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Kubo should teach the rest of these girls in the romance genre how it's done, she has mastered the craft of the flirt and any lesser MC would've folded by now.
Kubo Won't Let Me Be Invisible - Vol. 3 Ch. 24 - Lunch and Rolled Omelette
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@Raknasuu I reckon only half of your point has a ground to stay on. There are things that shouldn't be translated as it's a cultural phenomenon. I saw the other day a translator used "sharing umbrella" instead of "Aiaigasa", which confused the hell out of the readers who didn't catch up on that. That I find is more of a failure than failing to deliver the literal meaning of a word. That doesn't mean that you better off read the raws, but the things that aren't fully translatable shouldn't be in the first place. We live in 21th century, you can just google what is Tamagoyaki or Aiaigasa and just remember it.
The point of storytelling is to tell a story(duh) and not to teach explain you every little bit of cultural trash here and there. Although I can appreciate a little sidenote explaining a subtle thing that was lost in translation, that doesn't make the translation any worse.
Language is a living thing and shouldn't be put in a cage.
In this context "rolled omelette" shounds out of place to me. I'd much prefer to see the actual japanese word for that. I might be wrong though, but until proven wrong I remain unconvinced.
The point of storytelling is to tell a story(duh) and not to teach explain you every little bit of cultural trash here and there. Although I can appreciate a little sidenote explaining a subtle thing that was lost in translation, that doesn't make the translation any worse.
Language is a living thing and shouldn't be put in a cage.
In this context "rolled omelette" shounds out of place to me. I'd much prefer to see the actual japanese word for that. I might be wrong though, but until proven wrong I remain unconvinced.
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@Shizomist
You know what I find funny in your comment. If you didn't say what "aiaigasa" meant, I wouldn't have gotten it. Hey, I learnt something today thanks to you so I should be thankful. You made my life easier by not making me go to google to search for it. See?
Thanks.
Now, the thing is. Words that can be translated should be translated by any means possible. As easy as that.
Your work as a translator is to "get the message across" so readers don't get distracted because of you. Your job is to be invisible.
So, let's tackle the main thing. Food tends to be called by it's ingredients in most cases, we can go with that approach: Tamago-yaki in particular literary means "grilled egg". But that only tells us half of what we need to know to understand the dish at first glance.
We are almost there, but we need to take a little detour: If you had to describe it, it could be something like:
"Yeah, they are mostly scrambled eggs (They are cooked in a pan tho). But they are also rolled and cut in pieces."
But that description is too large! We need to:
1) Make it shorter
2) Make everyone not having to google search it anyway. Taking into account that your audience speaks English (Has some form of western education, remember that)
So, scrambled eggs that are bent over: That thing is an omelette for the west and maybe even for the east.We can use that pretty accurately for people with western education, because FRANCE means omelettes and freaking croissants. And we are taught France a lot, not Japan. SUSHI is Japan. But that's because of USA's influence. The rolled part explains itself.
The wiki even calls it a type of omelette. So, there's that. We are also not making the reader go to the Wikipedia. Extra points.
Accompany all the aforementioned with a drawing of the dish (that we are seeing because this is a manga). And there you go. Most people would get it and all was well with the world.
We gotta appreciate translators when they do this, it looks professional. After all, it is easier to not translate anything and let the reader do the work. I'm not shitting in anyone else tho, as most of 'em do this work for free and we gotta be grateful for that. Translating isn't as easy at it sounds.
You know what I find funny in your comment. If you didn't say what "aiaigasa" meant, I wouldn't have gotten it. Hey, I learnt something today thanks to you so I should be thankful. You made my life easier by not making me go to google to search for it. See?
Thanks.
Now, the thing is. Words that can be translated should be translated by any means possible. As easy as that.
Your work as a translator is to "get the message across" so readers don't get distracted because of you. Your job is to be invisible.
So, let's tackle the main thing. Food tends to be called by it's ingredients in most cases, we can go with that approach: Tamago-yaki in particular literary means "grilled egg". But that only tells us half of what we need to know to understand the dish at first glance.
We are almost there, but we need to take a little detour: If you had to describe it, it could be something like:
"Yeah, they are mostly scrambled eggs (They are cooked in a pan tho). But they are also rolled and cut in pieces."
But that description is too large! We need to:
1) Make it shorter
2) Make everyone not having to google search it anyway. Taking into account that your audience speaks English (Has some form of western education, remember that)
So, scrambled eggs that are bent over: That thing is an omelette for the west and maybe even for the east.
The wiki even calls it a type of omelette. So, there's that. We are also not making the reader go to the Wikipedia. Extra points.
Accompany all the aforementioned with a drawing of the dish (that we are seeing because this is a manga). And there you go. Most people would get it and all was well with the world.
We gotta appreciate translators when they do this, it looks professional. After all, it is easier to not translate anything and let the reader do the work. I'm not shitting in anyone else tho, as most of 'em do this work for free and we gotta be grateful for that. Translating isn't as easy at it sounds.
@Raknasuu
That is exactly my point.
You know, on a second thought you might be right, omelette roll might be okay here, I just felt like it was "extra effort", if I was the translator, I would've left tamagoyaki there, and I doubt the text would lose any points.
Still though, a lot of dishes are usually called by their original name unless there's a universal version of it with a different name in every labguage, which is not really the case with "omelette roll".
The thing is, that word has more to it than just "sharing an umbrella" that is why those readers didn't understand thst and perceived the MC's quote "Wait,is this sharing umbrella?" as a stupid remark as it's painfully obvious, but in Japan it's more intimate than in the West, that is exactly what the translation lacked which could've been avoided by just not translating it and letting the reader figure that out on their own. Did you see that romantic implication by that phrase? I bet not.
That is exactly my point.
You know, on a second thought you might be right, omelette roll might be okay here, I just felt like it was "extra effort", if I was the translator, I would've left tamagoyaki there, and I doubt the text would lose any points.
Still though, a lot of dishes are usually called by their original name unless there's a universal version of it with a different name in every labguage, which is not really the case with "omelette roll".
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I swear until quarantine I'd never heard of "hamburger steak" in anime/manga and now I've seen it in at least three series: After Rain, SKET Dance and now this (maybe Blue Flag as a fourth but I'm hazy on that).
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@Shizomist
Because of my background as a manga reader I did. But I get where you are coming from. If I read the sentence "Sharing an umbrella" without the Japanese context thing I wouldn't know.
Still. There might be some way around that even if it's overkill. The umbrella stuff is important not because of the umbrella itself, but because of the "aiai" part of the word: love/lover.
Obviously is so goddamn hard to address the situation with the translation alone. But we gotta try anyway. Let's keep the "love" part in mind.
You could use "lover's umbrella" or "umbrella of love". Sounds weird, but that's how it is usually done. Also less confusing than "sharing an umbrella"
Keep in mind that "sharing" isn't a part of the "aiaigasa" word, as the former is a verb.
Essentially, the problem there is that they ommited a nuance that could've been easily translated. Aiaigasa is way shorter to say tho.
Because of my background as a manga reader I did. But I get where you are coming from. If I read the sentence "Sharing an umbrella" without the Japanese context thing I wouldn't know.
Still. There might be some way around that even if it's overkill. The umbrella stuff is important not because of the umbrella itself, but because of the "aiai" part of the word: love/lover.
Obviously is so goddamn hard to address the situation with the translation alone. But we gotta try anyway. Let's keep the "love" part in mind.
You could use "lover's umbrella" or "umbrella of love". Sounds weird, but that's how it is usually done. Also less confusing than "sharing an umbrella"
Keep in mind that "sharing" isn't a part of the "aiaigasa" word, as the former is a verb.
Essentially, the problem there is that they ommited a nuance that could've been easily translated. Aiaigasa is way shorter to say tho.
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@Shizomist
Yes. Let's. I stand corrected.
Tho I still think that the translations fit. Even if the nuance gets lost.
Yes. Let's. I stand corrected.
Tho I still think that the translations fit. Even if the nuance gets lost.
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What are those writings on the first pages, quotes from people having strokes? "Some say hedge mazes and love look like warehouses, but my boating shoes are purple." I dare you to include that one there.
Edit: Also, in Finnish 'egg' is also a synonym for dick. Shirashi-kun's "egg" is delicious indeed. She's thirsty in all of the languages.
Edit: Also, in Finnish 'egg' is also a synonym for dick. Shirashi-kun's "egg" is delicious indeed. She's thirsty in all of the languages.
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Uhm Isnt that sexual harassment Shiraishi-san. They re so cute.
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Eating in the science lab? What the fuck?
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