Like manga, I hate it when they, for example, transliterate さん as -san, when there is an “equivalent” word for it, like Mr. but would it carry the same connotation as the source material? I cringe when I buy translated versions of Japanese literature due to this (which is why I stick to the source material), it just… does not sit well, I mean instead of writing -sensei, -senpai, or -sama there are “equivalents” in English for those but the catch is that would it work well upon translation?

  • zedatkinszed@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Because Japanese and English aren’t related languages.

    European and Indo-European Language can be much more easily translated with each other because they share root forms. Japanese and English do not.

    Hence translations are adaptations.

    The honorific not changing is considered correct in English btw. You should keep Monsieur or Frauline too. We just do that less these days because formality in the West is just about dead. In Japan it isn’t politeness/formality is invested in the language at deep levels.

    • stevedonovan@alien.topB
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      10 months ago

      Even with related languages. Afrikaans is descended from Dutch and practically next door to English linguistically. But it insists on the formal/informal pronouns which English abandoned centuries ago (to the extent that most speakers don’t know that Thou is the familiar form). And children will speak to their parents in the 3rd person, “Will Daddy come with us to the shops?”.

      Furthermore it has completely lost the old past tense of verbs; you have to use the perfect past tense. Novels are written in the “historical present”.

      Translation is never trivial.