Naruto English or Japanese

[Knyght]

I asked on DLP and I'll ask here. Where do you draw the line between using English and using Japanese when you read or write Naruto fanfiction?

Do you want as much of it in English as possible, as much of it in Japanese as possible or do you think it best to mix and match as appropriate?

Do you want honorifics or not e.g. Hokage-sama or Lord Hokage?

How do you want your titles e.g. Kyuubi no Youko or Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, Daimyo or Lord, Shodai or First?

How do you want your monikers e.g. Sabaku no Gaara or Gaara of the Desert?

How should family be addressed e.g. Father or Otousama?

How do you want your nicknames e.g. Gejimayu or Bushy Brows, Baachan or Granny?

How do you want your pseudo-English character names e.g. Pein or Pain, Gai or Guy, Ei or A?

How do you want the country names e.g. Hi no Kuni or Land of Fire/Fire Country?

How do you want the village names e.g. Konoha or the Leaf, Kirigakure or the Hidden Mist, Kumogakure no Sato or the Village Hidden in the Clouds?

How do you want the jutsu names e.g. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu or Shadow Clone Technique?

• Literal translation, TV translation or Viz manga translation e.g. Body Replacement Technique or Substitution Jutsu?
• Should there be a translation beside it, in the narrative, in a glossary or not at all?
• Should they all be Japanese or should some be left as they are e.g. Rasengan, Chidori or Amaterasu?

 

[Yorae Rasante]

I use honorifics, because they make relationships between the characters clearer if you know what they mean. Also they ae pretty well-known already, so unless you go for the more exotic ones pretty much everyone will undestand without trouble.

Titles depends on 1- which is more accurate and 2- which sounds better/cooler. Daimyo is not just Lord, but it is not exactly King or Emperor either. If it is ok either way, I go for the cooler.

Family are easier to show relationship with normal words, but I go with the japanese way if the story is in a japanese setting to fit with the honorifics I already said I'd use. If not using honorifics, using japanese family words would clash terribly.

As with nicknames, which sounds better, not cooler. These will be repeated a while when the characters are in the story after all. But for the baachan example, see family.

Pseudo-english, I go for the more accurate. Because, they were supposed to be english. They just use other lettering system that doesn't translate the language as well, but we know what it was supposed (Also Guy isn't just pseudo-english, his name is a combination of the name of characters from other series).

For country names, same as titles usually, but not in Naruto because country names have meanings, as stupid as they may be. So its more like nicknames, the better to be said every time a country is mentioned. Which is usually in english, since if used japanese there would be a glossary after each chapter or parenteses with the translations from time to time or the people would have to remember the last time it was mentioned.

Villages are less of a problem to use in japanese and I actually prefer them to be so. It makes for an initial confusion, but they are few and used a lot, and not much related to their countries. Also, I like the flow of their shortenings better.

Jutsu are a complicated thing. I like using the original in their original japanese name, with a translation besides it for the first time/if it hasn't been seen in a while, but original techniques should be in english for me unless the person is good enough with japanese else it becomes an almost-unreadable mess that would be repeated every time the technique is mentioned...


Well, that's my opinion.

 

[roting_CORPSE]

English though they could use some of the Literal translations like instead of Summoning: Reanimation it should be Summoning Impure World Resurrection. it sounds more sinister that way.

though with some of the Jutsus Japanese would be better both because its usually one word or the translation doesn't sound right if written or said in English like Rasengan, Chidori.

 

[froop]

Honorifics and Techniques are about my limits as to what Japanese I want in a story.

Honorifics because sometimes English just doesn't convey some of the meaning. For example how close the siblings are.

Techniques because most of them sound retarded in English.

If I need to keep reading notes or they need to put the meaning in () next to it or worse yet I have to go google it then it can gtfo of the story. Even if I know the meaning of it I generally prefer it in pure English.

 

[TC_Hazard]

Honorifics and techniques are okay. Honorifics just work. With techniques it depends. I prefer Rasengan over Spiraling Sphere, but I won't mind if someone calls shadow clones, well, shadow clones.

Regarding titles I prefer Daimyo, but I also prefer Nine Tailed Fox.


Honestly, as long as characters don't start to speak Japanese to each other I won't really mind.

 

[NTP]

If the author uses a proper level of description when a technique is used, it shouldn't matter even if you can't understand the name, because you saw what it did. That said, I agree with pretty much everything that's already been said.

 

[Glimmervoid]

My rule of thumb is this: would a Japanese reader be expected to understand this? If so, then it should be in English so my reader can understand it. In practice that means I only leave names untranslated and even then I'll translate them if the 'name' is more of a description - for example jutsu and country names.

 

[ankokudaishogun]

Name, formal titles(which includes ninja ranks) and, if really needed, honorifics in Japanese.

Everything else translated.

"Foreign" names like Might Guy and Killer Bee gets to be translated because they are supposed to be foreign.

Honorifics can actually be skipped by writing carefully the dialogues, at least most of the time.
Then again, it's likely easier in Italian than in English(it being romance neo-latin language and all):|

 

[ArchfiendRai]

Techniques in Japanese if its direct from source, Japanese if you actually know Japanese, English if you're using google translate.

Honorifics and titles.... Japanese for the former, dont really care for the latter. Japanese monkiers (if you actually know Japanese and are not running it through gt.). Family...actually prefer English, but don't mind it the other way unless they REALLY overload on it. Pseudo character names and country names in Japanese.

Additionally, things that we kind of 'know' from Japanese like 'yosh' or 'yare yare' or odd character quirks I prefer in Japanese, but there is a point where people start overloading on it like with mendokuse. There was a fic that REALLY got overloaded. When you're starting to do this like "Gomenasai, Okaa-sama." and "Was I really that bad, futari domo?" I'm probably going to exit. Cut that shit out. Its entirely superfluous, and just makes it seem like you're trying to prove to your readers (who frankly don't really care) that you know a little Japanese.

And for fucks sake, don't use Japanese if you're going to use the English translation right fucking next to it. "Mendokuse (troublesome)" Drives me absolutely insane. This is only okay with techniques, and even thats a stretch IMO.

 

[Get-lost]

Names of people, places, and things like that should not be translated at all unless it's something new and unfamiliar. Every time I see Might Guy I completely stop reading. I don't give a shit if my name means something else in Scottish, people don't go around calling me that they use my damned name, not the GD definition of it.

If there is a perfectly good English word for something like mother or father then please use it. I'm so damn sick of seeing Tou-san or Kaa-san every other sentence in some stories.

If you have to add a note for a word or phrase in the story then don't freaking use it. That kind of stuff breaks immersion every time I see that or I have to stop and figure out what this or that bit of Japanese means when no meaning is given.

Leave off the Jutsu in a technique altogether. If people can't figure out someone is doing a technique with the description of what a character is doing, what happens after he casts it, or by the character simply calling out say "Shadow Clone" for instance then they are to damned stupid to live.

Honorifics and titles (the ones that don't have a direct meaning) are generally fine as many things like this don't really translate that well into English. Also it can be much harder to show the relationship between any two people without honorifics outside of a couple of sentences or paragraphs to describe their relationship. That kind of thing can often be accomplished by one character adding -kun or -chan to their names.

 

[Yorae Rasante]

Names of people, places, and things like that should not be translated at all unless it's something new and unfamiliar. Every time I see Might Guy I completely stop reading.

Actually Guy's name isn't translated as Might Guy, it really is Might Guy. He is named after the shonen characters Might Senpuuji and Guy Shishioh.

 

[Get-lost]

Maito Gai means Might Guy but it's not the same. If it was you wouldn't have to change the letters. I don't care if it is a butchered form of the English words. That's the same way English gets new words. Should we go back and change each word the English language butchered and stole back to it's original spelling?

 

[Yorae Rasante]

You do not have to change the letters, because originally it had no letters in our alphabet in the first place. The reason people think it is Maito Gai is because the japanese language writes english words as they are pronounced instead of how they are written.
You are basically defending fantranslation over the author's actual meaning and acting as if you were in the right. It is your right to like Maito Gai better, but you shouldn't condemn others for doing what the author wished had been done.

 

[Altered Nova]

Even if it's pronounced the same, I prefer Maito Gai simply because it looks Japanese and thus fits in better with all the Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, etc of the setting. And also because Guy is not really a legitimate English name, it's a generic informal term for a man.

... Guy is his first name right? And Rock Lee's first name is Lee, isn't it? Why are their names still pronounced Japanese style in the English localizations?

 

[Solaris]

Probably because Guy Might and Lee Rock sound weird.

 

[ankokudaishogun]

If you stop when you read Might Guy, you stop also when you read Rock Lee?