History Main / TranslationStyleChoices

* ADV Films' original DVD release of ''Anime/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 ''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 first ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'' game lost some [[GuideDangIt vital clues]] thanks to this.

** ''WebVideo/BackstrokeOfTheWest'', a bootleg of ''Film/StarWars: Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', is particularly famous for translating Darth Vader's BigNo as "Do not want", spawning a {{meme|tic Mutation}} in the process.

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.

* Pretty much most, if not all, non-English versions of the ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' series was rooted into this. Tolkien himself provided detailed indications for translating the names for places, characters, artifacts and so on, when not giving the translation himself (as he was a [[{{Omniglot}} polyglot]]).
* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'''s translation and dub was specifically written to give off the air of old-time gangster flick. Research involved watching entirely too many James Cagney and 1930's crime movies.

** [[WebVideo/BackstrokeOfTheWest Do not want]]

* ''[[VideoGame/PokemonVietnameseCrystal Pokémon Vietnamese Crystal]]'' is infamous for this. The game's Japanese > Chinese > English translation, and the [[HilarityEnsues hilarity that ensued]], are the sole reasons for this game's popularity and memetic status.
* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'': The infamous "What a beautiful Duwang" version of Diamond is Unbreakable was the result of fans trying to translate from Chinese editions.

* Outside of anime, there are far fewer examples of this. One of note, however was Eric Thompson's adaptation of ''Series/TheMagicRoundabout'' for Creator/TheBBC, in which only the visuals of the original French versions were used. Thompson made up his own storylines which were conveyed by the dubbed narration.
* Like ''Series/TheMagicRoundabout'', the UK dub of ''WesternAnimation/{{Insektors}}'' abandoned the original French lines for brand new lines with lots of regional accents. The US dub was less creative.

** 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 [[AfterTheEnd 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.

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}!'''s translation and dub was specifically written to give off the air of old-time gangster flick. Research involved watching entirely too many James Cagney and 1930's crime movies.

* ADV Films' original DVD 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 ''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).

'''1. CutAndPasteTranslation: '''

Somewhere between CutAndPasteTranslation and {{Woolseyism}}. With Streamlined dubs, the plot is usually kept intact, although almost all dialogue is thrown out the window and replaced. [[Manga/{{Akira}} Sometimes]], this works [[{{Woolseyism}} quite well]]. Creator/StreamlinePictures, the TropeNamer, and [[Creator/MangaEntertainment Manga UK]] were very famous for this style of dubbing.

* When translations of well-known plays in other languages aren't directly 'academic' or [[CutAndPasteTranslation cut-and-paste]], they can get this treatment. For instance, a particularly interesting translation of Chekhov's Three Sisters involves a servant saying 'Up yours, butterballs'.

* ADV Films' original DVD 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).

* Over-Time/[=Æ=]sir, a fansub group that specializes in Franchise/SuperSentai and ''Franchise/KamenRider'', specializes in this. ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' is a particular example, where they renamed the third-string Rider Gridon to "Ornac" in order to communicate the idea that [[AtrociousAlias his name is supposed to sound dumb]], since in the run-up to the debut Western fans who didn't understand the context had decided that Gridon [[AwesomeMcCoolname sounded cool]]. However, this came back to bite them when they likewise changed the name of the Transformation Belt from "Sengoku Driver" to "Wärring Driver", only to find out a few episodes into the show that it was named after its inventor, Ryoma Sengoku; [=Æ=]sir's response was effectively to say "We've made our bed, so now we'll lay in it", and translated his name as "Ryoma Wärring" for the rest of the series[[note]]In their defense, "Sengoku" is written with the characters for "war" and "extreme" and is also a homophone for the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod, meaning it didn't look like a proper Japanese surname at all[[/note]].

* Every single UsefulNotes/HongKong bootleg DVD that doesn't just rip an official subtitle track or download an existing fansub script off the Internet.

* ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', and the PSP versions of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' (the original PSX version was an {{Engrish}} wonderland) and ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre''. The games were written in vernacular Japanese, the localization team decided to have fun with their translations.

-->-- '''David Bentley Hart''', on his translation of the [[Literature/TheBible New Testament]]''

-->-- '''David Bentley Hart''', on his translation of ''[[Literature/TheBible The New Testament]]''

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

* Over-Time/[=Æ=]sir, a fansub group that specializes in Franchise/SuperSentai and ''Franchise/KamenRider'', specializes in this. ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' is a particular example, where they renamed the third-string Rider Gridon to "Ornac" in order to communicate the idea that [[AtrociousAlias his name is supposed to sound dumb]], since in the run-up to the debut Western fans who didn't understand the context had decided that Gridon [[AwesomeMcCoolname sounded cool]]. However, this came back to bite them when they likewise changed the name of the Transformation Belt from "Sengoku Driver" to "Wärring Driver", only to find out a few episodes into the show that it was named after its inventor, Ryoma Sengoku; [=Æ=]'s response was effectively to say "We've made our bed, so now we'll lay in it", and translated his name as "Ryoma Wärring" for the rest of the series[[note]]In their defense, "Sengoku" is written with the characters for "war" and "extreme" and is also a homophone for the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod, meaning it didn't look like a proper Japanese surname at all[[note]].
** While ''Gaim'' is the most prominent example, Over-Time does it with all their works, preferring English near-equivalents that preserve the original intent of the dialog over a rigidly accurate translation; examples of this can be seen with the rhyming couplets from ''Series/KamenRiderGhost''-[='=] {{Transformation Trinket}}s or Aruto's terrible puns in ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne''.

* The fansubbers of [=Æ=]sir 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". [=Æ=]sir 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; [=Æ=]sir simply shrugged, said "We've made our bed, so now we'll lay in it", and translated his name as "Ryoma Wärring".

* ''[[JustForFun/PokemonVietnameseCrystal Pokémon Vietnamese Crystal]]'' is infamous for this. The game's Japanese > Chinese > English translation, and the [[HilarityEnsues hilarity that ensued]], are the sole reasons for this game's popularity and memetic status.

* ''AnimeAndManga/JojosBizarreAdventure'': The infamous "What a beautiful Duwang" version of Diamond is Unbreakable was the result of fans trying to translate from Chinese editions.

* The ADV subtitles for the ''Manga/ElfenLied'' anime try to translate everything as literally as possible. A lot of the dialogue sounds stilted as a result, and sometimes the translation is so literal that it mangles the line's original meaning. The fansubbed version and the English dub actually have a more natural-sounding translation.
** One problem is that the subtitles try too hard to replicate the original sentence structure. This ignores the fact that English and Japanese have very different sentence structures, so it just doesn't work well. One example is Tomoo gleefully saying, "I heard about it!" before specifying ''what'' he heard about.

** This is especially notable in the scenes with the orphanage bullies. Tomoo gleefully says "I heard about it!" before specifying ''what'' he heard about, and his line "You're not human, you're more like a devil's child!" is translated like he's asking Lucy whether her ''parents'' were human. The worst is probably Lucy's line to the puppy, which was rendered as, "If it wasn't for you, I would probably have been discouraged long ago."

* The subbed version of the ''Manga/ElfenLied'' anime translates everything as literally as possible. A lot of lines sound stilted as a result, especially in the scenes with the orphanage bullies.

* Pretty much most, if not all, non-English versions of the ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'' series was rooted into this. Tolkien himself provided detailed indications for translating the names for places, characters, artifacts and so on, when not giving the translation himself (as he was a [[{{Omniglot}} polyglot]]).

** Come to think of it, didn't [[WordOfGod Miyazaki himself]] say that the ideal experience for any viewer is in their own language – i.e. dubbed?[[labelnote:Answer]] Yes he did. Specifically, he believes his films are made to be "watched, not read".[[/labelnote]]

** [[JustForFun/BackstrokeOfTheWest Do not want]]

->"Where an author has written bad Greek, I have written bad English."
-->--'''David Bentley Hart''', on his translation of ''[[Literature/TheBible The New Testament]]''

'''1'''. CutAndPasteTranslation: It shouldn't be too hard to guess what method this is; essentially, it's an extremely loose adaptation, or translation by BroadStrokes. This can be fairly advantageous for the viewer who is otherwise unfamiliar with the source material (hey, no cultural changes for you to appreciate[=/=][[ValuesDissonance go "what the blank" over]]!), but hardcore fans of the original will feel violated to say the least (and if done without the consent or knowledge of the original producers, ''[[FlameWar they]]'' can feel rather violated as well).

!!Examples

'''1.5'''. [[Creator/StreamlinePictures Streamlined]]: Somewhere between CutAndPasteTranslation and {{Woolseyism}}. With Streamlined dubs, the plot is usually kept intact, although almost all dialogue is thrown out the window and replaced. [[Manga/{{Akira}} Sometimes]], this works [[{{Woolseyism}} quite well]]. Creator/StreamlinePictures, the TropeNamer, and [[Creator/MangaEntertainment Manga UK]] were very famous for this style of dubbing.

!!Examples:

'''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.

!!Examples:

'''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.

!!Examples:

'''3A'''. The same, but with footnotes, liner notes, or captions to explain the details. Widely used by fansubbers of anime. [[DontExplainTheJoke Explaining a joke may make it not be very funny]], but some cultural references work a lot better this way:

!!Examples

'''4'''. BlindIdiotTranslation: 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]]...

!!Examples

'''5'''. RecursiveTranslation: The exclusive domain of Hong Kong bootleggers. Want to translate something but don't know any English? Translate it into your language and Babelfish it into English! Better yet, if you don't even know the language you're translating it ''from'', you can Babelfish it into your language and then Babelfish ''that'' translation into English! Now you too can translate anything from any language into any other language without understanding either!

!!Examples