There's a fish in the sea for everyone I suppose.

I never understood why fan translators did that bit where they would keep a word or phrase in Japanese, just to explain it in the corner of the strip.

darkspire91 said:

I never understood why fan translators did that bit where they would keep a word or phrase in Japanese, just to explain it in the corner of the strip.

A lot of the time, it's because the original word represents a more nuanced or oblique concept that doesn't really translate easily, either not making sense if translated literally or requiring too many words to express it adequately, making it more sensible to keep the word in the translation and explain it in a footnote or a page dedicated to explanations. It's not at all unique to Japanese, lots of languages have words that are more vague in their meaning or describe complex feelings and end up left in when translating to other languages, and English is always borrowing new words that gradually become a part of the language.

Of course, weebs being weebs often take this way too far, resulting in things like the infamous "keikaku means plan." Fan translators often stress over maintaining the original feel and intent, but they're usually amateurs, and don't distinguish well between what is and isn't worth keeping untranslated.

blindVigil said:

A lot of the time, it's because the original word represents a more nuanced or oblique concept that doesn't really translate easily, either not making sense if translated literally or requiring too many words to express it adequately, making it more sensible to keep the word in the translation and explain it in a footnote or a page dedicated to explanations.

On this subject, I have a personal pet peeve with "Oni".
A lot of media translates "Oni" into "Ogre" or "Demon", when "Oni"s are kind of both and neither at the same time and are far more nuanced than either translation would have you believe.
Not to mention that in doing so, it's impossible to explain relatively simple steps in logic like why a vampire such as Remilia Scarlet would be vulnerable to roasted soy beans.
Translator's Note: the word for "vampire" in Japanese is "kyuuketsuki", with the "ki" at the end being an alternate pronunciation for the same character that reads "Oni" ("kyuuketsuki" basically meaning "blood-sucking oni"). And oni are famous for being driven out of homes during a yearly festival by being pelted with roasted soy beans (the festival is called Setsubun). So if regular oni can be chased away with soybeans, it makes sense that vampires (blood-sucking oni) can, too.

blindVigil said:

A lot of the time, it's because the original word represents a more nuanced or oblique concept that doesn't really translate easily, either not making sense if translated literally or requiring too many words to express it adequately, making it more sensible to keep the word in the translation and explain it in a footnote or a page dedicated to explanations. It's not at all unique to Japanese, lots of languages have words that are more vague in their meaning or describe complex feelings and end up left in when translating to other languages, and English is always borrowing new words that gradually become a part of the language.

Of course, weebs being weebs often take this way too far, resulting in things like the infamous "keikaku means plan." Fan translators often stress over maintaining the original feel and intent, but they're usually amateurs, and don't distinguish well between what is and isn't worth keeping untranslated.

My personal pet peeve for this kind of translation is always the word "Nakama".
Thankfully nowadays it has died out since people now know better, but back then people, especially fansubs, really REALLY love to over-emphasize how Nakama meant so much more than just friends or companions that it is considered üntranslatable, even though there is a direct translation to it which is "companion" or "associate". This is so blatant especially since one of the anime that popularize that word, such as One Piece, never put any special meaning to the word Nakama in the first place. It's just the word to refer to your crewmembers, and that's it. But for some reason, people back then think that Nakama surpasses "friends" and is considered the highest form of bond.
If for some reason you still think Nakama means so much more than what it is, you're either still not well informed, or just blatantly ignoring the truth.

DominoHarvard said:

My personal pet peeve for this kind of translation is always the word "Nakama".
Thankfully nowadays it has died out since people now know better, but back then people, especially fansubs, really REALLY love to over-emphasize how Nakama meant so much more than just friends or companions that it is considered üntranslatable, even though there is a direct translation to it which is "companion" or "associate". This is so blatant especially since one of the anime that popularize that word, such as One Piece, never put any special meaning to the word Nakama in the first place. It's just the word to refer to your crewmembers, and that's it. But for some reason, people back then think that Nakama surpasses "friends" and is considered the highest form of bond.
If for some reason you still think Nakama means so much more than what it is, you're either still not well informed, or just blatantly ignoring the truth.

For real thought that nakama meant something like “non-blood-related family” like in F&F “familia” parlance. Knowing otherwise kinda takes the piss.