xenophobe: lolwut hidden text!

otaking is a gigantic faggot.

June 13, 2008 – 10:31 pm by nunka

part one of too many

And so it begins. I can’t think of a more appropriate way to break this blog in than by hating on a Britfag. So, here we go.

Yeah, yeah… late, older than Raptor Jesus, LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE, etc. If you’ve not yet beheld Paul “OtaKing” Johnson’s ridiculous “Anime Fansub Documentary,” you’re missing out on some quality RAAAAAGE material. By all means, go have a blast. Just don’t expect me to pay the medical bill when your aneurysm bursts.

Essentially, Mr. Johnson’s argument can be summed up as “Modern fansubbers aren’t translating every single word of dialogue into the Queen’s English, and thus, they are wrong.” Well, here’s my (superior) argument: the Japanese language was indeed passed down on golden plates by God himself for us lowly weeaboos. English is merely a crutch we use to support ourselves on the journey to glorious nipponlightenment. Accept this fact or get the hell off my internets.

Pretty convincing, if I may say so myself.

I like how most of the quotes OtaKing provides came from before he was born. I’m sure the words of some hippie translator schmuck may have held quite a bit of value thirty years ago when recreational drug use on the job was totally far out and radical, but in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re currently in the year two thousand eight. And hippies suck.

Though, speaking of drug use… about 5 minutes into part four, OtaKing notes that translators should remove quotations that sound “totally unnatural in English.” I was all fucked up on sleep meds when I watched this last night, and the original in his example made perfect sense to me. Weeaboo instincts? Perhaps. But I’m putting my money on “OtaKing is fucking stupid.”

Zing.

Thankfully, the assface partially redeemed himself by puking his ideas into written form in an interview with The Anime Blog’s Rachel Bigler. It’s amazing how much more tolerable this clown becomes when you don’t have to hear that infuriating, cock-gargling voice of his:

If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. My video was free and I got paid nothing, but it didn’t stop me researching translation theory for a year or hand drawing and animating the cut scenes just to grab people’s attention (they certainly wouldn’t stick around for my voice, that’s for sure!).

Well, at least he’s honest. And hard-working. Too hard, maybe, for a few Jewtube videos that’ll make little more than a dent in the average fansubber’s huge ego. He succeeded in pissing me off, though, so there’s that.

I believe strongly that fansub groups (not all, as I’ve heard it said that there are still some good ones out there who translate properly) need to take a long look at how fansubs used to be done, drop the flashy effects, eat a few slices of humble pie and stop trying to make themselves bigger than the shows that they’d be nothing without.

Well said, Paully boy. Now if only that were your entire argument… and if only you could let go of your belief that every single word of every single line in every single scene of every single anime series absolutely must be translated. Sigh.

When all’s said and done, Miss Bigler asks us the following deep and penetrating questions:

So, how does his interview change your opinion of fansubs? Do you still feel modern fansubs are fantastic? Or has Paul inspired you to rethink your thoughts on fansubs?

Yes, OtaKing has opened my eyes! I see the light! How could I have been so naïve all this time? I never would’ve guessed that the fansubbing scene is all just one great big circle jerk. No, sir. But now I know! And it’s all thanks to Paul’s exhaustive research. And his razor-sharp wit. And his ever so eloquent speech, conjuring the pleasant image of a Down’s-afflicted, prepubescent Halo fanboy shouting obscenities into his Xbox LIVE headset in a last-ditch effort to fit in with someone, anyone, in this heniously cruel world. And… ugh. I fucking hate English people.

I could continue dishing out the hate for a good while longer, but I know better than anyone that I’m incapable of actually constructing a logical argument. I’ll just pass the torch to the venerable DarkMirage, whose response to the aforementioned interview sums up my thoughts on this whole issue quite nicely:

1. It’s not possible to not use translation notes at all. It is true that some groups tend to over-use.

2. The examples shown in the video are on the extremely bad end of the spectrum. Inherent bias and self-selecting conclusion.

3. Older fansubs were bad in a different way. OtaKing believes that a good translator should replace Japanese puns and wordplays with equivalent English ones. That’s not what older fansubs did. Older fansubs simply ignored the puns and translated whatever was left. OtaKing is way too idealistic about “the good old days”. Tons of old fansubs don’t make sense despite being in perfectly fluent English.

4. The example of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei shown is absolutely crap, I agree. But it is not possible to translate that show without resorting to onscreen typesetting. It’s asinine to argue that the English viewers should only get to see what the Japanese viewers get to see, because clearly the subtitles were not in the original version either. The correct solution for Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is to fix the fonts used so that they don’t disrupt the visual style of the show.

5. Ultimately, for a show like Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei or Azumanga Daioh, there are only three options one can take. The first is to use translation notes. The second is to completely rewrite the scenarios and gags to work in English. The last is to just translate as much as you can and ignore anything that doesn’t work in English.

The first is what fansubs do now. Some better than others. The examples shown in the video being the crappy ones.

The second is what professional translators do, particularly for dubs. It requires actual literary talent on par with a real writer and it is a skill that people pay money for. It is absurd to demand this of fansubs, particularly since such adaptation would not sit well with fans who want the original Japanese humour.

The third is what older fansubs tend to do when they can’t find an English substitute. It is the only real solution for fansubbing without translation notes. It doesn’t sit well with me personally.

In conclusion, honorifics are the cancer killing /b/. You heard it here first.

posted by nunka in animu, misc, rants