Japanese drama/movie/anime with translation difficulties
Thread poster: Lauren Barrett
Lauren Barrett
Lauren Barrett
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:00
Japanese to English
Feb 16, 2018

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice for my dissertation!! I know I should find the text myself but I've been looking for nearly 2 months now and haven't been able to find anything... The proposal is due in 2 weeks so I'm entering panic mode!!

I've decided to do a subtitling project so I'm on the lookout for a Japanese audiovisual text which contains areas that would be difficult to translate (such as comedy or cultural reference) for my dissertation project. The annoying
... See more
Hello,

I'm looking for some advice for my dissertation!! I know I should find the text myself but I've been looking for nearly 2 months now and haven't been able to find anything... The proposal is due in 2 weeks so I'm entering panic mode!!

I've decided to do a subtitling project so I'm on the lookout for a Japanese audiovisual text which contains areas that would be difficult to translate (such as comedy or cultural reference) for my dissertation project. The annoying side that I'm finding is holding me back is that it can't have been translated already... I'm hoping to find an anime, or a drama/film based on an anime, so that I can include some comparisons to fansubs in my analysis but it seems all the anime I can find has already been translated! And then any films I find, I can't find fansubs for

As an example, for my subtitling module assignment I did the watashi/watakushi/boku/ore scene in Kimi no na wa, and compared the commercial subtitles with my own which I created as the commercial ones were more like fansubs.

If anyone knows of any texts that would provide an interesting analysis I would really appreciate the information!!

Thanks in advance for any help!
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Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 02:00
Member (2013)
English to Russian
- Feb 17, 2018

LaurenJB wrote:

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice for my dissertation!! I know I should find the text myself but I've been looking for nearly 2 months now and haven't been able to find anything... The proposal is due in 2 weeks so I'm entering panic mode!!

I've decided to do a subtitling project so I'm on the lookout for a Japanese audiovisual text which contains areas that would be difficult to translate (such as comedy or cultural reference) for my dissertation project. The annoying side that I'm finding is holding me back is that it can't have been translated already... I'm hoping to find an anime, or a drama/film based on an anime, so that I can include some comparisons to fansubs in my analysis but it seems all the anime I can find has already been translated! And then any films I find, I can't find fansubs for

As an example, for my subtitling module assignment I did the watashi/watakushi/boku/ore scene in Kimi no na wa, and compared the commercial subtitles with my own which I created as the commercial ones were more like fansubs.

If anyone knows of any texts that would provide an interesting analysis I would really appreciate the information!!

Thanks in advance for any help!


There's a super difficult shiritori in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid and a comparably difficult one in Kiznaiver, but those, of course, have been translated.

But what do you mean by "have been translated"? Professionally translated? And if so, what constitutes "professional translation"? For example, I know for a fact that most translators working in-house for Crunchyroll are former fansubbers who still use more or less the same approach, and the same is partly true for Amazon and some other streaming platforms. Are these "professional" translations?

If you mean all translations, including fansubs, then I'm afraid everything that comes out nowadays, even the lowest-scoring shows, are fansubbed by one team or another, so if you want to find something that's really never been translated, then you'll have to go with an old obscure show from the 70s or the 80s. But then how do you prove that it hasn't really been translated?

It's an odd requirement, if you ask me.


 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:00
French to English
nothing odd about it Feb 18, 2018

Max Deryagin wrote:

It's an odd requirement, if you ask me.


Surely it's the one requirement that makes sense? At translation school, it was always the teachers' great challenge, finding a text that hadn't been translated, so that nobody could crib from the translation.
Once a teacher set a text for the next week, but the translation was published a few days later. I had already done the homework, but those who waited till the night before were able to find the exact official EU translation of the text. The teacher was intending to have the marks contribute to our overall mark, and had to swap for another the following week because of the translation being published.


 
Michael Wetzel
Michael Wetzel  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:00
German to English
Ask for an extension ... Feb 23, 2018

... and then go to five stores that sell the kinds of materials that interest you. Stores that mostly sell used material are probably your best bet and go at a slow time of day. Strike up a conversation with the people working there and explain who you are and what you're looking for. There's a good chance you'll meet fansubbers or people who personally know fansubbers and who can share heaps of otherwise inaccessible knowledge about anime and fansubbing, and they'll also know titles like the on... See more
... and then go to five stores that sell the kinds of materials that interest you. Stores that mostly sell used material are probably your best bet and go at a slow time of day. Strike up a conversation with the people working there and explain who you are and what you're looking for. There's a good chance you'll meet fansubbers or people who personally know fansubbers and who can share heaps of otherwise inaccessible knowledge about anime and fansubbing, and they'll also know titles like the ones you're looking for or they'll know where to look or they'll know who to ask. And you might make them very happy. Those are the kinds of questions librarians and used-book (or DVD, in this case) people love ...Collapse


 
Lauren Barrett
Lauren Barrett
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:00
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks for feedback! Feb 27, 2018

Thanks for all your replies!

Max - Sorry I probably should have written commercially translated! Anything that has been produced using industry standard guidelines. Basically it's so we don't cheat and to provide an accurate representation of our skills. Fansubs don't count thankfully, and we can make a case to retranslate something if we perceive it as inaccurate/unsuccessful etc.

Michael - That would be ideal but unfortunately extensions aren't granted without real
... See more
Thanks for all your replies!

Max - Sorry I probably should have written commercially translated! Anything that has been produced using industry standard guidelines. Basically it's so we don't cheat and to provide an accurate representation of our skills. Fansubs don't count thankfully, and we can make a case to retranslate something if we perceive it as inaccurate/unsuccessful etc.

Michael - That would be ideal but unfortunately extensions aren't granted without real reason!

BUT I did manage to find a comedy drama released last year that hasn't been commercially subtitled yet! I definitely recommend it too, it's Neko Ninja from the same producers as Samurai Cat
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Japanese drama/movie/anime with translation difficulties







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