I've always been interested in other interpretations and how they can bring their own spin on something, in every kind of media: how a different remix of a song, remastered version of a game, remake of a series/movie, foreign dub, etc... can change the way some things feel.
I've always been fascinated by the various ways to translate things, 'cause as we learn in translation studies, there is not one single good answer to translate a sentence, there are dozens of possibilities that can all work depending on the message/emotion you want to transfer from the original. It's not just math like "this word" = "that word", you have to FEEL what's the intended message and the impact it's meant to produce according to you, and how it should be rather said in the target language for the message/emotion to be conveyed. And pretty often, it can't be just "word for word" to come up with something that feels natural.
In French Kai, rather than Bulma saying about Gohan "He's very polite, not like his father", she asks the question "He's very polite, are you sure he's yours?" and that feels terribly natural to French people, "are you sure he's yours?" is definately the kind of ironic question you can throw at friends when you remark that their child has a quality that they don't have. May seem like a tiny detail, but even the tiniest rephrasing changing the feel, sometimes for the better if it's in line with your native language/culture.
Or still in French Kai, they came up with a sentence that caught me by surprise for the misunderstanding on Gohan's name during the Cell Game when Goku announces him as the next contestant, with sentences that sound alike in French so that Goku says "Now it's your turn, Gohan!" but the cameraman thought he suddenly stopped the battle to scream to his friends "I'd give anything to eat a banana right now!", and of course the other one concludes that there will be a lunch break.
Back on the PlayStation 2, I had a tendancy to try a same game in French, English and Spanish (languages I'm more familiar with) and even in German and Italian in the case of Tomb Raider Legend. Just because I was fascinated by the way they would choose to convey the message/emotions in various languages, how they would choose to adapt lines, how the actors would choose to perform specific lines/speeches, how they would sometimes adapt names differently, etc... For example, the original English Lara Croft is meant to feel very British and aristocratic, while the French Lara Croft meant for the French market tends to be oriented so that you'd think of her as your nice and smart "next-door neighbor" dreamgirl: sentences like "All the satellites and computers are only the science of talking to oneself" are changed to a simpler "All those satellites and computers... and I still can't talk to them".
. Thanks so much. Now I can enjoy Db the way I want to see it. I love Goten voice actor. So awesome. A tad downgrade from his Z Korean Nozawa but it's very well done.
