Rhett Butler in russian dub was “Krasnyy okhotnik”, it means red hunter. I don’t know why, really, I have find out that he’s Rhett Buttler just year ago, when I watched sailormoon with subs for the first time. Also they called Usagi “Bunny”, and Chibiusa was “Malyshka”, it means “Little girl”. The worst of it was her sailor form, “Sailor Malyshka”. And starlights’ princess was Olivia and Meteor (in russian it’s quite hard to say Kakyuu) Also I just love your blog, it’s wonderful, thank you 😙

That’s really interesting!! It’s fascinating to see what translators preserve, the literal meaning vs. a localization of the concept vs. retaining just the sound. I love this, thanks for sharing!!!

re: victims of the week – in the polish version, they changed rhett butler’s name. all hail our martyr, james bond.

ANON!! ANON THIS IS LIFE CHANGING INFORMATION

THE GREATEST HERO ON TELEVISION, JAMES BOND

People are STILL asking why there’s no ‘Sailor Earth’

lmcfly:

sailorfailures:

sourcedumal:

schazam:

HOW LONG IS IT GOING TO TAKE YOU TO FIGURE THIS ONE OUT LIKE SERIOUSLY IT’S BEEN OVER 10 YEARS.

His name (Mamoru) literally means “the Earth”

Y’all. We can do better

Well, this is a good post and the point still stands. But “Mamoru” means “protector”. His surname Chiba does have the kanji for earth in it, but it’s more like the Wu Xing element earth, so like soil. So his name is more like. Dirt Guard

@sailormoonsub

I think you should know about “Dirt Guard”. It’s like Makoto came up with that, to go with the smearing campaign she started just after punching him.

well SOMEONE has to guard the dirt

journalist-lend-thy-elk:

timemachineyeah:

IDK if I’ve mentioned this before, but since there’s talk of how to approach an accurate/nuanced translation of the word “baka” in anime on my dash, I thought I’d share one of my other favorite bits of oft-overlooked translating-Japanese nuance and how it applies to Sailor Moon. 

Basically every Sailor Moon fan knows Sailor Moon’s catchphrase, “tuski ni kawatte oshiokyo!” which translates more or less into “In the name of the moon, I’ll punish you!”

The fun part, that I learned a few years back from my half-Japanese friend who has, since high school, lived full time in Japan, is the “oshiokyo” bit. 

Oshiokyo does, in a literal sense, mean “I’ll punish you”. It’s a perfectly fine translation. But what it doesn’t get across is that the main people who use the phrase are parents, especially mothers, and it’s primarily used against children. 

There’s not a perfect English equivalent, but it carries a similar tone to “someone’s getting a spanking!” or “you’re going into time out!” or “you’re in big trouble, missy!” 

Basically, it’s not particularly threatening, and anyone who would think it was would be pretty childish. The fact that Usagi uses it as a legitimate threat is adorable in how much is reveals her age. It’s also badass and kind of condescending in that she’s basically treating the villains as unruly children instead of legitimate threats. 

So there you go. Take this information and put new joy into one of the most well-trod parts of the Sailor Moon universe. 

@sailormoonsub , this will greatly increase your appreciation of fight scenes

BRB I gotta go back and rewatch all 200 episodes and 3 movies with this in mind

crazyjetty:

sailormoonsub:

THEY DID THE THING WHERE USAGI IS CALLED AN IDIOT AND IT’S SECRETLY A CODE WORD FOR PURE-HEARTED OPTIMIST

One thing that gets me, is “baka” does not translate well.
Yeah, okay. Technically it translates 100% correctly as “fool,” “idiot,” or “moron,” but those words are all extremely much more harsh than how “baka” is usually used.
It’s quite often used with great affection, as it is here, in a way that english does not. And even the times it’s not used as an affectionate insult, it still doesn’t carry the weight that we assign to it’s translations.
As said above, here it’s being used as a code word for pure hearted optimist.

A much more accurate translation for “baka,” I believe, would be “goober.”

^Useful translation notes! Plus, I’m laughing so hard imagining Usagi walking into traffic during episode 24 and Mamoru yelling “What were you thinking, goober?!?!?!” 

About the “I don’t wanna hear it.” I watched this episode that had a slightly different translation which was “I don’t mind.” Sounds a little less “jerky” ? I think PGSM may have chosen to portray Mamoru like this for either the mini-subplot with Hina or for his role later in the series.

airyairyquitecontrary:

sailormoonsub:

That translation really does change the entire tone of the scene! If his being a dick is used to accentuate or contrast his character development later on, it won’t stop me from judging him now, but maybe I’ll judge a little less in retrospect!

I think, from the font in your caps, that you’re watching Miss Dream’s subs, which are notoriously error-laden, to the extent that even if you don’t understand Japanese (like me) you can sometimes tell that what the subtitle says can’t be what the character is saying.  I’m currently watching the TV-Nihon sub, which is better if not perfect, and that renders the dialogue like this:

(Ami brings a semiconscious Usagi out to the reception area of the karaoke centre, where Mamoru has just popped in to visit Motoki and Motoki is happily burbling about his turtle)

Motoki (noticing the two girls): What’s wrong?

Ami: She has a cold.

(Usagi slumps down and Mamoru darts in to help support her weight; he glimpses Kunzite’s evil hair of evil around her neck and is alarmed)

Mamoru: I’ll carry her.

Ami (who I’m not sure has met Mamoru before, since she wasn’t on the amusement park outing): Eh?

Motoki: He’s my friend. It’s all right.  It’d be too hard for a girl like you.  

(Here, I’m not sure whether Motoki means “It’d be too hard for A GIRL like you” or “It’d be too hard for a girl LIKE YOU,” which kind of makes all the difference to whether I’m annoyed.  Because I generally like Motoki I choose to believe it’s LIKE YOU, because Ami is small and skinny and clearly having difficulty holding Usagi up.)

Ami: But…

Mamoru (lifting Usagi onto his back): You’ll injure yourself if you try.

So neither boy really comes off as a dick with this translation, albeit there may be some patronising of Ami because she’s a girl.  Motoki reassures Ami that Mamoru is not just some random dude laying hands on her passed-out friend (about which she would have every right to be concerned) and Mamoru presents his help as strictly practical and altruistic, making it easier for Ami to accept.

Reblogging because if you, like me, know nothing about Japanese and take every translation for granted, you may find this interesting! Thank you so much!

robynmarkius:

sailormoonsub:

I am genuinely curious as to what the original could have said that it could elicit both of these translations.

Hilariously, the wording you found isn’t completely inaccurate… but I really think it was intended to be a reference to the sudden power release. XD

“muramura” would be ‘irresistibly’ or ‘suddenly’… but also has a translation of… erm~… “to be turned on” or “to be horny”. >_>; (According to the dictionary, anyway. ^ 3^;; )

The whole context comes from the panel above it.

ああ…っっなに!?
これは……!!

解放されるわ！
力が　みなぎる!!

ムラムラしてくるわ！

Ah~! Wh-What!?
This is……!!

Released!
Power is overflowing!!

So suddenly!

So… at that. I remembered that I had bought CSV1 from Barnes & Noble sometime around last Christmas, so… I went after it once I found what page that was on.

Kodansha Comics gave us this:

“Ahh…
What is…
this…?!

I feel liberated!
I’m overflowing with power!!

I’m struck with the urge to act!”

YOU MADE ME GO DIG OUT THE MANGA ITSELF FROM MY CLOSET SHELF. *so many cookies for you!*

…I’m having a hard time not thinking the translation you got was…

Nya~… On second thought, nevermind. ;P

((I decided to put the whole page in the reblog in case anyone else wanted to go look at their own manga, it’s that page and panel… I also reblogged instead of answering because I sometimes type a lot of words.))

Wow, thank you for all this! It’s super interesting how the the translations took entirely different perspectives of the same phrase. Knowing Minako, it could go either way, really. 

I hope we’re not going to be quizzed on this.

The translation of Jingle Bells sounds like Odyssey-level epic poetry. I love it.