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Hey, Answerman! [2007-08-17]

Oh cool, it's good to see how Western distributors have such respect for the original works.

The Japanese get to see D.Gray-man and Kaze no Stigma free

1. pay your own internet bill;

2. only watch one episode per week;

3. watch that episode on the exact same day and time every week.

Further, since the show would be making money from the sale of merchandise and advertising space during commercial breaks, you should at least watch all the commercials (which no fansubbing group that I know of leaves in, and only a few raw providers do), or even pause the show for three minutes every so often.

That's why I said relatively straightforward, certainly there are some terms that don't translate well and then you have to transliterate and decide how to best convey the thought in another language that doesn't have a straight equivalent. In a lot of cases, you just have to come up with something close but that's how translations have been done for centuries.

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Part of the reason for sending the translation back to the original writer is to check to see if the decisions made were the right ones; that is, if they would be more faithful to the spirit of the original work than alternate varieties.

Most of the time, the original writer doesn't speak English to begin with so it's not going to help much to show the translated script, they won't have a clue.

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Incorrect choices can lead to emphasis of the wrong things, a character that doesn't have the same general personality as the original, or, worst of all, direct misinformation.

All things I've seen more often in official translations than in fansubs. Sure, the fansub groups may get it wrong occasionally, but they usually have a huge group of people watching that catch it and get it corrected, which is why you get fansubs being released in second and even third versions. You don't see that in official subs.

A) I was together with you, Tomokazu, inside of the dream.
B) Tomokazu, I was in the dream with you last night.spoiler[Fansub=B]

Context: Mizuki has run into Tomokazu's bedroom and jumped on top of him in a slightly "compromising" position, and Nanase says this line upon seeing them.
A) My my, you two seem intimate...
B) Oh my, good friends...spoiler[Fansub=A]

A) Do you think that because of what happened in the dream, the body is tired, after all?
B) So, did my body react to the occurrences in the dream, I wonder...spoiler[Fansub=B]

A) Stop misunderstanding of your own accord! Who are you anyway?!
B) Don't misunderstand! Who are you, anyway? spoiler[Fansub=B]

A) It must be her! I can't think of anyone else who could make this situation so complicated.
B)It's that person! I can't think of anyone else who would have the power to bring forth these circumstances.spoiler[Fansub=A]

A) Tests are an evil system created by society to judge a person's ability based on numbers!
B) The test is the system of the devil which society devised, in order to judge the superiority or inferiority of man numerically!spoiler[Fansub=A]

A) I came to privately tutor Tomokazu who must take a follow-up test.
B) Um, I came to help Tomokazu with his supplementary exam as his personal tutor. spoiler[Fansub=B]

A) You studied very hard for this, you'll do just fine, right?
B) You studied that much everyday, so you'll be alright, won't you? spoiler[Fansub=A]

A) This isn't something that is forgiven by crying.
B) You won't be forgiven by crying.spoiler[Fansub=B]

A) It's surprisingly convenient that a word notebook can be brought to the dream world. B) You can also bring your vocabulary notes along with you, how convenient!spoiler[Fansub=A]

I"ve heard about the "company contracts require translation approvals, so official subs > fansubs" thing before, and I've had some of the same questions that've been raised in the last few pages of the thread.

As tempest says, yeah, the Japanese companies likely have an "approvals dude" who understands English at a much higher level than the average Japanese person.

The difference is in the phrasing, and in some cases like the "you two seem intimate" line, it affects the feel or the humor of the scene.

Wow....those are some awkwardly written subs on ADV's part. I've never seen anything that bad from them before.

Xenofan 29A wrote:

Wow....those are some awkwardly written subs on ADV's part. I've never seen anything that bad from them before.

Usually ADV isn't that bad, at least not more recent ADV. I usually have a bigger problem with Bandai Visual's dubtitles.

Answerman wrote:

I doubt even using fancy foil or reflective paper would help catch the eye of someone scanning a wall of 1.5 centimeter-thick spines.

Damn Americans, and their not knowing metric. You can't even exaggerate it properly!

1.5 cm is actually much closer to the size of a regular DVD case, whereas a thinpack case is in and around 0.5 cm thick.

Jimmy Balls-O-Steel wrote:

Answerman wrote: I doubt even using fancy foil or reflective paper would help catch the eye of someone scanning a wall of 1.5 centimeter-thick spines. Damn Americans, and their not knowing metric. You can't even exaggerate it properly! 1.5 cm is actually much closer to the size of a regular DVD case, whereas a thinpack case is in and around 0.5 cm thick.

Actually, the measurements are 14mm for a standard keepcase and 7mm for a "thinpack" case (inserts have a 6.75mm wide spine). (BTW, CDs and DVDs are 1.2mm thick.)

They piss me off. They ruin what-would-have-been decent book. They force to buy only new releases immediately because then I have a chance to go through 20 or so books before I find an unabused copy. Yes, I make a lot of online purchases (for someone looking for a webiste see justmanga.com they shrink wrap vol prior to shipping = to damage in shipping) but this is not the point. The point is that you are taking something for FREE and DAMAGING it. To go to the car analogy, it would be like taking a test drive, crashing the car into tiny pieces, and then leaving the lot without so much as a sorry. It is wrong. Plain and simple.

Yes, checking out a book prior to purchase is acceptable as long as you are careful. However, there is no need to set up camp in the bookstore.

For those of you fortunate enough to never encounter a manga cow allow me to direct you to prime hunting grounds. Visit Fresno, CA, USA. In a location known as Riverpark, Manga Cows can be found regularly and in high numbers. My personal favorite was at a Borders. A girl literally stacked about 10 manga vols and carried them into the nearby poetry section where her friends had already gathered with additional vols.

doc-watson42 wrote:

Jimmy Balls-O-Steel wrote: Damn Americans, and their not knowing metric. You can't even exaggerate it properly! 1.5 cm is actually much closer to the size of a regular DVD case, whereas a thinpack case is in and around 0.5 cm thick. Actually, the measurements are 14mm for a standard keepcase and 7mm for a "thinpack" case (inserts have a 6.75mm wide spine). (BTW, CDs and DVDs are 1.2mm thick.)

Still, 14mm is only 1mm off from 1.5cm.

If those shelves were stocked with thinpak cases, you'd have an ocean of little tiny unreadable spines, and none of them would stand out at all. I doubt even using fancy foil or reflective paper would help catch the eye of someone scanning a wall of 1.5 centimeter-thick spines.

Actually, what I forgot to point out is that Mr. Bertschy gives the impression that thinpacks' spines are 1.5 centimeters thick—a much larger error. The quote in context:

Quote:

If those shelves were stocked with thinpak cases, you'd have an ocean of little tiny unreadable spines, and none of them would stand out at all. I doubt even using fancy foil or reflective paper would help catch the eye of someone scanning a wall of 1.5 centimeter-thick spines.