2011-02-21

About animes from Japan

As a Japanese, I feel rather happy that you seem to enjoy anime/ manga from Japan. So, I do not intend to say anything bad about it.
However, still I feel it is regrettable that you cannot touch animations/ mangas without translation. I mean it is difficult to know delicate nuance in those animations if they are translated in English and the other languages. And well, as one of Japanese, I feel slightly strange when I found animations/ mangas translated in the other languages. Especially, it is funny to see characters talk French....
No offense at people talking French, of course. But still, I wonder you, foreign people, can really grasp true point of jokes in Japanese animes/ mangas.

I frequently am impatient at writing journals and such things in English.
Well, if I can know usages of Engish much more, my entries can be much better. But setting aside it, still, it is difficult to seek out suitable descriptions in English, which can express what I really want to tell you.

It is said Japanese is difficult language to learn. Well, in my opinion, there is no language which we can learn easily. But well, if possible, I want you to try to watch/ read animations and mangas in Japanese.
Personally, I do not like movies with voice dubbing so much because I want to hear actors and actresses talk in their language. Of course, I need subtitles to see movies from overseas countries. But well, rather than voice dubbing, I like watching movie with subtitles.

As you are proud of your language, I am also proud of my language.
So, I frequently feel bitter when I happen to see Japanese honoric titles are blended in fanfictions written in English (about the other languages, I have no idea).
I never want fangirsl (and fanboys) of Japanese animes/ mangas to use our honoric titles in their works. Because, it really seems ridiculous to see characters talking English suddenly start using 'kun', 'chan', 'san' and so on*laughs* I guess those writers may belive it is cool to use Japanese in their works, but to my eyes, it is only silly doing.

Picking up One Piece fanfictions.
I happen to see a character, Sanji, calls one of heroines 'Nami swaaaaan' in a fanfiction of One Piece. When I saw this, I could not hold bitter sneer. Is there much better translation that the writer can use?

I know you (English speakers) seldom use honoric title with first name. If I add honoric title to your first name, it means like I am your slave. Therefore, when English speakers happen to get called their first name with honoric title, they are confused. At least I got informed like that.
But in my country, we add honoric title to both first and family names. To show respect and friendship, well, we use titles. So, I can understand those fanfiction writers may want to follow our customs.
However, I don't think they need to do it. They have own language, so, do not have to follow Japanese manner.

Well, I add honoric titles to our dearest Lordi members with knowledge it must sound strange to you. It is difficult already for me to quit this habit*laughs*
But setting aside me, well, I still want fanfiction writers to follow only their language. It is not comfortable to see 'chan', 'kun', 'san' in fanfictions written in English...*rolls eyes*

1 comment:

  1. Hey, it's Vilce/Uupiic here ( I don't know if the comment will show my username because blogspot keeps logging me out :( )!

    Damn, whenever I read this, I want to comment, but always either forget or am too lazy xD

    I do enjoy animes sometimes when I feel like it xD Even though I might like rather harsh cartoons than the other people around me xD

    About the English and other languages, I agree that it might be rather weird for you to watch them in English or French doubles ( I think animes in French sound very, very weird ), but at the same time I enjoy the dubbed version more than those with subtitles, much due to my poor eyesight ( because no matter how much I'd want it, I am not able to watch a movie on a small computer screen with subtitles, my eyes just start aching after ten minutes ^^; ). But I still wish that one day I will be able to watch animes in the original language ^^
    And about the comics, I already said once that the only two mangas available in Latvia are 'Naruto' and 'Warcraft Trilogy' ( even if the ''trilogy'' has only one comic published in Latvian xDDD ). Occasionally, there are some girly mangas as well, but nobody reads those anyway xD

    What I have noticed about the honrific titles such as ''san'' and others... I think the people who use them in their fanfictions, are people who watch the animes with subtitles. Recently, I have started watching 'Fullmetal Alchemist', and I have noticed that, while the English dubb of the show is a very good one and without any ''san''s, ''kun''s and such, the subtitlet versions tend to be FULL of those, mostly because they are quite often made by the fans themselves who just lack to ability of translating the animes well :(

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