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The official translations of the haruhi novels are terrible

snowbullsnowbull
edited 2011-09-11 12:39:03 in Media
Cue-bey
Everything is extremely clunky, every other paragraph sounded too bizarre for anyone to have said and the whole thing was barely passable. The fan translation, while it was far from perfect, actually had dialogue that sounded like things people might actually say. How is it that the free fan translation went the route of quality and the official translation did the clunky literalness at all costs thing? Isn't that sort of thing usually associated with fansubs who wish to preserve the exact meaning of the words of glorious nippon at the expense of making any sense?

I guess this could be exacerbated with my not having read the fan translation in years, but I do recall the fan translation being much, much better. Does anyone have a link to the old fan translations? I recall Grahf on tvtropes had a link to a zip file download with them.
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Comments

  • ClockworkUniverseClockworkUniverse
    OOOooooOoOoOOoo, I'm a ghoOooOooOOOost!
    Yeah, I liked the fan ones a lot more too. The official one tries to be far too literal; it's really glaring in spots.
  • NyktosNyktos
    a little muffled
    I haven't read any of the fan translations, but the official ones seem fine to me. There are some lines here and there that sound really stilted, but mostly they're okay.
  • snowbullsnowbull
    Cue-bey
    @INUH: But what I'm wondering is why. Surely people who translate things for a living wouldn't be labouring under the delusion that more literal = better. Unless they thought that the demographic buying it would prefer a more literal translation to a more readable translation.
  • MalkavianMalkavian
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!
    I thought they were pretty decent, but then I don't have the fanlations as a comparison.

    The Spice & Wolf novels have a much more natural feel to the prose but I'm not sure if more due to the writer or the translator.
  • ChagenChagen
    [tɕagɛn]
    I thought the translations of the Haruhi novels were excellent. I loves how everyone had a clearly defined "voice".

    That doesn't change the fact that Haruhi herself is a cunt who needs to fucking die forever, but eh.
  • DYREDYRE

    Dunno about the Haruhi novels, but it's actually pretty common for official translations to be shit compared to fan translations.  Not really sure why though.


    Also Haruhi is awesome and is totally the best character in that series.


    -goes back to not posting in this forum-

  • CrimsonCrimson
    Give us fire! Give us ruin! Give us our glory!
    Didn't the publisher actually hire people from the fan translation to work on the official one? Or at least steal some terms from the fan one?

    ^Kyon is the best thing in that series and you know it!
  • NyktosNyktos
    a little muffled
    @DYRE:
    Dunno about the Haruhi novels, but it's actually pretty common for
    official translations to be shit compared to fan translations.
    True, but the reverse isn't any less common.

    Kyon is the best character btw.
  • ChagenChagen
    [tɕagɛn]
    Every character is great in my opinion.

    Except Haruhi, who is the worst character I have ever had the displeasure of reading. Every time she opens her mouth I swear I want to smash her face in with a hammer. Oh my fucking god, she barely has a character besides "bitch" and basically never develops at all.

    Fuck, I hate that bitch.
  • BobBob
    >Haruhi
    >Terrible

    This is news how?
  • NyktosNyktos
    a little muffled
    @Chagen: You do realize that she's not really meant to be likeable (at the beginning at least)?
  • ChagenChagen
    [tɕagɛn]
    Yeah.

    But they went too far with her.
  • MoeDantesMoeDantes
    no longer cuddly, but still Edmond
    I'm now glad I never found/purchased the official translations. Seriously this is sounding like Clannad all over again.
  • NyktosNyktos
    a little muffled
    They're really fine, though.
  • BeeBee
    And companies wonder why people pirate stuff like this even when it gets officially exported.

    Hint: stop doing a shittier job than random unpaid schmucks on the Internet.
  • ChagenChagen
    [tɕagɛn]
    The translations aren't shitty. The books themselves are.
  • NyktosNyktos
    edited 2011-09-11 17:06:43
    a little muffled
    Thump.
  • ForzareForzare
    Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the last Day.
    Urge... to strangle... rising....
  • DYREDYRE

    Kyon is the best thing in that series and you know it!

    Nah.  That's only true when Kyon is Crispin Freeman.  Unfortunately, listening to him also means I have to listen to Wendee Lee, so it's not really worth it.

  • ForzareForzare
    edited 2011-09-11 17:15:43
    Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the last Day.
    I like dub!pretty much everyone in Haruhi.

    Wendee Lee is the only one I don't can't stand and think the Japanese was unarguably better, so I can pretty much forgive the dub to like it more overall.
  • ChagenChagen
    [tɕagɛn]
    Wendee Lee is a very good voice actor in my opinion.
  • ForzareForzare
    Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the last Day.
    I can't stand her myself.
  • DYREDYRE
    The only female voice I like in the Haruhi dub is Mikuru's.  Haruhi's is terrible and all the other ones are just kinda mediocre at best.  The male voices are good though.
  • MalkavianMalkavian
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!
    My only problem with Wendee Lee's Haruhi is that her voice is just too animated. She was going for bubbly and vivacious and brought out Bugs Bunny.

    She's a good VA, though.
  • nohaynicklibrenohaynicklibre
    Kichigai birthday!!
    Wendee Lee is the one that normally voices Aya Hirano's characters,right?

    Also IJBM: Everything surrounding Aya Hirano
  • ForzareForzare
    edited 2011-09-11 17:24:07
    Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the last Day.
    I should clarify that I think I only know Wendee Lee as Haruhi, Konata, and Alpha so my information isn't exactly complete.

    There are worse VAs.
  • MalkavianMalkavian
    edited 2011-09-11 17:24:25
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!
    Aya Hirano/Charlie Sheen OTP.

    ^Faye Valentine, motherfucker.
  • ForzareForzare
    Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the last Day.
    ...

    ...Yeah, I still need to watch that.
  • DYREDYRE
    I haven't watched it, but... it hardly seems like something I "need" to watch...  Though I'll probably watch it eventually...  maybe.
  • NyktosNyktos
    edited 2011-09-11 17:30:56
    a little muffled
    I like all the main characters in the Haruhi dub, but I forget if I ever even watched any of the Japanese version. Certainly not enough to really compare.
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