I may have just found the excuse that I need for a re-watch.

Bishop | August 18, 07:24 CET

Great, after that excerpt I want to rewatch Buffy...in japanese. Awesome language, always a joy to listen to it. Partly, of course, because I can't understand it (which makes it sound somewhat "musical" to me), but also because their voice actors are often amazing - full of power and emotion. Western dubs - especially those of cartoons - tend to sound like they have literally been phoned in.
I also had no idea that people consider "gypsy" to be insulting. Is this a new trend? I don't think this was the case when I first learned the term.

Sahjhan | August 18, 07:35 CET

This is amazing.

Ricardo L. | August 18, 10:43 CET

I love this, Japanese seems to be a really interesting language.

Nico-Angel | August 18, 12:17 CET

This is fascinating, especially the choice of the word for Angel's moment of true happiness.

Sahjhan, I'm really no expert, but my understanding is that Romani or Roma is the correct term because it's a self-identifying one, whereas 'gypsy' is a name given to the group by outsiders (possibly similar to the term 'American Indian'?). And because of this, historically 'gypsy' is the word that's been used when discriminating against the Romani people.

Bluelark | August 18, 17:52 CET

I'm not an expert either, but I think it's basically this: Romani = "Andrew," Gypsy = "Tucker's brother."


As to the main point of the post: this is mildly fascinating. I'm surprised and pleased how much effort the translators put into dubbing the show.

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | August 19, 21:05 CET

Got to remember to read those headlines more slowly - I read it as "analysis of the dumb". Harsh, was my thought and then realised my error.

To the article - very informative, dubbing must be difficult when it is trying to convey the nuances and cultural patterns embedded in another language.

catalyst2 | August 23, 19:44 CET