Translation Style Choices: Difference between revisions
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'''1.5'''. [[Streamlined]]: Somewhere between [[Cut and Paste Translation]] and [[Woolseyism]]. With [[Streamlined]] dubs, the plot is usually kept intact, although almost all dialogue is thrown out the window and replaced. [[Akira|Sometimes]], this works [[Woolseyism|quite well.]] [[Streamline Pictures]], the [[Trope Namer]], and Manga UK were very famous for this style of dubbing.
* ''[[MD Geist]]''
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'''2'''. [[Woolseyism]]: Named on TVTropes after Ted Woolsey, who was known for his more pragmatic translations of games. This approach is formally referred to as ''dynamic equivalence''; the general idea is that the translation should give the foreign audience the same experience as the original, even if some details have to be altered and some aspects that would [[Values Dissonance|cause]] [[Unfortunate Implications|controversy]] or fail to translate sensibly just have to be left out. The general guideline when using this method is that the work needs to be self-contained; if the script contains references or connotations that wouldn't be obvious to the target audience, those elements should probably be left out or changed. It's probably the best tool for a ''localization'': the purists get their original storyline intact (more or less), but you don't need an introductory lesson in a foreign language and culture to understand what's going on. Of course, the ''hardcore'' purists will still hate it. But when you get right down to it, [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|the hardcore purists hate everything]]
* ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]''
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* ''[[Vagrant Story]]'', ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' and the PSP version of ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' (the original PSX version was an [[Engrish]] wonderland).
* Any of the Disney-[[Studio Ghibli|Ghibli]] dubs. The character's names, stories, and overall plots remain true to the originals, even though the translations are often liberal (and in the case of ''[[Kiki's Delivery Service]]'' and ''[[Laputa: Castle in the Sky]]'', contin some additional pieces of music; the latter of which was done by, interestingly, the original composer himself, [[Joe Hisaishi]], to Miyazaki's personal approval). Of course there are fans who insist that the Japanese versions and/or previous English translations are the only way to experience his films... but there are others who have responded otherwise.
** Come to think of it, didn't [[Word of God|Miyazaki himself]] say that the ideal experience for any viewer is in their own
* Brazilian translation for Harry Potter uses it. The character's and the four houses' names were changed, probably due the age of target public of the books when they were published. But most Brazilian fans dislike these translated names, and they're usually not used.
* Most games translated by Working Designs, particularly the ''[[Lunar]]'' series.
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'''3'''. Formal equivalence: Some productions, however, decide they're going the direct route. The story is getting straight-up translated, [[Values Dissonance]] be damned, and no pesky [[First-Name Basis|honorific changes]], [[Kansai Regional Accent|dialect jokes]], or [[Useful Notes/Japanese Culture|cultural variations]] are going to get in the way. This is the most ''literal'' of the methods, typically translating only dialogue and [[Too Long; Didn't Dub|leaving anything that doesn't directly translate fully intact]]. The downside to this is that a lot of the necessary elements for full understanding don't make the journey overseas with the dialogue; as a result, J. Random Viewer (lacking proper context) is left scratching his head, as some lines will [[Dub Induced Plot Hole|sound strange]] or seem to come out of nowhere. In the worst cases, some figures of speech may be translated literally, instead of going with an equivalent from the vernacular language or simply translating the meaning. The hardcore purists will probably hate it, too; they'll just use it as another example of "[[Subbing Versus Dubbing|how dubbing is the devil's work]]," for instance.
* ''[[Bleach]]'' is particularly [[Egregious]]. Only three recurring terms in the dub were translated: [[The Grim Reaper|shinigami]] (to Soul Reaper, likely to distance itself from the western conception of the idea); the Gotei 13 (to the 13 Court Guard Squads); and "[[Mana|reiatsu]]" (to "spiritual energy" or "spiritual pressure"). Everything
** "Soul Reaper" is creator Tite Kubo's preferred translation of shinigami. It even appears on some Japanese ''Bleach'' merchandise.
** In more recent episodes you can move that down to two: reiatsu is it at least part of the time left untranslated now.
* ''[[.hack|.hack//]]'', even to the point of characters being unsure of how a character's written name is "read".
* ''[[Death Note]]'''s dub drifts into this direction. The public's name for Light ("Kira", an [[Gratuitous English|Engrish]] rendering of the English word "killer") is left intact, as is [[The Grim Reaper|shinigami]]. The [[Translation Convention]] also appears to be in full effect, with no attempt at a whitewash. This is sort of necessary: consider how often tiny details that involve language (especially [[Hollywood Spelling|how names are written]]) can be extremely important. However, the literal translations can make things confusing sometimes; at one point Misa notes that Light's name also means "moon". Unless someone knows Japanese (and as a result knows that the symbol used for Light's name can, with a different pronunciation, mean "moon") this line is likely to confuse them.
** The sub does this at times
*** The Viz manga does that too, as "once is once!" Members of the audience on this very wiki were still confused.
** The original work goes out of its way to point out Kira is derived from the word killer, so it's extremely likely that having them keep the name Kira was in respect for that.
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* [[Older Than Print]]: Most early translations of Latin poetry into the vernacular.
* ''[[Hellsing]]'' provides another example. A proper translation taking into account English names and titles would have resulted in "Dame Integra" (a female knight, as opposed to "Sir Integra").
** Then again, Hellsing is not a proper example, at least in the
* Although a less extreme example of this type, ''[[Star Ocean the Second Story]]'' for the PSX was widely derided for its bland, overly literal translation, resulting in conversations that barely made sense and stripped out most of the entertainment value in favor of literalism.
* ''[[Persona 3]]'' kept food and place names intact, along with Japanese honorifics like -chan and -san. Did not cause undue confusion, as most fans of the game would understand what those mean anyway.
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'''3A'''. The same, but with footnotes, liner notes, or captions to explain the details. Widely used by fansubbers of anime. [[Don't Explain the Joke|Explaining a joke may make it not be very funny]], but some cultural references work a lot better this way:
* The Finnish translation of the ''[[Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin]]'' manga uses footnotes for the translations of the different [[Special Attack|Battougas]]. They are seldom used otherwise.
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'''4'''. [[Blind Idiot Translation]]: What happens when the people responsible for the translation [[They Just Didn't Care|just don't care]]. Grammar rules will be violated and homonyms may have the wrong meaning translated. Fortunately, the vast, vast majority of serious commercial releases rarely fall into this category, but there are a depressing number of 1980s video games that were translated in this manner. And let's not even [[Translation Train Wreck|get started on]] [[Blind Idiot Translation|bootlegs]]...
* ''[[Zero Wing]]'' cannot be forgotten to be mention.
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'''5'''. [[Recursive Translation]]: The exclusive domain of Hong Kong bootleggers. Want to translate something but don't know any English? Translate it into your language and Babelfish it into English! Better yet, if you don't even know the language you're translating it ''from'', you can Babelfish it into your language and then Babelfish ''that'' translation into English! Now you too can translate anything from any language into any other language without understanding either!
* Every single Hong Kong bootleg DVD that doesn't just rip the R1 subtitle track or download an existing fansub script off the Internet.
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