Re: Full Metal Alchemist English Teacher

On Fri, 1 Sep 2006 22:13:12 -0400, sanjian wrote:

Phil Yff wrote:
On Fri, 1 Sep 2006 17:13:57 -0400, sanjian wrote:

I think it was Rika Takahashi who about ten years ago ran a website
where she taught Japanese vocabulary thru anime. I'm not certain it
was her, but the site focused on Yu Yu Hakusho and Magic Knight
Rayearth. Rika Takahashi, as many of you know, is an MKR expert.

Thus, you would learn that "-chan" translates to "-ster."

You know me better than that. I'm a purist when it comes to
translation. I certainly don't agree with all of Rika's renditions,
but the fact remains that she is an authority on MKR.

What makes her an authority? That she translated it?

She maintained one of the authoritative MKR websites and was very active in
the fan community before she started translating professionally.

I'm surprised. Usually, I'm the one who finds fault with
translations and everybody else says I'm making a mountain out of a
molehill. In the case of the -ster, I think it was a serious
misrepresentation of chan. But it wasn't only Rika's faux pas.
Where was the editorial control? It doesn't sound right in English
(with regards to the subject of the anime) whether you know English
or not. Bottom line: Bad translation. Bad quality control.

The editorial control was busy backing her up when she was flaming everyone
who criticized her because we don't speak japanese, so we have no right to
complain.

I was somewhat aware of what was going on. I was rather busy at the time
so I don't know all the details. She was definitely in the wrong to lash
out at people who criticized her. First, many of the people who objected
had some knowledge of Japanese and knew her proposed translation was
neither accurate nor proper idiomatic English given the context of the
series. Second, somebody who has little or no knowledge of Japanese
language or culture is still entitled to a faithful translation. In fact,
if someone with no knowledge of Japanese says the translation sounded
awkward, that should have given Rika a hint that she should reconsider her
approach.

If honorifics are important to the translation, my suggestion is to leave
them as is. Many non-Japanese with very little knowledge of Japanese
culture and no understanding of the language quite naturally refer to Mr.
Tanaka and Ms. Yamamoto as Tanaka-san and Yamamoto-san. Anime viewers of
all ages are not stupid. They have a sense of adventure which is why they
are willing to sample entertainment from a different culture. There's no
need to dumb down the translation.

Mata ato de,

Phil Yff

.

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