You know you've watched alot of Anime when....

It happens all of the time for me. After a while you get a general sense of the correct translations for certain terms and you realize that many subtitles go for something that means the gist of what is being said but it's not quite right, or they go so heavy on slang that it makes sense but it doesn't work, or when they change it so heavily that it only barely makes sense, or hell when they just change things completely. A really common mistake a lot of people no matter how many anime you've seen will notice is what they do with names. The character might say "Onii-san" but instead of that or "Big Brother" we get the character's actual name. Or even names being given when they aren't mentioned before that character is introduced.

Cat's Eye which is currently airing now has a particularly inaccurate translation.

I've noticed this a lot with the Hi-Dive subs on Amazon. I'm not sure who is doing the subbing, but it's "correct" in a general sense, but a lot of the nuance got bulldozed

This is when you know youre in the most dangerous phase because you dont *actually* know. Some phrases can mean different things given a certain context or nuance, and can be translated differently. Not to mention the localization of metaphors that cant actually get a direct translation

yeah, "localization specialists" are often morally compromised failed writers who will ruin your favorite foreign content out of spite

LEARN THE LANGUAGE

Same. It helps with enjoying a show more when I understand characters properly but subs are fucked up

Be very very careful of the Dunning-Kruger effect. You genuinely aren’t qualified to fully comment on translations if you haven’t spent time becoming fluent in a language, because 1) there’s no such thing as a perfect translation, that isn’t how language works, and 2) context and character can inform how translation/localization is done. Judgment calls are made to preserve *effect*, which might include entire rephrasings of sentences or changing vocabulary. Translation is not done to somehow prove the translator’s fluency for clout, it’s done to make the experience good for people who don’t speak the original language.

You can absolutely take issue with how things are phrased in English, of course, sometimes subs are really awkward. But please remember that if you like a fansub’s take better than another fansub’s take, you still don’t have all the knowledge you need to claim one is a “better translation.” Especially because your sense of Japanese that you’ve picked up by watching anime is itself entirely informed by decisions made by fansubs you liked.

I hate it when they completely change the order of what they say. One example is in One Piece, when Luffy does his Gear 4th for the first time. So Luffy Says "Gear ... Fourth".

But the subtitle has it as "Fourth ... Gear". Spoiling what Luffy is about to say. No idea why they do it.

I guess the recent example is Umamusume where the characters say 'Merry Christmas" and even have a sign in Katakana that says "Merry Christmas". But the subtitles for whatever had it so they said "Happy Holidays". Like they very clearly say in English with a Japanese accent "Merry Christmas".

Rubba dub dub, thanks for the grub 🙏

Hate it when the subs are not quite correct, especially when the character is talking in english already but the sub is different.

I've done TL checking for some fansubs. I can tell you that a lot of times were trying to convey the *nuance* or the idea that is being communicated so a lot of times, direct translation is thrown out for the sake of preserving that. Because sometimes there is just no 1:1 equivalence in the vocabulary. Personally, I hated the old style that preferred direct translation and included a lot of TL notes that make their way to the actual sub.

localization can’t always be direct translation. It can come off as unnatural or straight up make no sense without the cultural context. And explaining all that in few seconds is not ideal through subs. You can do it, but its choice and commercial localization usually stick to “rules” about not making the subs too wordy or too long. And of course there is also that this is a job for someone, not a passion and that they don’t always get the time they might like even if they wanted to.

If only you could have that sort of passion to perperly learn English...

Unless you speak Japanese then you don't know. Don't delude yourself into thinking you do. Japanese, like all languages, have nuance. If your means of knowing the language is "I watch a lot of anime" the stop. Translation and localization can only convey so much and you are a second hand recipient.

You can immediately tell when they've used the dub version as the subtitles and its infuriating

Got the same feeling when ur reading a manga and when it becomes an anime it sucks, like solo leveling, the manga was so lit but it didn't reach my expectation when it became an anime, thwe only difference is you can actually learn japanese while i can't do anything about the anime but complain about it.

Yeah happens every so often. I instantly go for another source for the whole series :D

Nothing to add except that I really miss the Minami-ke shenanigans. Maybe it's worth a rewatch!

I definitely miss fansubs. I actually enjoyed the random cultural TL notes.

In my case usually it's like I'm watching sub hear something in a long fast rant and don't manage to read the sub (especially when there's background chat that has sub at the top of the screen) but understand it anyway and when I rewind a couple of seconds I realized is what I thought

It’s what happens when you’re in an industry that just wants to churn out shit and doesn’t pay the translators. These are objective metrics that determine the quality of the subs, and so far, most are just passable to bad, never wowing me. Some series are straight-up unwatchable with official subs and need more passionate, nuanced fansubs, like the Monogatari series.

I could be wrong but P5R has this where eng text doesn’t match exactly sometimes with the Japanese audio

The people doing fansubs for Gintama back then are goated for actually trying to explain the context for almost every single joke and references that may fly over people's head. Increased my enjoyment of the show immensely and lead me to enjoy the stuff that gets referenced

Too bad almost nothing gets to that level of quality nowadays (even if I don't really need it anymore thanks to having even greater knowledge of the culture and language)

this especially when its CC subs

This is why I watched Edgerunners dub on Netflix. My Japanese is not that good too watch scifi this kind of anime in raw Japanese but it is good enough to be bothered by not matching subs and voice.

Most Netflix subbed anime are fine tho, idk why this anime in particular only have CC for the English dub

I couldn't watch Durarara on Netflix a long time ago because the subs were wildly inaccurate to the point where even me, someone who doesn't speak the language, was actually being bothered by it. 

I don't disagree that anime enjoyers who don't speak Japanese can be right in saying the subs are not "right" just from watching anime, I just find it rather amusing that people question the authenticity/accuracy of the translation when they can't speak the language.

Do I find some subs weird/unnatural as a Japanese speaker? Yes, but I also understand it's hard to translate languages that as long as the gist is there it doesn't really bother me as much.

You don't need to go all in into studying japanese to learn enough to understand anime, the structure is pretty simple. The hard part is reading/writing.

I'm noticing that a lot of the subs lately are missing on the relationship dynamics in Japan. Calling someone "aniki" or "senpai" means the character has a lot of admiration or respect for the other, but subs lately just skip that and put the character name.

>the subs from Miname-ke that explained all the various cultural bits and pieces and why characters often acted a certian way based on how they used a personal pronoun

i agree with this, translation note is the best and on that note, i want to punch the face of whoever it is that push the notion of "translation note is bad" because fuck you and your small-minded ass, why not expose people to a wider breadth of culture instead of filtering through your narrow lens?

I promise the professional translators who write the subtitles, who are fluent in both English and Japanese, know what they're doing more than you. 

ya it's really weird when the english subs change stuff or try to localization too much

A speak JP but was watching the trash that is Rent GF s4 super speed up at gym and the English subs always used 'angel' when the grandma said princess (hime　姫). So weird.

It also made it make less sense when she actually finally called her angel (teshi　天使)

Some sentences are contextually translated. What is actually said doesn't always translate to localised idioms or phrases. But the sentiment might be there for it and so the translators often take a creative liberty with it.

It can help western audiences better connect with the characters rather than leaving them confused about what was literally said.

I think it's funny when a single throat noise is used to convey discontent towards an underling and often you get a translated sentence for it. Ranging from "silence you fool, you have dishonoured and shamed your ancestors" to "I reluctantly agree with everything that was said"

One of the reasons subtitles by AI will forever suck.

If you don't speak the language, have never worked in localization and have only picked up disparate bits from repeated exposure through anim you do not have anywhere near the level of knowledge to judge a localization to be right or wrong.

Never forget, all according to keikkaku (Keikkaku means plan).

In reality, faithful translation would be difficult without a proliferation of annotations. Especially in comedy, where the nuance of language is everything, translators either have to give up on making people laugh or use their brains to come up with a better translation. In one episode of Kaguya-sama, Fujiwara makes Kaguya laugh by repeatedly saying "chinchin," but there's no direct translation that conveys the Japanese feel of the word (which means male genitalia, but has a childish sound / a very common onomatopoeia, the sound of a bell).

My biggest annoyance with technically correct translation is the placement of proper nouns. I know the structure of Japanese is backwards compared to English, but moving the noun still works while allowing me to follow along easier.

especially the netflix subs, they're like completely wrong sometimes

When you know all the anime from Crunchyroll ads on YouTube.

Or when the plot doesn't surprise you because you already predicted what would happen but yes wrong subtitles are so annoying 😭

All according to keikaku! (Keikaku means plan)

The more I studied japanese, the more I realized that this whole "that's not what they're actually saying" is stupid.

Where do you draw the line? If you were to say "are you well?" or "how are you?" but in japanese, you'd basically be saying "honorable health (you) are?"

This is like... hour 1 of learning the language, past the syllabaries (which takes multiple hours spanning days). It is an entirely different way of thinking, of speaking, and understanding context.

I'm not saying you're necessarily wrong, but I don't think you're qualified to comment on this when you yourself don't know where you draw the line. Do some phrases just not "pass" because it's not a "direct translation" or because it's not consistent with how it's normally used? Or maybe in the localization, the character said "anata" but the subtitles was a whole sentence meaning "Oh, it's just you, dear." Or maybe the character said "Johnson John" but the subtitles said "John Johnson." I wouldn't say that's "wrong" imo. Just about EVERYTHING is "wrong" in some sense, but where do you draw the line?

You'd be suprised just how flexible Japanese is. This is just one bit, but it blew my mind when I learned a week in that you can say something like "(last month) (I) (to the station) (ran)" or "(I) (to the station) (last month) (ran)" and they'd both be correct. Don't get me wrong, there is an order in which you *should* say it for flow and emphasis, but for the sake of being able to communicate, it's not outright wrong. I find Japanese to be a fascinating language.

Note that it's quite dangerous to make inferences on a language based on anime, especially when that medium is your primary exposure to the language. But that's a whole other topic.

I used to think the same thing, like "they're not saying that!" until I actually started to learn the language, and realized, "okay, maybe they are saying that, but just in a way that flows better in English for an English-speaking audience." That being said, lazy translations (or localizations) do exist, and yes, they can be quite off the mark, but it's not like what they're saying is entirely wrong. Mistakes do happen, and in those cases they are wrong, but in an everyday episode, they're on the target more or less. When I speak Spanish, I don't think in English. All my thoughts are in my Spanish. My processor is in Spanish. It's the same thing in Japanese. You are encouraged to never think in English when you're speaking Japanese. It's a different processor entirely.

As for the bit where you don't have the drive to learn another language or japanese, I'd say just give it a go. You'll never know if you'll end up loving it like I did. If you need an easy app that isn't just another Duolingo #55, I'd recommend Human Japanese. I recommend it because they explain concepts in a way that a little kid should understand, and each exercise and vocab bank is FULLY voiced. No difficult analogies. Just note that it's not as comprehensive as a regular paper textbook, but you'll at least learn the fundamentals in a structured manner like a textbook.

Wow, the brain dead discourse in this sub is exactly why I don’t use it. Time to mute and move on, I suggest people baffled by the comments should do the same.

If watching anime is the extent to which you’ve developed an ear for Japanese, then likely 99% of the time you’re seeing accurate translations of Japanese words whose context is highly dependant on context.

Whether it’s a very broad word like ‘Hai’ or co-opted English words that need to use different words for an English audience to preserve the meaning and intent.

Most issues about translation people complain about is down to personal preference, and is true even in the comments here. A basic fact about translation between languages is that the most correct translation, usually requires flexibility concerning literal translation versus translating meaning.

I think people get in the way of themselves enjoying anime trying to overthink translations based on decisions made in other shows

There’s a choice in localization between how much do you trust the audience to figure out from context and how much do you de-Japanify the material to make it culturally intelligible. You have to do some degree of the latter, but I favour leaning into the former because I’m intentionally choosing to engage with foreign entertainment. Some localizers (or their bosses) go hard on cultural westernization to appeal to a “broader audience” which does create discrepancies that I can pick up.

Sometimes it’s fine, but sometimes they’re cutting into the author’s intent. That can be a problem. A translation choice can be made to feel more natural in English, but it ends up undermining the writing five episodes later because the literary nuance wasn’t preserved and now there’s no room left to capture the shift. Unless the whole work is translated in one go, that is a risk.

It’s funny to me when the character will explicitly say “brother” or “sibling” and the subs put that character’s actual name instead

Sometimes, the subs just don't feel right.

Yor clearly yelling, "Goddamn!".
Subtitles: "OH, Come On!"

...when you're turned off by 3D women.

I don't really get this. i been watching anime subs for several years but I couldn't really tell you more than 10 Japanese words/phrases.

That said, I been noticing some AI - translated crap as of recently that you could just tell without understanding japanese other than the context being completely off

You just hear an expression being used in so many different contexts that you essentially figure out its usage, even if not its concrete meaning. I like to compare it by making a shape through negative space.

However, it can end up being a bit annoying to have a dissonance in what the characters are saying and what the subs say, or at least so it was to me. This was one of my main reasons for learning Japanese.

Maybe with curse words too sometimes another one is used in place it's off I think

I noticed on platforms like Netflix they'll use the dub script for the subtitles, or the other way around (the captions for the dub is from the Japanese translation).

Audio: MERRY CHRISTMAS

Translation: Happy Holidays

🤷‍♀️🤷🤷‍♂️

It doesn't happen to me often, after all I only started watching anime last year. However, there are some expressions where I've noticed it. 


Sometimes I can't understand who's doing the subtitles; they put in so much effort. Since they're already going to put in so much effort, why not look for a more reliable source or the original source? 


I might be talking nonsense, but since they're putting in so much effort to subtitle, why not use the most reliable and accurate source possible?


Besides the fact that I avoid dubbed anime (in Portuguese), there are very few that I trust. I know they want to adapt it to our style, but they're so concerned with that that they completely change the context of the dialogue in that scene.

Whew.. I'm not alone.

Sometimes when I'm watching in Japanese, a character will randomly say a line in English and then I get confused because I don't speak Japanese, but I understood what they said without the subtitles, so I sit there confused as they slip back into Japanese and I can't explain how I suddenly understood them and now I can't. It's because I'm really fucking stupid.

the weirdest thing for me, is when the audio says brother or sister, but the subs says the characters name

I'm trying to learn japanese so i can read BSD without having to wait for someone to translate it 

Just watched something recently where a girl walks in to see her mom in the kitchen cooking and she says “Ii nioi” (smells great!) but the subtitles read “whatcha got there?”. Un-freaking-watchable.

I've long had this issue. And unless you are familiar with japanese you miss alot. Even with just the use of honorifics can really change the meaning and feeling of somethings. Like with the "The Irregular at Magic Hish School". Miyuki refers to Tatsuya with the -sama honorific. The dub use of brother just doesn't convey the level or respect she has for Tatsuya. I kinda get it though there isn't really a way to translate it as dialogue without it sounding kinda stupid.

Some of them are so bad it's truly hilarious. The some of original Funimation dub for Hajimete no Gal was hilarious and had to be completely made up.

This happens all the time

Nowadays localizers get it wrong on purpose, out of spite. Both towards us, and themselves for not being actual artists.

Honestly with sub quality these days, you don't even need to know Japanese to figure out something is wrong.

Like sometimes the character is saying something in actual goddamn English, but the translator(or AI, who knows) sees fit to further translate it anyway!

Most recent one I noticed was in Cinderella Grey, where Fujii referred to Maruzensky as Supercar. But the subtitles said Hot Rod. I was kinda baffled. Is Supercar an European term that needs to be localized for an American audience? Like c'mon.

Shikanokotan also had the most uncanny ass episode 1. Like sometimes you get stuff that isn't even about accurate or not - it simply isn't even legible English. Reminds me of the old bootleg Anime DVDs with nonsensical Babelfish-translated(or however) subtitles.

There was also some debacle over the ChatGPT subtitles in Necronomico and the Horror Show. I remember attempting to watch the first episode, noticed the subtitles were completely out of whack. No idea if they ever fixed the subs but I never got back to it.

Fansub groups like Subsplease are a lot better than the official subs IMO

I totally get this feeling. After watching enough anime, you start picking up on tone, quirks, and character speech patterns that don’t always survive translation. Fan subs back in the day really spoiled us with all the cultural notes and context they used to include.

Wife called out AI-made subs, like, 2 minutes into a new anime.
We turned it off immediately, found it on a different streaming site with user-made subs, and watched it there instead.
Embarrassingly, I hadn't noticed it until she pointed it out.