After watching the Eureka Seven movie and the first quarter of Honey and Clover, the repeated use of the word “idiot” in English translations is starting to feel worn out in emotional scenes. These girls are crying their eyes out and use the word “idiot” over and over again. I find myself wishing for another go to word for the translation of “baka.”
The familiarity with the English language makes it easy to get tired with the repetition of “idiot.” I wonder if Japanese people get annoyed that heartbroken female characters in anime have a vocabulary of ten words, nine of which are “baka.”
Like in Honey and Clover, episode 3. Ayumi spills out her frustration with Takumi and calls him an idiot like three times in two breaths. Sticking with “idiot,” for every time the Japanese repeats “baka,” does the English language version a disservice. It’s actually that scene in Honey and Clover that triggered this thought. I heard dozens of anime girls at the same time, rather than Ayumi in that moment. Ironman deserves better than that.
Still, I wonder if it gets translated as “idiot” all the time because people would complain if any other word or expression were used? I doubt it, but wouldn’t be surprised. There’s probably a good real reason for “baka” = “idiot” 88.37% of the time, like the lip-flap constraint or not wanting to use words that would date the translation, but I really wish there was an additional word for “baka.”
Though these days with slashed budgets, I’m just happy there’s any English dub at all, just to put this whining in perspective.
Still nothing better than “baka bakka.”
I got over that hump with that show, and it’s been over with me ever since.
Yeah, in my mindset, baka is simply one of those un-translate-able words. ‘Idiot’ is a fine replacement for me, simply because I can watch/read and not think that they are actually saying ‘idiot’, but rather this ‘baka’ word. Idiot sounds funny mostly because it has more syllables. We dont say ‘idiotidiotidiot’ out loud because it sounds weird. But they have a word, that has a similar meaning, that DOES sound fine (and dare i say sometimes cute), saying it 3 times in succession.
Once a fan can realize the two languages are so far apart that you stop taking ANY of it literally, it’s easier to ignore all the other little bits too.
I even deleted the sentence about how bakabakabaka has a rythm that idiotidiodidiot doesn’t.
Most of the time it doesn’t need to be anything else, but in this scene in Honey & Clover, the repetition of it struck me as lazy to go with “idiot” yet again, instead of going somewhere else to get to the same place. It feeds into my slant that trying to be literal misses the mark.
How about “moron” or “dummy”? Maybe “stupid”, or maybe even “dumb f-” maybe not that one.
dummydummydummydummy!!!!
Honestly, “baka” needs to just become a loan word in the English culture and language. If there is no good translation or you lose something important in the translation, just don’t translate it. I’d rather see “Baka! Baka! Baka!” than “Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!” honestly. If baka can be translated to idiot, moron, stupid, etc., let it stay baka and let the viewer glean the context from the scene.
In Japanese Baka can use in large range of meaning. Firstly, like “idiot” or “fool” in English, but it’s its basic meaning. Bake often uses in more emotional situation, for example the boy is too slow-witted to know the girl likes her and then girl will say bake! Lots of Animes’ charactar(female), like tsundere, says bake like her pet phrase, kinda of Moe….
Kind of lazy.
It’s not the translation that feels worn out to me, but the use of the word.
It feels lazy, we have a female character in-love (or she thinks she is) with a male character, who mindlessly does something that hurts her, or even just goes by their words (and obviously they wanted them to do the opposite, obviously), and they cry, go, “Baka ! Baka baka baka!” and run away.
It feels tired, cliched, and uninspired when character after character, many of them not Japanese or even from Earth do this.
Case in point, Louise and Saito, from Zero no Tsukaima.
Half the time I am watching an anime, I don’t even focus on the subtitle and only half-read them while I’m primarily mentally translating the words anyways. So when “bakabakabaka” happens, my mind is translating it to fit with the severity of the situation. I see the translations along the lines of ‘dork’, ‘foolish’, ‘foolish, unobservant/inattentive’, ‘idiot’, ‘insensitive/uncaring idiot’, ‘git’ and ‘a-hole.’ Then again, I’m fairly baka myself.
Yes, the phrase is over-used in general, but I think the translators leave it as “idiot” because of the viewers. I have seen forum posting of the morons who complained because they either don’t want it to be anything but “idiot” as well as those who don’t understand that it has different levels of meaning.
@Guy: If you are watching a romantic or cutesy anime, especially like Zero no Tsukaima, then I think you have to resign yourself to viewing/hearing it until it works itself out of overuse in genre.