Reflection and Analysis

Western Localizers - Being Female Isn't an Excuse for Racism

The larger part of the Anime fandom recently became aware of an issue that a more minor part of the fandom was aware of - unfaithful translations of the source material.

The existence of unfaithful translations is something I've been aware of, but I'd like to add this isn't just a problem with the Western Localizers who are supposed to be doing official translations of a given work; that there are some who do unofficial translations that are also unfaithful to the original source material, where the individual doing the translation decides they know better than the original creator and from their attempt to fix something that's not actually broken.

I'm not here today to talk about unofficial translations, though, but official ones.

For those who don't yet know, there are certain Western localizers who feel it is their job to interpret the work in whatever way they want to, playing, I think, on the different meanings of the word to justify what they're doing. By this, I mean they're taking the "interpret (for somebody) to translate one language into another as you hear it" and substituting it for "to decide that something has a particular meaning and to understand it in this way." 

These are both definitions from the Oxford Dictionary, but contrary to those arguing their job is to interpret the work whatever they want to, these definitions are not interchangeable. Their job is to translate the work.

Of course, I'm also fully aware of the argument that certain things don't translate from one language to another. This particular argument relies on those who don't translate anything, not knowing what can or can't be clearly translated from one language to another, let alone what the standard practice for handling translation issues is, yet over time, those who don't translate anything have become more aware of what should and shouldn't be standard practice.

I mean, I think a good chunk of the Anime fandom is aware of the triangle donuts joke that arose from Pokemon being localized, so this idea that the Anime fan is as oblivious as they once were--perhaps this is the Western localizers downfall this time around, in that people are definitely now mowed aware of certain aspects.

A good place to start here is to point out that when we say certain things don't translate from one language to another, we don't actually mean the actual meaning can't be translated instead, what is meant when anyone who translates anything says this is that there isn't a word for word translation that works, so a solution needs to be found so the meaning isn't lost.

In other words, there is the expectation that the meaning should, in fact, be kept, rather than distorted or tossed out the window altogether, but there are tricks of the trade that allow a translator to keep the original meaning for the intended audience. 

For example, while it is true that a Japanese idiom, if translated, might not be understood by those from another culture, often a given culture will have a similar idiom that can be substituted. If we're talking about dubs and lip sinking, there's also the use of substituting similar words with similar meanings to match the original meaning. Some words can be kept is if an index is used, bringing cultural awareness to cultures different than our own.

Things do, I admit, get a bit more difficult when it comes to humor. What might be a pun in one language might not have a suitable pun in another, or the joke is specific to the culture, although in this an index should work.

None of this, however, excuses what the Western localizers are doing, which they're claiming it's their job to be, with one openly admitting they did the translation then completely tossing the whole thing out and simply writing in what they felt the characters should be saying.

Of course, they like to throw around this idea that they're making culturally appropriate by censoring modern Western sensibilities.

First off, this ignores the fact this isn't their job. Second, egads--what right do they have to decide for everyone else what is culturally appropriate, particularly when they're doing the culturally inappropriate thing of censoring the words of someone from another culture simply because it doesn't align with their belief or at least I'd like to say that's the gist of what's going on. Still, it, in reality, gets worse.