Inconsistency in translation style?

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Fizzer
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Inconsistency in translation style?

Post by Fizzer » Mon May 21, 2012 5:31 pm

I've been watching Dragon Ball in Japanese for the first time, after watching dubbed versions many times over, reading the manga and so on - I now agree with most people here that it's the best way to experience the series, too.

I watched Dragon Ball on the blue bricks, and now I'm watching Z on the Dragon Boxes. I've noticed that there's a fairly big change in the ways that people talk from Dragon Ball to Z (or maybe between bricks and Dragon Boxes?), especially Popo and Goku. Popo went from being fluent in Japanese in Dragon Ball to talking like some sort of ogre and missing out lots of words in Z, and Goku seems much more folksy and less good at speak (lot's of "ain't"s and phrases that sound pretty country-like). Also, everyone's started saying "done in" an awful lot.

What's going on here? Is one series translated more accurately than the other? Are they both accurate and this is Toei's doing? Have the Dragon Boxes been retranslated to a higher degree of accuracy than the bricks were?

Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge :)

Oh, and while I'm at it, on a different subject, can anyone confirm that the Dragon Boxes and the Season sets share the same English 5.1 track? I'm pretty sure I've noticed at least one line that was different (Jeice's "With all due respect, Captain, this might be a good time to go get Frieza" in the brick was something else in the DBox) and I've hardly listened to the dub track. Thanks :)

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Re: Inconsistency in translation style?

Post by TripleRach » Mon May 21, 2012 5:57 pm

Dragon Ball was translated by one person (Clyde Mandelin), and Dragon Ball Z and GT were translated by another person (Steve Simmons). The latter puts more effort into adapting the characters' different accents and speaking styles, as well as more eloquent wording in general.

Both sets of translations are accurate, but the Z and GT translations are much more literal about it.
-Rachel

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Fizzer
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Re: Inconsistency in translation style?

Post by Fizzer » Mon May 21, 2012 6:02 pm

Thanks, it's a shame that when the characters were given different dialects they were lost in translation for part of the series, that's something that adds a little more depth to the already strong characters.

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Re: Inconsistency in translation style?

Post by BlazingFiddlesticks » Mon May 21, 2012 7:37 pm

Fizzer wrote: Oh, and while I'm at it, on a different subject, can anyone confirm that the Dragon Boxes and the Season sets share the same English 5.1 track? I'm pretty sure I've noticed at least one line that was different (Jeice's "With all due respect, Captain, this might be a good time to go get Freeza" in the brick was something else in the DBox) and I've hardly listened to the dub track. Thanks :)
The I don't know about dub dialogue, but the music mix job on the 5.1 track is much better on the DBoxs, louder and clearer than on the Bricks.
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Just like Dragon Ball since Chapter #4.
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Zestanor
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Re: Inconsistency in translation style?

Post by Zestanor » Mon May 21, 2012 9:46 pm

It's also interesting to note that the first Dragon Ball double disc set (e14-28) was subbed by Steve Simmons. After that, Clyde Mandelin took over. He did 29-153, and then 1-13 for Australia.

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