Found my people at a con panel on dubbing last Saturday

Sat through a 90 minute panel at Anime Expo where the translator actually broke down why a certain line got localized differently, and I finally stopped rolling my eyes at weird subs. Anyone else ever have a specific panel or talk fix a pet peeve for you?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameron_palmer16d ago

Oh man, did that panel have a bit about "it's more than just honorifics" in dubbing? I had the exact same lightbulb moment last year at a smaller con. This one voice actor spent like 20 minutes explaining why they changed a character's joke about rice balls to pizza, and I was ready to be mad until she showed how the original pun literally couldn't work in English. She went through like five different versions they tried before landing on pizza, and honestly it made me realize I've been way too harsh on localizers. Now I actually catch myself appreciating when a sub line is clearly a clever workaround instead of just grumbling about it.

vera_sanchez16d ago

That panel honestly sounds like it was a game changer! I had the same sort of moment at a convention a couple years ago when a translator talked about how they had to completely rewrite a character's whole personality because the original humor was based on specific Japanese cultural references nobody outside of Japan would get. It really opened my eyes to how much thought goes into making something work for a totally different audience. I used to just complain about changes too, but now I try to figure out why they did it first.