[LoGH] [no spoilers] Werewolf/Beowulf [long]
Hank Wong (hankwong@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU)
Thu, 28 Sep 2000 13:53:07 -0700 (PDT)
On Fri, 29 Sep 2000 xerxes@pacific.net.hk wrote:
> The reason you heard something like "Beowulf" in the
> LoGH panel is that the sound "we" was substituted
> by the sound "be". In the Japanese language, the
> sounds "we"/"ve" and "wi"/"vi" are missing. When
> adopting a foreign word with "we"/"ve" and "wi"/"vi"
> sounds, these sounds are substitiuted by Japanese
> "be" and "bi". So "Waerewolf" or "werewolf" becomes
> "be-i-o-wa-ru-fu" when transliterated, which sounds
> like "Beowulf". Other examples are "vitamin" and
> "elevator". In Japanese they sound like "BI-ta-mi-n"
> and "e-re-BE-ta".
Thanks for the excellent explanation, Xerxes. Regardless of romanization
methods, there is no doubt that in kanji, the translation is
"werewolf."
What makes this situation difficult is the anime's own incorrect
subtitle that appears on-screen. If the ship name were just in the spoken
dialogue, and not spelled out on-screen by the show, subtitling the ship
name as "Werewolf" would be easy, and the obvious thing to do.
Now, just for a second, let's look at this from a user (viewer)
perspective.
Viewers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Japan is not likely to pay attention
to the English subtitle. They will see the kanji for "man/person" and
"wolf," deduce that to mean "werewolf," and move on.
But if an English-language viewer who doesn't understand the kanji
sees the show's own subtitles announce "DAS FLAGSCHIFF BEIOWULF," and then
sees "Werewolf" as an English subtitle in the character dialogue, they
will think "why is it now called the Werewolf? I thought it was the
Beiowulf/Beowulf??" Especially since the misromanization
of Beiowulf/Beowulf just happens to be a meaningful and credible name for a
ship in itself.
Short of physically blocking out the show's subtitles and replacing them
with the correctly translated subtitle, I see no way to prevent this
confusion. And altering the show in such a way is beyond the scope, and
runs against the ideals, of most fansubbers in the States.
What's the best way to handle this situation? It's a tough call, and I'm
not the one doing the subtitling. But if I were, I would lean towards
minimizing confusion, and add a note to the beginning (or end) of the
episode explaining that the proper translation of the name is "werewolf."
When doing English translations for making fansubs, there are two
philosophies. One philosophy is to translate the Japanese literally,
right or wrong, and add translation notes to explain any differences or
discrepancies. The other philosophy is to translate it to what an English
speaker would say. For proper names, there's also the issue of translating
the kanji meaning, versus translating the katakana sound, as Lee points
out.
Both philosophies have their merit, and as List Admiral
let me point out that a general debate about the topic of
translation would be more appropriate for a fansubs or anime translation
mailing list. So if we want to talk more about it more, let's try and keep
it related to LoGH. We have so far, and let's continue to do so.
-Hank
Hank Wong hankwong@soda.csua.berkeley.edu
LoGH List Admiral http://www.hooked.net/~renegade
"So swift ...like a gale..." -Vice Adm. Al-salem
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