Differences Between the Subtitle Translations

[roseofpain]

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see the differences between the Japanese-to-English subtitle translations from the fansub groups and the official releases.

FANSUB GROUPS

Original Dialogue: 何者だ? 貴 様 この俺 様に用でもあるのか? (Nanimonoda? Kisama kono oresama ni yōde mo aru no ka?)

a-S (Anime-Supreme)


DBNL


AHQ


iKaos


Unfortunately, I don't own any of the official DVD or Blu-ray releases. If anyone has any of them please feel free to post comparisons between them.

[Saiya6Cit]

this seems like an ambitious project although a little bit out of the blue, but I wish you the best of success

In mexico he says:
who the hell are you, what do you want from me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAB2WCh1ndA

[coola]

If i remember correctly, most fanrips in early 00's used subs from bootleg releases, such as Blue Dragon Boxes https://www.daizex.com/guides/dvd_guide ... dbz_01.gif

[ikaos]

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see the differences between the Japanese-to-English subtitle translations from the fansub groups and the official releases.

FANSUB GROUPS

Original Dialogue: 何者だ? 貴 様 この俺 様に用でもあるのか? (Nanimonoda? Kisama kono oresama ni yōde mo aru no ka?)

a-S (Anime-Supreme)

Spoiler:

DBNL

Spoiler:

AHQ

Spoiler:

iKaos

Spoiler:

Unfortunately, I don't own any of the official DVD or Blu-ray releases. If anyone has any of them please feel free to post comparisons between them.

iirc correctly AHQ is the oldest one, so it's probably based on fansubs. The others all use the Simmons translation from the official releases.

*EDIT* Here's one of the Pearl fansubs for this episode:

[coola]

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see the differences between the Japanese-to-English subtitle translations from the fansub groups and the official releases.

FANSUB GROUPS

Original Dialogue: 何者だ? 貴 様 この俺 様に用でもあるのか? (Nanimonoda? Kisama kono oresama ni yōde mo aru no ka?)

a-S (Anime-Supreme)

Spoiler:

DBNL

Spoiler:

AHQ

Spoiler:

iKaos

Spoiler:

Unfortunately, I don't own any of the official DVD or Blu-ray releases. If anyone has any of them please feel free to post comparisons between them.

iirc correctly AHQ is the oldest one, so it's probably based on fansubs. The others all use the Simmons translation from the official releases.

*EDIT* Here's one of the Pearl fansubs for this episode:

So that's where Viz got idea to make Piccolo speak in old fashioned way? viewtopic.php?t=17442

[jjgp1112]

Three of the four are just the Simmons subtitles.

[Adamant]

So that's where Viz got idea to make Piccolo speak in old fashioned way? viewtopic.php?t=17442

"The respectable me" is a pretty straight forward translation of "ore-sama". It's more haughty than old-fashioned.

[FPSSJ4_Goku]

Just ran the original dialogue through the most accurate translator I know of (DeepL, Google it) and got this result

[Adamant]

Just ran the original dialogue through the most accurate translator I know of (DeepL, Google it) and got this result

Considering that's not very correct, it's probably a good indicator of how "accurate" these things are.

[dultimate02]

Yeah that’s the thing with translations. There’s always a couple different ways to translate something from one language to another. I feel like most of these differences are negligible at best. We can never pick up EXACTLY what’s being said cause there’s so many variables when it comes to languages, though I feel as long as we understand what the Japanese dialogue is essentially saying, and nothing’s being given a different meaning or a different level of importance than the original Japanese, it’s good enough. I wouldn’t think too too much. Especially cause Steve Simmons is a pretty respected translator. Only real way to understand the true and ultimate intent of any line is by learning Japanese to be honest.

[jjgp1112]

Yeah that’s the thing with translations. There’s always a couple different ways to translate something from one language to another. I feel like most of these differences are negligible at best. We can never pick up EXACTLY what’s being said cause there’s so many variables when it comes to languages, though I feel as long as we understand what the Japanese dialogue is essentially saying, and nothing’s being given a different meaning or a different level of importance than the original Japanese, it’s good enough. I wouldn’t think too too much. Especially cause Steve Simmons is a pretty respected translator. Only real way to understand the true and ultimate intent of any line is by learning Japanese to be honest.

It seems like the full meaning would approximate to something like "What does a lousy bastard like you want with my highness?" If you were being super literal.

I know very little about Japanese, I just see the "kisama" and "ore-sama" and figure he's addressing Raditz harshly while speaking highly of himself. But for a natural sounding adaptation you can convey all that with tone and word choice. Maybe something like "Who are you? What the hell do you want from me?"

[Adamant]

"Kono ore-sama ni you de mo aru no ka?" means "And do you want something with me?", not "WHAT do you want?". It's a yes/no question, which Radits answers no to to. Beyond that it's just a matter of delivery, really.

In this podcast episode, Julian describes Piccolo's speech style here as "It's in standard Japanese, it is not polite, but it's rather stiff, there's no contractions. He's not really being formal per se, but he is not being slangy at all."

What Simmons went for here is pretty solid. I think stuff like "what the hell" etc comes across as a bit too casual-slangy.

I checked the Danish manga translation and it's just straight forward "Who are you and what do you want with me?" there.

[kemuri07]

Yeah that’s the thing with translations. There’s always a couple different ways to translate something from one language to another. I feel like most of these differences are negligible at best. We can never pick up EXACTLY what’s being said cause there’s so many variables when it comes to languages, though I feel as long as we understand what the Japanese dialogue is essentially saying, and nothing’s being given a different meaning or a different level of importance than the original Japanese, it’s good enough. I wouldn’t think too too much. Especially cause Steve Simmons is a pretty respected translator. Only real way to understand the true and ultimate intent of any line is by learning Japanese to be honest.

That's a bingo and my time learning Japanese has made me appreciate what translators have to do, because they basically have two jobs: 1. to ensure that any translation keeps true to the story being told, and 2. that it makes sense for whatever audience they are translating for.

If you made a literal translation, the end result would sound incredibly stilted to someone who only spoke English. Because it isn't how we talk.

[ankokudaishogun]

I know very little about Japanese, I just see the "kisama" and "ore-sama" and figure he's addressing Raditz harshly while speaking highly of himself.

using "ore-sama" is basically blow-hard-tough speech, even more of the already rude "ki-sama"
Piccolo is being EXTREMELY rude in this sentence, think gang member.

[roseofpain]

Something I've noticed with the Simmons subtitles is that it's very "soft" when it comes to using certain swear words. It's as if the dialogue was translated with the intention of young viewers in mind while not remembering that it's also popular with adults.

The old bootleg VHS tapes I remember from the 90's had plenty of swear words in it. And they weren't just put there for laughs.

[jjgp1112]

Something I've noticed with the Simmons translation is that it's very "soft" when it comes to using certain swear words. It's as if the dialogue was translated with the intention of young viewers in mind while not remembering that it's also popular with adults.

The old bootleg VHS tapes I remember from the 90's had plenty of swear words in it. And they weren't just put there for laughs.

When you're comparing it to the overly edgy "You destroyed my fucking house?! Fuck you!" 90s fansubs, ANYTHING will look soft. Simmons subs had plenty of "Damns," "Bastards" and "Hells"

Clyde Mandelin got a bit heavier with the swears but even his translations have nothing on the AnimeLabs nonsense. Anime Labs basically just translated every instance of rude language to the most vulgar choice possible to make Dragon Ball look "adult."

[MasenkoHA]

Something I've noticed with the Simmons subtitles is that it's very "soft" when it comes to using certain swear words. It's as if the dialogue was translated with the intention of young viewers in mind while not remembering that it's also popular with adults.

The old bootleg VHS tapes I remember from the 90's had plenty of swear words in it. And they weren't just put there for laughs.

While there was probably a request by Funimation to keep the language PG as far as Simmons subtitles went something tells me the old fansubs were being more liberal with their translations to make it seem edgier with the fucks

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Anime Labs just piled on the swearing in their subs to absurd levels, they really went out of their way to make DBZ seem like this super edgy hardcore adult show when it just isn't. I remember watching some low quality .rm rips of the movies as a young kid and they were the AL sub versions. Wow, that was....something. XD

Here's some good (and hilarious) examples of this:


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SEVMIO9ekgk

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=65YvGbGIzo8

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C2sf_8IsHa0

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vr7iFqTLzAM

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IaqHc2ITcGE

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ASkPlDCp1vg

[Adamant]

I know very little about Japanese, I just see the "kisama" and "ore-sama" and figure he's addressing Raditz harshly while speaking highly of himself.

using "ore-sama" is basically blow-hard-tough speech, even more of the already rude "ki-sama"
Piccolo is being EXTREMELY rude in this sentence, think gang member.

It's more like referring to yourself in third person to sound self-important. It sounds imposing when coming from a fictional character like Dr. Doom, it just sounds ridiculous if you say it in real life. No gang member unironically says "ore-sama".

[VegettoEX]

While there was probably a request by Funimation to keep the language PG as far as Simmons subtitles went

Only at the literal very beginning (the Ginyu discs), and after that everything was fair game.

(See: https://www.kanzenshuu.com/2000/07/28/s ... flections/)

something tells me the old fansubs were being more liberal with their translations to make it seem edgier with the fucks

Anime Labs has already been referenced a few times here, but I'd recommend folks check out the Fandub Dialog page within our Rumor Guide for a look at some of the most iconic fansub lines.

(Well, "iconic" for dinosaurs like me, I guess.)

I keep meaning to pop in my NGN tape for another look at an "official" subtitle for that Piccolo line first mentioned in the thread. I'll edit that in here when I get a chance.

(Related: I'm laughing a little bit at basic rips of officially-released material being referred to as "fansubs"... but that's not on you, topic-creator... that's on us for needing to do the proper education!)