15 thoughts on “Things that lose “coolness” when translated”

1. 最悪 is kinda dorky in Japanese too, just not as bad.

2. 格好いいよ！ (A cheer for your guy)->You’re cool and manly! (a little effeminate and brown nosing)

3. よくできました (compliment for a job well done) – You did a good job (sounds extremely childish)

4. Ken, I don’t control the ads on this blog. But I agree with you. I might break off into my own blog someday.

5. Worst catchon phrase of them all: やった～～～ (Heroes)

6. ナルト：分かっているってばよ！
   Naruto: Yeah I understand! Believe it!

7. 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.

8. 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?

9. 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?

10. Ah yes, but I’m sure purists would disapprove of 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.

11. > 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.

12. [Tae Kim]>Translation is always a compromise between accuracy and natural English.
    [Chris]>I disagree. There should never be compromise unless absolutely necessary. An accurate and natural translation is almost always possible.

    [Tae Kim]>It’s more of a problem when the two languages are very different which is why the problem is so evident in JapaneseEnglish.
    [Chris]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”.

    I agree with Tae Kim; and a compromise doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, you know. Little nuances and implied meanings getting ‘lost in translation’ for the sake of the end product sounding like natural English is an occurrence that happens all the time. Yet even when this happens, such translations are generally accepted even by the so-called ‘purists’ so long as the said translation doesn’t overstep its bounds by too great a margin. “An accurate and natural translation” is almost always achievable; this is true. The challenge (if you dislike the usage of ‘problem’), however, lies in fundamental lingual and cultural differences that a translator must overcome in order to deliver an acceptable rendering in the target language. No one is saying that this is an impossible feat, but the fact remains that there must exist some balance between accuracy and target language fluency in order for this to happen. Therefore, for any given sentence of reasonable length, the ideal “100% accurate translation” is unattainable.

13. I’m a complete beginner when it comes to nuances like this. I do tend to agree with Chris though. It’s how you translated them. You intentionally chose a dorky expression with the same denotation instead of choosing a cool expression with the same connotation.

    If you want an accurate translation, I think expressions like this should not be translated literally.

    BTW doesn’t 「がんばれ！」 or 「がんばって！」 sort of mean “Hang in there!” more than “Do your best!”?

14. A literal translation is the most accurate or at least true to the original language. If you mean “accurate” as in expressing their intent most accurately in English, then that’s different but there’s still interpretation by the translator unless you can get input from the original author.

    Neither are completely accurate, which is why it will depend on the situation. 明日、がんばってね most likely doesn’t mean “Hang in there tomorrow” and would be better translated as “Try your best tomorrow”. But if you’re shouting がんばれ！ in a competition, “Hang in there” might be a better translation.

    In any case, some kind of balancing needs to be done and there’s no perfect answer.

15. I came to your blog via /even.html which I landed on through a Google search on “でさえ”, and for the last hour or so I’ve been going chronologically backwards through entries, very much enjoying myself. Just wanted to say that this one especially made me burst out laughing several times. Thanks!

Comments are closed.