History Main / TranslationStyleChoices

* In a rare WesternAnimation example, the Spanish dub of a ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks Rainbow Rocks]]'' song managed to base itself around a '''typo'''. The song's English title is "Life Is A Runway"[[labelnote:§]] (as in fashion runway; this ''is'' a [[TheFashionista Rarity]] song, after all)[[/labelnote]]. That last word is typically translated as ''pasarela''. However, the translators mistakenly thought it said "Run'''a'''way" and came up with ''fugitiva'', making the entire song nonsense.

** "Soul Reaper" is creator Tite Kubo's preferred translation of shinigami. It even appears on some Japanese ''Bleach'' merchandise.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' is particularly {{egregious}}. Only three recurring terms in the dub were translated: [[TheGrimReaper shinigami]] (to Soul Reaper, likely to distance itself from the western conception of the idea); the Gotei 13 (to the 13 Court Guard Squads); and "[[{{Mana}} reiatsu]]" (to "spiritual energy" or "spiritual pressure"). Everything else -- shikai and bankai, [[EmpathicWeapon zanpakuto]], spell names and incantations, even wordplay gags about the proper usage of one's first name and philosophical metaphors regarding old parables -- was left pretty much completely intact. In a rare inversion of how this tends to go, the ''fansubs'' often adapted more terms than the official version.

* Just about any anime dubbed by Creator/FourKidsEntertainment. This still leaves out stuff like ''FunkyCops'' and the more recent ''VideoGame/DinosaurKing'', both which are perfectly faithful to the original.

* The English version of ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' features several pages of notes at the back of the volume, and even with that they make a point of saying that there are so many references and details, they don't have enough room to explain them all.

* ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' and the PSP version of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' (the original PSX version was an {{Engrish}} wonderland).

** [[MemeticMutation Do not want]]

* ''Anime/SamuraiPizzaCats'' fell into this by necessity, since Saban was not given scripts along with the footage (or they were given scripts but they were completely unusable). The staff made up their own names, stories and dialogue. As with the ''Magic Roundabout'' example, very few people even know or care about the original, and the English version is considered quite good in its own right.

* The Spanish translation of "WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb" has a lot of this. One of the translated songs goes like this: "ornitorrinco, australiano, mamífero, semi-acuático, agente" (a duck-billed Australian amphibious mammal agent) instead of "semi-aquatic egg laying mammal of action". This prevents {{WMG}} regarding Perry's gender - since, if he's male, why would he lay eggs? For bonus points, the translation keeps the rhymes intact.

* ''VagrantStory'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' and the PSP version of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' (the original PSX version was an {{Engrish}} wonderland).

'''3'''. Formal equivalence: Some productions, however, decide they're going the direct route. The story is getting straight-up translated, ValuesDissonance be damned, and no pesky [[FirstNameBasis honorific changes]], [[KansaiRegionalAccent dialect jokes]], or [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseCulture cultural variations]] are going to get in the way. This is the most ''literal'' of the methods, typically translating only dialogue and [[TooLongDidntDub leaving anything that doesn't directly translate fully intact]]. The downside to this is that a lot of the necessary elements for full understanding don't make the journey overseas with the dialogue; as a result, J. Random Viewer (lacking proper context) is left scratching his head, as some lines will [[DubInducedPlotHole sound strange]] or seem to come out of nowhere. In the worst cases, some figures of speech may be translated literally, instead of going with an equivalent from the vernacular language or simply translating the meaning. Despite this method catering to them, the hardcore purists will probably hate it, too; they'll just use it as another example of "[[SubbingVersusDubbing how dubbing is the devil's work]]", for instance.

'''2'''. {{Woolseyism}}: Named on [=TVTropes=] after Ted Woolsey, who was known for his more pragmatic translations of games. This approach is formally referred to as ''dynamic equivalence''; the general idea is that the translation should give the foreign audience the same experience as the original, even if some details have to be altered and some aspects that would [[ValuesDissonance cause]] [[UnfortunateImplications controversy]] or fail to translate sensibly just have to be left out. The general guideline when using this method is that the work needs to be self-contained; if the script contains references or connotations that wouldn't be obvious to the target audience, those elements should probably be left out or changed. It's probably the best tool for a ''localization'': the purists get their original storyline intact (more or less), but you don't need an introductory lesson in a foreign language and culture to understand what's going on. Of course, the ''hardcore'' purists will still hate it. But when you get right down to it, [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks the hardcore purists hate everything]] -- they should probably stick to the original language of the production in question.

** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' is forced to continue keeping the Japanese food and place names, as this time around the game takes place in the real world city of UsefulNotes/{{Tokyo}}, rather than a fictional Japanese city.

'''4'''. BlindIdiotTranslation: What happens when the people responsible for the translation [[TheyJustDidntCare just don't care]]. Grammar rules will be violated and homonyms may have the wrong meaning translated. Fortunately, the vast, vast majority of serious commercial releases rarely fall into this category, but there are a depressing number of 1980s video games that were translated in this manner. And let's not even [[TranslationTrainWreck get started on]] [[BlindIdiotTranslation bootlegs]]...

* Most games translated by Working Designs, particularly the ''{{Lunar}}'' series.

* The fansubbers of Æsir prefer to do this, particularly seen with their translation of ''Series/KamenRiderGaim''. They changed Armored Rider Gridon's name to Ornac in order to communicate the idea that it was supposed to be an AtrociousAlias, saying that the original intent was ruined by English-speaking fans who had declared Gridon an AwesomeMcCoolname because they didn't know that it was just an anagram of "donguri", the Japanese word for acorn. For the same reason, they changed the name of Gridon's [[DropTheHammer hammer]], the Donkachi ("kachi" being the onomatopoeia for a heavy impact), to Ornac Donker.
** However, this did come back to bite them in one example. The series' {{Transformation Trinket}}s are called Sengoku Drivers, taking the name of the Warring States Period of Japanese history (a major theme of the show) and replacing the kanji for "states" with "extreme". Æsir tried to retain this by renaming the belts "Wärring Driver", figuring that the use of a HeavyMetalUmlaut was a reasonable way to depict the "extreme" concept. Unfortunately, several episodes into the show we learn that the belts are named after their inventor, Ryoma Sengoku; Æsir simply shrugged, said "We've made our bed, so now we'll lay in it", and translated his name as "Ryoma Wärring".

* Just about any anime dubbed by [[FourKidsEntertainment 4Kids Entertainment]]. This still leaves out stuff like ''FunkyCops'' and the more recent ''VideoGame/DinosaurKing'', both which are perfectly faithful to the original.

* The Finnish translation of the ''GingaNagareboshiGin'' manga uses footnotes for the translations of the different [[SpecialAttack Battougas]]. They are seldom used otherwise.

* Creator/{{AnimEigo}} was well-known for this, and actually had paper liner notes in the days before [=DVDs=], but has also adapted references at times. Their release of ''Manga/YoureUnderArrest'' managed to do both simultaneously.

* ''{{Robotech}}'', the original anime example.

** During the Cold War the American B-movie market managed to get hold of Soviet sci-fi films and either creatively adapt them or use them as StockFootage. ''Nebo Zovyot'' ("The Sky Calls") becoming ''Battle Beyond the Sun'' is particualrly notable, not only for involving a young Creator/FrancisFordCoppola (who was responsible for inserting a short scene involving genetalia-inspired monsters) but for clearly hiding its blatantly Soviet origins by making the space race to Mars depicted as being two future post-apoclyptic supersates (North and South Hemis) and replacing the FramingDevice of an interview with a Soviet concept designer with a mini-documentary intro featuring ''American'' concept models of spacecraft. Character names are Anglicized and the acting credits are the dub voice actors, not the original Soviet cast.

* ''Anime/{{Voltron}}'', another major early example, didn't try to be so faithful to the source material, cutting out most examples of violence and death and hiding the fact that (in the ''Anime/GoLion'', or "Lion Voltron" part) Earth has ''nuked itself into oblitaration'' by making the FiveManBand agents of the Galaxy Alliance from the ''Anime/DairuggerXV'' ("Vehicle Voltron" part), also tying the two series together.

* ''Anime/{{Voltron}}'', another major early example, didn't try to be so faithful to the source material, cutting out most examples of violence and death and hiding the fact that (in the ''Anime/GoLion'', or "Lion Voltron" part) Earth has nuked itself into oblitaeration by making the FiveManBand agents of the Galaxy Alliance from the ''Anime/DairuggerXV'' ("Vehicle Voltron" part), also tying the two series together..

* In a rare WesternAnimation example, the Spanish dub of a ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks Rainbow Rocks]]'' song managed to base itself around a '''typo'''. The song is called (in English) "Life Is A Runway". That last word is typically translated as ''pasarela''. However, the translators mistakenly thought it said "Run'''a'''way" and came up with ''fugitiva'', turning the entire song into nonsense.

* ADV Films' original release of ''Manga/PaniPoniDash'', a WidgetSeries with so many in-jokes you have to literally freeze-frame to get all of them, came with multiple subtitle options – one where all the background writing is translated, one that has pop-up cultural notes just like they did for ''Anime/ExcelSaga'', and one that does ''[[UpToEleven both of those things simultaneously]]''.[[note]] Lather, rinse, and repeat to also add in the translation of the Japanese dialogue. Yeah, this release likely set an anime record for how many subtitle tracks it had on a single DVD.[[/note]] Trying to read the extended subtitles and the cultural notes ''and'' see the action is nearly impossible (all the extra information covers a lot of it up anyway, and is really only meant for a second or third watchthrough).
** The fansub of had a PDF file accompany each episode explaining the references. These files often ran to ''a page a minute'' – over 20 pages for a 22-minute episode.
* The translated ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' '''manga''' does this... [[TalkingIsAFreeAction during the]] [[YouAreTheTranslatedForeignWord characters' speeches]]. For example, Sasuke would say, "Katon! Gokakyu no Jutsu! The art of the Fireball!" which sounds awkward.

* ''Anime/LuckyStar'' technically falls under this one for the rest of its American release. Considering the abundance of anime and cultural references, Bandai Entertainment had the foresight to include a 4-page pamphlet of liner notes for any particular volume. While some of the references are incredibly obvious and don't need mentioning (they do it anyway), they go so far as to include things that can only be noticed when watching the show with the Japanese language track, even if the dub had used language in such a way that none of the original context was lost.

** This is most common for scholarly editions, where accuracy is the most important thing (besides, the scholars usually either know the ancient/foreign culture already or are using the text as a gateway to it).
* The legal translation of ''Manga/{{Rinne}}'' is this out of necessity, as it is being translated and put online a very short time after the Japanese publication. They don't have enough time to even replace visual sound effects, so everything is explained in the margins, and what can't be there is explain on the section of the translators' blog noted.

* The English subs on the Hong Kong [=DVDs=] of ''Franchise/YuGiOh Duel Monsters'' (which are apparently the only subs you can find) are ''infamous'' for this.
* SNK were imfamous for this.