Things that lose “coolness” when translated
Some things in Japanese just seem to lose their cool when translated into English.
I’m sure there are examples where the reverse is true but it’s much easier for me to come up with these examples.
Fighting words
「ぶっ倒してやる！」 (Cool) -> “I’m going to beat you!” (Not cool)
Technique/Spell/Summon Names
「螺旋丸！」 (Maybe Cool) -> “Spiraling Round [Thing]!” (Definitely not cool)
語尾 (technically 終助詞)
「くるぞ！」 (Brave) -> “They’re coming!” (Scared)
Expressions and Cultural Phrases
「がんばれ！」 (Uplifting) -> “Do your best!” (Dork)
Heavily Girly Style of Speech
「嫌だもん！」 (Pouty Cute) -> “I don’t like it!” (Complainy)
Finally, basically all of Death Note in English is just awkward.
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April 18th, 2008 at 3:18 am
最悪 is kinda dorky in Japanese too, just not as bad.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
格好いいよ！ (A cheer for your guy)->You’re cool and manly! (a little effeminate and brown nosing)
April 18th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
why don’t you put more banners, DATE Japanese girl! here and here! and cheap domains t-shirts ! whoa meet Japanese Girls CLICK HERE CLICK HERE yyyyea…you’re getting them all
April 19th, 2008 at 12:15 am
よくできました (compliment for a job well done) – You did a good job (sounds extremely childish)
April 19th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Ken, I don’t control the ads on this blog. But I agree with you. I might break off into my own blog someday.
April 19th, 2008 at 6:42 am
Worst catchon phrase of them all: やった～～～ (Heroes)
April 21st, 2008 at 12:01 pm
ナルト：分かっているってばよ！
Naruto: Yeah I understand! Believe it!
April 28th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
The problem is how you chose to translate them. If care is taken, they can be just as “cool” and also carry the same intent as the Japanese.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:19 am
I’m sure that’s the case but this was just a exercise in humor. Chris, perhaps you can come up with some cooler translations?
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Glad you asked.
>>ぶっ倒してやる！
I’m gonna tear your appendix out and string it up on a flagpole.
>>くるぞ！
Show ‘em what we’ve got!
Let’s pummel these muffin munchers!
>嫌だもん！
Like…ummmm….I totally don’t think so, okay?
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:34 am
Ah yes, but I’m sure purists would dislike the liberal interpretations. Translation is always a compromise between accuracy and natural English. It’s more of a problem when the two languages are very different which is why the problem is so evident in Japanese< ->English.
May 4th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
> Translation is always a compromise between accuracy and natural English.
I disagree. There should never be compromise unless absolutely necessary. An accurate and natural translation is almost always possible.
> It’s more of a problem when the two languages are very different which is why the problem is so evident in JapaneseEnglish.
What exactly is the problem?
While translating from Japanese to English might be “harder” (a very loaded word) than going from English to Spanish, a good translator can easily make up for the “difference in difficulty”.
A problem I see in J-E translations very often is that the translator attempts a word-for-word translation. (Note that this doesn’t make it any more (or less) accurate than using a different translation method.)
This method can work with “more similar” languages like English and some European languages. But English and Japanese grammar and syntax are worlds apart, making this word-for-word method more difficult to use.
That said, my preferred method of translation is making sure that the “idea” or “theme” of the source text is accurately described in the most natural form possible in the target language.