In vol 3. in the english translation when Bridget tolds Challe that she wants to buy him, he thinks that the old Challe, would have probably lead her on, then striked her down. Which is ruthless and tells you a lot about his deep hatred for humans and his dark past.
He probably would have done something brutal, like lead her on for a while, only to strike her down.
But I discovered that in the original japanese text, he thinks that the old Challe would have done something brutal like lead her on and then decapitate her head from the front!!! WHAT!? 😱 That's extremely brutal and violent. That shook me to the core when I discovered it. We know that he took a dark path of vengeance and wrath, but this makes it worse, he definitely was in his Kill Bill era in the past.
散々思わせぶりにしたあげく、正面から首を刎ねるような残忍な真似をしたかもしれない。
After a lot of suggestiveness, he might have acted brutally by decapitating her from the front.
i’ve wound up watching episodes of the untamed twice, once on youtube and once on viki, because seeing two different translator’s takes on how to subtitle it feels like it gives me a better sense of it, and sometimes things I don’t understand in one are made clearer in the other.
viki is generally better, i think, both in terms of not choosing really awkward ways of rendering people’s titles and stuff, and also in that it feels like it flows better? it generally reads more like natural dialogue than the youtube captions, which often have that sort of stilted style that makes it clear you’re getting a translation. BUT, sometimes I prefer the youtube ones, so i didn’t want to just switch to only using the other one.
for example: the scene that introduces xue yang, on viki, has him say “Xue Yang’s not afraid to die. I’m only afraid of having no purpose in living.” okay, cool, fine, totally reasonable. sounds like some straightforward villain shit, nbd.
but the youtube translation is simply, “I don’t fear death. I fear boredom.”
THAT’S SUCH A GOOD LINE!!!
THAT’S SUCH A CLEAR, SUCCINT ILLUSTRATION OF HIS CHARACTER!
it’s probably less technically-accurate, but damn, that really gives you a feeling in a little scene of less than 5 minutes of exactly who this person is and exactly what you’re going to be seeing from him in the future. the first one gives you “noble villain desperately seeking purpose in life,” but the second gives you “unhinged, impulsive thrill-seeker with no particular sense of self-preservation,” which is both way more accurate and way more interesting!
FE3H Translation Comparison: Two Support Convos (Sylvain/Ingrid C, Byleth/Edelgard C)
I started working on this post well before I got Covid, so this post and one other have been stewing in a document on my PC for a year or more. Wow. I’d say thinking of that makes my head hurt, but my head always hurts...
So this first change is pretty well known, I think. I’ve seen it mentioned in a couple of other places.
Sylvain/Ingrid C Support Conversation:
Switch the language to Japanese, and...
Ingrid: “When you were ten, at a show at a harvest festival, you tried to flirt with a man dressed in women’s clothing...”
Student: “Whoah, Sylvain even flirts with men...”
I like to imagine that both of those things happened at that harvest festival, and Ingrid decides to talk about something different depending on the language her text is in. Out of curiosity, I also checked the Spanish and German versions. Both had the same dialog as the English version for this part of the conversation (the scarecrow). I’d like to check more, but haven’t get around to it yet.
But I haven’t seen as much attention drawn to this support conversation change. I’ve probably just missed it, but still... It really shocked me!
Byleth/Edelgard C Support Conversation:
Select “I was restless.”
Ever wondered why she gets so flustered by that second option?
In the Japanese version, she has every right to be shocked, because Byleth uses a tasteless joke he probably got from his father. Or perhaps Sylvain.
Byleth: “I’m here for a romantic rendezvous.”
Edelgard: “A rende...!? My teacher, do you even understand what that means!?”
The word Byleth uses is a little hard to directly translate into English. It’s “yobai,” and specifically refers to a man sneaking into a woman’s sleeping quarters with the intention to...cuddle with her. Google Translate uses the lovely euphemism “night crawling.”
In her next line, Edelgard dismisses your statement as nothing more than a tasteless joke, and I can’t help but think Byleth should thank his lucky stars that Hubert didn’t overhear this. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure he’d be dead.
And while this school seems pretty relaxed on the teachers’ relationships (I mean, look at Manuela, yikes), I can’t imagine anyone would be too happy with a teacher hitting on the 17/18-year-old imperial princess, in the middle of the night, in her dorm room, most likely in her nightgown/pajamas (despite what her character model shows), while she also happens to be their student. Even if it is just a joke. That kind of behavior is probably frowned upon. Probably. I sincerely hope so.
By the way, the above scene is the same regardless of Byleth’s gender.
Looking at this scene in German and Spanish, the bottom option is Byleth saying he couldn’t sleep. In German, Edelgard’s response is the same as it is in English, but in Spanish, she says you did not really answer her question.
Interesting that they changed that. I’m not sure you want to hear the real reason, Your Highness...
Originally released in Taiwan, 2011. Zoisite’s voice is so sweet in this version, and I love the way they’ve chosen to translate the interaction between these two. Here’s the dubbing translation from Taiwanese-Mandarin:
Zoisite: The next victim is this young woman. An model student of Ma-Bu Technical University.
Kunzite: She’s (grown) quite beautiful(ly).
Zoisite: Gasp! Master Kunzite, you’ve gone too far! She’s just an ugly youma wearing a human skin! To be compared with her, I...!
Kunzite: Shh. Zoisite, your beauty does not suit jealousy. Zoisite...
Zoisite: Didn’t hear you! / Can’t hear you!
Kunzite: Even this rosebud cannot compare beyond your beauty.
Zoisite: Master Kunzite! ... (It is only acceptable that) I must gather the rainbow crystals!
I - why is translating Chinese sometimes even harder than translating Japanese holy fuck sometimes there is just no English equivalent to a word!
Also, originally I wanted to share this because I just love Taiwanese Zoisite’s voice, and because I thought the Taiwanese dub did a really masterful translation of the original - but wow, that last line really threw me in for a loop! In the original Japanese, Zoisite says “I shall bring you the rainbow crystal without fail” - which, I suppose the Taiwanese Mandarin does actually say... but the words they used to translate “without fail” can also mean “only this is acceptable” - which sounds really like, heartbreakingly definitive!? The Japanese original expressed a solemn promise, the Mandarin-Taiwanese dub decided to make Zoisite personally amp it up a notch!? Wow.
I’m sincerely appreciative of the choice the Taiwanese Mandarin dub has made to Zoisite’s lines, as they are so faithful and beautiful and really do his character justice. I can’t wait to hopefully see their death scene one day!!
Usual disclaimer: I’m not a native speaker and my French classes were a long time ago, I don’t propose to be any kind of authority. I just think comparing the translations is interesting.
There actually weren’t very many places at all that I thought the translation was weird. The only thing that really stood out to me was this moment, and this is a place where it might just be my inexperience confusing me. In the English, Alix says “I get the feeling Marinette likes Luka a lot.”
It took me a while to figure out the French verb Alix used because it sounded like “appeller” and that didn’t make any sense to me at first, but the reason I spent time on it was the sentence structure, because the French sentence starts with Luka’s name and ends with Marinette’s. It implies Luka is doing a thing to Marinette or in regards to Marinette, rather than Marinette being the subject and Luka the object. I think the literal translation here is “I get the impression that Luka really calls to Marinette.” I don’t know what that phrase would be commonly understood to mean, so the English line might be accurate, or it might be more like “Marinette is really attracted to Luka”? I dunno, this is where it would be handy to have somebody who actually knows what they’re talking about. 🤪
The other difference in this scene is Mylène’s line. The French line is “Its true that she’s not like this with Adrien,” as opposed to the English line “I guess you mean not like when she’s with Adrien.” Strikes me as a weird change, maybe they had to do that to sync with the animation.
French Luka sounds a little different in this ep to me. It doesn’t sound like a different person necessarily, maybe his voice just seems a bit deeper in this ep? Maybe he had a cold.
Other than that things were really close this time. Of course there is That Scene where Marinette asks Luka to give Adrien his guitar. I really wanted to see if that one was different, and the answer is, not very. In English Luka says “If you like, Marinette.” In French he says “If it will make you happy.”
Also, Sass’s French voice is so nice. He hisses the s in French too.
