Gundam 00 — Nyoro~n Translation Errors
I was quite alarmed by a comment posted by tsuki_Yomi in my previous entry. His understanding of the relationship between Ptolemaios and Gundams in Gundam 00 appears to be the complete opposite of what episode 3 revealed. I decided that some fansub group must have done everyone a huge disfavour and since Nyoro~n is the only group that has released so far (as of this posting)…
So yeah, here’s a comparison of all the major translation errors in episode 3 released by Nyoro~n Fansubs. Of course since I do translation checking for Mendoi-Conclave, you can say that I have a vested interest in doing this comparison. But keep in mind that I didn’t make anything up and all the errors are really there when you watch their release. Enjoy.
Original: よもや君に出会えようとは
Nyoro~n: Oh come now, this is just like when I first saw you.
Menclave: Who would’ve thought… facing you like this…
Original: おとめ座のわたしには、センチメンタリズムな運命を感じずにはいられない
Nyoro~n: You’re not going to end this fated battle without returning my sentimentalities.
Menclave: Being a Virgo, I can’t help but feel this is a sentimental destiny.
Comment: Completely missing out the first half of the sentence (Virgo part). I agree that “sentimental destiny” sounds really stupid, but at least it doesn’t alter the meaning.
Original: それとも、光の粒子を出していなかったから見つけられたのか……
Nyoro~n: Or perhaps you thought I hadn’t noticed that light that’s streaming out of you?
Menclave: Or was I able to find you because you forgot to send out those glowing particles?
Comment: An honest mistake, I’m sure.
Original: 手土産に…破片の1つもいただいていく！
Nyoro~n: I admire your strength… So I’m going to take you back in one piece!
Menclave: As a souvenir… I’ll take a piece of you with me!
Comment: WTF?
Original: いやはや、本当に予測不能な人だよ君は
Nyoro~n: Goodness gracious, you’re certainly someone who grasps your shortcomings far too late, aren’t you?
Menclave: My, my, you’re such an unpredictable character.
Comment: Nice…
Original: 今回の戦闘で得られたガンダムのデータは、フラッグ1機を失ったとしてもおつりがくる
Nyoro~n: We got some battle data on the Gundam, and your Flag was unharmed.
Menclave: Considering the data we obtained on the Gundam during this fight, even losing the Flag would have been a good trade.
Comment: Hey, at least all the important keywords are there!…This time~nyoro~
Original: それにしても若かったな…ソレスタルビーイングのパイロットは
Nyoro~n: I just did this to better understand… that Celestial Being pilot.
Menclave: Besides all that, he sure was young… Celestial Being’s pilot.
Comment: LOL~!! wakai (young) != wakaru (understand)
Original: モビルスーツの動きに感情がのっていたのさ
Nyoro~n: When you’re moving a mobile suit, you tend to lose yourself.
Menclave: I could read his feelings from the way he moved his mobile suit.
Original: 10分以内に速報配信！次のニュースは現地からの中継だ！3時間以内に人革主席の公式声明が出るぞ！
Nyoro~n: There’s got to be something that’s been leaked. Just run a recap for the next newscast; this time tomorrow you all better have something to give me!
Menclave: Send out this news flash within the next 10 minutes! Do a live on-site broadcast for the next news segment! The head of the Human Reform League is making an official statement in less than 3 hours!
Comment: Okay, Nyoro~n, now you are just making shit up.
Original: 枠を空けとけ！
Nyoro~n: Get your asses in gear!
Menclave: Keep that time slot open!
Comment: Mmmm…ass…
Orignial: 21世紀のセキュリティはあってないようなものだからな
Nyoro~n: Besides, there’s no way a man from the 21st century could be around today.
Menclave: Security in the 21st century was almost non-existent, after all.
Comment: Not even close.
Major WTF Errors
Actually I am sick of this. It’s only 5 minutes into the episode and a quick glance through the rest of Nyoro~n’s script reveals that the entire thing is full of nonsense. But I’ll just highlight a few more MAJOR MISTAKES, some of them which totally changed the entire plot. I have doubts that the translator speaks any Japanese at all.
Original: 僕たちに弱点があるとすれば、ガンダムがないとプトレマイオスの活動時間が極端に限定されてしまうと
Nyoro~n: If there was one weak point for us… It would be that our Gundams are severely limited by the need to periodically return to the Ptolemaios.
Menclave: If we have a weak point, it’s that, without the Gundams, the operational time of the Ptolemaios would be extremely limited.
Comment: This may sound counter-intuitive, but yes, the Gundams really are Ptolemy’s power source. The original Japanese dialogue made it very clear.
Original: アイルランドのアルスター地方では、散発的ではありますが、テロ行為が4世紀近くにわたって続いています
Nyoro~n: Ireland’s Ulster Volunteer Forces are scattered across the country, though those factions who engage in terrorist activities remain hidden.
Menclave: In Ireland’s Ulster region, though sporadic, terrorist acts have been occurring for approximately four centuries.
Original: 材質はEカーボン。最新素材ではありますが、構造上、目新しい技術は確認されていません
Nyoro~n: It’s well-reinforced with carbon, the technology on the inside is cutting edge, some of it’s unheard of.
Menclave: It’s made out of E-carbon. It’s made out of the most up-to-date material, but, in terms of design, we cannot find any new technology being used.
Comment: The whole point of this dialogue is to show that CB are really careful not to divulge their technological secrets. Great job missing the whole point, Nyoro~n.
Original: あの特殊粒子は、ステルス性のほかに機体制御にも使われている
Nyoro~n: If we obtain a sample of that special particle, we can achieve the same results.
Menclave: Those special particles, besides their stealth features, are also used for controlling the suit.
Original: おそらくは、火器にも転用されているじゃろうて
Nyoro~n: So you’re going to give a Flag the firepower to match him?
Menclave: They’re likely to be applied as weapons too.
Original: 恐ろしい男じゃ、わしらより何十年も先の技術を持っておる
Nyoro~n: He’s a wicked man. 70 years ago I learned of his deceit.
Menclave: A dreadful man… having technology that’s several decades ahead of us.
Comment: STOP MAKING THINGS UP!!!
Original: わしは麻薬などというものが心底嫌いでな！焼き払ってくれるというなら、ガンダムを支持したい
Nyoro~n: That’s not the role you’re meant to fill, you need to be remade before then. I want to teach you what you need to blow the Gundam away.
Menclave: I hate narcotics from the bottom of my heart. If they intend to burn that down, I’ll support the Gundams.
Comment: Uh… How the fuck did you even get that?
Original: エネルギー、ヴァーチェからトレミーへの転送準備完了、転送開始します
Nyoro~n: Virtue now drawing energy from the solar furnace.
Menclave: Energy, transfer preparations from Virtue to Ptolemy complete.
Comment: Once again, Nyoro~n totally fucks up the relationship between Ptolemy and Gundams. Oh well, at least they are being consistent about it. :)
Original: ソレスタルビーイングを利用する国。その国すら利用する国
Nyoro~n: Celestial Being begins to be received by countries. These countries become host nations.
Menclave: The nations who make use of Celestial Being. The nations who use those nations.
Comment: Once again, I admit the shortcomings of Menclave’s version. It sounds a little weird in English, but at least that’s what the original dialogue is saying. We didn’t make things up! Yay!
Conclusion
Keep in mind that beyond the first 5 minutes of the episode, I only chose to highlight selective mistakes because it would probably take me a few hours more to document the whole thing. There’s something wrong with at least 70% of the lines. The translator goes to great length to make it sound like he knows what he is doing, such that his so-called “translations” sound reasonable to someone who doesn’t speak Japanese. That is, in my humblest opinion, dishonest and disturbing.
If you don’t understand a single word of Japanese at all, it’s better for you to watch the raws than to watch Nyoro~n. I hesitate to call their release a “translation” because in reality it is closer to being a parody sub. It’s as if the “translator” decided to write his own story because he didn’t like Sunrise’s scriptwriters. If you are a Gundam fan, please, for the love of Haruhi and all that is good, wait for some other group to release. It doesn’t even have to be Mendoi-Conclave…
If my experiences are anything to go by, some commentators will start accusing me of being “elitist” and “not helping the situation” just about now. But this time I learnt my lesson. Rest assured that Nyoro~n’s translator has had his mistakes pointed out to him many, many times before I typed this blog entry. He continues to insist that he knows what he is doing. Fine, here’s my proof otherwise.
That said, Nyoro~n’s release does offer hours of quality entertainment for someone who speaks Japanese. It’s hilarious. :)
This has been a public service announcement from a guy with too much free time on his hands.
October 25th, 2007 at 12:55 am
man, u surelly have a lot of free time… lol
October 25th, 2007 at 1:06 am
This whole comment is largely irrelevant to the current topic lol. But I like to give proper replies to comments. Anyway, skip this if you’re only interested in the the topic of this blog entry.
AGrove:
Heh, it wasn’t my original intention to fansub Gundam 00. You will find that I am not listed in the credits for episode 1. The reason why I decided to help out is the same reason why I posted this comparison. Frankly, M-C’s ep1 wasn’t very well done. (Ops.)
Anyway, I think you misunderstood what I meant… I wasn’t pissed that people were fansubbing Ghost in the Shell, I was pissed that they were complaining that Bandai “pre-announced” the licensing of SSS.
I brought up popularity of a series because if GitS was a very obscure title that no one would buy and Bandai told fansubbers to just stop, I would’ve found the complaints to be somewhat logical. I am disillusioned by how fansubbers still think that the companies owe them.
People stopped subbing obscure shows not because they decided to, but because the good and obscure of the yesteryears are the good and popular shows of today. Circumstances have changed, fansubbers can no longer legitimately argue that the companies owe them any grace period before licensing.
I’m not asking fansubbers to go back to the good old days. (It’s hard to find an obscure series that’s not shit these days anyway, since you can pretty much find information on everything on the net so all good stuff gets known fast.) I’m asking people to accept that the good old days are gone, so be happy with what you get and stop complaining.
I quote myself…
So yes, I am a selfish bastard who wants to watch anime for free. I never claimed otherwise. But I won’t whine if Bandai chooses to do something about it, such as announcing the license for G00 tomorrow morning.
The only thing I am disillusioned about is the attitude of many fansubbers to Bandai’s announcement. Perhaps you thought that by “disillusioned ex-fansubber”, I was disillusioned with fansubbing. Well not exactly, I was an ex-fansubber and I was disillusioned, in the context that I have explained.
Here’s another quote…
Not once did I tell people to stop fansubbing or stop downloading, just stop whining.
Anyway, if you still think that I changed my message, then there’s really nothing more I can say.
I need sleep. This comment probably has twenty billion typos but it’s too late to correct them. Oh well.
October 25th, 2007 at 2:20 am
I just finished watching Episode 3 by watching Nyoro~n and Mendoi-Conclave at the simultaneously. I must say that given my limited Japanese proficiency, I find Nyoro~n’s translation rather inaccurate and some times, they do make up their own lines. From the start, I had trusted Mendoi-Conclave more since you guys had fansubbed Stargazer (which I loved a lot!). I was curious and wanted to know how the other fansub groups fare, so I got both versions for comparision. Now I can be assured of my choice. The only problem is that my VLC can’t display subs in .mkv properly, but I’ll try to get my way around this issue..
Perhaps you have your reason, or wanted to do something to feedback to Nyoro~n (in the name of protecting and honoring fansubbing), but I just feel that a slightly more subtle way of pointing out the mistakes (however obvious they are) may be easier to swallow… ^^;
October 25th, 2007 at 3:10 am
That was… i just dont kow what to say. I mean i dont know more then a few words and sentences of japaneese and even i could do a bit more accurate translation then thay did whit the help of bablefish. An my english wrighting skills arent that hot eather;) so thats pretty bad.
And this once again reminds me why i dont download speedsubs or subs that score lower then 7.0(well sometimes im forced to since no one else translates those shows) at anidb for that mather.
Well its not like Mendoi-Conclave is slow. a few days is more then acceptable when it comes to quality releases.
October 25th, 2007 at 3:13 am
Although I think its good to point out these errors in the fansubs, there is two issues I would like to point out. You are downloading free fansubs, so you don’t really have any room to complain about the quality you are getting as you didn’t have to pay for this, and the person behind the translation did this out of his own free time. You option is to stick with another translator. Personally I wont complain about this, but I thank you for telling me about this issue as some errors in the translation as part of what makes me like real robot anime is the technical and political issues that have not been translated well enough to bring out the correct message in the story. I hope that this will stop at this with no hate for Nyoro~n and instead that we get a better Menclave sub release, or something on that level at the least as thats what I would like in terms of translation, even if that means i have to wait for the official DVD release. (and its more probable then with other recent Gundam TV series, even if I think Gundam 00 starts slow, it has more potential then most recent real robot anime series) And if those subtitles, and English dub, has similar errors in translation, THEN I would start to complain and be pissed about the issue as then I would have paid for the material and expect the best from something as important as a translation is to someone like me that know no Japanese.
October 25th, 2007 at 7:19 am
It’s not free. It’s a waste of bandwidth and time. It’s desecrating a series I like. If I packaged poison as free food and gave it to starving African children, you would have no right to complain? Sorry, but free doesn’t excuse it from being this bad.
October 25th, 2007 at 9:07 am
Are you seriously comparing illegal copyright violations with charity? Wow, that has to be the most stupid thing I have heard in a while. It is free, you aren’t paying for the release in any way, if you don’t like it you should not complain, you should just not download the release instead. If you are dependent on fansubs to watch your anime, you have no right to complain what so ever as the fansubers are doing this out of their own free will, without getting anything for it just so that you can watch it now and don’t have to wait for a local release or even pay for it. Don’t bite the hand that feed you. There are other fansub groups out there that are not speed subs (a fact that makes your complaints even more pathetic) that probably do a better job, so keep quiet and watch their releases instead of making a fool out of yourselves.
October 25th, 2007 at 10:18 am
You are a total douchebag and the main reason why most “otaku” fans are so fucking annoying. If you are so good at Japanese translation then release a fansub of your own. You are one of these super annoying types that think it’s your right to have this stuff. Grow up, leave your bedroom once in awhile and be grateful that there is anyone even doing fansubs in the first place.
October 25th, 2007 at 10:49 am
@ You are an idiot. - He did release a fansub of his own. He a translator or translator checker for the Mendoi-Conclave Gundam00 release. Who’s the idiot now? 8^)
October 25th, 2007 at 11:08 am
@You are an idiot - PWNED. LOLZ.
October 25th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Period.
October 25th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Thank u for informing me about that. As a gundam fan/atic, it wouldve sucked if kept on watching that funsub. im watchin anime on crunchyroll (u know this site?) and man, it didnt make sense. im not gud in speaking japanese but i did notice that some words didnt match at all. so thank u once again for presenting this, oh by the way i followed this link from another person watching Gundam 00 in the comment box, peace and have a great day :)
October 25th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Uhh… @Lance McCloud…
In case you haven’t noticed… DM IS A TRANSLATOR of Mendoi-Conclave… This is like watching your nicely produced artwork being beaten by a complete pile of shit in art class just because the other guy finished 2 days ahead of the due date.
Trackback from
じ――ツಠ_ಠ。。。October 25th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Re: Dark Mirage v.s. Nyoron Fansubs…
I’ve long noticed Nyoro~n Fansubs sketchy translations; I was a bit turned off from their Gurren Lagann subs. Not that I care about bringing a fansub group’s failures to the light, but at least people are aware, now.
……
October 25th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
DM, you certainly have done your homework, unlike certain people who are most certainly going to be burying their heads in the sand.(Much like Xedo at the moment) over the expose of their “translations” i will certainly, if ever, give caution to others who actually get their fix from nyoron subs after this, particularly with their “firm” denial and discredit to yourself.
Last but not least, i fully support you in this dorama.
October 25th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
DMさん、コレはいい仕事ですねー。グラハム・エーカーのガチホモさをちゃんと英語で伝えるのが今期、腕の見せ所ですよね。ってか、そうしないともったいなすぎるこのガンダム００。友達にリンクもらって立ち止まったんですけど、結構良いグループみたいですね、興味わいてきました。翻訳のチェッカーなど必要でしたらメールでも送ってください。ちなみに、オレもガンダムですよ。
October 25th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Lance McCloud:
Bandai and Sunrise are the hands that feed me. Nyorn~n is… Uh. Right. Anyway that’s totally out of point.
Basically my point is that just because something is free doesn’t mean you don’t have the right to complain about it. Especially when you accepted it under false impressions.
You don’t like my analogy? I thought it was close enough. :P Here’s another one…
It’s like how you are complaining about my blog entry (free) in the comments section (free) of my blog (free). By your logic, there’s nothing on this website that you can complain about, since I don’t charge you anything. :)
Koko:
そうですね。直訳は時々変な感じがしますが、意味を変えすぎると日本語のセリフよりホモになりそうです。
October 25th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
@ Serenade
I wasn’t targeting that directly at him as much as toward people that complain about fansubs in general. I will probably watch his fansubs from now on as they should be much better. You see, thats the think I can do here instead of complaining, just get fansubs from another group.
@ DarkMirage
You are still biting Sunrise’s hand by making fansubs for their anime though, considering how protective they are of their work and all. But you are in deed correct that I cant complain about your blog. I can give you constructive criticism on the other hand, something that is completely different from from one another. I still have the option to not read it (and I have in fact only read this one entry) but why complain about something when its free and done for the (supposed anyway) user or in this case the reader. This is especially true with something like fansubs, that are not only free, but also illegal. I’m just sick and tired of the mentality among anime fans that “Anime should be free and I should not have to pay” and “I want my anime here, now, in the highest quality and with the best translation” without really thinking about supporting the oficial release that has this, only that it isn’t here as soon as the show aired in japan and they have to pay for it. For another stupid analogy, you cant eat the cake and also save it for later. Unless of course you steal another cake to eat before you buy a better one later.
October 25th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Just because something is free doesn’t mean you shouldn’t complain if it’s decietful. Tricking people into downloading something which you claim is a translation but is in fact more like fan-fiction is decietful and wrong. DM is pointing out to everyone who would download Nyoro that you are infact ingesting poison when there is plenty of cake out there like Medoi-conclave and Anonymous.
October 25th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Lance McCloud:
In that case, our views on fansubbing coincides.
I don’t know from which part of the above post did you extrapolate that I think I have a right to download fansubs for free. I know that I don’t and I have expressed that many times before in words.
You don’t think that my criticisms are constructive? It’s not like I typed “Nyoro~n sucks zomg LOL” and left it as that. I pointed out specific errors and show you why they are wrong.
And you missed a very important point.
You can choose to stop reading my blog because you can understand what I am saying and if you think I am an idiot, then there’s no reason why you should continue to waste your time on this blog.
But most people who watch Nyoro~n never knew how bad the “translation” was. Is it really fair for them? Can you really say that they are making a choice based on their free will when they don’t even know what is it that they have chosen?
No one has any right to complain because Nyoro~n is doing it for free? Nonsense.