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[HorribleSubs] Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T - 01 [1080p].mkv (1.3 GiB)
Is this not from CR? I don't recall CR ever having subs as bad as this ..
Where the fuck are the honorifics? All -sans are translated as "Missy". That alone makes this almost unwatchable.
@Abunja That would take too much effort. It's easier to cry about and pretend to be the real fans pirating this shit than it is to actually pay for the service that is catering towards the more causal fans, who you know, pay for the service.
If it's unwatchable, don't watch it. Wait for the dub. Pirate that. If that's unwatchable, then go home. Take your entitled ass outta here.
@lawlawl Of course they can cry over it but nothing will change, so I'm giving them the best possible solution to end their misery once and for all. And it's fun to stir up some drama at the same time.
Subs are bad? If they can tell that it's bad, then why bother watching subbed? Turn off the subs; problem solved.
The honorifics are removed or replaced that it's now barely watchable? A niche from some fans who likes "what I heard should what I see." This is a need that's hard to cater since nobody in their right mind would make a sub like that unless that their target audience are deaf. Again, turning off the subs will solve the problem.
@Lazzil I don't have to. Subs are just fine for me, unless somebody would point out that the subs are poorly translated to the point that it gives off a different meaning.
Also, no. Dubbing alone won't give you that experience. For all intents and purposes, this show are for the Japanese audience. Language aside, they're also different cultures. Though, it may vary depending on the show.
So...your argument is that the subtitles should NOT adhere to the usual conventions established for the last like decade + when it comes to subbing anime in English because....it's not in English and anyone who seeks better quality is entitled? And if they don't like it they should just not have subs at all? You even seem a bit smug and victorious over this which is...confusing. But each to their own I guess. Still, that's some convoluted logic there.
That said, I think the rest of this did answer my question, so cheers anyways. I'll wait until a decent group does this / I'll edit out fucking "missy" myself.
I mean, shit, do yous really not get why "missy" is bad? I'll put it in the simplest terms. Have you EVER heard anyone say that in English? Ever? I've genuinely heard more weebs slip "one-chan" into casual conversation that making up phrases that have never been used in the target language.
Japenese phrases remaining untranslated because there's nothing in English that quite carries over the nuance isn't new, no matter how much you whine when people point out that such a long-established convention has been ignored.
And on top of that, the Toaru official subs are quite bad for that in general. It's almost as if many anime half-ass their official subs just so they can be like "Yeah! Our show has English subs, give us money CR!". Oh wait, that's exactly what happens.
Anyways, my point in spontaneous rant here is to just chill the fuck out man, if others prefer their subs a certain way, then that's on them. No need to be a massive knobend about it. We're all fellow pirates here, where's the bloody camaraderie? >.>.
They can change onee-sama or sissy to buckaroo for all I care, it's on screen for a couple seconds each time and is easily ignored, largely because the character in question screeching it is incessantly annoying and I tune her out under most circumstances regardless, and even if you can't in your head you already know what you want to hear/see/read so it's easily substituted without even doing any editing.
No, I don't think anyone is entitled for wanting better quality subtitles that adhere to more familiar conventions and tastes. I think the entitlement comes from ranting about it on a pirate site acting like the various companies that have licensed, translated, subtitled, hosted, streamed, etc. somehow owe you, the downloader, anything at all. If you want change, use your paid/premium account with Crunchyroll, Funimation, etc. and say these subtitles suck. If enough people care, they'll champion around that and the official translators will do something about it. Don't cry because you stole a burger and it has onions on it, and demand they fix it or shit on the restaurant online for fucking up your order (that you stole.)
I swear to God, stumbling in to these comment sections gives me the same level of cringe as when I watch the Girugamesh meme. Fucking weebs.
@WisdomFish I think you might have a full grasp of the situation if you have read my comment prior. Long story short, learn Japanese so you guys can have deep understanding on their usage of honorifics, like, seriously.
Also, "missy" is bad, so let's just stick with "onee-chan". Are we hearing subtitles now? I don't know what makes it bad when, by definition, it fits right in the bill or maybe there are better terms. Possibly it's not used in normal conversations, but hey, we're reading subtitles. What a surprise! Also, leaving it to "onee-chan" reeks of laziness. I commend whoever did the TL for doing their job. Just thinking that to let their first time and casual viewers guessing over an unfamiliar word like "onee-sama" that is left untranslated is appalling.
@Abunja I did read them...but does that not strike you as a bit ridiculous? I mean, I'm multi-lingual myself, but with English as my primary language, learning Japanese (which, btw, I am doing, but no-where near fluent) is probably one the most difficult languages one can learn. For someone who hasn't been learning languages for much of their life, it's reasonable to assume it'd be so much harder...
That said, it's not hard to look up at least the most common Japanese honourifics in order to get that understand. Saying that > telling folk to learn Japanese, since that's just a tall order for English speakers in general.
As for your second paragraph, that's fair, I can respect that viewpoint. Still, there IS a reason so many people say what I do. Our brains are primed to understand language and that aspect is a larger one than whether you're reading or hearing something, hence the disparity between the two is jarring. How much that bothers one varies, but it is undeniably there.
As for @lawlawl...Lol, you remind me of that image going around with the bunny girl senpai main girl labelled weeb slapping main guy with the words 'fucking weeb. You get the idea.
But I do find it interesting that you think that only paying the licence holder entitles one to be able to appraise the quality of subtitles. You're 'consuming' media here, not a burger, something which is gone after one person uses it. The two things work in entirely different spheres. But I suspect you know this?
tl:dr, No you're wrong. Shit subtitles remain shit whether I paid for them or not, as they already exist and will continue to do so afterwards. Try again.
@Abunja Still, you say 'unfamiliar word'.... Really? I mean, shit, I don't know how long you've been watching anime/been a weeb, so apologies if you're a younger individual/ but a phrase like that is not only well known amoungst anime viewers but is also simple to google in this day and age. But *shrugs* that's just me ^^; I was probably saltier than I should have been in my initial comment, so my bad for that.
"I don’t have to. Subs are just fine for me."
What I'm trying to imply is that it makes no sense to have to make sacrifices in order to satisfy our translation preferences.
"Possibly it’s not used in normal conversations, but hey, we’re reading subtitles."
Subtitles should be a clear reflection of language used properly, otherwise it breaks immersion. Why do you think script writers get paid what they do to make shows and movies more meaningful? Because language matters to the audience. Granted, some may be less keen on it than others, but if writers and translators want to avoid critique on the matter, then they should put out something that at least tries to match their expectations.
In this instance, "sissy" does not work as a translation. The only time I hear any mention of the word from someone who isn't a child, it's typically an insult. It's almost never used to convey endearment, so it comes off really cringey when used in this manor. Consequently, onee-sama has no English equivalent, so leaving it untranslated should not be considered lazy. Every language has its own culture, so trying to force our own language culture into the translation would not be ideal. Also, there's no real rule stating that you can't incorporate culture from other languages into your own, so adopting those words into English use is perfectly fine as long as it's able to distinguish itself from anything else (we do it all the time with French and Spanish terms).
Of course, there is a time and a place to leave out honorifics, I'll give you that. In anime where the Japanese setting is either not there or not prevalent (which is almost never the case with school settings), I'd argue it's fine to leave them out. But in Railgun's case, the decision to leave them out was made without any consideration at all for the setting and culture, and that's what makes it terrible.
@WisdomFish It's not imperative though. But if fans really want to dive deep down and embrace Japanese culture to have full grasp on a certain niche like watching anime, I think it's better to consider learning the language itself than relying on translations. As you have already know, there are no perfect translation. And it will always be an issue of untranslatable words and words that should be left out untranslated.
What I mean with unfamiliar word, they are those words that are not (yet) incorporated and generally accepted in a specific language, or not a loanword. Take sushi for example, it's basically accepted and understood by the general public. But bring out something uncommon like nattö in to the conversation, and now you picture what's gonna happen next. What more if it's a region-specific, specialty kind of food that's never been heard being mentioned ever in an anime.
Now let's get into this case, should onee-sama be left untranslated or not? As @Lazzil said, there is no English equivalent word for it. But, you can define what does that mean, though lengthy. The basic concept of translation is to get the idea across, be it specific or in general. So, should a watered-down definition work here? If you ask me, yes. Something like sis or sister works just fine. Remember, this translation is made for the consumption of general English audience, not specifically catered for some avid (or rabid) anime fans.
At this point, crying here all day won't make the sub fit to your taste. Though, if you're paying for this, your best course of action is to tell the company that their translation sucks, horrid, terrible to the point that it's unwatchable. Who knows, they might heed to your rants.
As for @Lazzil, while it's true that it should be a clear reflection of the language, they'll occasionally get into the point that they need to cross the line as they're working on something that's foreign in most aspects. In the end, the decision is totally up to them. But if you were to ask me, I'll take anything that's generally acceptable.
On the other note, I agree that the word "sissy" shouldn't even been considered being used here as it's widely known as an insult rather than a way to address someone. Like I stated earlier in my comment to WisdomFish, they can tone it down to something like "sister" than just leaving it as is since it'll be used in the entirety of the show.
And while it's there's no actual rule to not to incorporate foreign language, it's because of an exception of that it's widely accepted or else properly explained. You can't have something you said in your foreign language willy-nilly to everyone, shoving it down to their throats without telling them what that is and expect them to understand what it was. Again, just what I stated on my comment prior, this is translated for the general public and not for people who wants a certain niche in their subtitles.
Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not crying or whining here. I realise tone doesn't come across via text, but bar that first post where I was admittedly being a bit salty over the issue. Complaining, moaning, sure, but mainly for the purpose of letting others seeing this know without having to download it themselves =P.
On the point of explaining it though, back in the day they actually used to do that. It was clunky and awkward but that was because anime was even more niche back then than it is now. (Or at least, imo that's why? I'm just guessing).
As for your example regarding food, if we're operating via the assumption that the watcher has internet access, they could easily just google 'natto'. The wikipedia page even goes into the connotations, as in how it's a bit of an acquired taste and hence might even help explain a joke. Sure, perhaps a decade+ back you couldn't quite guarantee that the answer to a given inquiry would be there, but nowadays definitely.
As for consumption by a general English audience...like, I do get your logic there, and if it were something other than simple forms of address, I'd probably more or less agree, but 'one-san' seems simple enough to look up if needed.
Essentially, the thrust of my opprobrium is against the use of 'sissy', which is as bizarre and ridiculous as it was when they used it last season, and the one before that and the one before that...
As for the company heeding our ranting...unlikely. Though I suspect there's plenty of stuff on social media that the producers could see if they chose to. But it's even less likely that they'd care about that. Once they've licensed it for international sales, there's very little incentive to brush up on translation. I guess that's what fansubber groups are for. Ah well. I've ended up just downloading a different file for it's subs and retiming and attaching them to this better quality video in any case so *shrugs* ^^;.
Sister would definitely be a better fit than sissy, but it's still less than ideal. If there's one thing that clearly defines Kuroko's character, it's her massive respect and admiration for Misaka. That admiration would be downplayed if you translate onee-sama to something as casual as sister, rendering the script less accurate to the original meaning.
"Remember, this translation is made for the consumption of general English audience, not specifically catered for some avid (or rabid) anime fans."
So what you're basically saying is that rather than market the translation to its passionate base, it instead needs to pander to the lowest common denominator. That's painting a rather bleak image if you ask me. It's almost like defending SAO for providing a watered-down experience that appeals to the masses. I think one could make an argument in favor of catering to your base audience.
"You can’t have something you said in your foreign language willy-nilly to everyone, shoving it down to their throats without telling them what that is and expect them to understand what it was."
Generally no, but anime fans who aren't familiar with Japanese honorifics are far less common than those who are. And frankly, it's not that difficult to learn the meaning of these just by watching anime for a short while, nor is it impossible to immediately guess its general meaning based on context. And if someone wants a better understanding, it's not that hard to use Google.
Given the general distaste of TL notes in anime, I can't imagine that many people wanting to see something for honorifics every time it's relevant (I used to get a good chuckle from those TL notes). You could get away with it in mediums like LNs, VNs, and manga where it can be placed unobtrusively (and I've even seen it done once in a Del Rey manga), but it's a little more tricky in anime. And really, it's not that much different from looking up a word you don't know in your own language.
It's the simpliest thing :
Onee-sama : Most polite way to adress a friend that puts you in a inferior state than her, and put her almost on a trone compare to you
Sissy : The most familiar way to adress a friend, almost an insult, that put her in a inferior state than yours, cuz it's ''babyfiying'' her relation.
That just change the whole setting.
By the way, i'm at my 6th class of Japanese. It's still not enough to completly watch an anime in RAW entierely, without missing something (I know, this is what I currently do with Blood+). 6 classes is worth 1750$ in Canada. You know what, I don't have any more money for this. So unless you wanna pay me so I can watch it RAW, sorry but i'm gonna continue complain about that ugliest of sub.
Everyone chill. We have more important weeb shit to argue about; arguments we CAN actually win.
Which girl is best girl?
I mean, the pedo/computer nerd in me likes the loli/computer nerd in Uiharu.
Then again, the EE/SM nerd in me likes the natural stun gun/dominatrix that is Misaka.
Fuck it, maybe I should split the difference and just like Last Order?
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