in (All Creation, Heavenly Attraction) becomes "Universal Pull," which in my opinion are two of the best, most concise translations I've seen in anything.

It always makes me laugh when the nit-picky translation people say "this long, cumbersome sentence is more correct than this sentence which flows easily and conveys the same meaning."

Because that isn't the literal translation.
"Attack of the Titans" would be the reverse 巨人の進撃, while the actual title is 進撃の巨人 (The Attacker('s) Titan, the Vanguard('s) Titan, etc.)

The question wasn't about why 1 translation is better or chosen over another, it was about why different mediums can get different translations for the title.

I'm probably wrong, but I don't think the の in 進撃の巨人 is used as a possessive. I think it's used to qualify 巨人, as in the kind of Titan it is, like an Attack Titan (similar to the construction "attack dog"). This use of の is also seen in titles like Ao no Exorcist/Ao no Futsumashi (Blue Exorcist, not Exorcist's Blue) and Tonari no Totoro ((My) Neighbor Totoro, not Totoro's Neighbor).

Titanado!.

You're mixing up the order of the possession in those examples. In Tonari no Tototo, it would be more accurate to say The(My) Neighbor's Totoro, in the example of Ao no Exorcist, it would be Blue Exorcist, pretty literally. The way that the "possessive" aspect of の works is that whatever comes first is the quality of what comes second, or the owner of what comes second. An additional example would be Gin no Saji. Silver is possessing the spoon, or is the quality of the spoon. Blue is the quality of the Exorcist, The Neighbor is possessing Totoro, etc.
So for the example of Shingeki no Kyojin, the Shingeki(rage, attack, etc) is the quality of the Kyojin(giant, titan). Personally, I think the most concise and natural sounding translation is something like The Raging Titan, but I don't think it's a great name for a series.

My favorite case has got to be Asobi ni Ikuyo, which got three different English titles: "Bombshells from the Sky" as the simulcast's subtitle, "Cat Planet Cuties" for Funimation's release, and the more literal "Let's Go Play" for the manga.

Of course, the anti-industry crowd that doesn't understand the whole "anime is a business" thing loves to seize on examples like this to say, "Look how incompetent these 'professional' translators are, they thought Asobi ni iku yo meant Cat Planet Cuties!" Yes, there sadly are people who think like this

maximilianjenus wrote:

EnigmaticSky wrote: Translation is a hard job. yup, and you still did not mention how no matter what you do, someone always gets angry.

Exactly. I sympathize with the person asking the question, but phrasing things as "the right translation" or the wrong translation is misguided. There is rarely just one right translation. It depends on context and a lot of other various things.

relyat08 wrote:

maximilianjenus wrote: EnigmaticSky wrote: Translation is a hard job. yup, and you still did not mention how no matter what you do, someone always gets angry. Exactly. I sympathize with the person asking the question, but phrasing things as "the right translation" or the wrong translation is misguided. There is rarely just one right translation. It depends on context and a lot of other various things.

While you are correct, you also miss a point that I think is important, and really needs to be improved. That is that although and because there are different ways to phrase things in translation, it is especially important to have a GLOSSARY! When you work on something make a note of translations for terms and also SHARE IT. At the same time if there is already work done on a particular title, (e.g. translating a manga that is already a translated anime, or vice versa) contact the translator for that project and ask if they made their own glossary, or watch/read it and make your own.

And unless something is very inaccurate that has previously been published, don't change it in the future just to make it "better", leave it as it was despite any pride you may feel. Too often I see simple terms that should be part of a glossary constantly change. A glossary for any project should be pretty extensive, not the 10 term list you sometimes find in the back of some books. As for titles, well that is more a business decision than a translator one, so I won't comment on them.

Anyway, pet peeve and a bit of a rant out of the way. I come from a background in academic work editorial, where there should be (and sometimes there is) more diligence in such things. I do realize that poor pay makes a difference. Some translators need to realise that actually getting into the practice of making such things actually saves their time in the long run. And keeping glossaries to yourself if you have made them, is just silly!