CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Ok, time for one of my little rants to start^^

Well, I just realized something in the world of translating/dubbing: the official dubbers sometimes don't really have common sense :/ And honestly, I think anyone can point out these types of mistakes in a number of series.

So, while watching an ep of the original Digimon I had found somethign out that I didn't even see before. So one of the character's name in Katakana is spelled out "Raidoramon". He uses lightning based attacks, so it only makes sense that he should have his name translated as "Lightdramon" being a sort of light-dragon, and even when they say its name in Japanese, you can almost hear a "t" sound in it. Now, what did they come up with when they saw that in the dub? Well, just figured that they went along with it's Japanese name, and came up with "Raidramon" ("raid" pronounced as in the bug spray). Yeah...

So that was example no. 1. Now here's example no. 2 on the exact same dub (except it's from the movie). There's a character with the name "Diaboromon" in Katakana. It's a demonish character, so it can only makes sense that it's name should be translated to "Diablomon" with "diablo" meaning "devil" in Spanish. BUT, the translators came around again... They came up with... none other but "Diaboromon". But since the r's and l's are similar, you can't hear the emphasis that makes up "diablo".

It's funny, really, because even amatuer translators (aka subbers) can figure out the correct wording. And even though the translation of names vary from sub group to sub group, it's usually suttle differences that you would really need to find the actual Japanese spelling to find the right way to spell it. So, even they end up correcting themselves due to that (because it is hard to hear and one thing can sound like something else to someone, ESPECIALLY the english words/phrases). The .hack opening for examples I've once read as "Hacker's mind was lost" instead of "How come I must know?" Could be that way if you try and listen though.

Guess I don't have much of a point to this, really, either than maybe rant on how it's amusing that some professional translators... just don't seem to get it :/ Sure, some change names just to make them sound more "cool", but in this case :/...

Any other opinions, or any other examples that can be pulled out?

I think the official translators must have poor backgrounds in mythology with some series... or even common sense...
Like how the changed 'Jadeite' to 'Jedite' in Sailor Moon, that was just silly as Jadeite is a type of green stone and keeps consistency with the other characters named after rocks... or changing Kunzite to Malachite when they're two different stones. Didn't see the point behind that.
In Digimon they decided to change Vamdemon to Myotismon and Tailmon to Gatomon.... again why?
Or I heard something about how in the Hellsing sub they decided to spell Alucard's name as Arucard thus destroying the anagram (can anyone confirm this? I normally only watch raws now...)
In the Sailor Moon Another Story RPG the translators misinterpreted Shaman Apsu's attack ファン・ド・シェクル　(Fin de Siècle "End of the Century" in French) as FanDoSheckle and they weren't aware of the Akkadian origin of of Kishar's name and translated it as Kishal. That was a fan translation though... so I guess I'll forgive them.
There was one funny one though... in the Aquarian Age card game they officialy translated Youko Ashley's name as Yoko Ashray... okay the Youko to Yoko thing I can understand as English speakers often can't tell the difference but uh... 'Ashray'? It reminded me of 'ashtray...'

Maybe they think (For the first error) Ya' know that whole Raito to Light they though hey look I see Rai! That means easy translations woot! XD

Ouroboros wrote:There was one funny one though... in the Aquarian Age card game they officialy translated Youko Ashley's name as Yoko Ashray... okay the Youko to Yoko thing I can understand as English speakers often can't tell the difference but uh... 'Ashray'? It reminded me of 'ashtray...'

Yeah I have noticed some cases where it's a real name that they change somewhat differently. I even wonder on Final Fantasy IV, if "Rydia" was actually supposed to be the real name of "Lydia". *shrugs* It can be a bit confusing with some names, such as "Arisu" but I guess those cases should just use their best judgement.

With the Digimon names of Vamdemon-Myotismon and Tailmon-Gatomon, I think it's more of a case of changing names, just because they can :/ Maybe so it looks more "appealing" to a North American audience? *shrugs* Heh, I still wonder if the reason for why they changed Taichi/Tai's last name from Yagami to Kamiya is true...

With the "name change just because" it's probably why they've changed 98% of all Pokemon names. Well, I'll admit it wouldn't be too have something directly translated as creatures named "Sparrow" or "Lizard". Still, like half the names are puns I guess also to look "cool". But I DID remember one useless change that I don't even understand... I remember when watching the dub ages ago, hearing that Pigeotto's voice sounding like he was saying "Pigeot". Used the original seiyuu for it. Then when he evolved into Pigeot, what did he say? "Pigeotto"! Why, why would they reverse the names from the original like that? I think I heard the answer once a long time ago, but it's still dumb, and you think a kid wouldn't noticed the voice?

I'll state an opposite example where, for some reason, most anime fans seem to find error in the professional translation (when there wasn't any error to begin with). In Petite Princess Yucie the following character names have been translated from the original fansub/katakana translation:

Erumina -> Elmina
Yuushi -> Yucie
Grenda -> Glenda
Besu -> Beth
Kokoru -> Cocoloo

The names spelled with the katakana actually make more sense spelled out the way it was professionally translated, yet many fans claim that ADV botched the name translations. In fact, some of the Japanese promotional art flat out spell the names "Yucie" and "Glenda" in the artwork (not to mention that the japanese site is accessed through "www.yucie.com"). But that didn't seem to sway some otaku who insist on keeping the original katakana, which in my opinion sounds far less inspired than what's been translated.

I admit it's a little tough to know whether or not the Japanese really had the "L" sound in mind when creating their katakana-written characters. But given the nature of the series, in this case, the pro-translated names are definitely the correct and no-brainer translations.

Tenshi no Ai wrote:Yeah I have noticed some cases where it's a real name that they change somewhat differently. I even wonder on Final Fantasy IV, if "Rydia" was actually supposed to be the real name of "Lydia".

I've often wondered that myself. XD

*shrugs* It can be a bit confusing with some names, such as "Arisu" but I guess those cases should just use their best judgement.

Yeah, but it's "Aeris" because the name comes from some Latin opera thing, I think. Wish I could find the source for that. However, the FFVII Ultimania Guide or something had her name written out as "Aerith" and even though that name makes zero sense, given her name origin and the lack of th sound in Japanese, that's how it is officially now.

With the "name change just because" it's probably why they've changed 98% of all Pokemon names.

Not entirely. A lot of the Japanese Pokemon names are puns on Japanese words, that the American translation more or less tried to keep. Also it's a lot less confusing...not saying American kids are too dumb to learn a bunch of Japanese names or something, but it's a lot easier than remembering Zenigame, Fushigidane, Hitokage, Ishitsubute, Metamon...you get the idea. Kids aren't going to latch on to abstract names like that. It's much easier to have an American equivalent.

Nate wrote:
Yeah, but it's "Aeris" because the name comes from some Latin opera thing, I think. Wish I could find the source for that. However, the FFVII Ultimania Guide or something had her name written out as "Aerith" and even though that name makes zero sense, given her name origin and the lack of th sound in Japanese, that's how it is officially now.

Oh, no I didn't mean Aeries^^ I just meant the name "Arisu" has been used for several characters, and just thinking on the name "Alice". I think in the Angelic Layer manga one character was named Arisu and her angel's was "Alice". Guess it just all depends on the alphabet used in their name^^

I've seen this a bit, too. XD One instance I can think of is in Kaleido Star's first ED. ADV translates the last line to "fly to the free", but fan-translated lyrics have it as "fly to the dream", which makes a heck of a lot more sense, considering the whole premise of the series. XD Plus, it sounds a whole lot less Engrish-y. XD

There are quite a few possible origins for Aerith's name actually.
One is that it sounds like "Erith" which is Hebrew for flower as I recall.
Another is an anagram for "I earth".
The official spelling is actually Aerith now, they had it as Aeries in the English version of FFVII because I think they thought that spelling would be better received by English speaking audiences. However later on they decided that that spelling was a mistake and changed it back to Aerith for Kingdom Hearts.

Ouroboros wrote:...they had it as Aeries in the English version of FFVII because I think they thought that spelling would be better received by English speaking audiences.

Eh, I still say Aeris because it sounds like you're saying it with a lisp otherwise. XD

Well the weird thing is, whether you spell it Aeris or Aerith, it's pronounced "Aeris." Because that's how the Japanese for her name works out. So since it's pronounced with an s even though you spell it with a th, why not just go ahead and spell it with an s?

You know what bugs me? Opening/closing song "translations" which are really just lyrics they made up to go along with the beat of the song. :|

ShiroiHikari wrote:You know what bugs me? Opening/closing song "translations" which are really just lyrics they made up to go along with the beat of the song. :|

Oh yeah, those bother me too. Some of them get pretty close (Freckles and...that one opening from Magic Knight Rayearth, kind of), but some of them are way off (the English version of Kaleido Star's "Tattoo Kiss", for example). The "translated" lyrics to the latter are awful. XD

Nate wrote:Well the weird thing is, whether you spell it Aeris or Aerith, it's pronounced "Aeris." Because that's how the Japanese for her name works out. So since it's pronounced with an s even though you spell it with a th, why not just go ahead and spell it with an s?

So they don't think all Americans have lispes?