English dubs: Accuracy vs Adaptation?

[Gubaba]

I fall on the side of staying as true to the original material as possible when scripting for dubbing, but having the traslator(s) use best judgement when making creative alterations necessitated by launguage/cultural disparities that would render dialogue too cumbersome and/or nonsensical if adherence to strict translation is maintained (Ex.: if a joke or wordplay would fall flat, change it so that it's not longer an issue, but try to make the new dialogue match the context of the story/mood of the scene); it's not a creative licence, but a constructive alteration in order to further the quality of the storytelling to the intended audience.

What about what AnimEigo did with Urusei Yatsura...? Where they would change the script if a joke was untranslatable (as often happened in UY), but then had "liner notes" where they would explain the original joke as well as their thought process behind the change?

(For example, in the subs for one episode, Ataru, dying of thirst, says "Wa...water..." The other characters say, "We don't have 'Wa-Water™!'" In the liner notes, they explained that "water" in Japanese is "mizu," but that "mimizu" means "earthworms." So the other characters are REALLY saying, "Why do you want earthworms?" and the best that the AnimEigo staff could come up with was pretending that "Wa-Water™" was some kind of name-brand bottled water...)

Edited April 23, 2013 by Gubaba

[F-ZeroOne]

While to an extent I agree that "Full Frontal" is a pretty silly name for a character, especially in a future war drama, on the other hand its little oddities like that that form part of the charm of watching anime in the first place.

Edited April 23, 2013 by F-ZeroOne

[mechaninac]

What about what AnimEigo did with Urusei Yatsura...? Where they would change the script if a joke was untranslatable (as often happened in UY), but then had "liner notes" where they would explain the original joke as well as their thought process behind the change?

(For example, in the subs for one episode, Ataru, dying of thirst, says "Wa...water..." The other characters say, "We don't have 'Wa-Water™!'" In the liner notes, they explained that "water" in Japanese is "mizu," but that "mimizu" means "earthworms." So the other characters are REALLY saying, "Why do you want earthworms?" and the best that the AnimEigo staff could come up with was pretending that "Wa-Water™" was some kind of name-brand bottled water...)

Sure, in a Sub, editor's and liner notes work just fine... I even mentioned as much on a previous post; however, I was refering to Dubs where notes popping up or explanatory voice-overs for dialogue just get cumbersome (not to be confused with dubbed anime containing subs for signs, lyrics, etc.; those are extremely helpfull and welcome).

While to an extent I agree that "Full Frontal" is a pretty silly name for a character, especially in a future war drama, on the other hand its little oddities like that that form part of the charm of watching anime in the first place.

The Gundam franchise has more than its share of odd names ranging from the mildly strange to the downright inane, but Full Frontal is on a whole new level of imbecilic... it's the kind of handle you'd expect in a comedic Hentai. It's such "oddities", in no small measure, that cause most people to write off anime in general, with varying degrees of disdain.

[Dynaman]

As for Full Frontal, although is sounds terrible - I ask you, is it really worse then "Pussy Galore"? (and look where the Bond franchise has gone from there)

[mechaninac]

Touché.

Although, Bond, with few exceptions, is its own special kind of stupid... Pussy Galore, Octopussy...

Edited April 24, 2013 by mechaninac

[sketchley]

Let's not forget our favourite Macross witticisms when it comes to names that don't work well in English:

ASS-1 (Alien Star Ship 1)

NUNS (New UNified Space Forces)

[Dynaman]

Sketchley, don't forget "UN Spacey", no English speaker would ever come up with that one.

[Gubaba]

...but Full Frontal, on the other hand, is downright ridiculous to an English speaking audience and should've been changed to something a lot less dumb.

I remember reading an interview with the English voice actor for Full Frontal, who said something to effect of, "Get your mind out of the gutter! His name refers to his METHOD OF ATTACK!! That's all."

[F-ZeroOne]

The other irony, of course, is that we're discussing changing a characters name from the Japanese original in a thread about the accuracy of translation...

I'm also not really sure what else would be similar in meaning whilst not sounding so... odd in English. "Full On"...? "All Out"...? "In Yer FACE!"...?

[Einherjar]

The other irony, of course, is that we're discussing changing a characters name from the Japanese original in a thread about the accuracy of translation...

I'm also not really sure what else would be similar in meaning whilst not sounding so... odd in English. "Full On"...? "All Out"...? "In Yer FACE!"...?

That's right, Full Frontal is what the creators wanted in the first place. Can't blame subbers or adaptors for that.

[sketchley]

Sketchley, don't forget "UN Spacey", no English speaker would ever come up with that one.

Correction: UN Spacy.

Alas, despite no native English speaker ever coming up with that, its got a kind of charm to it. It also doesn't tend to set off alarm bells, force whispers in polite company or cause snickering, which I think is what names like "Full Frontal" tend to do.

[mechaninac]

The other irony, of course, is that we're discussing changing a characters name from the Japanese original in a thread about the accuracy of translation...

I'm also not really sure what else would be similar in meaning whilst not sounding so... odd in English. "Full On"...? "All Out"...? "In Yer FACE!"...?

Easy, change the name from English to Latin (Pleni Frontis... it even rings like a proper name) and you retain the words, the intended meaning, add a centain class and gravitas, eliminate the double entendre, and make it actually sound cool as opposed to ridiculous.

Edited April 25, 2013 by mechaninac

[sketchley]

Easy, change the name from English to Latin (Pleni Frontis... it even rings like a proper name) and you retain the words, the intended meaning, add a centain class and gravitas, eliminate the double entendre, and make it actually sound cool as opposed to ridiculous.

That's a very good point. Above and beyond what you mentioned, it also retains the "foreignness" of the original and the in-joke for those who know the foreign language.

[renegadeleader1]

All you need to know about gundam names comes from the very first 3 characters you meet in the original gundam series.

Slender. Denim. Gene.

[F-ZeroOne]

The Latin suggestion isn't a bad idea - reminds me of how "Lupin" become "Wolf" due to copyright issues, actually - but what happens when people start asking why it isn't Gundam LXXXIII then...?

[Bri]

What about what AnimEigo did with Urusei Yatsura...? Where they would change the script if a joke was untranslatable (as often happened in UY), but then had "liner notes" where they would explain the original joke as well as their thought process behind the change?

(For example, in the subs for one episode, Ataru, dying of thirst, says "Wa...water..." The other characters say, "We don't have 'Wa-Water™!'" In the liner notes, they explained that "water" in Japanese is "mizu," but that "mimizu" means "earthworms." So the other characters are REALLY saying, "Why do you want earthworms?" and the best that the AnimEigo staff could come up with was pretending that "Wa-Water™" was some kind of name-brand bottled water...)

Now that you mention Urusei Yatsura, I thought the BBC fun version, while far less accurate, captured the essence of the humor much better. Then again it might just be the quality of the voice actors.