Wow, we’re finally at our 20th entry for Lost in Translation! I’m pretty sure I could’ve gone much higher, much quicker; but yeah, at least we’re finally getting somewhere. This week, we’ll look into something that’s pretty close to my heart from both a nostalgic and gastronomic perspective. And yup, food and Card Captor Sakura pretty much go hand-in-hand, so sit back as we look into this little tidbit from Episode 2 of Card Captor Sakura Clear Card! Continue reading
Wow, I’ve been gone for a long time.
That’s a separate post for a separate day, but for now, I’m gonna try and ease myself back into the groove of writing something by doing some Lost in Translation, this time coming from Episode 35 of March Comes in Like a Lion. Continue reading
Hey guys! Time for another Lost in Translation! This entry comes from Episode 17 of Sakura Quest where we see our five heroines being rudely referred to thusly: Continue reading
Hey guys, time for another Lost in Translation! This entry comes from episode 6 of Natsume Yûjinchô Roku, where we find Kitamoto describing his “otherworldly” experience with Natsume after school thusly: Continue reading
Wow, it’s been a while since the last Lost in Translation, but I think I’ve got a real sweet one for you guys this time around. This entry comes from episode 6 of Ero-Manga Sensei where we find Masamune lamenting over the fact that his pseudo-rival Muramasa had beaten him to the punch for a publishing deal at his publishing house. Continue reading
Hey guys! I’ve got insomnia, so I figured it’d be a great opportunity to bring you guys another Lost in Translation! For this entry, we get a bunch of cryptic lines from a random mob member who gets his car stolen in the first episode of Re:CREATORS. Continue reading
Yup, you read that right. It’s a double feature for this installment of Lost in Translation, where we look at all things New Year. I’m pretty sure many of these themes have been beaten to death in one-a-many slice-of-life anime, but hey — where else will we ever learn about Japanese culture and things to do come the new year? So sit back and relax as we explore more Japanese culture for Japanese in anime! These entries come from episodes 9 and 11 of Gabriel DropOut and Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, respectively. Continue reading
Hey guys! It’s been a while, but time for another Lost in Translation! This entry comes from episode 21 of March comes in like a Lion, where we see Rei reacting to a seemingly innocent jingle resounding through the passageways of an empty train station. Continue reading
Hey Guys! It’s time for another Lost in Translation! This entry comes, yet again, from Gabriel DropOut, this time from episode 7. This show really does have a lot of neat jokes that aren’t so much poorly translated as the are, really, just a result of cultural differences between English and Japanese. As I have mentioned in past entries, the translator for this series (if you’re watching the CrunchyRoll subs) is fairly liberal, but in many ways I think it’s a good thing.
But then of course, there are those jokes that have nuances in them that just don’t come across as easily due to cultural reasons. And I totally understand why, as a translator, one would opt out of translating such nuances — especially since one of the lines I’ll be discussing today has a “generational gap” joke to it.
So yeah, I’ll be discussing not just one, but two lines from episode 7. Excited? Then read on! Continue reading
Hey guys! Time for another Lost in Translation! This entry comes, yet again, from Gabriel DropOut, this time from episode 6. But before we move on, I’d like to clarify that the current translator for this show is very liberal in his/her translation style, so there are some lines that are translated more with regard to context and perceived character idiosyncrasies as opposed to literal meaning. The reason for this is because some Japanese phrases lend to characterization by sheer delivery, whilst in English, characterization lies more in the choice of words than just manner of execution. This is doubly true for subtitles in that you have to read what is said.
It is for this reason that one character’s utterance of shikataganai (仕方がない) can mean (literally) “It can’t be helped”, but depending on context or even character archetype, can change in meaning to “whatever” or “guess I have no choice.”
That said, the current translations for this show lean quite heavily towards the liberal side, which means these type of lines are translated with these assumptions in tow. Now that in itself isn’t bad — to some extent, it allows the characters to be more relatable to an English audience — but what happens here is that the translator makes assumptions that might not necessarily be the case from the intent of the original author. Unless the translator is a direct member of the production team from the Japan side, it’s very hard to assume character intent without consulting the source first.
But yeah, I’m diverging quite a bit, so let’s get back to what was lost in translation! Today, we’ll talk about a strange Trick or Treat care of our resident Shut-in Angel. Continue reading
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