History Main / SpiceUpTheSubtitles

* Spanish Fansub [=AnimeUnderground=] seems to work by the following rule: "If there's the chance of using slang/[[ObligatorySwearing swearwords]] instead of a normal word, then do so, no matter the context or who's saying it. (Unless it's a very polite character. Emphasis on ''very''.) They especially are fond of using the word "joder" (Spanish for "fuck"), which they seem to find a way to work into just about every circumstance, even if the Japanese word is something like the rather mild "shimatta", or ''isn't even swearing'' (Like "Impossible!" or "This is bad!"). Fortunately, other than that and translating {{Lolicon}} [[DidNotDoTheResearch as a word that means "Child Molester"]], their translations are alright...
Too bad [[ScheduleSlip they release series when they feel like it]] and incur some {{Narm}} when leaving some perfectly translatable words untranslated.

* In a TakeThat to more Japanese-centric sub groups, the gg and BSS groups' joint release of the {{Gundam 00}} Movie messes with the subs for the [spokenromanji,ridiculouslylong Japanese idioms are used instead. Thresultis an unreadable mess of translation notes, Comic Sans, and karaoke-esque [[CallingYourAttacks attack calling]]. And it's ''hilarious.'

* [[FanTranslation DeJap]] made Arche from ''TalesOfPhantasia'' so horny that she was practically the DirtyOldMan of the party (although
she was neither old nor a man). The much, ''much'', ''MUCH'' tamer official translation was one of the ([[PortingDisaster numerous]]) problems that players of the FanTranslation had with the GBA version.

* Manga Entertainment, particularly their UK
branch, was notorious for this as well in their earlier days. This sort of translation even gained the nickname "fifteening", for the age rating that resulted.

* Although it's more of a case of {{Mondegreen}}, the ''DeathNote'' second intro has lyrics in the
refrain that sound like "Hey, Ningen Ningen Sucker, Ah Ningen Ningen Fucker." Since they sounded like swears, some fansubbers decided to make those the lyrics, and now it's widely believed to be the real lyrics.
* Spanish Fansub [=AnimeUnderground=] seems to work by the following rule: "If there's the chance of using slang/[[ObligatorySwearing swearwords]] instead of a normal word, then do so, no matter the context or who's saying it. (Unless it's a very polite character. Emphasis on ''very''.) They
especially are fond of using the word "joder" (Spanish for "fuck"), which they seem to find a way to work into just about every circumstance, even if the Japanese word is something like the rather mild "shimatta", or ''isn't even swearing'' (Like "Impossible!" or "This is bad!"). Fortunately, other than that and translating {{Lolicon}} [[DidNotDoTheResearch as a word that means "Child Molester"]], their translations are alright...

* An unusual example from an official release - Disney's dub of ''PrincessMononoke'' took a harmless line ("This soup tastes like water!") and punched it up ("This soup tastes like donkey piss!"). This was later admitted to have been an
error in attempting to determine how "rude" the choice of phrasing originally was. The subtitles use the original phrase.
* A group called "Your-Mom" fansubs took some [[UnderStatement small liberties]] with their ''CodeGeass'' translation. In addition to the gem pictured above, there was also the wonderful spectacle of [[spoiler: Viletta Nu]] angsting about "having wild sex with that Eleven," and contemptuously sneering "why would I have
wondrous sex with you, Eleven?"

* The official subtitles of ''{{Hellsing}}'' are significantly more subdued than the dub; the dub has its share of {{Cluster F Bomb}}s, while the subtitles are generally profanity-free. Yet in an interesting aversion, the dub is the ''more'' faithful of the two translations-- as those who viewed the series in fansubs will know, Jan Valentine's dialogue was vulgar enough in the original
Japanese to be ''bleeped out'' in the original Fuji TV airing.

** They did that in ''{{Zoids}} Genesis'' too... But that's still better that leaving [[ForeignCussWord
"kisama" or "temee" untranslated]].
* Here's a fun game to try. Look around for a fan-translated item - anime, manga, video games, anything will do. Try to find even one fan translation that ''doesn't'' translate any of Japan's various expletives as "damn" or "shit" at least once, regardless of how family-friendly the translated item is otherwise. The number will
undoubtedly be in the single digits.

* In a TakeThat to more Japanese-centric sub groups, the gg and BSS groups' joint release of the {{Gundam 00}} Movie messes with the subs for the [spokenromanji,ridiculouslylong Japanese idioms are used instead. Thresultis an unreadable mess of translation notes, Comic
Sans, and karaoke-esque [[CallingYourAttacks attack calling]]. And it's ''hilarious.'

* [[http://www.angelfire.com/rings/ttt-subtitles/ This website]] has a collection of notable subtitle
failures for the {{Lord of the Rings}} movies.

What's this? The DoubleEntendre dialogue and {{UST}} has been replaced with NoHuggingNoKissing. That one character who always launched a ClusterFBomb is using {{Unusual Euphemism}}s instead! Surely the American distributors are to blame for this {{Macekre}}!

Much of this confusion is caused especially by the Japanese expletive ''kuso''. This word is an all-purpose expletive, and as such can be translated to many things, including, but not limited to: "rats", "darn", "crap", "shit", "fuck", "dammit", "damn", "damn you", "[[OhCrap oh shit]]", "god dammit", "[[ForeignCussWord crisse de tabarnak]]", "drat", "crud", "not good", "this is bad", "oh no", or even, in some cases, "help" (when you don't actually expect it). Needless to say, [[{{Fansub}} fansubbers]] will usually utilize the more explicit ones, whereas dubs tend to lean on the tamer side.

* [[FanTranslation DeJap]] made Arche from ''TalesOfPhantasia'' so horny that she was practically the DirtyOldMan of the party (although she was neither old nor a man). The much, ''much'', ''MUCH'' tamer official translation was one of the ([[PortingDisaster numerous]]) problems that players of the FanTranslation had with the GBA version.

* Manga Entertainment, particularly their UK branch, was notorious for this as well in their earlier days. This sort of translation even gained the nickname "fifteening", for the age rating that resulted.

* Although it's more of a case of {{Mondegreen}}, the ''DeathNote'' second intro has lyrics in the refrain that sound like "Hey, Ningen Ningen Sucker, Ah Ningen Ningen Fucker." Since they sounded like swears, some fansubbers decided to make those the lyrics, and now it's widely believed to be the real lyrics.
* Spanish Fansub [=AnimeUnderground=] seems to work by the following rule: "If there's the chance of using slang/[[ObligatorySwearing swearwords]] instead of a normal word, then do so, no matter the context or who's saying it. (Unless it's a very polite character. Emphasis on ''very''.) They especially are fond of using the word "joder" (Spanish for "fuck"), which they seem to find a way to work into just about every circumstance, even if the Japanese word is something like the rather mild "shimatta", or ''isn't even swearing'' (Like "Impossible!" or "This is bad!"). Fortunately, other than that and translating {{Lolicon}} [[DidNotDoTheResearch as a word that means "Child Molester"]], their translations are alright... Too bad [[ScheduleSlip they release series when they feel like it]] and incur some {{Narm}} when leaving some perfectly translatable words untranslated.
* An unusual example from an official release - Disney's dub of ''PrincessMononoke'' took a harmless line ("This soup tastes like water!") and punched it up ("This soup tastes like donkey piss!"). This was later admitted to have been an error in attempting to determine how "rude" the choice of phrasing originally was. The subtitles use the original phrase.
* A group called "Your-Mom" fansubs took some [[UnderStatement small liberties]] with their ''CodeGeass'' translation. In addition to the gem pictured above, there was also the wonderful spectacle of [[spoiler: Viletta Nu]] angsting about "having wild sex with that Eleven," and contemptuously sneering "why would I have wondrous sex with you, Eleven?"

* The official subtitles of ''{{Hellsing}}'' are significantly more subdued than the dub; the dub has its share of {{Cluster F Bomb}}s, while the subtitles are generally profanity-free. Yet in an interesting aversion, the dub is the ''more'' faithful of the two translations-- as those who viewed the series in fansubs will know, Jan Valentine's dialogue was vulgar enough in the original Japanese to be ''bleeped out'' in the original Fuji TV airing.

** They did that in ''{{Zoids}} Genesis'' too... But that's still better that leaving [[ForeignCussWord "kisama" or "temee" untranslated]].
* Here's a fun game to try. Look around for a fan-translated item - anime, manga, video games, anything will do. Try to find even one fan translation that ''doesn't'' translate any of Japan's various expletives as "damn" or "shit" at least once, regardless of how family-friendly the translated item is otherwise. The number will undoubtedly be in the single digits.

* In a TakeThat to more Japanese-centric sub groups, the gg and BSS groups' joint release of the {{Gundam 00}} Movie messes with the subs for the [[ShowWithinAShow Movie Within a Movie]] in order to emphasise the already-considerable StylisticSuck present; for instance, instead of using the spoken romanji, ridiculously long Japanese idioms are used instead. The result is an unreadable mess of translation notes, Comic Sans, and karaoke-esque [[CallingYourAttacks attack calling]]. And it's ''hilarious.''
** They also subtitled Graham Aker shouting "Trans-Am!" as "[[MemeticMutation Trans-GrahAm!]]"
* [[http://www.angelfire.com/rings/ttt-subtitles/ This website]] has a collection of notable subtitle failures for the {{Lord of the Rings}} movies.

* In a TakeThat to more Japanese-centric sub groups, the gg and BSS groups' joint release of the {{Gundam 00}} Movie mess with the subs for the [[ShowWithinAShow Movie Within a Movie]] in order to emphasise the already-considerable StylisticSuck present; for instance, instead of using the spoken romanji, ridiculously long Japanese idioms are used instead. The result is an unreadable mess of translation notes, Comic Sans, and karaoke-esque [[CallingYourAttacks attack calling]]. And it's ''hilarious.''

* In a TakeThat to more Japanese-centric sub groups, the gg and BSS groups' joint release of the {{Gundam 00}} Movie mess with the subs for the [[ShowWithinAShow Movie Within a Movie]] in order to emphasise the already-considerable StylisticSuck present, for instance, instead of using the spoken romanji, ridiculously long Japanese idioms are used instead. The result is an unreadable mess of translation notes, Comic Sans, and karaoke-esque [[CallingYourAttacks attack calling]]. And it's ''hilarious.''

* In a TakeThat to more Japanese-centric sub groups, the gg and BSS groups' joint release of the {{Gundam00}} Movie mess with the subs for the [[ShowWithinAShow Movie Within a Movie]] in order to emphasise the already-considerable StylisticSuck present, for instance, instead of using the spoken romanji, ridiculously long Japanese idioms are used instead. The result is an unreadable mess of translation notes, Comic Sans, and karaoke-esque [[CallingYourAttacks attack calling]]. And it's ''hilarious.''

* In a TakeThat to more Japanese-centric sub groups, the gg and BSS groups' joint release of the {{Gundam00}} Movie mess with the subs for the [[ShowWithinAShow Movie Within a Movie]]: instead of using the spoken romanji, ridiculously long Japanese idioms are used instead. The result is an unreadable mess of translation notes. And it's ''hilarious.''

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<<|AnimeTropes|>>
<<|TranslationTropes|>>

* [[http://www.angelfire.com/rings/ttt-subtitles/ This website]] has a collection of notable subtitle failures for the Lord of the Rings movies.

[[caption-width:384:What happens when subbers get bored.]]

** Also, one fansub group had Kamina call Viral a "fucking furry." the original was more along the lines of "cocky bastard."
** Whatever Simon and Kamina yell during the gattai in episode 8: "*SOMETHING* GATTAI! GURREN LAGANN!" was translated to: "Super Ultra Combining" (official dub), "Limitless Combining" (russian official dub), "Everlasting Combining" (most popular fansubs), "Brotherly Bond", "Ultimate Combining" and probably many, many others in different translations. Not to mention like twenty variations of the Gurren-Dan's motto.
*** Licencia Poetica, full power!. It's a natural choice to choose what sounds best instead of the most faithful translation when subbing GurrenLagann.
*** What the hell do you think I can translate that to?

* One ''BoboboboBobobo'' scanlation changed "underwear" into "gay pants".

** The irony of this tamer, official version is that the "original" (read: chronologically first, that being DeJap) translation makes more sense for Arche. Otherwise that scene where she runs from meeting the Unicorn in fear of being "too dirty(-minded)" to approach it is kind of reaching for it, since "once having a boyfriend" is by no means a way of saying "I'm a horny young lass who's no longer a virgin at all, nosiree."
*** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint That's the whole point of the scene]].

** The naughty words may be somewhat justified since Spanish speakers, especially in Spain, are pretty much desensitised to all forms of profanity because they're so commonplace. I remember hearing ten year olds saying "coño" (which also starts with a C in English) in class, in front of their teacher, without suffering as much as a second glance for it.
*** That's true, but it still makes it look like the Japanese are dropping a ClusterFBomb after another. Which they aren't. Not to mention they use even ''more'' swear words that average Spaniards do when speaking. Though in all fairness, they don't do this in ALL shows, but when they do...

** Well, if they were talking about Kirarino's duck-underpants, it might have been [[{{Woolseyism}} the group's idea of a joke]] (Whenever it's funny or not [[YourMileageMayVary is a different deal]]). Otherwise...

** Another ''Hetalia'' one: "[[{{DudeNotFunny}} These rumors are spreading like AIDS!]]"

* One ''BoboboboBobobo'' scanlation changed [[DarthWiki/WallBanger "underwear" into "gay pants".]]

* Evident in fansubs of ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', where the main characters would yell out "Who the fuck do you think we are?!" This is a show for [[strike:''children'']] manly men.

* One ''BoboboboBobobo'' scanlation changed [[WallBanger "underwear" into "gay pants".]]

See also: ObligatorySwearing, AvoidTheDreadedGRating, AnimationAgeGhetto. May cause MisBlamed.

* Evident in fansubs of ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', where the main characters would yell out "Who the fuck do you think we are?!" This is a show for ''children''.

[[caption-width:384:Sadly, not doctored at all.]]

* Here's a fun game to try. Look around for a fan-translated item - anime, manga, video games, anything will do. Try to find even one fan translation that ''doesn't'' translate any of Japan's various expletives as "damn" or "shit" at least once. The number will undoubtedly be in the single digits.

They aren't. The show is a more-or-less faithful translation of the original. The dirty jokes and language of the fansub was added by the fansubber in an attempt to "improve" the show.

** Funnily enough, Funimation's official dub [[GagDub isn't much better]].

* Although it's more of a case of {{Mondegreen}}, the ''DeathNote'' second intro has lyrics in the refrain that sound like "Hey, Hey, Ningen Sucker... Ningen Fucker." Since they sounded like swears, some fansubbers decided to make those the lyrics, and now it's widely believed to be the real lyrics.
* Spanish Fansub [=AnimeUnderground=] seems to work by the following rule: "If there's the chance of using slang/[[ObligatorySwearing swearwords]] instead of a normal word, then do so, no matter the context or who's saying it" (Unless it's a very polite character. Mind: VERY.). They specially have a knack for the word "joder" (Spanish for "fuck"), which they seem to find a way to stick in just about every opportunity, even if the japanese word is something like the rather mild "shimatta", or ''isn't even swearing'' (Like "Impossible" or "This is bad!"). Fortunately, other than this and translating {{Lolicon}} [[DidNotDoTheResearch as a word that means "Child Molester"]], their translations are alright... Too bad [[ScheduleSlip they release series whenever they want]] and they incur in some {{Narm}} when leaving some perfectly translatable words untranslated.

*** That's true, but it still makes it look like the Japanese are dropping a ClusterFBomb after another. Which they aren't. Not to mention they use even ''more'' swearwords that average spaniards do when speaking. Though in all fairness, they don't do this in ALL shows, but when they do...