#accents in translation

[miyamiwu]

Suddenly thinking about how accent is usually portrayed in translation. Example:

Why do they often translate it like That?

This isn’t applies to just Japanese manga. I’ve noticed it in other media as well. Hiori just happened to be the first example that came to mind.

How important is it to understanding the translated story that most dialogues of this Character with an Accent should have words that are contracted or purposefully misspelled? Is it important that the reader be constantly aware that this Character sounds differently? But everybody sounds differently when they speak. We all have our own quirks. (I don’t know how Hiori’s Kansai accent works, but this isn’t just about his accent specifically, okay.)

And I’m asking this as someone who, ironically, actually contracts/shortens words the whole time when speaking in my mother tongue because that’s just how conversational Cebuano works.

For example, the word know in Cebuano is kahibalo. But most people just say it as kahibaw, kaybaw, kibaw, or even just one-syllable—baw. Sometimes, we even mesh multiple words together: gamay og becomes gamay’g (gamay means small, while og is a connector word)

But if you ask me to translate a Cebuano story full of all such contractions in the dialogues, no way am I gonna contract their counterpart words in English as well. It would sound Odd, but this way of speaking is not at all Odd to us native speakers. I would not want our dialogues to be perceived as Odd. Depending on the context, I may just translate it as informal/casual versus formal/literary for dialogues that actually use the full words all throughout.

But this isn’t about the Cebuano language in itself, or any language for that matter. This is about accents. The sound and not the words themselves.

When I speak in Filipino, I have a Bisaya accent. This accent is characterized as being hard/rough when compared to the more smooth/flowy sound of the Filipino language. But note that despite speaking with such an accent, I do not contract my words in Filipino like how I would in Cebuano. I adapt to the language I’m speaking in instead. I’ll say the full word and only contract words I’ve noticed native speakers would contract.

Heck, I even try to adjust how I say Bisaya. I say it as bih-sa-yah, but when speaking in Filipino, I’d pronounce it as bee-saa-yaaa.

But there are just some words I can never sound smooth/flowy in. In this case, how should my rough accent be portrayed when translated to English?

Should my words be contracted and misspelled even when I speak the exact same words as a native Filipino speaker? Would you do the same for a native speaker fishmonger who has no accent but just speaks roughly in general? Am I cursed to always sound like a fishmonger in English even when I’m speaking gently? (No offense to the fishmonger. Us Bisaya just often lightheartedly joke about how we’re often perceived as fishmongers trying to sell their wares.)

I’m just trying to understand the implications here, and I’m coming to the conclusion that… translating accents in such a way is less about depicting the sound of it and more about depicting the Oddity of it. The foreign-ness.

...I will have to look into this some more...

[radioroxx]

great game. great god game even.

[dkettchen]

you know english infiltrating other languages due to the internet has become a problem when even the french are doing it

[jinikaris]

felix joining hyunjin's instagram live // november 24th, 2024

hyunjin trying to remember the word for quesadilla with felix's help + hyunjin being suddenly rizzed by the australian accent ♡

[radioscientist]

Forever amused by people lying about T H E most inconsequential things on this show, for the most insane reasons that nobody else would possibly think of.

[good-morzan-inheritance-cycle]

I love the idea that Roran and Eragon would have thick country accents for a good majority of their stories.

As someone who had to unlearn her thick Texan accent when I was young to be understandable outside my region (I still hold it in my back pocket tho. Use it as a party trick.) I’d love the interactions that would be sparked from Eragon desperately trying to get someone to understand him while the other party is just sobbing at this mountain hick.

[mapsontheweb]

Google translate accent of every country

[imutrt]

Ghost can, and will, smack a few heads if he needs to.

He does this to the newbies and recruits, a slap on the back of their heads when their nonsense gets out of order. He believes a good brain rattle serves them good. It would remind them of who they are, who they enlisted themselves to be.

He does the same thing on the field. Just...less gentle in force.

The LT is a big man with burly arms, capable of throwing things around like they weight less than they actually do. And he does. Countless times he's smashed an opponent's head through the nearest available surface, in combat, interrogation, where and whenever it was needed to be done. Ghost does believe in physical discipline, it helps to move shit along quickly and efficiently.

It only becomes a problem when friendly little shits that Price has bribed made friends with on the streets of their target location starts doing it too.

" You put your brother head first into a fucking brick wall."

" Mhm."

Que Johnny, more amused than worried. " Wha' do you have to say abou' tha', lass?"

" He's fine! He's been through worse!"

" It does not matter! Stop hitting your brother!"

Now, he understands that these kids have lived a rough live, so being gentle is understandably the lesser part of their nature. He can't re-teach them the ways of living, but what he can do is show them how to make the best out of what they have. Slamming friendly heads into walls is not a part of his curriculum.

Doing it to enemies are, though.

I can only imagine Ghost feeling somewhat like a proud father when he sees his moves being executed by his minions on unfriendly individuals :P

[psicheanima]

Italian joke that doesn’t translate (informal You vs formal You)

[blorbocedes]

Chinese Grand Prix 2016 cool-down room. everyone remembers the iconic seb blowing up at kyvat but before that he actually congratulates nico in german, needs to get his attention like 4 times. (there's also a longstanding belief that nico spoke in german in cooldown rooms only to mind game lewis, but it's actually seb who would start speaking to nico in german first)

rough translation because nico's voice is muffled and seb swallows half his words:

seb: (FOUR TIMES) nico, you won't be able to sleep tonight huh? - you won't be able to sleep tonight, 'cause you're so well rested - I said, you won't be able to sleep tonight, you're so well rested, it was so quiet up front/you were so untroubled up front...

nico: something was possible today lol

and then seb turns to kyvat to yell at him in English 😭😭 (and here's Nico's reaction)

[opera-ghost]

de mattos translating phantom and cutting out the spicy parts

[largemandrill]

Hey guys don’t worry about why I’m asking this but say I am in the process of drawing Elden Ring characters as Disney’s the Robin Hood esc furries and I don’t have an exact list of what character would be which animal. Allegedly I already have a few of them planned out (most of the roundtable), but I would love to have idea thrown at me like spaghetti at a wall.

[lesbianslovenamari]

I was reading DunMeshi and was so confused by this phrase that I decided to look it up

(Do correct me if you think this isn’t accurate cuz I just used google)

But I find it frankly hilarious that Chilchuck is using slang from various parts of the British Isles out of nowhere in the last volume??

(I’ve now had someone explain to me that apparently it’s not uncommon for certain uncommon types of informal Japanese to be translated as slang from specific areas, typically around Britain, in English)

First of all I’d alr seen people jokingly headcanoning him as Irish on here (which was an idea I absolutely love)

ALSO I come from a part of the UK where I’m very familiar with the term ‘git’ but had never heard of a version with an e and I also had no idea it meant the same as ‘bastard’

(I have considered that this could just be the regular meaning of the word ‘get’ but I thought it wouldn’t grammatically make sense here so I assumed it was slang esp cuz he would totally call someone a git)

Anyways I’ve checked other translations and it’s not the same so I find it so funny that this one (which I’m pretty sure is the official English translation) included it

(^ another version I found online)

Anyways this is the translation I have and used as an example for this post, which I’m pretty sure is the official English translation:

Edit: Btw also check tags I kinda wrote this when I was drunk on sleep deprivation

[gameo-archive]

"If the agency were to encounter a supernatural creature inspired by australia / new zealand, what would you want it to be based off? Also, what aussie food would you most like to try? Our top recommendations are timtams, milo, and fairy bread! For non sweets, vegemite (of course) and kangaroo steak are top notch Straydennation also keepss a leaderboard on who has the best Aussie accent. Currently George is winning, but could you give us your best accents so we can make a proper ruling (since Jayden keeps dodging the question in streams /lh) Bonus points if you recite a dbd line :]"

Edit: @pipwasreal kindly provided an Australian-to-standard transcription under the cut:

Transcript under the read more...

Jayden: This is another request in from Straydenation, from ethii. Thank you so, so much for another request. We are absolutely mindblown at the fact that you would do one, let alone however many you've done. So, let's get into it. "Instructions: If the Agency were to encounter a supernatural creature inspired by Australia/New Zealand what would you want it to be based off?"

George: Ohh love that question... [puts on an Australian accent] I reckon it would be a kangaroo. And then he [points to Jayden] would get his boxing skills out.

Jayden: That's actually so good! [laughs]

George: That'd be good, wouldn't it?

Jayden: Yeah yeah yeah!

George: And then I'd hide in your pouch and there'd be someone hiding in his pouch... [? Speech unclear]

[Both laugh]

Jayden: Ooh the backpack is basically the pouch anyway...

George: True!

Jayden: Wow, maybe Charles' spirit animal is a bloody kangaroo.

Both, in an Australian accent: Bloody kangaroo!

Jayden: Umm...

George, in an Australian accent: Come bounding over!

[Both laugh]

Jayden: I'm tryna think of other Australian things...

George, in an Australian accent: Koala?

Jayden: Yeah, maybe a koala bear.

George: Or a croc?

Jayden: Ohh a crocodile would be good. I was gonna say snake or a spider, but we've already seen that and, to be honest, I'd rather not see those again.

George: Maybe... I mean, maybe Australia and New Zealand, [puts on an Australian accent] Down Under, [returns to usual voice] has just generally informed already a lot of the creatures that you've seen.

Jayden: There you go. Umm...

George: But...

Jayden: Oh?

George: We dealt with the spider, we dealt with that snake.

Jayden: Yes we did. That snake got its head chopped

Both, in a Scottish accent: off!

Jayden: "Also, what Aussie food would you most like to try? Our top recommendations are Tim Tams, Milo and fairy bread. For non-sweets, Vegemite, of course, and kangaroo steak are top notch."

George: Oh wow...

Jayden: Well, we were watching I'm A Celeb, um last night or the night before, I can't remember which one, and they actually got like crocodile tail, and they put it into like fillets and, I'm not gonna lie, it actually looked quite good.

George: Really good, yeah it did look really good. I've always wanted to try Vegemite, umm cause I'm a lover of Marmite. [Points to Jayden] He's a hater. Um but, so yeah that would be my pick.

Jayden: It's weird, I like Twiglets but don't like Marmite.

George: Love Twiglets. "Straydenation also keeps a leader board of who has the best Aussie accent. Currently, George is winning [laughs] but could you give us your best accents so we can make a proper ruling, since Jayden keeps dodging the questions in streams?"

[Both laugh]

George: "Bonus points if you recite a DBD line."

Jayden, in an Australian accent: Charles, have you gone fucking mental?

[Both laugh]

Jayden: Sorry!

George, in an Australian accent: Is it your left or my left? We have the same left!

[Both laugh]

Jayden, in an Australian accent: Left!

George, in an Australian accent: Leeeft! [Sings] Leeeft! Or right?

Jayden: I can't think of any more. Bye guys!

George: Bye.

[marshmallowgoop]

I combined footage from my Detektiv Conan Blu-ray with audio from my Case Closed FUNimation DVD and made an HD English dub clip compilation for Episodes 57-58, "The Holmes Freak Murder Case."

[hemi-demi]

Finally took the time to draw some characters other than Jon and Martin (somehow).

Meet Blair and Ren! OCs from my Magnus Archives longfic Lucid. The boys meet them in the nearby village while hiding out in the Scottish Highlands, and finally make some friends that haven’t tried to kill them. Progress!

Also, they play D&D together. It’s very cute.