literal translation versus cultural translation
Do you prefer a literal translation or a cultural translation?
If you don't know what this means think about it like this. A literal translation treats the OG text as god and will adhere exactly to what it is saying, if there isn't an exact translation, then they will translate it to the next best thing that can replicate it. However, this also means that unless you are familiar with that culture, there might be discrepancies in tone.
A cultural translation will translate a text based on its meaning and tone. This means that they will try to replicate the text they are translating in the culture they are translating to. So, if someone is speaking 'rudely' in Japanese, it might just sound like normal speak in English, so a cultural translation will probably try to add in things like swear words.
Most of what you all probably read are actually cultural translations, literal translations are for works that actually have some level of complexity in their writing to warrant it.
I'm just curious because the translators of Slow Damage got crap for doing a cultural translation lmao.
If you need an example, omae (お前) is considered to be really informal, but it directly translates to you. You would usually address someone by their name... A literal translation will just say 'you', but a cultural might say, 'bro' or something depending on the context. (您 versus 你 in cn too).
so which one do you prefer?
Cultural translations are probably better, otherwise it would occasionally be difficult to understand whats going on. Japanese is different from english. Theres many ways to address people by in japanese which would fly over the heads of foreigners reading a literal translation. This one example might seem insignificant, but a cultural translation ......
reply
16 12,2024
