On Translation and Fangirl Japanese
Aug. 10th, 2003 02:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyesLike a good little fanfiction writer, recently I have been trying to eliminate any and all usage of Fangirl Japanese (also known as Otakuese) from my fics, especially ones not set in Japan (though the characters might be speakign Japanese. See Slayers, Escaflowne, etc.). Most stuff is pretty easy to cut -- I never was a bad offender, thank God -- but there is the matter of the name suffix.
I watch subtitlted anime, and I listen for name suffixes in character's speaking patterns, and I came up with a wonderfully awful inconsistancy in the official sub of Slayers. Consider two of the characters, Amelia and Xellos. Both use the suffix -san after nearly everyone they knows name. However, while the subtitles translate Amelia as saying Mr./Miss Whoever, Xellos's translation uses no such bounds -- his tranlation does not ever (once or twice at the most) use Mr. or Miss when refering to a person that, in the original Japanese, he refers to by -san.
It's not the translation that is really getting my goat, but the inconsistency. I accept that most Japanese are overly polite by American standards -- to the point that classmates who know each other pretty well will still adress each other by family name-san. However, in a show where most characters do not use -san for people they know well, to call attention to one of the two main characters that does and not another irks me.
So, this leaves what to do when I write and rewrite:
1) Keep the name suffixes. Both Amelia and Xellos say -san:
Pro: I don't have to deal with this issue
Con: I still have Fangirl Japanese in my fics that can be easily translated
2) Follow the offical translation. Amelia says Mister/Miss, Xellos calls by first name alone:
Pro: No one will question this.
Con: I'm not being faithful to the speeck patterns of the characters and that irks me.
3) Translate my Fangirl Japanse literally. Both Amelia and Xellos says Mister/Miss:
Pro: Keeps everyone IC and speaking English.
Con: I would either have to attach a note to any chapter with Xellos summarizing this discussion, or risk fangirls whining about how Xellos doesn't talk like that. Might still get that, even with a note.
I watch subtitlted anime, and I listen for name suffixes in character's speaking patterns, and I came up with a wonderfully awful inconsistancy in the official sub of Slayers. Consider two of the characters, Amelia and Xellos. Both use the suffix -san after nearly everyone they knows name. However, while the subtitles translate Amelia as saying Mr./Miss Whoever, Xellos's translation uses no such bounds -- his tranlation does not ever (once or twice at the most) use Mr. or Miss when refering to a person that, in the original Japanese, he refers to by -san.
It's not the translation that is really getting my goat, but the inconsistency. I accept that most Japanese are overly polite by American standards -- to the point that classmates who know each other pretty well will still adress each other by family name-san. However, in a show where most characters do not use -san for people they know well, to call attention to one of the two main characters that does and not another irks me.
So, this leaves what to do when I write and rewrite:
1) Keep the name suffixes. Both Amelia and Xellos say -san:
Pro: I don't have to deal with this issue
Con: I still have Fangirl Japanese in my fics that can be easily translated
2) Follow the offical translation. Amelia says Mister/Miss, Xellos calls by first name alone:
Pro: No one will question this.
Con: I'm not being faithful to the speeck patterns of the characters and that irks me.
3) Translate my Fangirl Japanse literally. Both Amelia and Xellos says Mister/Miss:
Pro: Keeps everyone IC and speaking English.
Con: I would either have to attach a note to any chapter with Xellos summarizing this discussion, or risk fangirls whining about how Xellos doesn't talk like that. Might still get that, even with a note.
