Ask John: Why is Dubbed Dialogue Different From Subtitles?
Question:
Why do the companies that lisence anime feel the need to change dialogue? Whilst not really noticable in the dub, when watching anime subbed, it can be downright distracting, particularly given that there seems to be no real reason for it.
Answer:
There are actually two primary reasons why English dubbed anime sometimes loosely translates the original Japanese script, or even discards it completely in favor of an original American “adaptation.” These two reasons are both quite important, but they may be circumstances that very devoted, receptive anime viewers don’t consciously notice. The purpose of dubbing is not to provide a parallel version of an anime for foreign viewers. The purpose of dubbing is to create a version of anime that’s more appealing and accessible to English speaking viewers who aren’t receptive toward foreign film.
On the most practical level, dubbed dialogue requires some changes in order to match “lip flat,” the movement of the character’s mouths on screen. Anime that is animated to match “lip flap,” is typically animated to match the original spoken Japanese. It’s also common for mouth movements to not precisely match the spoken dialogue. Voice actors are professional enough to match the length of their spoken dialogue to the length of time the animated characters’ mouths move, but precise physical enunciation of words and syllables may not be exact.
Since spoken Japanese and English convey a different amount of information within an equal amount of time, Japanese dialogue has to be revised for English. Anime viewers used to watching Japanese language anime may not notice differences between spoken dialogue and the natural movement of the speaking character’s mouth. English speaking viewers, who are used to generations worth of American animation that carefully matches mouth movements to dialogue, do notice discrepancies between speech and mouth movement. So dubbed dialogue often has to be condensed and re-written to closer match the mouth movements of the animation, so as to not distract and annoy English speaking viewers.
Since the purpose of dubbing is to make Japanese animation accessible and appealing to viewers that refuse to watch foreign language film, English dub scripts are sometimes revised or re-written for the benefit of their intended audience. Programs like Super Milk-chan, Crayon Shin-chan, and Ghost Stories are the best examples of this tendency. While these programs have been popular and successful in Japan, their humor and tone were deemed inaccessible or unappealing to average American viewers. So the original Japanese scripts were discarded, and original American scripts created that would appeal to average American viewers who would never have supported these shows in their unaltered, original Japanese format.
Countless American anime fans appreciate Japanese animation both in Japanese language and with English dubbing. There’s no doubt that, for many English speaking viewers, English dubbing makes anime more immersive. However, it’s necessary to realize that dubbing is not principally created for the benefit of hardcore anime fans. Dubbing is not principally a convenience for anime fans; it’s a marketing tool used to sell anime to casual, mainstream viewers that otherwise wouldn’t watch Japanese animation. And part of the process of making anime attractive to casual, mainstream American viewers involves making changes to Japanese animation that make it less Japanese – less foreign.
Related Posts
About The Author
john
Add a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Utter nonsense. This is nothing more than a perpetuation of the silly elitist idea that if you’re “hardcore” you watch subs.
1) Though perhaps unintentional, you make it seem as if Super Milk-chan, Crayon Shin-chan, and Ghost Stories are representative of any sort of significant portion of dubs. In this day and age, they are an extremely rare occurrence. In reality, the way the vast majority of anime is marketed today, it does not need to be made more appealing or less foreign. Or at worst, it only happens to a very limited extent and only in the case of the handful of anime that make a push towards a mainstream audience. However, the vast majority of the time anime fans are already willing enough to accept the foreignness of anime. In many ways that is even one of it’s draws.
2) You neglect the single largest reason dubs are changed. You CAN NOT translate Japanese to English word for word. It will not give you a functional English language version. It just doesn’t work that way. They are two totally different languages which differ on a fundamental level. To create an effective script you must rework it. This is where sub elitists really irritate me. I fully respect people who’s personal preferences lead them to choose subs. However, people who look down on dubs and think subs give them the “original version” are simply factually wrong. Unless you are capable of understanding the original Japanese unassisted, you are not getting the original version. A literal subtitled translation is hardly guaranteed to present the same impact. In fact, the wording of a translation which has been reworked as in the case of dubs can actually offer an impact on the viewer equal or even closer to the original Japanese version than that of subs. Of course, sometimes a sub is better, sometimes a dub is. They are both ultimately translations though. In the majority of cases they are probably roughly equal in how close they are to the original.
Considering that I clearly stated, “…English dubbed anime sometimes loosely translates…” and, “…English dub scripts are sometimes revised or re-written…” before ever mentioning the titles Super Milk-chan, Crayon Shin-chan, and Ghost Stories, I believe that it’s an over-reaction to argue that I implied that these three examples represent the majority of English dubs.
Furthermore, I don’t believe that anywhere in my article I made an aggressive effort to state or imply that typical English dub scripts tremendously different from original Japanese scripts. I did clearly explain that Japanese language is not directly equivilant to spoken English. I also made a conscious effort not to compose a “dub versus sub” argument. Nowhere in my response did I state or intentionally imply that subtitles are “better” than English dubbing.
I argued that dubbing is a marketing tool designed to make Japanese film accessible to viewers uninterested in listening to Japanese language. If you disagree with that assertion, please feel free to explain why.
Dubbing has always been a hot topic, obviously, but what’s more interesting I think is the history of the Americanization of Japanese culture products for western audiences. This, I think, plays partly into what John mentioned in the original article… dubbing is a localization process, which over the years has become a refined and professional endeavor that many of us respect.
As a result, dubbing itself is only one process, only one style/option, out of many, that title licensors and/or distributors choose in order to provide foreign/alien content to local consumers. There are, necessarily, components of dubbing which angle the purpose, function, and accessibility of the dub, proper, and the subsequent delivery of the foreign property to western viewership. If an anime contains cultural elements that are exclusive to Japan or a sense of humor that is distinctly home-grown, such adjustments to these components are sometimes made in order to meet the standards of commercialization set by a broadcaster or distribution partner.
Another interesting topic of discussion though, would be to inquire on the process of manga translation… there are only a few articles and interviews available on the matter, but it’s perhaps even more interesting a conversation.
@John
No, you’re trying to use those snips of comments out of context now to justify your original comments. What you actually said was: “There are actually two primary reasons why English dubbed anime sometimes loosely translates the original Japanese script, or even discards it completely in favor of an original American ‘adaptation’.”
You then go on to claim those two reasons are A) lip flaps and B) increasing appeal to Americans. Though you did mention that Japanese language is not directly equivalent to spoken English, you do so only briefly and in relation to lip flaps. Lip flaps are a genuine technical reason but there is so much more to it than just that. My problem is that you explain lip flaps but then for issue B you only mention the extremes.
“Since the purpose of dubbing is to make Japanese animation accessible and appealing to viewers that refuse to watch foreign language film, English dub scripts are sometimes revised or re-written for the benefit of their intended audience. Programs like Super Milk-chan, Crayon Shin-chan, and Ghost Stories are the best examples of this tendency. While these programs have been popular and successful in Japan, their humor and tone were deemed inaccessible or unappealing to average American viewers. So the original Japanese scripts were discarded, and original American scripts created that would appeal to average American viewers who would never have supported these shows in their unaltered, original Japanese format.”
You mention only these cases of complete rewrites and talk about anime that are deemed unappealing to American viewers and that is all. Yet previously you claimed this to be one of the two primary reasons dubs change things. That is where you’re making an unfair and misleading implication. It suggests that dubbing attempts to remove the various Japanese influence from anime rather than just the Japanese language itself on some frequent basis. I concur that there is a large group of people who wouldn’t watch anime subtitled. However, that is an issue with the subtitles themselves, not anime being too foreign or not appealing enough. Moving on to the larger issue:
“The purpose of dubbing is not to provide a parallel version of an anime for foreign viewers. The purpose of dubbing is to create a version of anime that’s more appealing and accessible to English speaking viewers who aren’t receptive toward foreign film.”
Again, as per point 2 of my complaint, I disagree that subs provide a parallel version either. Either way you are getting a translation that will not have the same impact on the viewer as actually understanding the original.
“I argued that dubbing is a marketing tool designed to make Japanese film accessible to viewers uninterested in listening to Japanese language. If you disagree with that assertion, please feel free to explain why.”
You talk as if that’s the only reason people watch dubs. It not.
Ever thought that people simply enjoy the English voice acting and its not because they aren’t interested in the Japanese track?
I have no problems with John’s response on this issue. However, it does appear he has walked into the hypersensitive people in the dub vs sub debate.
I personally do not think that anime companies go through all the expense and effort of producing a dub so that anime fans who have no problems with the Japanese track can also enjoy an English dub. That makes no logical business sense. Americans in particular are famous for disliking subbed movies and preferring their entertainment dubbed.
Anime companies do English dubs in order to get a bigger market for the anime they are selling and make more money. I really don’t think that they are spending all this money and time to make sure anime lovers get to enjoy English voice acting or to provide the best possible impact of the Japanese experience to the viewers. A dub is a business decision not an aesthetic one.
“Unless you are capable of understanding the original Japanese unassisted, you are not getting the original version.”
I think this argument of “you have to pass JLPT to fully understand the original intent” is a bit of bull. I haven’t passed JLPT, I used my ears, logic, knowledge–a.k.a. my brain–to let the language sink in over time, and yes, you can “get” the original intent just as any other Japanese person can. I think some people are so hung up on the idea of a perfect translation that they are forgetting anime were originally meant to be *listened* in Japanese, so instead of trying to immerse themselves into the language and its cultural aspect, they seek to find that perfect translation, be it in subs or dubs.
You know, if you set me down to play a barebone eroge, I won’t be able to understand much, but if you give me a text extraction tool, ATLAS translation software, if you turn on the volume so I can hear the voices more clearly, and FireFox to let me reference things, then I won’t have much problems understanding it. It’s the art of compensation which our brains are perfectly capable of doing, you just need to let them do their work.
“Ever thought that people simply enjoy the English voice acting and its not because they aren’t interested in the Japanese track?”
It doesn’t really matter whether dubs are popular because people prefer English voices or because they dislike Japanese voices, the point is dubbing is a marketing tool to substantially increase sales. Why is that? It doesn’t really matter as long as the licensees make substantial gains with their investment.
“I think some people are so hung up on the idea of a perfect translation that they are forgetting anime were originally meant to be *listened* in Japanese, so instead of trying to immerse themselves into the language and its cultural aspect, they seek to find that perfect translation, be it in subs or dubs.”
Anime was meant to be understood in Japanese, not just listened to. However, my point is that ultimately, save those who are fluent in Japanese, we must settle for some manner of translation. Neither will be perfect.