[ SECRET POST #4887 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4887 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 61 secrets from Secret Submission Post #700.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I agree using random words is one thing but keeping in honorifics is IMO valid especially when you yourself admit there isn't a one-to-one translation. I mean, fuck, the official professional translations for a lot of manga leave in honorifics. You can't say you have sympathy for newer writers/fans and such and then go on to call people lazy hacks for doing something even professional translators often leave in for cultural context.

Not OP

[(Anonymous)]

IMO, just because it's "official" doesn't make it less weird. I've seen characters referring to themselves in the third person in the official, professional translation of a video game, and it just came off as very awkward. It's probably fine in eastern countries, idk, but in western countries, referring to yourself in the third person gives the impression you're weird or that you have a big ego.

On the topic of honorifics, I think it would be best to use the closest equivalent of whatever language it's being translated to. I suppose if a story were set in Japan, you might get away with "Tsukino-san." But when the story is set in, say, London? If I hear "Layton-kyōju" instead of "Professor Layton" then I will ask what the translators were smoking.

Re: Not OP

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, yeah, totally the context is important. If the characters and setting aren't meant to be Japanese that's one thing. But I think leaving them out when it's Japanese characters talking to each other in a Japanese setting it's perfectly valid to leave it in since it's an important aspect of the culture and because we know they're talking to each other in Japanese in-universe just fanfic/translation is written in English for our benefit.

How can you translate a scene where the characters decide to switch to first-name basis if you changed it to always referring to each other that way? Things like that.

Re: Not OP

[(Anonymous)]

+1 Where there IS a one-to-one translation, sure, it should be used, but in some cases, there ISN'T, and the translation genuinely loses something if it's ignored.

Re: Not OP

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know how common it is to refer to oneself in the third person in eastern languages either (granted, I don't speak all of them). Are you sure that character isn't meant to have a big ego or be somewhat unusual even in the original?

Re: Not OP

[(Anonymous)]

Well, a six-year-old child and the wife of a soldier, neither of whom are full of themselves. And none of the other characters have indicated that either person is "special" in any way. And weirdly, the child randomly starts talking in first person by the middle of the story.

But the entire translation had issues all around. That was just one of them.

Re: Not OP

[(Anonymous)]

"IMO, just because it's "official" doesn't make it less weird. I've seen characters referring to themselves in the third person in the official, professional translation of a video game, and it just came off as very awkward. It's probably fine in eastern countries, idk, but in western countries, referring to yourself in the third person gives the impression you're weird or that you have a big ego."

This. A character using "ore" or even "ore-sama" tells you something very specific about them, and perhaps the only way that's communicated in written English is in third person. (In voiced work you can use tone, of course.)

Re: Not OP

[(Anonymous)]

Referring to yourself in third-person in Japanese never means a big ego, it means a little kid or a woman who acts really cutesy and childish. But most people who watch anime know this, or can pick it up from context. That's how I figured out what it meant when I was new to anime. It's also, as far as I know, almost strictly an anime thing except maybe for literal two-year-olds or extreme otaku girls putting on a persona.

I don't think it needs translation to first-person speech, because it's not about language, it's about cultural connotations, and like I said, very easy to pick up what it means from context.

Re: Not OP

[(Anonymous)]

If it's "baby talk" then it's not unique to the Japanese language, especially if used by actual children. Don't think that really needed to be translated into first person in the case of the six year old.

Re: Not OP

[(Anonymous)]

The point is, if it's translated to English, it is very unusual for a person to refer to themselves in 3rd person. Someone in in the US, for example, will find it strange because children tend to not refer to themselves this way (and I'd argue a lot of western folks would not). Even with best intentions, some things don't necessarily have to carry over. Or they can be depicted in a different way. Some lady is supposed to be cutesy and childish? Well, can't she say stuff in a cutesy and childish way without resorting to 3rd person?

Let me flip that around. If a character with a big ego in a western cartoon refers to themselves in the 3rd person, would it be best to leave it as is during the translation, and just let other audiences figure it out through context that this isn't a childish character? (though some might argue the character is childish either way, heh)

I should note I'm referring to stories that are not set in eastern countries, or not necessarily even in our world. I'd probably just shrug if it were a manga set in Japan, because I think the cultural argument would have more weight.

I'm also not trying to give anyone a hard time. I find this discussion fascinating, because I do think in the end, translators want the same thing, but might have different ideas of how to accomplish that.