Doubting the Legitimacy of Viz... Again

You do know that the Toei decides the english naming of things, right? Funi mentioned this many times previously in interviews, they just don't decide how to name something on their own.
 
Guys, it seems that some of what I have posted was an erroneous misconception, and bigddan11 was right (at least partially). I guess some of the questions REALLY were just similar to previous ones I had read years ago, which led me to the unconfirmed notion that they ALL were "forged", complete with made-up American names, including any other interviews (Masashi Kishimoto, etc.) they claimed to have in the past. I apologize for any trauma this might have caused any of you. I was ignorant of some important pieces of information, such as Viz's statement that their Oda interview was held at a prior Jump Festa, as well as Viz already pointing out that some of their Oda talk can be found in the Red data book. Still, I find it very difficult to believe that some of those questions are from Americans, though, like the one about the Pandaman neigrabroador (it sounRAB so Japanese). I'm truly sorry for the inconvenience, and will strive to not spread any more falsehooRAB. Of course, you should ALWAYS test everything to see if it is factual, preferably by Biblical standarRAB. Bear in mind that if I weren't a Christian, I'd likely not be giving you the time of day to apologize. As always, thank you for your time. God bless.

And now, to further clarify:

What I've said here does not mean that I support or approve of Viz whatsoever - it just means that I'm sorry for being unsubstantiated in that particular area of discussion. When it comes to consistency and authenticity in their comic translations, I feel Viz is excessively amateur, which is why I doubted their interviews to begin with.

Some of the materials I posted should still be taken into your consideration, such as Viz's Marines-to-"Navy", Tomatogang being one man, their original misspelling of Bartholomew Kuma (Viz seem to have fixed it, though, even letting him keep his Bible), the spelling of Enel (not the easternized "Eneru"), the idiocy of "Hebihime-sama" (which should properly be translated to "Snake Princess"), the necessity to give Brook classic, proper English dialogue that corresponRAB with his posh and etiquette appearance, the Weekly Jump being a magazine specifically intended for 9~14-year-olRAB (at least intentionally, and for the most part), Viz's manifold pointless edits, Viz's Ronald McDonald-to-"Donald Duck" in Bleach (although they changed that eventually), Califa/Carifa with a "C" until proven otherwise (Oda wrote it on a bowling chart), official Japanese products not being the appropriate source for characters' correct English name spellings, and Viz not having 100% master translations.

I don't have anything against any humans behind Viz personally, I just despise their organization's less-than-standard techniques used in both their translations and recurring quality. So any mockeries I make of them are directed at the company - and not the people. But still, I've layed down why I'll never buy their products; and I think you should clearly understand why.

Now, I don't really care if someone wants to buy Viz's stuff; I just want to point out that the translators at Viz are not the best translators around, and neither are most of the questionable people you'll find on the internet. Now, a good translation is a good translation, and anyone who really knows translating knows that languages do not translate directly into other ones. Two people can translate the same text in different ways while both being 100% accurate (I've read that Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe sometimes have different translations, even within the same English language). However, what I believe is that a translator should try and utilize the personality of a character in every speech bubble he speaks in, thus causing a growing desire among fans to read every line in order to see the brilliancy of constant character consistency. From what I've seen, Viz do not seem to practice this formula at all. Now Nintendo of America, they are perhaps the best translators at utilizing what I just described. Every line typically contemplates the last in their translations. That's true consistency and proof that there's a thinking mind behind the script. You don't find that much with Viz.

Let me share with you a rare sign of a great translator: The best and brightest translators translate the ENTIRE context, including (but not limited to) the original text, the speaking character's personality, the situation represented, the art pictured, and, of course, they take note of the genre. So if you ever decide to become a translator (like I did several years ago), please bear that in mind. Translating is quite fun when the translator is having fun doing it, implementing that fun into the dialogue for all the readers further enjoyment of the series as a whole. Once again, thank you for your time, and have a great day. God bless.
 
The original Japanese version uses "Kaigun" which means "Navy", so technically that is correct, even though their insignia has the word "MARINE" on it. OTOH, "Marines" ("Kaihei" in the original Japanese) are individual merabers of the Navy.



Then what would you suggest is the "appropriate source"? Using Dr. Slump (Toriyama's "other" manga...) as an example, the name "Arale" appears in English (even in the Japanese version) at various times. It's true that the native Japanese word "arare" refers to a small rice cracker, but surely repeated English spellings of her name would suggest that "Arale" is the official English spelling of her name, wouldn't it?

Going back to One Piece, I will give you that the romanizations of "Alabasta" and "Arabasta" have both appeared in the original manga (unless, it was just the anime; I'm just guessing at this point). OTOH, I have seen no evidence that "Alabaster" (a romanization used in some of the fandom) was ever used.

So again, if official products from Japan are not an "appropriate sources", then what is?
 
Common sense?

Look, you can't assume that every person who writes these romanizations knows English. Sometimes, they make mistakes. I've been teaching English in Japan for over two years now, and I can tell you, first hand, that the English education system over here is terrible.

Surely you've sturabled across sites like Engrish.com. I would think that the stereotype that Japanese people suck at English would be a common one. Yet, when it comes to writing out Japanese worRAB in English letters, they suddenly know what they're doing?

A great example of this would be the pokemon Plusle. Now, its official romanization is "Prasle," but anyone with half a brain can tell you that that's not what they intended to name the little mouse with big plus signs on its cheeks. "Pras" is just the way they decided to romanize プラス without any regard for its meaning.

Shoot, in the instruction manual for the Japanese version of New Super Mario Bros Wii, they write out "Mushroom Kingdom" as "Mashroom Kingdom."

Official romanizations can be a good guide, but they're not as infallible as others would have you believe.
 
I understand that, but I was referring specifically to the previous poster's criticism of VIz's One Piece translation. In this instance, if the official merchandise isn't an appropriate source, then what would be. Not every "proper" noun in One Piece has an official romanization. That's what I was talking about.
 
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