How do I watch anime if Crunchyroll doesn’t even translate right

I’m watching Attack on Titan and Eren literally says Eld-San yet it translates to “but sir” like it just makes me mad how crunchyroll is supposed to be the premium way to watch anime yet they don’t translate correctly and this isn’t the only instance I just can’t remember the other ones right now, and then other streaming sites online just don’t have as good quality so there’s no way to win

Edit: To the people saying sometimes literal isn’t the best or subs are changed to “better convey the meaning” that just seems like lowering your standards cuz you already paid for crunchyroll I mean I’ve seen other translations like Hulu that translate it properly and there’s just little nuances that may not mae a big difference to some people but I like to know what the characters are actually saying because it shows a lot about their personality and I mean I think crunchyroll just dumbs it down to make less words show up cuz they’re lazy 🤷

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luckst4r2026-01-15 08:18

it has some bad translations but this is not the example you give. That is fine

SkigmaBidsidy2026-01-15 08:19

Yeah I can’t think of the other times but there have been times where whole sentences just get annihilated but this just makes me mad cuz I’m nitpicky

newier2026-01-15 08:33

You can't even think of other times? What the fuck are you whinging about then?

Either learn Japanese and translate it yourself or shut up.

SkigmaBidsidy2026-01-15 08:45

[removed]

newier2026-01-15 09:22

Nice deleted post.

SkigmaBidsidy2026-01-15 09:25

Deleted it cuz I didn’t have the time or energy to reply to all of the people like you who either are just ignorant or choose to succumb to and support things knowing they’re in the wrong just because they’re popular or already because you already paid it, but hey you managed to make it through

baseballlover7232026-01-15 21:10

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Aggressive-Ad-89072026-01-15 08:18

Attack on titan is completely in dub and the dub is excellent just watch it in dub

beckychao2026-01-15 08:18

We're in the era of abysmal subs. Companies are annihilating their captioners and translators because they think AI can do it, since consumers don't drop their services in droves (mostly from lack of choice, since they're all doing it). This is like, something to write about to your congressional rep and senators about consumer issues. Crunchy is charging for a service and not providing it.

Dabnician2026-01-15 08:24

Are confusing the "english[cc]" with "english" because cc isnt subs and "english" only shows on signs when you are watching the dub.

And english on signs is cr staff cause they have to manually place the text and do color matching.

Where as "English[cc]" is closed captions they should honestly stop doing but i imagine its a compliance thing for a law or regulation.

beckychao2026-01-15 08:28

I don't know how this person is watching it - but Crunchy, Netflix, and a host of other services are doing things like AI translation, then using staff to clean up subs. Netflix most notoriously. I speak multiple languages and I've caught the subs in Spanish in several series being made that way. I was watching The Dead Girls and ho boy. Train wreck. Someone clearly was tasked with not just inputting it, but also trying to edit them to express what they thought was supposed to be said by the character in the scene. The results are eye watering lol

Dabnician2026-01-15 17:26

>This is like, something to write about to your congressional rep and senators about consumer issues. Crunchy is charging for a service and not providing it.

"legally"

unless they are a broadcaster IN THE US, streaming services dont have to have Closed Captions

[https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/captioning-internet-video-programming](https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/captioning-internet-video-programming)

[https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/21st-century-communications-and-video-accessibility-act-cvaa](https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/21st-century-communications-and-video-accessibility-act-cvaa)

They should just remove "english\[cc\]" entirely because it doesn't have the audio queue you normally have with closed captions and yall complain way to much about them being wrong. maybe they are trying to be in compliance with a regulation but legally they dont need to if they dont have a antenna or aren't on cable in the US.

>Companies are annihilating their captioners and translators because they think AI can do it, since consumers don't drop their services in droves (mostly from lack of choice, since they're all doing it).

So if you tried to watch "This monster wants to eat me" on day 1, the sub titles that were on that show were horrible, the entire screen had subtitles for text on screen mixed with spoken dialog and it used the token white on black style making it hard to read.

if you tried to watch it today they have the translation over the on screen text and signage.

some one is still doing it because all of that has to be done by hand.

but it was months or weeks before that happened because i remember not watching that show due to the subtitle format. when i returned to it recently it has the cr style subs now.

mirroredinflection2026-01-15 08:19

The most literal translation isn't always the best one for conveying meaning across languages.

SkigmaBidsidy2026-01-15 08:24

I’d say the literal translation conveys the personality of a character better than an edited version

mirroredinflection2026-01-15 08:25

the typical "literal" translation for -san is usually Mr. which I don't think really works in this case.

Few_Highlight11142026-01-15 08:27

Its not edited. There's a thing called "localization", you should look it up.

You dont really want direct 1:1 subtitles because sometimes it won't make sense.

SkigmaBidsidy2026-01-15 08:32

I know what you mean but you can localize and still either translate it just wrong or translate it properly I mean theres just way more specific, correct, better translations than crunchyroll most of the time and it’s sad cuz crunchyroll is the best quality you’ll get

Few_Highlight11142026-01-15 08:42

Did you like buy into marketing wholesale or something? I've never heard anyone say crunchyroll is the best quality outside of those who use it.

It also makes no sense to continue repeating it when you are literally complaining about it and saying there are better alternatives lmao

SkigmaBidsidy2026-01-15 08:43

Better translations not quality yet to find better quality video than crunchyroll

SkigmaBidsidy2026-01-15 08:44

I’d actually really be happy if you gave an example of better video quality than attack on titan with better translations

duncandun2026-01-15 08:20

how would you translate it? He’s literally addressing a superior in a military hierarchy lol

SkigmaBidsidy2026-01-15 08:23

It shouldn’t need translated he’s literally just saying his name 😭 this is just an example of how translators just take what’s being said and go jerk off with it and do whatever the hell they want I mean obviously this specific example isn’t a big deal but crunchyroll translation does not have good track record

dienomighte2026-01-15 08:40

Well -San would be sir since he's addressing a superior, and they probably figured "Sir Eld?" would read awkward in English, so "but sir" carries the same intent but in a structure that's far more immereive for the viewer.

They could've kept the honorific as well and gone with a literal "Eld-san", but that has its own downsides since honorifics have a lot of different meanings and nuances depending on the situation, while "sir" in this military context has fewer. It makes it less likely for the audience to get confused.

Imo it's a bit nitpicky since the meaning is the exact same.

baseballlover7232026-01-15 08:21

> Eren literally says Eld-San yet it translates to “but sir”

That doesn't necessarily seem like a poor translation to me.

But the real answer, is if you don't like how things are subbed, to find better subs, or even better yet, just learn Japanese and forgo subs altogether. As long as you're reading someone else's translation, there will be bits and pieces that don't come over cleanly or have unexpected translations.

Context matter for translation, and the same phrase may have different proper translations based on the context in which it is said.

Jujube00552026-01-15 08:40

“Learn Japanese” That is the least helpful thing I have seen here.

dude_18182026-01-15 08:22

Honorifics never get translated literally

SmurfRockRune2026-01-15 08:22

A good translation isn't perfectly one to one, a good translation makes the content make sense to the audience while getting across the same meaning. This example doesn't change the meaning of what's being said at all.

inyourfragrance2026-01-15 08:23

learn Japanese

DragonDogeErus2026-01-15 08:30

Learn Japanese. The example you gave is nothing, as they mean the same thing in context. Using "but sir" instead of just the name likely worked better for the scene, even subbed, because they share syllables.

[deleted]2026-01-15 08:33

[removed]

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Jujube00552026-01-15 08:39

That is the worst example of something “being changed”

Also just gotta lump it until something changes I guess.