Does Piccolo talk in a weird manner in JP?

[SylentEcho]

I remember one of the old DVDs having him say to Raditz, "What say you?! Know you not whom you talk to?", which later changed to, "What did you say? Do you know who you're talking to?"

I don't know much Japanese or proper sentence structure, but I have noticed he might be speaking in a slightly different way than the others at times, or at least he used to. Was it just his style of talking, or was he really speaking weird?

[MaskedRider]

I remember on /a/ seeing photos of Piccolo speaking like this in the manga but I was not sure if it was old official translation or fan translations

[Arugela]

That is old English. It was probably a translation thing. Or they used it to represent some similar japanese thing. He was probably referring to himself in an egotistical way in general or because he is half of a god. That is the type of old English you get over and over in many older tranlastion of the bible into english.

[Fizzer]

This was a creative decision on behalf of Viz, I believe, and it was toned down a lot after a short while.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I remember on /a/ seeing photos of Piccolo speaking like this in the manga but I was not sure if it was old official translation or fan translations

It is still present in Viz's recent FC of Vol 1 release I am pretty sure, more reason a complete re-translation of the series was needed, but alas...

[Michsi]

Yeah, apparently the English translators took some creative liberties with him and made him sound like every archetypical dark lord of medieval fantasy. While I am by no means an expert in Japanese, judging from other translations, Piccolo's speech pattern is supposed to sound rude and crude that maybe mellows out a little after he switches sides. I think he just drops the "Ore-sama" dialect later on, but remains fairly blunt and unrefined compared to how the others talk.

I actually don't know if there is even a difference between how he talks and how Vegeta talks.

[KBABZ]

I thought Piccolo talked in a rather old dialect in the original Japanese?

[Michsi]

I thought Piccolo talked in a rather old dialect in the original Japanese?

There was another thread about this very issue a loooong time ago and Herms explained then that Piccolo does not speak in an archaic manner at all in the original.

[Cipher]

No he does not.

At least not more so than any other gruff manga character.

[jjgp1112]

That wasn't from the DVDs, that was from the Viz manga translations. They made some...rather odd decisions at first.

[AgitoZ]

It should also be noted that speaking problems are only present in the early volumes of Viz's DBZ release. Viz was releasing what they named "Dragon Ball" and "Dragon Ball Z" at the same time. When he shows up during the 23rd Tournament he talks without the hammy speaking pattern. The inconsistency can be pretty annoying if you're reading the comic in proper order. (Although those "Is this Goku's demise? Then how do you explain Dragon Ball Z?" text inserted would be more annoying and distracting though but that's a separate topic.)

[Robo4900]

more reason a complete re-translation of the series was needed, but alas...

It really doesn't need a re-translation, it just needs a clean up. Rephrase Piccolo's awkward speaking, fix up naming conventions(Hercule > Mr. Satan, Sushinchuu > Si Xing Qiu, Light Of Death > Makankosappo, etc.), revert censored lines to their uncensored counterparts from earlier printings(One famous example: !!! > Damn!), and yeah, as noted, maybe cut things like "Then how do you explain Dragon Ball Z?", although honestly I think that's a pretty funny joke, and works with the style Viz's translation is presented in.

As for the topic, yeah, that was just a Viz-ism. Again, the actual intent behind the dialogue is obvious, and well-preserved, the presentation is just a little off. And from what I understand, that pretty much sums up Viz's translation of Dragon Ball in general.

[Kamiccolo9]

That is old English. It was probably a translation thing. Or they used it to represent some similar japanese thing. He was probably referring to himself in an egotistical way in general or because he is half of a god. That is the type of old English you get over and over in many older tranlastion of the bible into english.

That is NOT Old English. Shakespeare and the King James Bible are written in modern English.



*This* is Old English.

Dr. Professor Kamiccolo9 logging out now.

[Ripper 30]

I think it is a Viz only thing as they seemed to take liberties with the scripts because according to the Line Piccolo says. it's like that,

なんだと！！きさまだれにむかってしゃべっているのかわかっているのか！!

"Nan da to!! Kisama dare ni mukatte shabette iru no ka wakatte iru no ka!"

which isn't really some old man language but can be translated to

"what did you say?! do you know who it is you are talking to here ?"

which is Pretty normal line in animes.

[Gaffer Tape]

That is old English. It was probably a translation thing. Or they used it to represent some similar japanese thing. He was probably referring to himself in an egotistical way in general or because he is half of a god. That is the type of old English you get over and over in many older tranlastion of the bible into english.

That is NOT Old English. Shakespeare and the King James Bible are written in modern English.



*This* is Old English.

Dr. Professor Kamiccolo9 logging out now.

In the back of my mind, I've been waiting for the moment you would come in and say that. Thanks for not disappointing!