Like they match the general gist of each other but not very close.
In: 5
Because translation is complicated, and lip-synching is hard. As a general rule, subtitles tend to lean toward a more faithful interpretation of the native-language dialogue, where dubs will simply try to cram in a remotely relevant piece of dialogue that sounds punchy and matches the scene for time, as well as the occasional lip movement.
So, for example, in Netflix’s print of ‘Cowboy Bebop’, episode 24, ‘Hard Luck Woman opens with the line:
あんた いつ から そこ そこに
Converted into romanji, it’s: ‘Anta itsu kara soko ni’
The subtitle reads: ‘Since when were you…?’
And the English dub says, ‘What the hell are you doing here?’
Let’s break down the meaning of each Japanese word, ‘anta’ is a very informal (possibly rude) version of ‘you’. Evangelion fans will recognize Asuka’s ‘Anta baka’ which she frequently says to Shinji, which translate, colloquially to ‘Are you stupid?’ but is transliterated is ‘You idiot’.
‘itsu’ roughly translates to ‘when’ and ‘kara’ roughly translates to ‘from’, and ‘soko’ means ‘that place’ or ‘there’ (and ‘koko’ means ‘this place’ or ‘here’), and ‘ni’ is a kind of participle, analogous to ‘at’. So, word by word, we have ‘You, when from that place?’, which the translators have obligingly rendered into comprehensible English grammar: ‘Since when were you there?’ with the dangling there implied.
Since Faye is facing the camera however, the *excellent* voice acting/dub team chose to re-render the phrase to something which conveys the mouth motions Faye makes in the shot, and says ‘What the Hell are you doing here?”.
FWIW, if you enjoy Anime at all, but can’t abide reading subtitles, ‘Cowboy Bebop’ might be the single best English dub of a Japanese animated title in the whole of human history. It’s certainly the best I’ve ever seen, and a great story to boot.
Latest Answers