*groan*

[moonwise]

Rabid anime fans, it's time to sit down and have a couple beers, and maybe relax a bit.

There have been three Bleach-related rants recently on the "Rant of the Week" section at Anime News Network. One of them was pro-dub. One of them was anti-dub. This week, there's some complaining about translating or not-translating honorifics, specific words to the anime, etc.

jaina and I were remarking that some terms in Bleach get English translations but not others (i.e. "zanpakuto" and "konpaku" are used as is, but "reiatsu" turns into "spirit force" and "shinigami" into "soul reaper.") The author of the rant is complaining that if all the Japanese terms aren't translated into English, then the meaning of the terms might be lost. And yet, I can bet you that next week, there's going to be another rant about how the dub isn't OMG PURE if you don't use the Japanese words, because the English translations are an approximation of the Japanese terms, anyway.

Well, guys, anyone who's done any translation at all understands that there's always a good bit of guesswork involved, and a balance between preserving the original meaning and getting the meaning across in the context of the new language. Let's take the ranter's complaint about "taicho" and "fukutaicho."

I don't know whether "taicho" is a rank in the Japanese military (the closest I found was Tai-sho, "general") or whether it's a political honorific. Taking the literal translation given in the rant of "division commander," then the proper rank translation is "major general," because major generals command divisions. The next rank below major general (properly) is brigadier general, and then colonel. So, should we start calling Byakuya-taicho Major General Byakuya instead? Colonel Abarai?

Let's consider the army definition of "division" - approximately fifteen thousand soldiers. That's a lot of people. So, should we translate ranks based on how many shinigami each captain commands? Is Byakuya's command more like an army captain's, so the meaning of his title is correct, and then Renji would be First Lieutenant Abarai? (Actually, I like First Lieutenant better than Vice-Captain.) But, captains only command 100 - 130 people.

And this is all just two words.

So. Which would you rather have, correct words or correct meaning? What is "correct," anyway? My feeling is that if you don't speak the language, you're not getting the full meaning anyway, and most decent translators are doing their best to take a nuanced language and make it understandable. But, the Japanese words do give the anime a little "flavor," since, after all, Our Heroes are speaking Japanese (as opposed to Trigun, where they're supposed to be speaking English.) So, everyone settle down, and enjoy the show.

Especially Urahara's English pothead voice. That makes me giggle all the time.

Comments

[tenebris.livejournal.com]

I should probably have a better comment than "It makes my little heart go ~weebly~ anytime someone in Bleach has a rank other than Cpt, VC, or Lietenant. Colonel Abarai? Commander Kurosaki? (I have a whole universe in my head that came out of Rukia calling someone "Commander"). Por favor, sign me up."

Uh. Yeah. The vagaries of translation are not so well understood, and I have had long discussions with my friend midaregami about these factors. Suffice to say, when it comes to this sort of thing, fandom is pretty much talking out their ass. All the time.

Except for 'the' Soul Society. Though I can't help "the Hueco Mundo." I dunno why one pings the intution and the other does not.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Does this mean you are in favor of Major General Byakuya performing for us a famous musical number from Pirates of Penzance preferably in full antiquated military costume?

Suffice to say, when it comes to this sort of thing, fandom is pretty much talking out their ass. All the time.

Yeah, that's about right. XD