Comments on: Engrish subtitles on Japanese TV

By: yashinoki

yashinoki — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 23:15:32 +0000

Where it says “nokogiri-kuruma nante musi da”, the subs should read something like “Don’t worry about the saw cars.” A bit strange that “sword cars” was used therein, since “nokogiri” is a kind of woodworking saw, not a sword.

Also, in the Fist of the North Star clip, where it says “Mate. Mada owatte’nai zo” the subs should read something like “Wait up! It’s not over.” Finally, “Doo suru’n da? Sonna waza de taoseru to omotte’ru no ka?” should be rendered in English as “What’cha gonna do? Do you think you can defeat me with that technique?” or “What’re you gonna do? You think that’s gonna work?”

The English language, despite its grammatical liquidity, has its subtleties. I wonder just who was the doofus (or electronic translation software) that did the wa’ei translation for that program’s subs.

By: ami

ami — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:46:30 +0000

Asahi – both the television and the newspaper – fail at English, period. You should check out the English edition of their newspaper for some good laughs – like “Scary gangster and wife arrested for whatever”. That was a big headline, and I’m not kidding.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:04:30 +0000

Sure “English is not necessary for daily life” but most Japanese (and I would dare say everyone working at a TV station) have had several years of compulsory English education and there is indeed a national obsession/insecurity with eikaiwa. It’s sad because billions of yen (dollars even) get dumped into studying English and this is the best they could do.

Plus where was Sailor Moon and ANY Macross?

By: plywood747

plywood747 — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:45:08 +0000

I think the world would be a more harmonious place if we replaced all English with Engrish.

By: Kristo

Kristo — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:03:02 +0000

Wow – I actually have watched all the ten 10 minutes parts

The whole world was enjoyed anime in the past, but not we, who lived in former Soviet Union

There was absolutely no anime or satelite TV until 1991 in Estonia … too bad.

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:56:46 +0000

Who cares about the translation??

Instead of crediting the show for highlighting world animation, you turn this article into a rant about how bad the English translation was.

Take a look at the translation services offered by television companies in your home country before slating those in Japan. Japan is a country where English is not necessary for daily life.

By: LOD

LOD — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:17:55 +0000

That’s because average English spearkers find mangled English much funnier than mangled Japanese. The opposite is true for average Japanese speakers.

There are many Japanese websites that feature mangled Japanese, such as:
http://www.linkclub.or.jp/~asia-mit/kenkyuu/japanese/japanese.html
http://colorfulland.hp.infoseek.co.jp/nihonkongo.html

Or even in English:
http://www.bmezine.com/news/pubring/20031006.html

Also in the “Related Posts” above, you see the Japan Probe article of “Eihongo” (which itself is Eihongo).

By: Josef

Josef — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:45:48 +0000

This was a great watch. Thanks for sharing!

I know many older anime series are pretty famous in other European countries (I’m from Sweden), but I was surprised to see so many shows I had never even heard of. I expected to see more 80s/90s action shows, and less 70s tearjerkers.
A bit annoying how they just lumped together Europe as one on the world map too, I would’ve liked to see in a bit more detail which countries each show was actually aired in.

By: Durf

Durf — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:34:51 +0000

The majority of people watching TV Asahi can’t speak English and haven’t been around it enough to know that the subtitles above were mangled, either. No problem here.

My money’s on “TV production firm lacks money for translation, spends a few thousand yen on a voice recognition package instead.”

By: shazzb0t

shazzb0t — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:39:02 +0000

That is probably because the majority of people that watch those movies can’t speak Japanese or hasn’t been around it enough to pick up on that bad Japanese. Just a guess though.

By: Luis Edgar Flores Gutierrez

Luis Edgar Flores Gutierrez — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:24:24 +0000

About the Spanish dub and translation of the subs of Doraemon: The Spanish dub is from the Mexican Spanish dub of the series, NOT from the European Spanish dub as stated in the program, but the Spanish subs are 100% accurate unlike the English ones.

By: morningstar

morningstar — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:15:08 +0000

WHY subtitles?

By: weirdo

weirdo — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:31:17 +0000

I don’t really get why everyone picks on Japan so much for bad translation, There’s tons of terrible Japanese in American tv/movies but nobody ever points those out.

By: weirdo

weirdo — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:29:39 +0000

I really get why everyone picks on Japan so much on bad translation, There’s tons of terrible Japanese in American tv/movies and nobody ever points those out.

By: Neil Duckett

Neil Duckett — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:10:27 +0000

Hahaha, take the minute down !

By: shazzb0t

shazzb0t — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:47:11 +0000

Heck, how about hiring some eikaiwa sensei to watch the clips and write down exactly what was said? That being said watching those clips got me all ‘motioned up’.

I have to agree with your distaste for 世界のナベアツ. His hilarious mustache and Natsumi Soseki look make me pray for 江頭2:50 to dropkick him from off screen.

By: tracks

tracks — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:59:16 +0000

so?…whats the problem? i that luv goodness japan.

By: kevo

kevo — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:58:07 +0000

The Engrish was pretty bad, but that hollywood fist of the north star movie clip made me laugh my a$$ off! he was just poking him

By: Rob A

Rob A — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:21:31 +0000

“Oh Trixie!”

“Speed got his bolt jacked up!”

Come on now, if I were the translator, I would have some REAL fun with it ^_^

By: Gyaretto

Gyaretto — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:43:55 +0000

Take the Engrish down. One of the both jacked up with Engrish in motion!! Dissmiss the words farts!

Gee, you think all they needed was someone that spoke english to type what the characters were saying…lol. It’s not like it required translation. lol.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:35:18 +0000

I watched this with the wife and we enjoyed it thoroughly.
I was cracking up when that awful English rolled up. I’m sure they had some Japanese fellow on staff who was “good at English”, maybe even had Eiken 5kyu go through the text for free and write it down. Not very much editorial pride.

By: Wago

Wago — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:21:28 +0000

no Dr. Slump or Sailor Moon?

By: ashredrum

ashredrum — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:54:49 +0000

take the minute down, man i laughed hard on that one.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:31:16 +0000

I caught that on TV the other night as well, and was equally annoyed by the Engrish subtitles. Did they not have the resources to locate proper scripts?

It was a fun show, although 世界のナベアツ was on the show and he annoys me to no end.

By: doinkies

doinkies — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:14:27 +0000

I wonder how accurate the transcriptions of the other languages in the show were.