Dragon Ball manga gets a new Norwegian translation

[Danfun64]

I'm betting that the reason things like subbing dubs is done because it's cheaper than either subbing the original or creating a new dub. An advantage subbing the English dub has over say...the French dub, even if the script is less accurate, at least nothing of importance is lost for the most part (I heard that the French dub cut out some death scenes)

[Vegard Aune]

It's cool that they're doing it, but here, translations are considered to be for kids (especially concerning dubs) and for subtitles. It's a good idea to translate the manga for the kids to read, but personally, I'm not interested, and I'm not in the project's target group, so that's fine.

Well, it's not like many people would be able to read the manga in its original language, is it?

Well. What I mean is that we tend to keep it English when it's not aimed at kids. We learn English at school all the way from first grade at the age of 5-6, so once the kids reach around 9, Norwegian dubs are usually rendered useless. Reading subs/books/comics/manga is a bit different, but still, at somewhere around 12, reading English translations is second nature, so Norwegian subs and translations become a matter of personal taste. Therefore, for the kids to read.

Except that the Viz manga is censored whereas the Norwegian manga is not, meaning that, provided that the translation is done properly (and so far I'd say it's quite decent), the Norwegian version would in fact be objectively the better option for anyone who speaks the language. I mean, their weird aversion to the "Ch"-sound is the only major issue I've got with the actual translation so far, and both that and the typesetting gripes I mentioned will hopefully get better as they go along.

[songohan619]

I just bought the first book, and I am really enjoying the translation! I own the entire original Norwegian run of the manga, but it`s nice to have a version with a good translation too!

[Vegard Aune]

So by now three books have been released of this new translation, and I figured I'd give some further thoughts here...

There have been some weird name-choices around and I was a bit disappointed in the latest volume to see "Magiske bønner (magic beans)" and "Hellig vann (holy water)", because 1: those were the same terms that Schibsted used and I'd rather forget that old translation ever existed, and 2: I don't think they're particularly good translations in the first place. Like, magic beans just sounds extremely generic, and by calling the regular old pot of water that Goku gets from Karin in this volume "holy water"... what then will become of the actual holy water he'll be getting in the Piccolo-arc?

Other than that, I'm still not overly impressed by the typesetting and I find it weird how the printed area of the books doesn't cover the entire page, (not sure if that was the best way to describe it, so I took a picture to show what I mean; Notice how the image just sorta cuts off when there's still clearly more space on the page. I think this might have been done to fit page-numbers on every page, but it looks awkward) but my initial assessment stands; This is still far better than the old translation. I just wish they didn't screw up certain names that the old translation actually got right... Notably, the Red Ribbon Army and all its officers have for some reason had their names translated into Norwegian despite being English in the original Japanese. Except Murasaki. Who is the one character I could kinda understand if they decided to translate. It's like, I guess having them called "Røde Bånd-Banden" doesn't exactly hurt the story, but... why? And why not "Røde Bånd-hæren" at least? They're the Red Ribbon Army, not the Red Ribbon Gang.

...Also, Karin is Karrin in this translation. Not sure why that second R is there or if that makes more or less sense, but one thing is for sure; It's one hell of a lot better than "Kvede", which is what he was called in Schibsted's translation.

But just to end on a positive note, there was this one exchange in volume 6 that was completely and utterly ruined in the Schibsted translation, and in Outland's new translation it was handled pretty much impeccably. Specifically this part where a pair of Red Ribbon goons are flirting with Bulma and asking if she wants to have some "fun" with them, and then this happens:

"F-Fun, you say...? I guess you're not talking about playing Nintendo. C-Could you be talking about the kind of naughty adult business that it's not alright to show in a comic for children...?!"
I just love how this was phrased. And I compared to the Japanese; pretty much the only thing translation-wise that I can comment on here is that she originally just said "video games" and not "Nintendo".

[Alruneia]

I completely forgot that this existed, honestly

There have been some weird name-choices around and I was a bit disappointed in the latest volume to see "Magiske bønner (magic beans)" and "Hellig vann (holy water)", because 1: those were the same terms that Schibsted used and I'd rather forget that old translation ever existed, and 2: I don't think they're particularly good translations in the first place. Like, magic beans just sounds extremely generic, and by calling the regular old pot of water that Goku gets from Karin in this volume "holy water"... what then will become of the actual holy water he'll be getting in the Piccolo-arc?

Superhellig vann.

I just wish they didn't screw up certain names that the old translation actually got right... Notably, the Red Ribbon Army and all its officers have for some reason had their names translated into Norwegian despite being English in the original Japanese. Except Murasaki. Who is the one character I could kinda understand if they decided to translate. It's like, I guess having them called "Røde Bånd-Banden" doesn't exactly hurt the story, but... why? And why not "Røde Bånd-hæren" at least? They're the Red Ribbon Army, not the Red Ribbon Gang.

So it says "General Blå" and the likes? Ew.

...Also, Karin is Karrin in this translation. Not sure why that second R is there or if that makes more or less sense, but one thing is for sure; It's one hell of a lot better than "Kvede", which is what he was called in Schibsted's translation.

Maybe a choice based on the fact that "Karin" is a girls' name up here and he's a male cat? Just a guess.

"F-Fun, you say...? I guess you're not talking about playing Nintendo. C-Could you be talking about the kind of naughty adult business that it's not alright to show in a comic for children...?!"
I just love how this was phrased. And I compared to the Japanese; pretty much the only thing translation-wise that I can comment on here is that she originally just said "video games" and not "Nintendo".

It feels much more natural to read "spille Nintendo" than "spille videospill". That's mostly just a problem with the Norwegian language, saying "spill" twice that quickly feels weird. Oh, and "Nintendo" is good choice of console; "spille PlayStation" or "spille PC" wouldn't fit well with the time the manga originally came out.

[Vegard Aune]

I just wish they didn't screw up certain names that the old translation actually got right... Notably, the Red Ribbon Army and all its officers have for some reason had their names translated into Norwegian despite being English in the original Japanese. Except Murasaki. Who is the one character I could kinda understand if they decided to translate. It's like, I guess having them called "Røde Bånd-Banden" doesn't exactly hurt the story, but... why? And why not "Røde Bånd-hæren" at least? They're the Red Ribbon Army, not the Red Ribbon Gang.

So it says "General Blå" and the likes? Ew.

'fraid so. On the bright side, since they're done with the Red Ribbon Army arc now, this odd and kind of annoying naming convention will never be a problem again.

[Vegard Aune]

The translation just released book number six, covering volumes 16, 17 and 18. So we are now finally at the Vegeta saga, and... well, good news and somewhat less good news...

Okay, so on one hand... "Saiyaner". Hooray, no more of that "Saiya-jin" daftness that plagued the last translation! Good riddance, shall not be missed.
On the other hand... "Vejita". I mean, I get it, it conveys the pronounciation better, but it kind of obscures the pun a bit, not to mention, well... "Vegeta" just plain looks better. And it's what pretty much the entire world knows him as.

Also Bubbles is "Boble" in this version. So they translated his name to Norwegian. Which is infinitely preferrable to both ways the old version effed up his name-- First he was "Baburusu", so just a straight-up romanization of the katakana, and then he was "Bananas" which is just flat-out wrong. Oh, and Kaio is "Kong Kai", yet his technique is still "Kaiо̄ken"... Not the first time a name has seemingly been translated from the English version and I can't pretend that this doesn't bother me a bit...

But as always, for all my gripes about certain terminology, this is still infinitely preferrable to the old translation. Or at least I assume so, I'm gonna be honest, I haven't actively been keeping up with the series lately but it's still the same translator. The actual translation was fine for as long as I have read and I see no reason why she would suddenly get worse at it. One thing I can say is that skimming the book I found that Kaio's bad puns are handled better than in the old translation (where they were so bad that they didn't even register as bad jokes, they were just... random stuff. "It's my back that itches, therefore I must be Master Kaio"? That is nonsense.).

[sangofe]

Thanks for update, Vegard!