The F-word

[El Diablo Rojo]

Don't be alarmed. I'm not curious as to what the F-word is or what it means or anything like that. I just want to ask a question or something to that effect.


The basic question is do they change the vulgarities in anime when translating it from Japanese to english?

Like say making something less vulgar(and I don't mean edited for TV purposes) or making it more vulgar. I don't know why I'm just kind of curious.

Well I do know why actually. Its because I watched a particular episode of Excel Saga in Japanese and then in English. The Japanese version seemed relatively clean, at least on the language side, but the English verrsion added the F-word. It was sort of appropriate for the situation, but it just seemed kind of strange.

Which brings up another question: Do they change the translation through the subtitles in order for it to be less vulgarious? I don't actually understand Japanese except for a few words, so I don't know if what is written in the subtitles is the exact translation, or if it is similar but a little different for grammatical reasons.

So the two questions I have are:
1) Do they change the vulgarities in anime when translating it from Japanese to english?
.............("they" refers to the people that make the particular anime)
2) Do they change the translation through the subtitles in order for it to be less vulgarious?

And examples of such would be great too.

I guess I'm just curious. Oh and I'm not sure if all the forms of the word vulgar that I used are correctly spelled. Or for that matter, if they're even words. Well Whatever. I'm so lonely.

[Joykiller]

Alot of Japanese words do not have direct english counterparts. Therefore alot of times their meaning is dependant on the context that the word is used in. Some times a word might translate best as "huh", and in a different context it may be more like "WHAT THE F**K!!?!!". It really comes down to how the dubbers want to trasnlate it based on their impressions. The same could be said of subbing to an extent.

[*inverse*]

That's a really good question.

Yusuke (YYH) has a bad mouth - He's apparently always swearing, and what not. In Japanese, the words he says usually sound the same. But the translations read otherwise - they were always different. Even though they kind of mean the same things. (Does that make sense?? )

[*inverse*]

Ah...I'm a little slow...

[Arigatomina]

I've known dubs that add curse words in replace of 'disrespectful' terms that aren't anywhere near the english replacement. For example, the simple word 'kisama' - a disrespectful way of saying 'you' gets turned into 'bastard' all the time in anime (the same happens to 'yarou' - but since that means a 'dispicable person' it's not too far off). Some characters use that word by habit, not intending to be particularly insulting, just because that's the sort of 'disrespectful' tones they use on a regular basis. But in english the only way they can show that the person is saying 'you' in a 'bad' way is to turn it into a curse word.

On the opposite end, words like chikusho (or k'so) mean the english 'damn it' but that's dumbed down to a simple 'shit' in most dubs. I guess bastard is a softer word than damn when it comes to dub audiences.

What I really like is when the Japanese characters say *english* words and the dubbers still manage to mistranslate them. ^_^;; How hard is it to turn 'sank you' into 'thank you,' or 'damn you' into 'damn you' and not 'you bastard'? But subtitles aren't always much better. I've seen anime subtitles that ignore the english words being spoken so they can give their own 'translations' just the way the dubbers do. I think it's just an English thing (aka American thing for the US dubbers/subtitlers).

[Arigatomina]

That's a really good question.

Yusuke (YYH) has a bad mouth - He's apparently always swearing, and what not. In Japanese, the words he says usually sound the same. But the translations read otherwise - they were always different. Even though they kind of mean the same things. (Does that make sense?? )

Heh, that's because Yusuke has a 'lower' language - more disrespectful. He's one of the ones who address people as 'kisama' and spouts 'damnyou' in English along with his typical 'k'so' when he fights. Really, the only way the dubbers could have pulled his 'bad attitude/thug language' into English was to either have great actors who can say *you* and make it sound like a curse, or to replace the words with curses the viewers are more familiar with.

Either way, Yusuke definitely has a potty mouth. ;p But Hiei is much worse when it comes to using 'impolite' language on a constant basis. I guess they just left that out of the dub.

[agelesslorg]

yes sort of like in the first hellsing order when alucard said in the english dub :'a misrable ghoul' but in the subtext 'a shitlike ghoul' unless my dvds screwed up

[*inverse*]

Either way, Yusuke definitely has a potty mouth. ;p But Hiei is much worse when it comes to using 'impolite' language on a constant basis. I guess they just left that out of the dub.

Ah yes, I guess that's why we love them.

[HeavyMetal]

Yeah Yusuke and the crew are bad-asses.

In the manga he smokes. It wasn't Genkia's cig that saved him it was his own.

But the censorship nazi made them change it to gum.

My question is why the hell are "impressionable" children watching it to begin with.

They need to watching more violence and cursing in preparation for later years. hehehe

Yusuke doesn't say nice skirt either. He....uh....well goes for a feel of her breasts. Kinda makes more sense since she smacks the crap out of him for it.

As for the questions the topic is about the answer is yes to both.

While pioneer did a little less censorship in the language department and a little more in the violence department a lot of DBZ is still missing.

The moonings are in the uneditied version, but a few episodes were never aired due to content.

As for language Vegeta and Gohan say F**K all the time from what I've seen in fan dubs.

While I don't know how accurate the dubs are it does add up with the numerous flippings of the bird.

[Sonicthecitydefender]

i found a translation note one time: the word "shit" in japanese is the same vulgarity as "crap" and "shoot" in english!