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Baby Talk, Accents, in other Languages

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Curiously Curious
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4:17 pm, Dec 30 2008
Posts: 33


I've never really had access to the original raws or whatever they're called, but how do they show that the character is talking like say, they're drunk, talking baby talk, the like? How do they show the difference in other languages, like Japanese? If a word is cut off, do they just show half of the characters? I know it's easier in English because of it's letters, but how do they show the difference in other languages that use complicated characters?

And I don't mean bold type.
I mean with an accent, baby talk, or talking drunkenly.

Last edited by Disremembrance at 4:31 pm, Dec 30 2008

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The Final Cylon
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7:48 am, Dec 31 2008
Posts: 334


Well personally, in my translations, I try to change a character's way of speaking depending on how they speak in Japanese. When I was translating W Juliet II, there was a foreigner character who spoke broken Japanese and ends almost every sentence in "desu". To make it faithful to the manga, I just made all her dialogue sound like broken English. For a character who speaks in a very brash manner, I change all -ing verbs to -in' ("messing around" would be "messin' around". If a character speaks keigo (usually guards or high ranking officials), I just make the conversation sounds stiff and formal in english.

Most of the time it's all just about word choice. You look at the character's speaking patterns so you know when to use "c'mon!" instead of "let's go!", or "hurry up!", instead of "quick!" Those two are not interchangeable. It will always depend on the character.

If a word is cut off in Japanese, then I also cut it off in English. The most common example here is "待っ。。。” ("to wait"wink. I usually translate it as "wai..." or "wa...". Combined with the characters' body language in the manga, readers usually figure out what they are actually supposed to mean.

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Curiously Curious
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1:20 pm, Jan 10 2009
Posts: 33


Oooh, I get it now.
Thanks. n__n

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User Posted Image"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities." - Dr. Seuss
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