Forum - View topic

Title translations, or lack thereof (rant).

Regarding Mahou Shoujotai Arusu / Tweeny Witches: I think the Japanese side chose that title, rather than Media-Blasters.

I think too many people here are making an assumption that fansubbers care about this issue.

The truth is, they don't, really. It's not like they put an awful lot of thought as to what they release their titles as, they just pick whatever and roll with it. If they were taxed 50 cents for every episode they didn't release with an English-translated title, I'm sure they'd translate every single one of their releases. But the truth is, fansubbers don't have to care about snaring their audience and trying to maximize profits in which case the title they pick would actually matter.

But in the end, is this really such a big thing that we believe fansubbers should create a Council of Anime English Naming prior to every new season that comes out? Or have influencial groups translate large numbers of titles into English because it's an eyesore to a minority of fansub watchers?

Zalis116 wrote:

Regarding Mahou Shoujotai Arusu / Tweeny Witches: I think the Japanese side chose that title, rather than Media-Blasters.

I think it would have to be a Japanese reference as I remember seeing that stupid "Tweeny Witches" on fansubs of the series, too.

How can 2 terms be equally informative when you don't even understand one of the terms.

I mean if I said qignuirgt and replaced it with the word blue how would you know that the first word is the same as the second?

As for "The Japanese don't put Japanese names in Western order," see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNM0YDFQbys

That's not always true. When the Japanese spell their names using the Roman alphabet, they will reverse the name ordering to use the Western format.

For examples, check out the individual character pages from these official anime web sites' character summary page:

The exact same part that Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu does. Irony much?

As for Fushigi Yuugi, I've never heard of it myself, nor does anything about the title encourage any interest in me.

Quote:

The exact same part that Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu does. Irony much?

That's my point, actually.

Quote:

How can 2 terms be equally informative when you don't even understand one of the terms.

Because understanding the definition of the English word doesn't give you any real understanding of how it applies to the series, and in fact misleads you as to the actual contents of the series.

It shouldn't apply to the series in any way other than it being the title.

The understood word conveys a meaning (no matter how inaccurate) and the other word conveys gobbledy-gook.

Not all anime have descriptive titles - should we ridicule Blue Comet SPT Layzner because it's about a blue robot and not about a blue comet (and, arguably, there's a lot of red, too, with Soviet bases on Mars tossed into the mix)? Should we chastise Dirty Pair because it uses a nickname they detest, rather than their actual call sign? Just what the hell does Touch have to do with baseball and youth romance anyway (other than a bunch of dirty jokes)?

Fushigi Yuugi would fail the former test, as it's far more distinctive than "Mysterious Play", and "Burst Angels" would fail the latter, as you'd never connect it to "Bakuretsu Tenshi" unless you either knew Japanese, or knew in advance that they were supposed to be the same show. Haruhi fails the first, in my ears, though it does at least succeed with the second, mainly because it includes a proper noun that was left intact.

Bubblegum Crisis is a great example. That's the official, Japanese name of the series, and yet explains nothing about the show. "Crisis" vaguely applies, but nobody even chews gum in the show.

so at that point we're left with two concerns, 1. Is the new title as aurally interesting and memorable as the old? 2. Are the two versions recognizable as being the same product?

Quote:

As for "The Japanese don't put Japanese names in Western order," see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNM0YDFQbys

That would be more helpful if I knew what I was looking for.

I'm not even going into the fact that they didn't translate the character Arusu's name back to Alice.

Maybe we should try a different tactic here. If, in Ohoni's opinion, the comprehension of a title doesn't really have any bearing on one's interest in a series...how about its ability to be pronounced?

Bubblegum Crisis is actually not a very good example, as its name rather specifically deals with its content, although admittedly exactly how it does isn't immediately obvious. As I've had it explained to me by a reliable source, the "bubblegum" part is a reference to the tension which exists on the surface of a blown bubble, and how it takes on a little prick (or other disturbance) to make it "pop." That's meant to be a metaphor for the potentially explosive situation involving Boomers which exists in 2031/2032/2040 Tokyo. But besides that, it's a catchy name guaranteed to attract attention.

As others have mentioned, point #1 is so intensely subjective that it's hard to use as a reasonable criteria; for instance, you don't think the Haruhi series' English name passes on that point, while I do. Who's right? Depends entirely on your viewpoint, doesn't it?

I have less disagreement with point #2, although I do think you could have cited better examples on that one. ("Tenshi"= (literally) "Heaven spirit"="angel" is typically one of the earliest Japanese words that newcomers learn when they get into anime.)

The character names are all written in western order when they appear in the OP. This is a lot clearer in the Clannad OP since the text is less stylistic. For a clearer example, here's Megumi Kadonosono's name, in western order, in her own handwriting: