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The only thing that mark what's official is capital, and I do not recognize their power here. Anyway translating things "accurately" sounds good in theory but it's impossible (and undesirable) in practice I'm gonna do a thread not to call you out but because this is interesting @ThatBlueHatGuy1/1341959712431091712Permalink On twitter.com
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So a classic example of this is Stein's;Gate's sub, where they translate a Japanese nerd meme to "all your base are belong to us" youtu.be/Ly6NXmfT5goPermalink On twitter.com
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Now in theory this is completely indefensible translating! Okabe doesn't say "all your base" he says "nullpo" and Kurisu doesn't say "are belong to us" she says "ga!" How irresponsible! But nullpo/ga is not a joke you understand or resonate with.Permalink On twitter.com
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The accuracy of the text has decreased somewhat to give a much better experience. In fact, some of the most accurate translations of Japanese media can probably be found on somewhat illegal fan translation sites of manga and light novelsPermalink On twitter.com
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Because they're usually done by people who've only taken 2 or 3 years of Japanese. They translate every word exactly as written in the order that it's translated and sometimes they even leave words untranslated. And that shit SUCKS. Stilted at best, unreadable at worstPermalink On twitter.com
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But that's just the normal stuff. Languages are even weirder than that. Like, in Akudama Drive there's an episode with wordplay with the Kansai dialect. English doesn't have a Kansai dialect. What do you do?Permalink On twitter.com
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Most translations use a southern or black accent. But what does that say about how we view these speech patterns? Isn't that sorta a political statement to equate the two? "Kansai is just black people" is a TAKE but a lot of translators go with thatPermalink On twitter.com
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Or there's another episode where the Japanese uses the word "lynching" to describe what happens. But lynch in Japanese does not have the same connotation or history as lynch in English. Do you leave that as is? Or do you change it?Permalink On twitter.com
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So if you follow these examples down you'll realize that what you're asking for is a messy thing. You have to conclude that translation is a transformative process and translators have creative freedom with how they implement a story in a new languagePermalink On twitter.com
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You can say a "good" translation "reproduces the experience of the original for a different audience" but that's at best a guiding principle. You can't make that a rule.Permalink On twitter.com
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In fact of argue a good translation knows when to not be accurate. Moriarty the Patriot has a great sub because it gives the characters different accents from across Britain, something probably outside the intention of the original author. But it's better having been changedPermalink On twitter.com
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The original Sailor Moon dubs turned a lot of LGBT characters into "cousins" and "best friends". Was that okay then if translation is transformative? Well, no. But it's not okay because it made the story worse, not because it's "less accurate" or whatever.Permalink On twitter.com
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When conservatives say translation should be "accurate" they're using that as a proxy. They think anime is conservative and they don't like it when works are reexamined to be less conservative.Permalink On twitter.com
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Dragon Maid, specifically, is not even a super conservative anime. It's already fairly progressive in having a lesbian romance and female main character. I'm not convinced referencing the patriarchy once is outside the *spirit* of the show, even if that specific line has changedOn twitter.com