So, something has finally caught my attention, too many times, that I really want to blog/rant about it.
Recently, I finally broke down and decided to translate A9's new mini album銀河のヲト(Ginga no Woto) from the "English" back into Japanese. Why, because I'm a Japanese geek, that's why, and I really like to keep the original titles. Helps with my kanji and practice reading Japanese.
Anyway, I noticed one song was titled, "Pierrot", which is french for "Clown" and this was fine. Nothing wrong. In fact, the word was not wrong, nothing was truly wrong. It all meant the same thing.
Show(formally known as 将) decided he wanted to title it "Clown". I'm sure he has his reasons.
Here's the deal, fans who donated money to their A9 fan project was able to download their mini-album a week earlier. If you downloaded the songs from the Japanese or even Chinese translations you probably got the original Japanese titles, which is what happened to my friend who lived in Osaka. She of course picked Japanese because, she's living in Japan, can read and understand Japanese. I decided to go with the "Good old American" pass and go English on this project.
Yeah, I've been running into some problems. Which is good! Don't get me wrong, if there weren't any problems, then translators wouldn't be needed.
Back to the song title.
My friend was talking to me about "道化師" and that she enjoyed the song. I, being American and lazy, had not translated the song titles yet, so I assumed she was talking about "Pierrot", which was what the song was titled when I downloaded the album. We went on our way with our conversation.
Want to know what Pierrot is in Japanese?
It's ピエロ
I believe any fan of the VK band Pierrot could have told me that. In fact, Japan loves that word to no end. There's an anime studio called Pierrot. Heads up, Japan loves french anything, and it's so true it's hilarious. But who exactly hates the French, WHO isn't British. (joke, I'm trying to be funny)
Do you want to know what "Clown" is in Japanese?
It's 道化師 (doukeshi)
Now, why on earth would Show translate a word from Japanese to French? Who knows what that man is thinking. I've stopped asking after meeting him a few times. Odds are he wanted to be artistic and look smart.
So, I look back at the moment my friend was asking me what I thought of doukeshi, I now understand what she was talking about. This is a problem. I see this as a problem, because I was on a side of a conversation that was slightly divided from my friend. This SHOULDN'T be a thing.
I'm not blaming Show, or A9. In fact, this has been a problem between Japanese and English speaking countries for YEARS! I mean YEARS!
Let's look at an example.
Attack on Titan. Many hard core fans, or fans who have been watching Anime know it as 進撃の巨人 (shingeki no kyojin) I hope you can see where I'm going. Just a simple title can divide up people between, "You don't speak Japanese" and "I'm on a different level than you. SUCK IT!"
THIS SHOULD NOT BE A THING!
This really should not be a thing.
Now, I do not see my friend being higher up or more superior to me, since I really like to think we are friends. (Won't lie though, for a short period I thought of her as Senpai.) But after a little time of getting to know her, and her getting to know me, we stand on even level footing.
I mean the only difference or leveling we have is that she's Canadian and I'm American. But even then, we both came from the west coast. We surprisingly do not have too much distance between us.
Now, I'm going to tell you what my ideal translator can do for fans. They translate titles or names so that all fans can stay on the same page and feel connected. I mean, that's why translators have been needed for centuries! I mean it literally too, centuries because we all know what happened in history when translators weren't involved. Bad things. Very bad things happened.
Another set of examples I have is good old Sailor Moon and Pokemon!
American fans knew "Usagi" as "Serena" and "Satoshi" from Pokemon was "Ash Ketchum"
We all know this; and if you didn't know this...sorry. To me, this is a trip up, plus it keeps American fans from fully connecting with other fans from other countries.
Fan: "OMG, I love Usagi she's so cute."
American fan: "haha, have no idea who that is, but I love Serena."
Fan: "..."
See the problem? Please see the problem, because this is where misunderstandings take place. This is where fans and people in general will feel lost and disconnected from the things that they love.
I love Alice Nine, or A9 now, and they have allowed me to make friends all over the world. To learn and understand that America is not the center of this planet. (-cough- Of course I knew that -laughs nervously-)
I love to think that I have good friends from various countries. I've talked with fans from Russia, all the way to South Africa. I have talked with fans from so many countries that I get excited thinking about their homes and countries that all the way over there, they too sit in their room listening to A9 and squeal with excitement over a new single or album. I picture their rooms covered in posters and different characters both internationally known or only popular in their own home country. This broadens my mind and understanding that Disney is not the only company and Coca-cola is not the only soft drink available. I enjoy meeting people from different countries, and I love learning about them and their home country. I want to travel the world some day.
And call me a freak, but I really do believe that music really can bring people together.
You see where translators have a really important job. I want to be a translator, but it's really hard. You are responsible in bringing people together using a common or local native language. You are the reason why someone will say, "Clown" or Doukeshi".
I highly respect translators to no end, and wish their were more ways to support translators, because they are the ones that bring people together. They bridge the gap and can help people understand one another. If you know a translator, go and hug them. They need it, because they get crap from people sometimes and it's not fair.
To All translators:
Thank you so much for all you do! It's not easy, and I understand that you have to make the choice between one or another, not knowing if it was the right choice.
I deeply appreciate the work you do.
From me, the American
However, some translators, and no Google Translate does not count, are just not making it all the way. Why would you translate 進撃の巨人 into Attack on Titan? Well, for English speakers, Japanese isn't exactly easy to pronounce. Plus, people simply do not have time to learn a language.
This, I understand. I have no issues.
But, how come you have to translate a Japanese character's name into an English name?
I would think that we know at least how to appreciate that "Usagi" is Japanese, it's an odd name to name a baby, but hey to each their own. Or why couldn't American kids learn to call the main character of Pokemon "Satoshi"? Is it that difficult?
BEFORE! you go commenting away, I know this thing called "localization translation". Where you take something and not only translate it but to give it the local feel. This is why "Joey" in YuGiOh had a Brooklyn accent. That was probably because in the original Japanese dubbing, the character spoke in a unique Japanese dialect or form. That's localization. I know.
I do want to be a translator, but I'm now having second thoughts.
But this is not the point of this post.
I wanted to mention the problem of two friends, who do speak English and one understands a higher lever of Japanese than the other, but the fact that A9 would go so far to translate the song title, what, twice?
(My thought process: 道化師-->ピエロ-->Pierrot)
I can only imagine the thought process on this one title.
Now, I'm getting upset over one song title because I felt lost and confused. I felt left out. I was left out. I may be the only one who things this way, but I don't want any other fans to feel this way. If A9 want to get bigger and do world tours, they are gonna have to step up and hire a translator that is not using google translate to do their job.
Thank you for making it this far.
I shall reward you!
NAO! He's smiling and so cute when he's happy.
-Nihongochick2
