finalark
SNORLAX
Link to original post: [drupal=1263]Fansubs and how they've changed.[/drupal]
The reason why subtitled anime first came around so that fans of anime who didn't quite like the dubs could watch their favorites without having to learn Japanese. But subtitled anime (and anime in general) was scarce in the 90s so if you were an fan and wanted to add subtitles to something you needed a lot of equipment, most of which you could only get if you were either rich or knew certain people. But the hardcore fans got their stuff and subbed their favorite animes, and thus the fansub was born. Fansubs sure have changed since the 90s, if you go back and look at some of the older subs the fans try to be very professional. But these days some subs feel like a crash-coarse in Japanese. A lot of fansubs these days leave Japanese words the same, putting small text at the top of the screen explaining it. For me, this personally gets really annoying. I hate when I'm watching subbed anime then have to pause it to read the side note on their subs. Like once I was watching an anime (don't remember which one, might have been Bleach) and one character said in the subs, "How did he get that katana?" Then at the top of the the screen it said "Translator's note: Katana is Japanese for sword." Yeah, that's a nice (and obvious) piece of information but why didn't you just put "How did he get that sword" in the subtitles?
It would appear that these days fansubbers just leave in their favorite Japanese words, putting in distracting translation notes. Isn't a translator's job to making one language and culture understandable to another? I shouldn't have to read notes because you wanted to keep in your favorite words. If I wanted to learn Japanese, I would take a class in it. And shouldn't having to think of ways to make something hard to translate English be challenge? Honestly, if you can't figure out that "-sama" can translate into English as "Mister" then you must be a really crappy translator. This also makes it really hard for people not familiar with the language to get into subbed anime.
And what's with the flashy karaoke text in openings? Watch just the opening in this vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtWdb...e=channel_page
First, why are the karaoke-like words in Japanese easier to read than the tiny English translation at the bottom of the screen? And why are the lyrics at the top of the screen so flashy? Was it really necessary to include the name of your group under the name of the anime that you're subbing? And why are the names of your staff mixed in with the names of the people who made the show? All of this is really unnecessary, if I'm watching an opening then all I want are some easy to read English translations of the lyrics at the bottom of the screen. I don't need some big flashy text at the top. And speaking of flashy text, why do fansubbers like to use that during action scenes? The viewer's attention should be on the action in the anime, not on what neat font/effect you found in your video editing program. This might not sound like a big deal now, but imagine this: you're watching Fellowship of the Rings and it's the scene where Gandolf fights the Baurog at the end of the Mines of Moria. He's ready to slam his staff into the ground and say his famous line. But just as he's saying "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" colorful subtitles start bouncing around the screen until they align at the bottom and start moving around and stretching, distracting you from the actual movie so that you somewhat miss what happened.
Another thing is that there are times when fansubbers will try to make something as close to Japanese as possible and so they'll do a direct translation. And they usually end up with something that either makes no sense in English or just sounds weird. Like once I was watching a fansub of an anime and one character said, "That Guy? Not at this moment!" That line sounds really weird in a direct translation. So why couldn't the fansubber just have translated it as "Why did he have to show up now of all times?" or something like that.
Anything subbed should be so well translated that even someone who's never even heard the original language could understand it. It should not sideshow of fancy text and text effects along with a brief lesson in the language. This goes for all things, especially anime. Fansubbers, go watch any subtitles from a Funimation or ViZ DvD and you'll see that it's all just plain text in perfect English. No translation notes, no fancy text, just plain white text written in perfect English. Take a few hints from the pros and do as they do.
The reason why subtitled anime first came around so that fans of anime who didn't quite like the dubs could watch their favorites without having to learn Japanese. But subtitled anime (and anime in general) was scarce in the 90s so if you were an fan and wanted to add subtitles to something you needed a lot of equipment, most of which you could only get if you were either rich or knew certain people. But the hardcore fans got their stuff and subbed their favorite animes, and thus the fansub was born. Fansubs sure have changed since the 90s, if you go back and look at some of the older subs the fans try to be very professional. But these days some subs feel like a crash-coarse in Japanese. A lot of fansubs these days leave Japanese words the same, putting small text at the top of the screen explaining it. For me, this personally gets really annoying. I hate when I'm watching subbed anime then have to pause it to read the side note on their subs. Like once I was watching an anime (don't remember which one, might have been Bleach) and one character said in the subs, "How did he get that katana?" Then at the top of the the screen it said "Translator's note: Katana is Japanese for sword." Yeah, that's a nice (and obvious) piece of information but why didn't you just put "How did he get that sword" in the subtitles?
It would appear that these days fansubbers just leave in their favorite Japanese words, putting in distracting translation notes. Isn't a translator's job to making one language and culture understandable to another? I shouldn't have to read notes because you wanted to keep in your favorite words. If I wanted to learn Japanese, I would take a class in it. And shouldn't having to think of ways to make something hard to translate English be challenge? Honestly, if you can't figure out that "-sama" can translate into English as "Mister" then you must be a really crappy translator. This also makes it really hard for people not familiar with the language to get into subbed anime.
And what's with the flashy karaoke text in openings? Watch just the opening in this vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtWdb...e=channel_page
First, why are the karaoke-like words in Japanese easier to read than the tiny English translation at the bottom of the screen? And why are the lyrics at the top of the screen so flashy? Was it really necessary to include the name of your group under the name of the anime that you're subbing? And why are the names of your staff mixed in with the names of the people who made the show? All of this is really unnecessary, if I'm watching an opening then all I want are some easy to read English translations of the lyrics at the bottom of the screen. I don't need some big flashy text at the top. And speaking of flashy text, why do fansubbers like to use that during action scenes? The viewer's attention should be on the action in the anime, not on what neat font/effect you found in your video editing program. This might not sound like a big deal now, but imagine this: you're watching Fellowship of the Rings and it's the scene where Gandolf fights the Baurog at the end of the Mines of Moria. He's ready to slam his staff into the ground and say his famous line. But just as he's saying "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" colorful subtitles start bouncing around the screen until they align at the bottom and start moving around and stretching, distracting you from the actual movie so that you somewhat miss what happened.
Another thing is that there are times when fansubbers will try to make something as close to Japanese as possible and so they'll do a direct translation. And they usually end up with something that either makes no sense in English or just sounds weird. Like once I was watching a fansub of an anime and one character said, "That Guy? Not at this moment!" That line sounds really weird in a direct translation. So why couldn't the fansubber just have translated it as "Why did he have to show up now of all times?" or something like that.
Anything subbed should be so well translated that even someone who's never even heard the original language could understand it. It should not sideshow of fancy text and text effects along with a brief lesson in the language. This goes for all things, especially anime. Fansubbers, go watch any subtitles from a Funimation or ViZ DvD and you'll see that it's all just plain text in perfect English. No translation notes, no fancy text, just plain white text written in perfect English. Take a few hints from the pros and do as they do.