A typical "complaint" or "argument" or "viewpoint" or (insert some other words here) that's brought up by diehard fans of certain localizations (and it doesn't have to be and isn't just English) is that "I speak (insert language here), not Japanese!", and so they have some sort of mental breakdown over the thought of calling someone by a certain name or referring to something else with a Japanese phrase. If you want to take it even further, we get into the "us vs weeaboos" battle for galactic dominance.
The thing is, pretty much every localization throughout the world has been littered with Japanese phrases, and my hypothesis is that these fans don't blink an eye at them because they were left there from the start and simply exist as-is -- they've become loan words that they take no issue with.
So I'd like to catalog a whole bunch of them, mostly to satisfy my curiosity, but also with the somewhat-obvious ulterior motive of pointing out how the "anti-weeaboo" crowd is inadvertently running around speaking the exact words they theoretically despise so much.
This is kinda unlike me, but I guess I'm just in a devilish mood today. I dunno. Maybe we can create a section out of it later on to at least get some use out of it.
I'm happy to update this first post in the thread with concrete examples from your particular localizations. I'd ask that, if you can and if you'd like it to be included, please provide the exact phrasing that was left untranslated (with every bit of punctuation), perhaps the etymology of the translation in your own language if it's helpful to explain why or why not it might be translated, a particular point when it was first used that way, if that translation changed over time, etc. I'm also happy to update and adjust anything that I write myself, since I won't claim to be any sort of language expert.
FUNimation English Dub
- Majin: 魔人 (majin)
Specifically left untranslated with the full name of "Majin Buu". General translations include "magic" or "demon(ic)" + "person" or "being", or simply "genie". Worth mentioning that the English translation of the manga by Viz went with "djinn", which is where our word "genie" came from. - Kami: 神 (kami)
The god of Earth (the green-skinned dude who we later find out is from Namek) is referred to with this title, which literally just means "god" in Japanese. It is a catch-all phrase that refers to the various deities in various religions, up through and including the monotheistic "God" of Christianity. Likely left untranslated as a bit of quasi-censoring for the Catholic soccer moms of America. - Roshi: 老師 (rōshi)
The second part of "Muten-Rōshi", an impressive title for the Turtle Hermit (亀仙人 or Kame-Sen'nin). Both parts are titles, however, and not actually names. A rough translation would be something like "martial-arts-heaven old teacher", so calling him "Master Roshi" is akin to calling him something like "Master Master". Slightly up-in-the-air as to whether or not you could consider it his formal, proper name... but it's really just two impressive (Japanese) titles tossed together in the end. Perhaps also worth mentioning that in FUNimation's original 1996 dub of the series, when an oni in the afterlife asks Goku what his fighting style is, he responds, "Kame-sennin style". - Kaio: 界王 (kaiō)
Comes into play with both a name and an attack. The "kai" portion (界) literally just means "world", while 王 (elongated "ō" syllable) means "king" or "lord". For the character "Kaiō-sama", you could bring the "Kai" and the "o" into something like "Lord of Worlds" (as Viz does), and either keep the "-sama" honorific, or translate it out as another/redundant "Lord" or "King". So again, here we have "Kaio" as a title, and not necessary a formal name (just like we have "President", but his name is "Barack Obama"). The FUNimation dub name of "King Kai" is almost like a half-translation, with half still in Japanese ("kai") and half over in English ("king"). This carries over into the technique the character passes down to Goku called the "Kaiō-ken" (界王拳). The "Kaio" is the same from before, so you could translate it out as you like. The "ken" here means "fist" or "technique". Worth mentioning that the English release of the first Budokai game on PS2 translated this as "King Kai Fist". In their dub, it was almost always pronounced incorrectly (with the exception of the original 1997/1998 dubs of the first three movies, and later in "Z Kai"); the "Kai" (rhyming with "die", the same as they properly pronounced in "King Kai") was spoken aloud as "kay" (rhyming with "lay"). Probably also worth mentioning that when the god heirarchy expands into the "Kaiōshin", the FUNimation dub continues to keep "kai" untranslated (things like "Supreme Kai"). - Saibaiman: 栽培マン (saibaiman)
Combination of the Japanese word for "cultivation" and our regular ol' English word "man" (as in: a person, a being, an entity; not necessarily male vs female, but whatever). Corrupted into "Saibaman" (sans the second "i" in the middle) in FUNimation's English dub. Worth mentioning that the Viz manga translation adapts this as "cultivars". - Senzu: 仙豆 (senzu)
As far as I know, it's a DB-specific phrase, but a Japanese phrase nonetheless. It's a combination of 仙 or "sen", which is the same as from "sen'nin" (like "Kame-sen'nin"), and means "unworldly" (sometimes "holy"). It ends with 豆 which by itself is sometimes read as mame or "bean(s)"; here it gets the "zu" reading. Similarly, 大豆 is read as daizu (meaning "soybean"), which is where the DBZ movie 3 henchman gets his name. Long story short, saying "senzu bean" is like saying "holy bean bean". - Uranai Baba: 占いババ (uranai baba)
Another half-translation in FUNimation's English dub. The "Uranai" part is pretty faithfully carried over as "Fortuneteller", but "Baba" is treated as if it's a name, when it's really just a way to refer to an old woman (like "jiji" would refer to an old man). "Oba-san" and "Baba" come from the same root. When you call her "Baba", you're basically just saying "Old Lady" in Japanese.
- Tenkaichi Budokai: 天下一武道会 (tenka-ichi budōkai)
While the FUNimation English dub typically adapts it as a simple "World('s) Martial Arts Tournament" (and in the Japanese version subtitles as a half-translated "Tenka-ichi Tournament"), both words ("tenkaichi" and "budokai") have been extensively used in video game branding. The first trilogy of fighting games during the PS2 generation was titled "Budokai" internationally (and called simply "DragonBall Z 1 / 2 / 3" in Japan), while the second trilogy of fighting games was given the reversed-word-order-name "Budokai Tenkaichi" (released under the "Sparking!" name in Japan). In neither case were the words translated. Most English-only fans speak "Budokai" aloud improprly as something like "buddha-kai" (slurring over and ignoring the long "o" sound in the middle). - Oozaru: 大猿 (ōzaru)
Don't believe it was ever spoken aloud in a FUNimation English dub, but has existed in the lexicon of the greater-than-average-diehard English-speaking fan for many years, and was even used un-translated in the live-action DragonBall Evolution. Note that the "Oo" (or "ō") at the beginning isn't an "oo" sound (like in "goo" or even "Buu/Boo"), but just a long "o" sound. Literally just means "great monkey" (the "ō" being the reading of 大 as "big" or "great", along with the "zaru" from 猿 [regularly "saru"] which just means "monkey").
- Saiya-jin: サイヤ人 (saiya-jin)
Separate from a conversation about whether you "translate" the pun within the race's name (an anagram of yasai, which means "vegetable"), plenty of other adaptations keep it as a straight "Saiya-jin" without adapting the "-jin" suffix. The Mexican/Spanish dub does this for sure, versions of the German manga...
"Master Kaio."
