We’ve already talked about cases where anime translators change the original dialogue and insert their political agenda, as happened with Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon either SK8 The InfinityHowever, there are other types of situations that do not cause controversy, but others seem to feel sorry for (or cringe, as some say): when the translators insert “slang” from the Internet into the conversations of the characters .
When we talk about slang we refer to words for exclusive use on the Internet. For example, a normal person does not say “lol“either”LMAO” in real life conversations, the same way you wouldn’t say “cringe” or “God”. And that’s exactly what happened in one of his latest episodes Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san (Don’t Play With Me, Miss Nagatoro).
This episode adapted “Chapter 73” from the original work, where Senpai decides to try contact lenses. Nagatoro discovers his plans and asks him: “Are you going to change your image? Are you going to give up the four-eyed look to be sexer?», as we see in one of the many translations of the original manga:
However, for some reason the translator i crunchyroll it was funny to change the original dialogue and insert slang from the internet, changing Nagatoro’s sentence to the following: “Do you want to stop being a four-eyed fool and become a gigante?».
he “GigaIt is an internet meme depicting an extremely masculine and sexually attractive man, usually an altered black and white photo of a man with an impressive chin and goatee. However, in real life it is not a term you would use in normal conversation.
Fortunately, Latin Spanish was omitted from these Internet terms, and the phrase was simply translated as: «Do you try to leave the glasses to be popular?».
Naturally, this drew comments on social media, noting:
- «Fortunately, it’s not something that changes the whole meaning, so I’m not going to criticize it too much… but it does seem out of place. In real conversations it is more natural to use “hot guy” or “alpha guy”.».
- «Admittedly, this series isn’t “my thing”, but references to Internet culture make me roll my eyes. Maybe it’s just that I’m already “too old”, but even the memes of my time don’t look good to me when translated. Even worse when you are familiar with Japanese memes».
- «It is done purposefully so that residents can claim that they are doing nothing harmful when they are called later to interfere in politics.».
- «No one, and I mean NO ONE, uses “gigachad” anywhere in everyday conversation outside of Twitch, Reddit, and Twitter. If you walk up to a random muscled guy and call him “gigachad”, he will look at you in utter confusion.».
- «It doesn’t matter if it’s not political. I want to read what the creator put in, not what some localizers should think. I understand that Nagatoro and his friends speak with teenage slang, but it must be the same way.».
- «The translation may not be politically motivated, but it’s still a sign that the loggers don’t respect the source material and think it’s acceptable to change things.».
- «I would understand if they were regional dialects but it’s just the translator’s reaction to the point of treating fans like idiots these things should be reportable».
- «Nobody really talks like that. “They are teenagers, it makes sense.” No it isn’t. A lot of my co-workers are teenagers and none of them talk like that.».
- «Oh no, where are the fans when you need them?».
Fountain: @rayforcegame on Twitter
