japanese translation gripe (atten: jmatsu, herpsky, chicken, etc.)

[mizanation]

i was watching a clip of ichiro being interviewed after receiving the MVP for the all-star game. as usual, even though ichiro speaks very good english, he talks through a translator. ichiro is a master of portraying a cool image and speaking through a translator only adds to his mystique.

anyways, you can see the interview at mlb.com:

http://mlb.mlb.com/index.jsp

the translator kinda does a crappy job of translating what ichiro said. i think this is the reason why a lot of his quotes have caused some controversy or have been misinterpreted (like during the World Basseball Classic). all the cool nonchalance and sense of humor that ichiro has was completely lost in the translation, partly because the translator lacks the swagger that comes with being one of the greatest baseball players in history and being all-around smooth mutherfucker.

can't major league baseball afford some good translators? this guy who translated for ichiro is not as bad as some of the "translators" they had for nomo and others. i've seen translators just straight up wing it, saying an answer that is completely different than what the athlete says. i can see in their face that they have no idea what the guy just said, so they start making shit up. also, the translator will ask a completely different question to the athlete than what is asked by the reporter.

i don't know, just a pet peeve i have whenever i hear a translated interview in japanese.

anyone else get annoyed by this?

[Guest jmatsu]

the terminal i'm at doesn't have an appropriate player, and the download for it takes like 2hrs.

anyway give me the jist of what is lost in translation. anyway the worst i've encountered are pirated japanese tv/anime/movies from asia. i've actually translated a few in college for money and purposely did a shitty job.

[englandmj7]

On a side note, it actually blows my mind that enormous multinational Japanese companies like Sapporo, etc. are unable to ask at least one fluent English-speaking person for a grammatical review of Engrish-riddled marketing campaigns/labeling they put out. In a country as advanced as Japan, I really don't get how it is prevalent.

[beast]

On a side note, it actually blows my mind that enormous multinational Japanese companies like Sapporo, etc. are unable to ask at least one fluent English-speaking person for a grammatical review of Engrish-riddled marketing campaigns/labeling they put out. In a country as advanced as Japan, I really don't get how it is prevalent.

Japan is just a notch above China. Their translation on their products are some bizarre nonsensical shit that only the Japanese can understand and appreciate.

As for english speaking person, when everyone is as bad as the other, what do you expect? I remember my friend who was working in Japan in a non-translation role was asked to translate some company manual. His english aint great but he is the best they can find.

[beast]

anyway the worst i've encountered are pirated japanese tv/anime/movies from asia. i've actually translated a few in college for money and purposely did a shitty job.

Did you translate so you can put in totally nonsensical crap like 'I love you and want to have your babies" when 2 manga monsters are fighting?

[insomaniac]

On a side note, it actually blows my mind that enormous multinational Japanese companies like Sapporo, etc. are unable to ask at least one fluent English-speaking person for a grammatical review of Engrish-riddled marketing campaigns/labeling they put out. In a country as advanced as Japan, I really don't get how it is prevalent.

Many corporations know their grammatical mistakes, yet go with it because 'it makes more sense to the Japanese'. For example, there was a catch copy used by a famous contruction company that read "My Home Come True". The phrase "my home" in modern Japanese means "a house one had built", which is an ultimate icon for success in Japan. The latter portion of the catch copy, "Come True" should be "Comes True" but because there was a famous J-Pop group called Dreams Come True, they kept it "Come True" so more people would understand what it meant.

I translate for a living, and I have had a couple experiences where my client ended up changing my translation to Engrish.

[DaBestSpoona]

The translator does sound kinda like a dork. MLB probably doesnt know how to hire a translator, thats the problem with any type of work in that requires Japanese/English language skills. It's pretty common in the US. My wife worked as a translator for 2 financial companies, and both times the person doing the hiring was a non Japanese speaker, and the depts were ran by non Japanese speakers who had no clue how different it was from Chinese, so they hired a lot of Chinese people who took Japanese in college.

Ichiro speaking not english often in interviews is probably a confidence thing. Just like Yao Ming, dude sounds like Dirk with a Texan accent, but he still uses a translator.

[mizanation]

jmatsu, basically, the translator said, "at the end of the day, it was just an inside the park homerun, i thought it was outta here but it turned out to be an inside the park homerun."

ichiro basically said something similar, but also added, "i realized that it truly is hard to hit a home run in this ballpark". it's a touch of humility and props to the ballpark. without it, he kinda sounds like he's being arrogant.

maybe i'm being too picky.

[englandmj7]

Many corporations know their grammatical mistakes, yet go with it because 'it makes more sense to the Japanese'. For example, there was a catch copy used by a famous contruction company that read "My Home Come True". The phrase "my home" in modern Japanese means "a house one had built", which is an ultimate icon for success in Japan. The latter portion of the catch copy, "Come True" should be "Comes True" but because there was a famous J-Pop group called Dreams Come True, they kept it "Come True" so more people would understand what it meant.

I translate for a living, and I have had a couple experiences where my client ended up changing my translation to Engrish.

Interesting. I am sure this is the case alot of the time. Alot of Engrish I see, however, is so poor that I find it hard to believe it is like that simply so that the Japanese can understand it better.

For instance, I was at a ramen restaurant yesterday and there was a Sapporo flyer on the table that said "Drink Beer In The World".........what the hell does that mean???!?!? Actually this isn't really bad at all, but I was surprised that it made it across the pond to the US; I've seen far worse in Japan.

[mizanation]

Interesting. I am sure this is the case alot of the time. Alot of Engrish I see, however, is so poor that I find it hard to believe it is like that simply so that the Japanese can understand it better.

For instance, I was at a ramen restaurant yesterday and there was a Sapporo flyer on the table that said "Drink Beer In The World".........what the hell does that mean???!?!? Actually this isn't really bad at all, but I was surprised that it made it across the pond to the US; I've seen far worse in Japan.

england, that phrase actually means something to japanese people. "the world" is an engrish phrase that is used a lot to mean something like "all over the world" or "throughout the whole world." for instance, there was a hugely popular game show called, "naruhodo, the world" which translates to something close to, "wow, that makes sense--all over the world."

so, "Drink Beer In The World" would mean something like "drink beer all over the world." yeah, it's bizarre.

[mizanation]

dice-k's translator is very good.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/08/23/support_lacking_by_sox/

[hawkeye]

I was just going to ask about that Miz, they used another translator before the season started, but they got rid of him.

Edit: Too bad his translator couldn't have scored some runs for him last night. Only pitcher to loose 3 to the Rays all year! Comeon!

[DaBestSpoona]

also they both kinda sound alike

[mizanation]

Edit: Too bad his translator couldn't have scored some runs for him last night. Only pitcher to loose 3 to the Rays all year! Comeon!

yeah. i posted my gripe in the baseball thread...

[cuddlysheep]

all this talk about ichiro,how about shinjo-san?