anime on dvd's

pneboy

Dandy Guy, in Space
can somebody telll me why the subtitles on the anime dvds are different to the dubs, i know you will say R2 are subbed by the licensor in the uk but R1 dvd's do it aswell
 
If I'm understanding your question right then it's mainly because of the difference from speaking Japanese and English.

Proper subtitles should be a literal translation of the Japanese, but sometimes using the exact same dialogue either doesn't sound very good in English. Also some phrases take different amounts of time to say so sometimes phrases are extended or shortened to fit in with the on-screen action.

(is this want you were asking about? :?: )
 
Ushio said:
If I'm understanding your question right then it's mainly because of the difference from speaking Japanese and English.

Proper subtitles should be a literal translation of the Japanese, but sometimes using the exact same dialogue either doesn't sound very good in English. Also some phrases take different amounts of time to say so sometimes phrases are extended or shortened to fit in with the on-screen action.

(is this want you were asking about? :?: )

so the subs are more of a japanese culteral nature, whilst dubs are american cultered
 
As has already been said the subtitles should be a literal translation of what is being said, just the sentence structure changed to make it readable and understandable in English.

Dubs on the other hand can take several different forms:
1) Literal translation as above only altered to make it understandable in English, does not necessarily match lip flaps.
2) Near literal translation keeping the feel and overall content as close to the original as possible but altering it to match lip flaps and the like on screen.
3) Reasonable translation, but replacing some Japanese cultural references with Western ones.
4) Completely different to the original Japanese, telling a different story using the original pictures.

I prefer things that stay within 1 and 2. Anything approaching 4 can be a real mess.
 
No its simply a technical issue, ushio is exactly right its simiply down to the fact it takes different amounts of time to say the same thing in different languages so if you used a literal translation on a dub the voices would be completly off from the movement of the characters lips.

Its not down to some evil conspiracy to Americanize anime as some people think its done so that what you see and what you hear match
 
Be happy they are different, dubtitling is a bad thing.

However some Optimum DVDs come with 'subtitles' and 'subtitles for the hard of hearing' where the former is the Japanese translation and the latter is a direct copy of the dub wording.

'Wind warriors' and 'Battle of the planets' are great examples of case 4. Bleugh!
 
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