Yeah. Those scenes in Chrome Shelled Regios are impossible to take seriously due to the Engrish only dialog. I don't know if the Japanese can't tell the difference between correctly spoken English and... that... but yeah, it should be rather obvious.

With Black Lagoon, I go with the English dub. Its quite good, and solves the entire problem.

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Although Levi's engrish speeches were the funniest things I've ever seen in anime especially with everyone's fearful reactions to them

Yeah the I really enjoy the English dub. It was done quite well.

Those "scenes" in Chrome Shelled Regios were supposed to be a representation of some kind of cheap, retro movie. From that perspective, I thought the stupid English accents actually fit the atmosphere quite well (and I had a good laugh). And, correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think those scenes were really supposed to be serious....

That being said, I agree with the general idea of the thread: Übel Blatt is (I don't speak German but from what I gather here) a clumsy title that could have been fixed with some simple proofreading. I think it is good that foreign concepts are interwoven in the story, it enhances the story's atmosphere, particularly in fantasy and exposes the target audience (in Übel Blatt's case, Japanese youths) to other languages and cultures (superficially of course).

So I cheer the use of German or other foreign languages but, really, the mangaka should just do some research/proofreading if they are going to include such frills.

übel blatt is grammatically incorrect. It should be "übles Blatt". i wounder how they would say it. i saw some anime where they used german e.g. Evangelion, Bleach and D.N Angel and it was really bad.
Also, we don´t always eat Baumkuchen

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As it has been said before "Übel Blatt" is grammatical wrong. Bit I just don't get why you always want to make a blade out of "Blatt". I don't think that is what's been meant. I would translate "Blatt" as leaf and I think that it is a symbol together with "Übel" af something being out of place. Somewhat I spreading poison coming from the "sick leaf".

I dont get it either

I mean yes, Blatt can mean blade but thats very specific.
In fact its so specific that I, being a German and reading this manga for years, never made that connection. Pretty much no German thinks of something other than Paper or Leaf when you say Blatt.

I always wondered what they wanted to say, I guess they really meant "Blade" with Blatt but just used a dictionary and ended up with a word that nobody uses anymore (at least not with that meaning).

Same goes for many Chapter titles but in the end I'am always happy when they (try) to use German and always on the lookout for such things .

I remember spotting a Book with the Title "Buch der Lieder" in one Anime for example and it made me pretty Happy

On the other hand, "Meine Liebe" made me stop watching it within 5 minutes with a overdose of ridiculous use of German

Okaaay.
I'm German and have been for 22 years. Which is all my life. I've been speaking German nearly that much too.
My English is more or less fluent, but not always elegant or 100% grammatically correct. But at least, I don't make such embarassing mistakes, as giving a story such a completely and in any sense wrong and misunderstandable name.

"Übel Blatt". Written wrong, thus a German would usually unconsciously turn it right, that is, into "Übles Blatt". If that was written in a sentence, it would be "... übles Blatt", with "übles" written small since it's an adjective and "Blatt" written capital since it's a noun.
If a German hears "übel", they'll nearly always think of it in a context, which is: "Mir ist übel!" = "I'm going to puke!". A rather aged use of "übel" is indeed "evil", however that translation as usually too intense and overkill, kind of. A more accurate translation would be "wrong" as in "He does you wrong" and not just by mistake, but intentionally. As you can see, "übel" does change it's meaning ALOT with the context. So a German who is well-read would be able to feel into what the title "Übel Blatt" is meant to express without much difficulty, although there would still be some confusion as the title is obviously grammatically wrong and just could mean something else.
As for "Blatt", most people will think of a leaf, either from a tree or maybe a flower. Some would think of a sheet of paper, since that's one of the more common uses for "Blatt" as well. Nobody, I repeat, NOBODY would think of a sword blade without a context as to what kind of "Blatt" is meant.
Like "übel", "Blatt" has lots of meanings changing with context too. If you mean a sword's blade, you say "ein Schwertblatt", if you want a saw's blade, you say " ein Sägeblatt", if you want a green leaf you say "ein grünes Blatt", if you wanted a sheet of paper, you'd say "ein Blatt Papier". The "ein" means "one [...]" as in "a/one sheet of paper". Of course, if you were, say, explaining the single components of a sword, you could call the blade first a "Schwertblatt", then either "Klinge" (blade as in weapons' blades, emphasis on the sharp parts of a blade) or "Blatt" after you made clear what kind of "Blatt" you want through the context.

So in the end, there are several versions to correct the missmatched title:
"Üble Klinge" = "Evil Blade" or "Ill Blade" (ill), whereas the blade could be the blade of anything. A knife or a sword. Even a sickle or scythe, anything non blunt usable for attack. Pointed sticks are okay too, as long as they are not too bendable and have a sharp edge. Though that's a pointed stick, not a blade.
"Übles Schwertblatt" = "Evil Swordblade", "Ill Swordblade", this title excludes the sword as a whole and concentrates only on the blade of the sword.
"Übles Schwert" = "Evil Sword", "Ill Sword"

The whole "Übel Blatt" and all correct versions of it also have a demonic tinge to it, they somehow convey the blade being demonic and having an ill intention. That's probably what the author really wanted to tell us.

Last edited by PaterFrog at 6:30 am, Nov 16 2011

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are you sure that the language used in ubel blatt is actually german?
i didn't check before but i thought it was just germanlike.

i know how lame it sounds for a german native speaker, maybe as lame as reading reborn if you are italian (like i am).

it's easy for me to think as if it's just a made up language with cool sounding.
ofc you can't because you knowledge of the real language makes impossible to put aside the real meaning of the words and phrases.
sucks for you

PS: how do you rate my english? take in account that i'm italian

Wait, it has something to do with swords? I always gave this manga a pass because I assumed from the title it was about building blidges ovel pires of reaves.

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Haha, good one!




Okay, first thing I'd have to know, are you talking about a real and existing language similiar to German, or are you talking about an invented language?
If it's the first, I don't think that's possible. I'm not exactly untalented with languages and there is no language that uses the mutated vowels "ü" (ue), ö (oe) or ä (ae) and yet has any striking semblances with German. I could be wrong of course, but that'd be the time hell freezes over. j/k
And if it is invented, then the thought of it having nothing to do with German and so on invalidates itself. There are two German words, both grammatically correct individually, they just aren't put together well. That means that if they were put together as an attempt to create a new language, then it was done with the knowledge that anybody interested in the title and slightly experienced with manga would realize that those words are German and eventually look for the meaning in some forum or something. Or likely be perturbed by the messed up Djampasneeze (Oh how messed up! Hallelujah!). I can't come to any other conclusion other than the title being an epic fail, or just some failed thoughtless poke at neo-languism.
If you go back to the word "reborn" and you being Italian, remember that "reborn" is a word of a real and existing language, not some fiction made up for a story and evidently made to resemble another language.

PS.: Your English isn't bad! A little bit awkward, but nothing to worry about.

Last edited by PaterFrog at 1:48 pm, Oct 24 2010

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With regards to the title, 'blatt' can be translated as all of the following:

page
journal
blade
etc.

So translations for Übel Blatt include:

Evil Blade
Page of Evil
Evil's Journal
etc.

My point is, this is where you get translation issues, like "Ciel, mon mari!" being mistranslated as "Sky, my husband!" instead of "Heavens, my husband!" Shiono Etorouji has messed up nothing with his use of German. Comparing that the engrish in BLEACH is insulting.

I've given it some thought now and I've come to the conclusion, that the title is actually right. In it's meaning at least. I think it's supposed to mean that a leaf has gone bad. This would be Ascheriit. He grew on a tree (the sword school), has gone bad and he fell off, showing his back to his friends. Supposedly turned evil and betrayed his tree. Or was cast out, or killed, or however you want to see it.

So yeah, more like Übel Blatt = fallen leaf, bad leaf, dead leaf.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but now I can also see why it's such a bad name. I don't think there's a term for that in German nor in English. For English speaking natives now, do you say, when there is a leaf on the ground that it's a dead leaf? Or for German speakers 'Totes Blatt'? I'm not really sure about it in English, but I'm pretty sure I've never heard a term for that in German, besides 'Laubblatt'. And that's really just a general term for a leaf on a deciduous tree. It can mean something like fallen leaf I guess, but only because you don't point it out. Kids say 'Guck mal, so viele bunte Laubblätter.' When they're still on trees, they're just normal 'Blätter'.

Meh, this is getting worse and worse. Need some help here please.

übel blatt is grammaticaly wrong. it should be "übles Blatt" You can´t just ut two words together. For the right grammar you have to declinate the adjective related to Kasus, Numerus and Genus.
We learn that in elementary school, but it seems that german grammar is hard for foreigners

Last edited by ShadowSakura at 8:08 am, Dec 14 2010

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i think the mangaka doesn't mean "übel blatt" but "schlechtes blatt" which has the same meaning and is also a term in card games