Lucky Translation: Difference between revisions

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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In ''[[~~Azumanga Daioh (Manga)|~~Azumanga Daioh]]'', Osaka makes a pun on the word ''kaidan'', which means either 'horror story' or 'staircase' depending on context. This pun translated easily into English, because of the double meaning of the English word 'stor(e)y'.

* In ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'', Osaka makes a pun on the word ''kaidan'', which means either 'horror story' or 'staircase' depending on context. This pun translated easily into English, because of the double meaning of the English word 'stor(e)y'.

** Earlier in the same scene, Tomo asks, "who's always banging up cars?" The answer is "the dentist", because the Japanese word for "dentist" is phonetically the same as the word for a scrapped car ("haisha"). But in English, "DENTist" works just as well. The anime could get this across through Osaka's diction; the manga didn't have this option, but also didn't have [http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=kXb0hNMI_B0 pictures] to worry about, so they just replaced it with another joke.

* The ''[[Pokémon (~~Anime~~)|Pokémon]]'' series is filled with [[Punny Name|Punny Names]], and some actually went well in the translation: Misty in Japanese was called Kasumi, the word for "mist", for example.

* The ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' series is filled with [[Punny Name|Punny Names]], and some actually went well in the translation: Misty in Japanese was called Kasumi, the word for "mist", for example.

** In ''[[~~Pokémon 3 (Anime)|~~Pokémon 3]]: Spell of the Unown'', Molly Hale, wanting to see her parents again, takes some Unown tiles and uses them to spell out "Mama" "Papa" and "Me" together in a Scrabble-like fashion. She's actually spelling out her own name here (ミー, "Mi", in the Japanese version), but spelling it M-E lets them get away with it without having to change the letters.

** In ''[[Pokémon 3]]: Spell of the Unown'', Molly Hale, wanting to see her parents again, takes some Unown tiles and uses them to spell out "Mama" "Papa" and "Me" together in a Scrabble-like fashion. She's actually spelling out her own name here (ミー, "Mi", in the Japanese version), but spelling it M-E lets them get away with it without having to change the letters.

** Dawn had a nickname that was based on her past and was constantly known as Dee Dee from Kenny (or in Japan, Pikari). We learn that it was because she hugged a Plusle and Minun a bit too much and thus did an electric attack on her and made her hair stand on end thus gaining the nickname Pikari (with 'Pika' the Japanese onomatopoeia for sparks). The dub went for Dee Dee (which can be read DD) and the nickname became Diamond Dandruff.

** Since Ash was called like that in the anime, in ''[[Pokémon ~~2000~~ ~~(Anime)~~|Pokémon 2000]]'' (the one with Lugia), the translators said that "the world will turn to ash". While the phrase seems to be talking about ''"ashes"'', we know it's about our hero.

** Since Ash was called like that in the anime, in ''[[Pokémon: The Movie 2000|Pokémon 2000]]'' (the one with Lugia), the translators said that "the world will turn to ash". While the phrase seems to be talking about ''"ashes"'', we know it's about our hero.

* The most common translation of Kamina's/Team Gurren's [[Catch Phrase]] in ''[[~~Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Anime)|~~Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' is "Who the hell do you think I/we am/are?" This happens to fit the mouth flaps quite well, and is used in the dub (though for the plural they add "Just" in the beginning).

* The most common translation of Kamina's/Team Gurren's [[Catch Phrase]] in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' is "Who the hell do you think I/we am/are?" This happens to fit the mouth flaps quite well, and is used in the dub (though for the plural they add "Just" in the beginning).

* In the original ''[[Lucky Star]]'', Konata Izumi's favourite anime icon is ''[[~~Haruhi Suzumiya (Light Novel)|~~Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', and many of the jokes are dependent on the fact that the two are voiced by the same person ([[Aya Hirano]]). The jokes were left in the English dub because luckily, the same English voice actress ([[Wendee Lee]]) ''also'' had enough range to play both Haruhi and Konata. The same goes for [[Minoru Shiraishi]] in regards to Taniguchi ([[Sam Riegel]] plays both in the dub).

* In the original ''[[Lucky Star]]'', Konata Izumi's favourite anime icon is ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', and many of the jokes are dependent on the fact that the two are voiced by the same person ([[Aya Hirano]]). The jokes were left in the English dub because luckily, the same English voice actress ([[Wendee Lee]]) ''also'' had enough range to play both Haruhi and Konata. The same goes for [[Minoru Shiraishi]] in regards to Taniguchi ([[Sam Riegel]] plays both in the dub).

* ''[[Ichigo Mashimaro]]'': Nobue's name sounds close enough to "no boobies" that Miu was able to spin an insult out of it.

* ''[[School Rumble]]'' - Reading Sun Tzu, Tenma misreads a word as 'to remove clothes' and 'hare'. The real problem was that she actually vizualised this strange image of someone stepping out of a bunny costume, so it would be hard to ignore. It was translated as 'to take off like a rabbit', a phrase which Sun Tzu did use.

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** Another Greed one. Ed calls the second Greed "Greedling" because he possesses the body of a guy named Ling. However, ling as a suffix in English means little (e.g. fingerling potatoes), which works quite well in two respects. It makes sense that the second version would sort of be "little Greed", and it's completely in character for [[The Napoleon|Ed]] to call someone else little, which makes the nickname funnier in English.

*** In the manga, though, Viz translated {{spoiler|Ling's name as ''Lin,'' so a variation on his Junior Greed title had to be given. Ed ended up calling him "Grin" as a contraction of "Greed" and "Lin," which, while not as true to the original intent of the joke - i.e. a play on being a mini Greed - the joke still works in its own way.}}

* The title of ''[[~~Bakemonogatari (Light Novel)|~~Bakemonogatari]]'' is a [[Portmanteau]] of the Japanese words "bakemono" (ghost or monster) and "monogatari" (story) making ''Ghostory'' or ''Monstory'' an obvious translation. One of the sequel novels, ''Nisemonogatari'', also has this going for it ("Impostory").

* The title of ''[[Bakemonogatari]]'' is a [[Portmanteau]] of the Japanese words "bakemono" (ghost or monster) and "monogatari" (story) making ''Ghostory'' or ''Monstory'' an obvious translation. One of the sequel novels, ''Nisemonogatari'', also has this going for it ("Impostory").

** Also in Russian ''Bakemonogatari'' is wonderfully translated as Монстрассказы (Monstrasskazy)

* In ''[[~~Bobobo~~ Bobobobo]]'', "Hanage Shin Ken" (a parody of "Hokuto Shin Ken" from ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'') literally means "True Fist of the Nose Hair". The reference to ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' is obvious, even more so if the "True" is omitted.

* In ''[[Bobobobo Bobobo]]'', "Hanage Shin Ken" (a parody of "Hokuto Shin Ken" from ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'') literally means "True Fist of the Nose Hair". The reference to ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' is obvious, even more so if the "True" is omitted.

* Sebastian's catchphrase in ''[[~~Black Butler (Manga)|~~Black Butler]]'' is a pun on ''akumade'', meaning "to the end," and ''akuma'', meaning "demon." The English translation used by both the [[Fan Sub]] and Funimation's official subtitles, "one hell of a butler," just happens to convey both meanings as well.

* Sebastian's catchphrase in ''[[Black Butler]]'' is a pun on ''akumade'', meaning "to the end," and ''akuma'', meaning "demon." The English translation used by both the [[Fan Sub]] and Funimation's official subtitles, "one hell of a butler," just happens to convey both meanings as well.

* At one point in the [[Lady Land|Amazon Lily]] arc of ''[[One Piece]]'', Luffy is being stared at completely naked by a group of amazons who don't know anything about men. When one of them asks what's in the 'bag' attached between his legs, Luffy replies with 'kintama', which is a Japanese slang term for testicles that also means 'balls of gold', so of course the amazons think he's saying that he has actual balls of gold between his legs. The English translation uses 'family jewels', which fits the joke perfectly.

* In ''[[Sayonara Zetsubou ~~Sensei~~]]'', there is a reference to the "former Taro Sekiutsu" (former because he sold his identity to [[The Illegal|Maria]] and now lives in a cardboard box) being classless. This works perfectly as a pun in English, since Taro is both classless in the sense of abandoning society and classless in the sense that he's not attending class in high school.

* In ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei]]'', there is a reference to the "former Taro Sekiutsu" (former because he sold his identity to [[The Illegal|Maria]] and now lives in a cardboard box) being classless. This works perfectly as a pun in English, since Taro is both classless in the sense of abandoning society and classless in the sense that he's not attending class in high school.

* The translated title of [[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni]] is When the Cicadas Call/Weep. Luckily, the English word Cry also covers both meanings. This will probably be carried over to the spiritual sequel [[Umineko no Naku Koro Ni]].

* The translated title of [[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]] is When the Cicadas Call/Weep. Luckily, the English word Cry also covers both meanings. This will probably be carried over to the spiritual sequel [[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]].

* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' has a couple, usually in the way of puns. One more prevelant example is the "De-Malevo-Lance" a spear of Erza's that, in Japanese, was named using a word that doesn't have an English counterpart which more or less means "destruction of evil." In English, it's a nice play on words.

* In ''[[~~Wolfs~~ Rain]]'' Tsume frequently calls Toboe "chibi" (meaning "small") as a disrespectful nickname. In the dub, he uses "runt", which works even better for having a canine/lupine connotation.

* In ''[[Wolf's Rain]]'' Tsume frequently calls Toboe "chibi" (meaning "small") as a disrespectful nickname. In the dub, he uses "runt", which works even better for having a canine/lupine connotation.

* In ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' episode 87, the principal makes a pun on "'nikui" (hatred) and "niku" (meat). AnimEigo's subtitles rendered it as "I've got a beef with you, seeing you hide that meat in your pocket."

** Also, the chapter / episode introducing Kotatsu-Neko (manga chapter 111, anime episode 51) is titled "Kaidan ni Neko ga Onnen", which literally means "There's a Cat on the Stairs", but "kaidan" written as 怪談 means "ghost story" (as mentioned above), and "onnen" written as 怨念 can mean something like "a grudge that persists after someone's death, turning them into a ghost". Viz translated it as "Two-Story Ghost Story", whereas AnimEigo didn't try to translate the puns.

* In ''[[Yakitate!! Japan]]'', Kuroyanagi - known for his punny reactions to really good breads - tries a sample of chicken yakisoba bread and has to be restrained from taking off his pants. The double meaning of "cock" works the same in Japanese as it does in English.

* In [[~~Ge Ge Ge~~ no Kitaro]], Medama-oyaji, the title character's father, an eyeball monster's name could be translated into English as "[[Popeye]]".

* In [[GeGeGe no Kitaro]], Medama-oyaji, the title character's father, an eyeball monster's name could be translated into English as "[[Popeye]]".

* In ''[[Bunny Drop]],'' there's a scene where a little boy is having a laughing fit because of a news report on TV. He thinks that the report is about [[Toilet Humor|trains pooping]] (''unko''), when it's actually about trains being on time (''unkou''). The joke still works in English, due to the multiple meanings of the word "regular" (in addition to its normal meaning of "at frequent intervals," it's also commonly used euphemistically to mean "has normal bowel movements").

* A nice bonus in polish translation of [[~~Get Backers~~]] is Mugenjou as "Nieskończony Zamek" which can mean "Endless/Infinite Castle" as well as "Unfinished/Incomplete Castle"

* A nice bonus in polish translation of [[GetBackers]] is Mugenjou as "Nieskończony Zamek" which can mean "Endless/Infinite Castle" as well as "Unfinished/Incomplete Castle"

* In Bleach, there's a scene where Yumichika refers to himself as "beautiful" and Ganju pretends to mishear it as "pathetic", or something along that line. This works well in English where Yumichika refers to himself as "pretty" and Ganju agrees by saying, "Yeah, you're quite a pity."

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** The Latin American title ''Irene, yo y mi otro yo'' ("Me, my other me and Irene"), though not as clever, still manages to retain the original English wordplay.

*** The Spaniard title would be ''Yo, yo mismo e Irene'', which is a literal translation and the wordplay is practically intact.

* [[~~Spaceballs (Film)|~~Spaceballs]] 'Major Asshole' Scene, which in Italian is translated with the very similar expression 'Maggiore Stronzo' ('Major Turd').

* [[Spaceballs]] 'Major Asshole' Scene, which in Italian is translated with the very similar expression 'Maggiore Stronzo' ('Major Turd').

* In the Post-Credits Scene of "[[Daredevil]]", Bullseye is recuperating on a hospital bed after a fight with Daredevil when a fly suddenly comes and annoys him, and when the fly goes to the wall, he struggles to get a surgical syringe and manages to throw it right at it. He then shouts "Bullseye". The closest translation to this expression in Portuguese would be "Na mosca" which means "In the fly". Guess what he says...

* The "Surely you can't be serious" gag from [[Airplane!]] works arguably even better in Finnish as "''Et kai ole tosissasi''". ''Kai'' means ''surely'' or ''supposedly'' and is also a first name.

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* In Japanese poetry, it's common to use the pine tree (''matsu'') as a symbol of longing, because ''matsu'' also means "to wait". It's easy to remember, because English has an almost identical double-meaning for the word "pine".

* A French poem in ''[[House of Leaves]]'' gains a completely different rhyme scheme when translated into English. (One is ABAB and the other is AABB.)

* Non-language example: In ''[[The ~~Hitchhikers~~ Guide to ~~The~~ Galaxy]]'', Douglas Adams makes a joke about the movement of 'small green pieces of paper', meaning the British pound note. The joke made perfect sense to Americans, on account of the color of their money. Now the joke only works for Americans, because Britain doesn't use pound notes anymore[[hottip:*:[[Offer Void in Nebraska|Except for readers in Scotland]]. and the other notes aren't green.

* Non-language example: In ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', Douglas Adams makes a joke about the movement of 'small green pieces of paper', meaning the British pound note. The joke made perfect sense to Americans, on account of the color of their money. Now the joke only works for Americans, because Britain doesn't use pound notes anymore[[hottip:*:[[Offer Void in Nebraska|Except for readers in Scotland]]. and the other notes aren't green.

* One of the dwarfs in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld ~~(Literature)~~/The Truth|The Truth]]'' is named Goodmountain, a literal translation of the German surname of [[Dichter and Denker|Johannes Gutenberg]], the inventor of the movable types in Europe. In the German translation, said dwarf's name is Gutenhügel ("good hill"). This not only solves the problem of salvaging the name's [[Meaningful Name|subtle reference]], but also adds an additional layer of humor by alluding to the name bearer's height.

* One of the dwarfs in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld/The Truth|The Truth]]'' is named Goodmountain, a literal translation of the German surname of [[Dichter and Denker|Johannes Gutenberg]], the inventor of the movable types in Europe. In the German translation, said dwarf's name is Gutenhügel ("good hill"). This not only solves the problem of salvaging the name's [[Meaningful Name|subtle reference]], but also adds an additional layer of humor by alluding to the name bearer's height.

** Another [[Discworld]] example: in dutch, 'seamstress' is translated as 'naaister'. 'naaien' does not only mean 'sewing', but 'fucking' as well.

** Another [[Discworld]] example, this time from the Hebrew language. The Luggage is said to be made (originally) from "Sapient Pearwood". In the Hebrew version of the books, the Luggage is said to be made from "עץ הדעת" ("Etz Ha'Da'at"), which means "Tree of Sentience/Knowing/''Knowledge''". Yes, that [[The Bible|Tree of Knowledge]]. Makes the Luggage all that much more awesome.

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* In Scots, the word "heehaw", as well as being onomatopoeia for a donkey's bray, is also a slang term for "nothing". So in James Robertson's Scots translation of ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'', the line "Eeyore still said nothing at all" becomes "Heehaw wis still sayin heehaw".

* Lewis Caroll not wanting to ridicule clergy did not feature Bishops in [[Alice in Wonderland]]. However, it still featured two Messengers of the White King - and in some languages (German, Polish) chess bishops are called runners or messengers. In French they're called ''fou'' - fools, which triples the lucky translation, as the messengers are March Hare and Mad Hatter.

* In [[~~Xanth (Literature)|~~Xanth]] [[Worldwide Punomenon|pineapples are highly explosive.]] But if you change it to pome'''granate''' the pun still works in many other languages. In others, pineapple grenades are called lemons.

* In [[Xanth]] [[Worldwide Punomenon|pineapples are highly explosive.]] But if you change it to pome'''granate''' the pun still works in many other languages. In others, pineapple grenades are called lemons.

* The name "Once-ler" from ''[[~~The Lorax (Literature)|~~The Lorax]]'' is translated as "Einstler" in the German version, which, apart from being an equivalent, is also reminiscent of "Einsiedler" ("hermit"), which is what the Once-ler became.

* The name "Once-ler" from ''[[The Lorax]]'' is translated as "Einstler" in the German version, which, apart from being an equivalent, is also reminiscent of "Einsiedler" ("hermit"), which is what the Once-ler became.

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* In the Polish version of Warcraft, Grom Hellscream gets a [[Meaningful Name]] - "grom" in Polish is either "thunder" or "bolt" (as in "bolt out of the blue").

* At the end of ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'', the computerised Rose tells Raiden to trust her, with kanji which read 'lies'. This translated nicely into English, with the way 'beLIEve me' is spelt.

* The name of [[Super Mario Bros|Mario's]] [[Evil Twin]], "Wario," is originally a [[Portmanteau]] of the Japanese word "warui" (bad) and Mario. Thanks to the negative connotations of the word "war" in the English language, and the fact that "W" can be read as an upside-down "M", Mario fans the world over are treated to a wordplay that translates exceptionally well.

* The name of [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario's]] [[Evil Twin]], "Wario," is originally a [[Portmanteau]] of the Japanese word "warui" (bad) and Mario. Thanks to the negative connotations of the word "war" in the English language, and the fact that "W" can be read as an upside-down "M", Mario fans the world over are treated to a wordplay that translates exceptionally well.

** Luigi's rival, "Waluigi", still works but a little less well. In Japan, it's an even better pun on "warui" than "Wario" is. Anywhere else, it hinges on the fact that there's already an established [[Evil Twin]] whose name starts with "Wa". [[Stuck in Their Shadow|Seems that Luigi doesn't even get his own nemesis without Mario overshadowing him.]]

*** In Japanese, "Waluigi" (or rather the more literal "waruiji") is also an anagram for "ijiwaru", which more or less translates as "mean", which Waluigi (and Wario for that matter) are.

** Polish language has "wariować" which means "to go insane" and "wariat" for a crazy person. It's like the lottery grand prize of lucky translations.

* In the Japanese version of ''[[The Legend of Zelda Oracle Games|The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons]]'', the hero enters a secret underground kingdom whose inhabitants were called Uura ("hidden"), and gets involved with an Uura girl named Urara ("beauty", and a pun on Uura). In the English version, the people are called Subrosians (referring to ''sub rosa'', an old tradition of using a rose to indicate a secret meeting place), and the girl Link dates is called Rosa, preserving the pun of a secret place and a pretty girl.

* ''[[~~Rabbids Go Home (Video Game)|~~Rabbids Go Home]]'s'' plot ''itself'' is a kind of lucky translation. Said plot revolves around the Rabbids deciding to "go home" by building a huge pile of stuff to go to the moon. In the original version of the game, it makes sense because the Rabbids are insane enough to think they can ''build a pile of stuff'' to get somewhere as far away as the moon. In the Japanese version, it makes sense due to there being [[Moon Rabbit|a lot of mythological connections between rabbits and the moon.]]

* ''[[Rabbids Go Home]]'s'' plot ''itself'' is a kind of lucky translation. Said plot revolves around the Rabbids deciding to "go home" by building a huge pile of stuff to go to the moon. In the original version of the game, it makes sense because the Rabbids are insane enough to think they can ''build a pile of stuff'' to get somewhere as far away as the moon. In the Japanese version, it makes sense due to there being [[Moon Rabbit|a lot of mythological connections between rabbits and the moon.]]

* In ''[[~~Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (Video Game)|~~Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]'', the sprite for the Gambler Trainer Class is a man wearing a brown longcoat and fedora hat, making them look a lot like a stereotypical detective. The English translators took note of this and changed the class to P.I., as in Private Investigator, but the fact that they're still flipping a coin and their dialogue was left completely unaltered (they talk a lot about chance and luck) still makes the translation fairly obvious.

* In ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]'', the sprite for the Gambler Trainer Class is a man wearing a brown longcoat and fedora hat, making them look a lot like a stereotypical detective. The English translators took note of this and changed the class to P.I., as in Private Investigator, but the fact that they're still flipping a coin and their dialogue was left completely unaltered (they talk a lot about chance and luck) still makes the translation fairly obvious.

* [[~~Dragon Quest VIII (Video Game)|~~Dragon Quest VIII]] features a pun by Yangus, a guy with a habit of picking his nose. In one scene, he says that he noticed something while "Picking me nose...erm, picking me some ''flowers''. Lucky as that in Japanese the word for "Nose" is also a pun for "Flower" and in English, you can "Pick" flowers or "Pick" your nose, so the pun worked in both languages, if through different words.

* [[Dragon Quest VIII]] features a pun by Yangus, a guy with a habit of picking his nose. In one scene, he says that he noticed something while "Picking me nose...erm, picking me some ''flowers''. Lucky as that in Japanese the word for "Nose" is also a pun for "Flower" and in English, you can "Pick" flowers or "Pick" your nose, so the pun worked in both languages, if through different words.

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** We find some cases in the European Spanish translations of the [[Disney Animated Canon]]. "''Bajo el mar''" ("''Under the Sea''") from "''[[The Little Mermaid]]''" (100% literal, and it even has the exact same amount of syllables!), "''Ahí fuera''" ("''Out There''") from ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' (literal, although the song plays with that translation and the word "allí"), or "''¿Cuándo va mi vida a comenzar?''" ("''When Will My Life Begin?''") from ''[[Tangled]]'' (literal, although with a kinda twisted grammar construction) are good examples.

* Basil ''[[The Great Mouse Detective]]'', a Sherlock Holmes [[Expy]], is called "Basil Holmuis" (hole-mouse) in Dutch. Yes, it's an actual word.

* In the Dutch ''[[~~Spongebob~~ SquarePants]]'' dub, "Bikini Bottom" is translated as "Bikinibroek". "Broek" happens to mean both "pants" and "brook", and is a very common suffix for a small town close to water.

* In the Dutch ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' dub, "Bikini Bottom" is translated as "Bikinibroek". "Broek" happens to mean both "pants" and "brook", and is a very common suffix for a small town close to water.

* In Flemish, the word for "to saw" can also be used as slang for "to whine". So in ''[[Atlantis ~~the~~ Lost Empire]]'' "Less talk! More sawing!" became "Niet zagen! Zagen!" ("Don't whine! Saw!").

* In Flemish, the word for "to saw" can also be used as slang for "to whine". So in ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire]]'' "Less talk! More sawing!" became "Niet zagen! Zagen!" ("Don't whine! Saw!").

* In [[South Park]], Mr. Garrisson once refers to Mr. Slave as his Teacher's Assistant, or Teacher's Ass for short. In Hungarian, Tanársegéd and Tanársegg mean exactly the same.

* The Brazilian translation of ''[[Wacky Races]]'' saw the Slag Brothers being translated as "Irmãos Rocha". Irmãos = Brothers, and Rocha, which happens to be a common surname in Portuguese, means Rock. The net result is their name being more 'plausible' in Portuguese than in English.