.............. Not really, no.
You're oversimplifying the difference in East Asian languages. East Asians can get an easier understanding of each other's languages because SOME words are similar (but not always), since there's a huge difference in a lot of the languages. Just as how American English and British English are different. We Chinese have different dialects for different provinces and areas in China. Same with the Japanese, they have the Kansai dialect and the Philippines have Tagalog and other dialects.
Just because I'm Chinese doesn't mean I'd be able to understand Korean completely. I've honestly watched Japanese anime all my life, that's probably the only reason why I can watch some series without subtitles. Plus there's the fact that my grandparents fought the Japanese during WW2 and they (from my mother's side) can speak Japanese and they've taught me a little when I was young.
I agree with you I'm Korean and I've studied a little bit of Mandarin and Japanese. I've personally seen how there are some similarities within those three languages however like you said it's an oversimplification. Korean and Japanese might have the grammar structure and some words that are similar, for example a word like: yaksoku (japanese) and yaksok [약속] (korean) both mean promise, but that's really where the similarities end.
I think one reason many people have a sort of stigma in regards to English dubs, is because people like us (the -big- fans) watch each episode when it first comes out, and have gotten used to the Japanese seiyuu doing the voices for the characters we watch week after week. I'm fairly certain it would be the same thing for a weekly western cartoon should it have a huge following in Japan (or elsewhere) and people can't wait to see it... you get attached to the first voice you hear associated with the character. It isn't even a conscious choice, I think it just happens.
As a result, you have a preconceived notion as to what the voice should sound like when it gets translated. Sometimes I wonder if the English VA's have to watch the original Japanese versions with subtitles, so they know what kind of emotion they need to bring to the forefront when speaking certain lines.
Not only that, but censorship for a young audience (at least in the US, I absolutely despise how we manage to censor the most inane things but the obvious crap gets by until someone with their head up their ass raises a big stink because they caught the whiff of a potential money-grubbing lawsuit in the making) probably kills a lot of the emotion that a voice actor could potentially use. I remember reading a lot of old Dattebayo subs, and they tended to embellish a bit, but a lot of the time when they chose to do that, I could actually make sense of why a character would say things a certain way, with the amount of emotion the seiyuu was putting into it. "God dammit" is much easier to say with emotion than, for example, "Oh darn." Sometimes phrases have to be legitimately lengthened or shortened to fit the animated speaking time that was already drawn. If you need an example, just go watch some old Speed Racer cartoons. They're good for a few laughs.
I can at least respect the English voice actors for what they try to do, even if they don't always nail it right on the head. Some words are butchered, obviously - not everyone has a talent to speak words of another language fluently. It would be a different story if we actually had a bilingual person doing voice acting work, but taking into account, say... an average Japanese person, most have a hard time pronouncing any English word that has the letter 'L' in it, simply because there are no Japanese words that have a use for that consonant. Herro, Engrish.
Overall, I try to be patient, for a little while at least. Sometimes the voice actor does need to move on when a character grows up... I appreciate Maile Flanagan but I really think she needed to step aside and let a guy do Naruto's voice for Shippuden. But maybe that's just me.
But if the VA is totally monotonous, or doesn't seem to put the slightest amount of effort into their work... that's when I hop on the 'Down with English Dubs' bandwagon.
In regards to your first paragraph I completely agree. I grew up watching Dragon Ball Z dubbed and when I tried to watch it subbed I just couldn't because it felt weird to me. I have watched both the Naruto dub and the Naruto subs. I actually watched my very first episode as a Naruto dub however after I watched that episode I went on my computer and dl'd all the subs because the japanese episodes were farther along. Thus I grew to associate the voices of Naruto with their seiyuus and not their American counterparts.
Personally, the only gripe I have with the American dub is the ridiculous censorship they have. In America it's targeted to a kid audience whereas in Japan it's for teens. It's actually pretty funny. I was watching the Land of Waves arc the other day and in the original Japanese there's lots of blood due to the wounds they receive but in the American dub there's none and then a few scenes later there's dried blood on his shirt that magically appeared. Other than that, I don't really mind the American dubs that much. Oh and the "believe it" phrase got annoying really quickly although I understand why they did that. They needed something to fill in the space of Naruto's mouth movements. *shrug* oh well.
Edited by drummakidd, 04 December 2009 - 10:03 AM.
This topic is locked
