Discussion
I have a random question. Some of you may know the answer. Why is it that when I see anime nerds discussing translations of anime/manga they use the term "localization" and not "translation"? Are they just trying to be fancy, or is there a valid reason?
(for context I have several professional translators among my friends and coworkers, not once I heard them use that word - I took translation classes in graduate school, never saw the word being used once either)
@David it maybe just lingo based on a technical standard like i18n. In operating systems, programs and games the combination between language and country is called locale like de-de or en-uk.
I know the term localization from working in that context but to be fair translation was also used as a term.
I assume the same applies for media.
@David May be they took it from software engineering? Localization is the term used for the work you need to do to "translate" an application from one language to an other.
There were many geeks within the crowd of anime nerds, especially during the early years.
@lhommetruque "they took it from software engineering"
Yes, I'm starting to think that people who made that term common (and yes, I only ever hear it when it concerns Japanese pop culture) don't know much about the job of (literary/narrative) translation and are probably trying to reinvent the wheel.
@David@setouchi.social Where I work, translation involves turning the words from one language to another but localisation involves rewriting the text for the local market; it retains the message but may need to be different for local compliance laws. In my experience of English-dubbed anime with English subtitles, they don't always align; one may be a direct translation of the Japanese and the other reworded to fit the mouth movements, for example.
@hryggrbyr "localisation involves rewriting the text for the local market" That's called translation. 😉
@David@setouchi.social I guess I mean there are certain things you can't say by law which would need to be removed. And ways of saying things that are problematic that would need to be reworded. I work with pharmaceutical companies that are heavily regulated so a straight translation may not actually be legal; pharma marketing in the US vs Germany for example. Globally approved content may be translated; the same text from English to German. US approved content would need to be localised; message retained, but (for example) more heavily caveated or couched in less certain terminology.
@David@setouchi.social Just because the text is translated into French doesn't make it suitable for Canada and France, just because it's Spanish doesn't make it legal in California, Mexico, and Spain.
I think because translation is only one part of it. It’s a big part of it, but there’s also other stuff, like adjusting content to be culturally appropriate
@FlockOfCats "adjusting content to be culturally appropriate." That's part of translation.
Sorry adjusting was too weak a word. I meant adjusting or completely changing it.
If you are translating, you are generally gonna be faithful to the source, and if something is not understandable for culturally reasons, you would make necessary adjustments.
But localization tailors it to the local region even when translation is possible. In a school anime, 国語 would be translated as Japanese but localized to “English”, “Spanish”, “French” etc. to fit the market.
@FlockOfCats It's still part of translation.
The thing is that there are basically two schools of translation. One that thinks the translation needs to be as close as possible to the original meaning/cultural context, the other one that thinks the translated narrative needs to be adapted as much as possible to the reader's culture as the reader is not aware of the original culture. They're both "right." The latter used to be more prevalent in the past when ⤵️
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