What's Lost in the Translation?

The Japanese Language

Social Nuances

"I" and "You"

watashi - I am female, or (less used case) a dignified male

watakushi - I am a dignified female speaking in a formal setting, or a dignified male being particularly formal

atashi - I am female, perhaps (but not necessarily) slightly less sophisticated than someone who says "watashi"; I may be a young girl. Informal variation of "watashi."

atai - I am a "country" female (implications of "simple country girl")

boku - I am male. I am either a young boy, or I am playing down my status, perhaps because I am among superiors

ore - I am male. I am probably an adult or nearly so. Somewhat boastful-sounding.

oira - I am a "country" male (implications of "simple country boy")

wai - An even more "country hick" kind of "I"

washi - I am an elderly person, male or sometimes female, and accordingly should be treated with respect for elders

ware - A somewhat archaic form of "I" or referring to oneself. "Wareware" is common, though, and means "us."

sessha - an archaic (masculine) form of referring to oneself (used by Kenshin in "Rurouni Kenshin" aka "Samurai X" and used in other period dramas)

(name) - To refer to oneself by one's own name seems particularly self-effacing. In manga, it tends to be associated with simple, innocent young girls. ("Naoko wa iiko ni shite imashita" could be a little girl named Naoko saying she has been a good little girl.)

(status)+honorific: In many cases, polite discourse demands that "you" is not used; the person's status (parent, older man, older woman, customer, little boy, guest, etc.) is used instead. At a store, the store workers are likely to say "o-kyaku-san" (honorable guest) to customers. On the street, a child might say "o-neesan" ("older sister") to an unknown woman up to about 25-35 years of age (or less) under some circumstances, might say "o-basan" (elder woman/"auntie") to a somewhat older woman, and "o-baasan" (old woman/"grandmother") to a clearly elderly woman. But even these terms change in appropriateness depending on the relative age and status of the speaker and the exact circumstances ... so ... beware!

(name)+honorific: Instead of hearing "Would you like some chocolate?" addressed to Reika by someone who doesn't know her well, you're more likely to hear "Would Reika-san like some chocolate?" When a name is used, whether last name or first name is used will depend on the relationship, and likewise so does the honorific. For example, "Matsumoto-san" (last name) would be good for polite conversation between adults, such as in a work setting, and "Rika-chan" for polite conversation between kids.

used, whether last name or first name is used will depend on the relationship, and likewise so does the honorific. For example, "Matsumoto-san" (last name) would be good for polite conversation between adults, such as in a work setting, and "Rika-chan" for polite conversation between kids. anata: polite word for "you" - used mostly by women, but can be used by men in formal situations. "Anata" is also a commonly used word used by wives when speaking to their husbands, like saying "honey" or "dear" - in this case, using the husband's first name is sort of frowned upon, even though the husband often will use his wife's first name. Go figure.

anta: a casual form of "anata" - used mostly by women, sometimes by men, usually with people who are known to them.

kimi: a lightweight form of "you" - used mostly by men among friends and family.

omae: a familiar form of "you" - used mostly by men, and can be a common term to refer one's spouse or family members. Never used in polite discussion. May be used by some women, especially more rural women. The manga character Black Jack often referred to other people as "omae-san."

omee ("omeh"): a more slang-like form of "omae." Mostly used by men.

temee ("temeh"): even more slang-like word, and a corruption of the word "temae." If used normally, indicates the speaker is of fairly low breeding. If used during times of stress only, indicates the speaker has a particularly negative opinion of the target. Another mostly-male word.

kisama: a vulgar form of "you." Often indicates great hostility. Another mostly-male word.

(Side note: It is also very difficult to create a mysterious, gender-neutral, societally ambiguous Japanese character, because the person's choice of words for "I" and "you" and so on would naturally betray a lot about the person's social standing.)

More Nuances

Ike - Brusque, commanding form.

Ikinasai - Softer, feminine form, almost a recommendation more than a command.

Yuke - A more archaic form of the commanding form.

O-iki - A softer, sort of archaic, feminine form.

Itta (itta) - Technically past-tense, an informal form; "Gone (gone)!" - "Shoo" comes close

Ikiyagare - Very rude form of "Go."

Itte kure - an informal male request form; "Go, please."

Itte o-kure - an informal "country" or elderly request form; "Go, please."

Itte kudasai - a polite request form; "Go, please."

Itte kudasaimase - a politer request form; "Go, please." Often feminine.

O-iki ni natte kudasai mase - My feeble attempt to write an even more polite form. Usually feminine.

Even Laughter Has Implications

ha ha ha: Normal exuberant laughter

hih hih hih: Creepy laughter

hu hu hu (or fu fu fu): Somewhat sinister laughter

heh heh heh: Somewhat embarrassed or self-conscious laughter

ho ho ho: Refined feminine laughter

ka ka ka: Sometimes, rustic (old) man's laughter

ku ku ku: Evil chuckle

ke ke ke: Evil cackle

Sentence Endings Add Character

Dialects and Formality

Also, very formal Japanese is almost as striking as another dialect. It's rarely used (though common in some comics), and it has a lilting, poetic quality that makes it the equivalent of speaking with "thee" and "thou" and other such more historical forms of English. The difference between the "feel" of a King James Bible versus a modern American-English text is a fair comparison, though a big difference is that highly formal Japanese is still considered modern Japanese (last I knew, at least).

Summary: What ARE We Missing in Translations?

As you can see, a lot of social data can be lost in translation. It's easy to miss things like female Ranma's jarringly male speech ("Ranma 1/2"), Vash's humble speech, Meryl's refined sentences, and Wolfwood's "country" accent ("Trigun"), Oscar's highly respectful and aristocratic speech with the queen, contrasted with her rough and masculine speech with her troops ("Rose of Versailles"), Kenshin's charmingly distinctive and archaic speech ("Ruroni Kenshin"/"Samurai X"), Amuro's notably polite form of "I am going" when launching Gundam (in the original "Gundam"), and so on.

A lot of personal relationship information is lost as well. The gentle maternal relationship of an elderly character to a younger character can be expressed, in Japanese, in the simple choice of words in saying "You go on now" - but is more difficult to convey in English. Likewise, a literal translation of an exchange between a couple - with the woman saying "you," and the man saying the woman's name - would fail to convey the familiar, family-oriented, comfortable relationship implied in their choice of words. And, of course, the common scene in which the hero screams "YOU!" at the enemy loses much of its emotional energy if one doesn't realize how much anger and resentment can be invested in the choice of which "you" is used.

So, while a good translation would manage to preserve the general meaning of an anime or manga, it would truly take very careful and thoughtful translation to even begin to transmit the hidden cultural information, the message behind the words. And, coming from a society like Japan, there is a lot of cultural and social information to be lost in translation!

Finally, of course, flowing, poetic Japanese text can only be fully re-created by a translator who can create flowing, poetic English text.

Sound Effects in Manga

Written sound effects in Japanese are a splendid affair. In the same way that English has words like "crunch" or "gurgle" or "splash" or other words that try to imitate sounds through onomatopoeia, Japanese likewise has words that do so. However, Japan relies on these words in a somewhat different way.

Have a look at these two paragraphs:

"The rain splashed the street, and the child trotted up to the door. She rang the doorbell. She dug a candy out from her pocket and crunched it while she waited. A dog barked nearby."

"The rain fell pitter-patter on the street, and the child ran trot-trot-trot up to the door. She rang the doorbell: ding-dong. She dug a candy out from her pocket and ate it, crunch-crunch, while she waited. Nearby, a dog barked `yap yap.'"

The second one is obviously awkward in English, but also provides more immediate and direct sound effects than the natural English version (even though both versions use a lot of onomatopoetic words). It is also a fairly natural way of speaking in Japanese (e.g. "Onna no ko wa, ta ta ta to doa ni hashirimashita."). Direct sound effects that have yet to be turned into verbs are the norm in Japanese (I mean for example, "gulp!" versus "he gulped," "crunch!" versus "he crunched").

In a language that's so dependent on sound effects, then, it's no wonder that sound effects flow naturally in the pages of manga, too. Japanese manga overflow with sound effects for big and little things: the clink of a teacup on a table, the steady throbbing sound of helicoptor rotors, the deep rhythmic thrumming of a giant starship engine, or the gasping breath of the worn-out hero. But, for depicting these sounds, it winds up being less awkward to say "thrum-thrum-thrum" or "gasp - gasp - gasp" in Japanese for the same reason it is MORE awkward in English to do so. It's simply natural and commonplace in Japanese, and not so natural in English.

For another example, consider how Americans describe sound effects in casual conversation. It seems to me that few people take "bam" or "pow" seriously as a realistic sound effect; people are more likely to imitate, parrot-style, the "whpsh!" or "pbhhk!" or "hfh, hfh, hfh" sounds from the movies. In contrast, I think (I could be wrong) that the Japanese tend to verbally rely more heavily on Japanese-syllable-based sound effects, which are "close enough" and yet also easily spelled and easy to read (contrast with the "whpsh" I wrote above, which is not easy to spell in a traditional sense).

Here are some Japanese sound effects and their English equivalents. Perhaps you can draw your own conclusions about some of the differences between Japanese and English:

shiin: sound of silence

pota: drip: sound of a drop

pota pota: drip drip: multiple drops

kata: rattle, clink

katata: rattle: gentle sound of rain rattling on a roof top, or wood-frame houses rattling from a train passing nearby.

zaaa: sound of a light, but steady rain

jyaa: sound of a bathroom shower or heavy rain

sara-sara: sound of gentle flowing stream

sawa-sawa: sound of leaves rustling

kiri kiri: sound of some types of crickets

koto: clink: sound of small hard object being placed on hard surface

kari: crunch: lightly crispy sound

kori: crunch: crunchy

karan: clunk: sound of empty hard object being struck

chin: ding: sound of a bell

pin pon: ding dong: sound of a doorbell or TV game show bell

jiriririiin: brring: sound of a school-type bell going off

uuu: growl: dog growling, human in pain, etc.

gururu: growl: dog growling, or stomach growling ("grr")

wan wan: arf arf: dog barking

kan kan: arf arf: dog barking sharply

kyan kyan: yap yap: high pitched dog barking

bau bau: woof woof: big dog barking

uo uo: woof woof: dog barking

kyain kyain: yipe yipe: dog yiping

puchi: snap: small snapping noise, as of snapping a cracker in half

pachi: snap: small snapping noise, as of a fire

bachi: snap: large snapping noise, as of a branch or large fire

boki: snap: heavy snapping noise

baki: whap: heavy hitting noise

pisha: slap: slapping noise or small splash

bishi: whop, whoosh: sound of slap, or fast slapping motion, or fast strike ending in a pose

basha: splash: large splashing noise

guchya: squish

gashan: crash

zugaan: bam: gunfire with echo effect

bababa: bam bam bam: gunfire

hyurururu: whistling effect of bomb falling through the atmosphere

dokan: kaboom: sound of large, sharp explosion

chudohn: kaboom: sound of a large, sharp explosion

zudaan: kaboom: sound of large explosion

dohdohdohdoh: deep throbbing rumble of a waterfall or giant engine ("throbthrobthrob")

goro goro: rumble of thunder ("rumble-rumble")

haa haa: pant pant or gasp gasp

goho goho: cough cough

kyaa: scream (female)

gyaa: scream

uwaa: scream: sort of surprised

iyaa: scream: (sort of means "no")

guaa: scream: usually in pain

kyaa-kyaa: noisy, as of screaming girls

doki doki: thuddup thuddup of a pounding heart

pika: effect of light being flashed ("flash")

ssa-ssa: quickly ("whoosh-whoosh"?)

shaa: quickly, like a fleeing snake ("whoosh")

jita-bata: hectic, harried

gata-gata: quaking with fear ("quake-quake")

gaku-gaku: shaking with fear ("shake-shake")

pun-pun: steaming hot angry ("steam-steam"?)

jiro-jiro: effect of staring

kuru-kuru: effect of twirling/turning/rotating ("twirl-twirl")

nuru-nuru: effect of being slimy

buru-buru: effect of shaking with cold (perhaps "brr-brr" is close)

oro-oro: effect of being nervous and shaken

kachin-kachin: effect of being frozen stiff ("clink-clink")

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