How far does the potty-mouthness REALLY go?

[kenisu3000]

I know I'm just going to get bombarded by a mess of those oh-so-unpleasant F-bombs that show up in just about every single one of these threads, but I have a question.
By now, we're all quite familiar with the inaccuracy of fansubs, not only as far as actual translation goes, but also with their grasping-at-straws attempts to put in enough swear words to give Eddie Murphy a run for his money.
Like I've said before in a previous thread, I come from a notorious dub-only community (I swear I'm the only Japanese-version fan here!) and before the bilingual DVDs came out, I heard some arguments that they prefer the dub because of the "explicit swearing in the Japanese version" (they were obviously watching fansubs, in fact one person quoted Goku's line "Dou shiyou mo nee baka na yatsu da" to Freeza as "You're a f***ing fool!"). So now that I've gotten far enough into the series, I use the counter-argument that none of the characters touch a Japanese equivalent of the F-word with a ten foot pole. But then again, I don't have enough knowledge of the language to back this up perfectly.
Finally, I'll get to my point: During the Piccolo Daimao saga in DragonBall, as Tenshinhan is on his way to confront Piccolo, his aircraft picks up a broadcast from the Great Demon King himself, announcing the whole bit about his decision to annihilate the planet one sector at a time. In anger, Tenshinhan cries, "Zake-yagatte!!!" Now, I'm perfectly familiar with the overused phrase "*FU*zake-yagatte" ("How dare you mess around!!"), but I don't think I've encountered it without the "fu" at any other point in the series.
Clyde Mandelin translates this particular line as "Damn you!" I looked this up on a very dependable online dictionary, though, and I the closest I got was "Zaken'na yo" (Which is basically the same phrase), and they translate it as "F*** you!"

Can anyone shed some light on what the hell is going on here??

[TripleRach]

I don't remember how often it's used in Dragon Ball, but zakeru is a relatively common version of fuzakeru. It feels a bit ruder to me, simply because it isn't the full word, and that gives it a hint of informality. There is one fansubbing group that is somewhat (in)famous for translating forms of the negative imperative phrase as "Don't fuck with me!", and I don't think they're totally off-base. (Though personally, I'd go with something like "Don't toy with me!") However, "Damn you!" or "Fuck you!" both feel pretty off.

Zakeyagatte doesn't feel like a "Damn you!" or a "Fuck you!", either. At worst, maybe it would be something along the lines of "He's fucking with me...!" At best, maybe "Damn him for toying with me...!"

Online dictionaries don't seem to be terribly accurate about swearing. Hell, a lot of them list saitei as meaning "Fuck you!", too.

[The S]

Can anyone shed some light on what the hell is going on here??

Nice.

Fansubs are petty notorious for swearing in excess. I must point out again the sub I watched in my high school anime club (which, as far as I know, has no subbing "company" label) that had Gotenks' Renzoku Shi ne Shi ne Missiles titled "Rapid Fuck you Fuck you Missile!" Other examples in the same sub was the fact that every villain in Hell during the Chibi Buu arc said "shit" at some point, and the word "makaku" (I believe) was subbed at different times as "What the Hell?", "What the fuck?", "This can't be fucking happening!", and "You've got to be shitting me!"

[Daimao]

"Masaka" is probably the word you mean.

The Times Online recently ran an interesting article about the Japanese, good manners, and swearing. I found the last paragraph in particular to be interesting.

[The S]

"Masaka" is probably the word you mean.

Could be. It's been a while since I saw Buu Saga in Japanese.

I do recall that "makaku" means "evil wind" or something to that effect.

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

I've heard something similar that was translated to "Don't fuck with me!" in Fullmetal Alchemist. I think he's saying "Fuzakeruna!"
It's episode 50, 20:15.
So maybe it's not just the old DBZ fansubbers being idiots? After all, fansubbers these days are pretty good.

[SaiyaJedi]

I've heard something similar that was translated to "Don't fuck with me!" in Fullmetal Alchemist. I think he's saying "Fusakeruna!"
It's episode 50, 20:15.
So maybe it's not just the old DBZ fansubbers being idiots? After all, fansubbers these days are pretty good.

It also depends on the situation, the character, and the kind of show it is in general. These are all factors that can make the same phrase used in two different shows in two different situations to be translated differently (though using "fuck" sounds a bit out of place in FMA, to be honest).

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

Ed seemed REALLY pissed. Don't wanna spoil >_<

[Leotaku]

I've never watched fansubs, but I remember reading the feature of it on the main site: http://www.daizex.com/guides/rumors/fan ... ogue.shtml

Got a kick out of that. My favourite one:
Original:
"Doko da! Detekoi! Hikyômono! Sugata o misero!"

Anime Labs Translation:
"Come out, you candy-ass faggot!"


They don't only seem to do this is fansubs either. I've played some fangames and...other things which I won't mention, and some of them also like to make the characters pretty foul-mouthed. Seemingly for the hell of it.

[The S]

They don't only seem to do this is fansubs either. I've played some fangames and...other things which I won't mention, and some of them also like to make the characters pretty foul-mouthed. Seemingly for the hell of it.

Maybe I should have Kami-sama call someone a cunt in Head Cha La ^_^

[Leotaku]

They don't only seem to do this is fansubs either. I've played some fangames and...other things which I won't mention, and some of them also like to make the characters pretty foul-mouthed. Seemingly for the hell of it.

Maybe I should have Kami-sama call someone a cunt in Head Cha La ^_^

Ha. Yeah. Scare the crap out of Mr. Popo.
"Oh dear! He's having one of those days again".