Fact Checker (update: Ep.51)

[Cipher]

If you're going to think about it in those terms, why not just watch it raw? Much more incentive to buy the official release that way, plus you won't have to worry about mistranslations or inadvertently spreading misinformation.

Because I haven't reasoned my morals out that much in regards to this?

Actually, no -- I do want at least an indicator of what's being said to go along with my own rusty knowledge of Japanese. Good fansubs are obviously better on the whole, but I do fall into a certain feeling of discomfort with it when we feel entitled to a perfect release/translation before it's even out for purchase.

Not that I'm siding with speed-subbers' terrible practices. And I've gotten things a bit off-topic. Suffice to say I'd be a lot less comfortable with speed-subs if you weren't doing the work you're doing here, so maybe it's a moot point.

[Adamant]

Actually, no -- I do want at least an indicator of what's being said to go along with my own rusty knowledge of Japanese.

...which you're NOT getting from those subs.

[Herms]

Right, so for episode 6 I've added in the opening Goku/Kaio conversation, the Russian Takoyaki explanation, and Whis' reference to Planet Banna. For episode 2 I've also noted how one fansub group turned Whi's mention of Universe 7 into a Game of Thrones reference.

[Doctor.]

Right, so for episode 6 I've added in the opening Goku/Kaio conversation, the Russian Takoyaki explanation, and Whis' reference to Planet Banna. For episode 2 I've also noted how one fansub group turned Whi's mention of Universe 7 into a Game of Thrones reference.

One fansub group turned the line into "This meat is the seventh most famous in the universe", or something of the sort.

[MaGyunia]

Right, so for episode 6 I've added in the opening Goku/Kaio conversation, the Russian Takoyaki explanation, and Whis' reference to Planet Banna. For episode 2 I've also noted how one fansub group turned Whi's mention of Universe 7 into a Game of Thrones reference.

One fansub group turned the line into "This meat is the seventh most famous in the universe", or something of the sort.

That's how some, or indeed most, fansubs work: they basically pick up on some Japanese words they understand and then make up whatever meaning they want without paying detailed attention neither to the phrasing or grammar nor to the actual sense the translation will make taking into account the story and the character speaking. It happens constantly. In that particular case, just as an example, they picked up the "7th Universe" bit and the "famous/best" bit and turned it something which has a completely different meaning than the actual, proper translation. It's like what happened a few weeks ago, in the second episode, where they made out the number "150" and mistranslated the thing as "power level of 150.000" instead of the proper translation - the one that makes sense - of 150G. I can't avoid noting that such mistranslations reveal some degree of lack of in-depth knowledge of what's actually going on in the story at the moment and in the past, and of Dragonball in general.

[Ajay]

I wrote a little breakdown of just how terrible Super's speedsubs are. It seemed popular over on /r/DBZ, so I imagine some folks might find some worth in it here. I didn't even go particularly in-depth with the breakdown, but you can see just how pointless watching their release is.

I covered Episode 6, but you can find a similar sort of article for Episode 1 on this site. Though their review is significantly less PC than mine. Fair warning.

Hopefully they're informative (and a little bit entertaining)!

[DBZGTKOSDH]

For me, the speed-subs are great to have. I'm watching them while being fully prepared about the mistakes (so you won't see me making threads "WTF is this SS Goku < Freeza bullshit, Toriyama is old!!), then I watch it with proper subs once they are released, and of course, I check the Fact Checker in case I missed something when it's updated. I prefer the speed-subs over the raws, because I barely understand anything in the raws. The speed-subs aren't 100% wrong, and I definitely get more of the story through them instead of the raws.

Why am I not waiting for the proper subs? Sorry, but I'm weak.

[Chuquita]

I catch the raws, then wait til Monday for the team with the accurate subs to finish and watch that then.

[Araki]

I catch the raws, then wait til Monday for the team with the accurate subs to finish and watch that then.

Yeah, i'm not sure if "understanding some things right but mostly wrong" is better than watching raw and not understanding anything.
And Dragon Team releases on Sunday, Monday at most...it's not even a long wait, come on people.

[usotsuki]

Admittedly, I do have a horse in this race, but seriously, guys... Are people that spoiled by simulcasts that they'd rather settle for fed-through-google trash out in 12 hours vs. competently translated by people who know what they're doing and are at least somewhat familiar with Dragon Ball in Japanese in a day or two tops?

[Polyphase Avatron]

Just wondering when you're going to update this for episode 7.

EDIT: Also 2000th post!

[Araki]

Just wondering when you're going to update this for episode 7.

EDIT: Also 2000th post!

DragonTeam hasn't released yet (so much for "Monday at most"), and their accurate subs are used as the thread's source.

[Herms]

I could just do the translations myself if need be (especially since now I know where to find the Japanese closed captioning for the episode), but I'm kinda just lazy.

More importantly though, I haven't heard about any specifc mistranslations and/or crazy lines besides the "combat ethic" thing. Anyone know any? I really don't want to bother watching crappy speed subs myself (see again: lazy).

[JoeCapricorn]

The speed sub I watched likely contains quite a few errors. Do characters really yell "I will not forgive you!!" when charging into battle?

The subtitles consistently referred to Whis as "Weiss".

One thing that ought to be pointed out is the revelation that Dende can feel Beerus's ki. He can sense God ki.

Some lines were untranslated - Krillin's second line at the very beginning, and Gotenks seems to say something after "I will protect the Dragon balls".

Beerus's rant about pudding is definitely a lot of word play - most of the phrases end with "ga", "ka" or "da"

Edit: Posted too early.

I got to ask if Beerus's remark about "rarely getting to eat good food" is accurate. This might be something to foreshadow his reasoning to spare Earth.

[Beerus-sama]

I got to ask if Beerus's remark about "rarely getting to eat good food" is accurate. This might be something to foreshadow his reasoning to spare Earth.

I don't remember reading that in the subs I watched (that sound much like the ones you describe), neither I remember hearing something like that, but I had a theory back when BoG was new that it was that way and, like you said, its his reason why he spare Earth even though he's already bored and want to go home... He even said it in FnF, he spared it for the food

Though, I have to say that theory works better with BoG version where he eats every kind of food so he knows that most of the food is actually good and maybe better than what he had tasted before in other planets, not like in Super that he just ate takoyaki and he has more reason to just destroy the planet where he just ate one good thing.

[Cipher]

Beerus's rant about pudding is definitely a lot of word play - most of the phrases end with "ga", "ka" or "da"

I don't think there was any word play-proper in there. "Da" is an informal conjugation of "to be" and ends a lot of sentences, "ka" is a question indicator, and "ga" is a conjunction particle.

[EmmaWinters]

More importantly though, I haven't heard about any specifc mistranslations and/or crazy lines besides the "combat ethic" thing. Anyone know any?

Might not be the kind of thing you're looking for, but there was plenty of craziness.

Spoiler:

[Chuquita]

Did they translate their English subs from a set of Spanish subs? o_O
"Fuertemente" is Spanish for "strongly".

[EmmaWinters]

Did they translate their English subs from a set of Spanish subs? o_O

Yes, actually. They base their translation on a rushed Spanish translation that comes out ~3 hours after the episode airs.

[Herms]

Updated with some episode 7 stuff. Maybe more to come later.

The speed sub I watched likely contains quite a few errors. Do characters really yell "I will not forgive you!!" when charging into battle?

It's a technically accurate translation of yurusanai (and its variants), a stock phrase characters in shonen manga tend to yell. In most contexts, the phrase is better translated as "you'll pay for this!" or "I won't let you get away with this", though sometimes "I won't forgive you" does work too. Again, it's all rather dependent on context.

I got to ask if Beerus's remark about "rarely getting to eat good food" is accurate. This might be something to foreshadow his reasoning to spare Earth.

What part of the episode is that from? Beerus talks about having never eaten pudding before, and not knowing if he'll ever get that chance again, but ofhand I don't think he says anything like that.

Beerus's rant about pudding is definitely a lot of word play - most of the phrases end with "ga", "ka" or "da"

I don't think there was any word play-proper in there. "Da" is an informal conjugation of "to be" and ends a lot of sentences, "ka" is a question indicator, and "ga" is a conjunction particle.

Yeah, it's not really wordplay, he just rattles off a bunch of short statements and questions, which all end in da or ka due to the nature of Japanese grammar.