Please don't take liberties on names when its not the same as the light novel/web novel....
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I'm pretty confident that it's a small fraction of readers who would understand what "Nyantaro" might mean (that it's supposed to be excessively plain/common, if I'm following the discussions around it correctly). There are many things (like isekai) that some people might not know, but are much easier to pick up just from exposure.
"Garfield" does not evoke the same association as to what I understand "Nyantaro" might mean to a JP reader. It is, however, a recognizable name that results in a similar humor in the narrative/dialogue in my opinion (apparently not for everyone, though, since you did not get the same sense).
If you wanted to argue that "Socks" or whatever was superior to "Garfield" in terms of conveying the joke to the English reader, then I wouldn't be able to come up with a strong argument in favor of one or the other. But as far as "Nyantaro" vs "Garfield," Garfield wins hands down for conveying at least some/most of the humor of the situation.
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@invayne I think the amount of people seriously complaining about this change (you and a few others) on this forum are just as representative, and on the whole most readers don't particularly care. So, between catering to new readers and catering to "purist" readers, I personally would choose the former.
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Personally I didn't like the Garfield change either, but that's because I know what Nyantaro means while I have never seen a film about Garfield or anything else. I do know the character but it means nothing to me since I don't really "know" it. It might be a popular character for English people, but it's not for me.
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Yeah, I can see that if you're not from the US.
Kind of wish there were a Disney housecat character that had the same catchet as say Mickey, but most of their well known felines are like Tigger or Simba or such, biiig cats. Otherwise, a Disney cat would work best. :)
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Steiner isn't from the US either :v
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people will be fans whether you cater to them or not. but I will say as being someone from the US and also someone who can read and write Japanese as their 2nd language. it is pretty bad to try to associate something that has no meaning to what was actually being said. it would make more sense to try to word it in a manner that would be funny. since the image of the cat looked like "Puss in boots, dream works film character, which the cat is based off of and use that for the pun instead of a fat orange cat that has no association with the whole thing?
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At this point you're proposing that the translator should have used a different Western pun/reference to replace the Japanese one, though, which is the antithesis of your original complaint. You're now arguing not that the translator shouldn't have replaced the name, but that he didn't do a good enough job at doing so.
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@guspaz no i was just saying it would have been better than what he had done.
@invayne said in Please don't take liberties on names when its not the same as the light novel/web novel....:
it would make more sense to try to word it in a manner that would be funny. since the image of the cat looked like "Puss in boots, dream works film character, which the cat is based off of and use that for the pun instead of a fat orange cat that has no association with the whole thing?
as said here it would make more sense. not saying he should have.
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I can empathize with the translators/editors here. They were damned if they did and damned if they didn't. When I read it- I thought 'Garfield' was funny, and the follow up lasagna reference was funny too. At the time I recall thinking: "Huh, I didn't realize Garfield was a thing in Japan"
BUT, I'm familiar with "Garfield' (and American) I'm not sure what would work instead . 'NYAN Cat' of you tube fame is closer but it's 15 minutes of fame had passed. 'Hello Kitty'? might've worked - again it was a judgement call
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Too bad they couldn't use the name "Meouth"
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@jeffrey-barrow said in Please don't take liberties on names when its not the same as the light novel/web novel....:
Too bad they couldn't use the name "Meouth"
that would have worked in my opinion. would have at least been more along the lines of the pun.
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"Meouth" would just be confusing. Were you trying to reference the Pokémon character Meowth?
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I’m fine with Garfield, though I would’ve preferred a stereotypical household cat name, like Mittens.
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@myskaros said in Please don't take liberties on names when its not the same as the light novel/web novel....:
@invayne Extrapolation. The number of people who are willing to come here and post questions represent the silent majority who just get confused and decide not to buy more books in the series.
That isn't necessarily true though. If you were to say that, you could also say that the people willing to come here and post complaints represent the silent majority who don't like the translation and decide not to buy more books in the series.
Honestly, I don't really see how Garfield is funny in the same way as Nyantaro. It would be more like Joe Meow (totally worse than Nyantaro) or Kitty or Mittens.
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Famous fictional (or real world) cats:
- Felix
- Garfield
- Puss in Boots
- Morris (Sold 9 Lives cat food)
Add more if you can think of any.
Regardless, using Garfield (with the lasagne poke) probable was the most recognizable to English speaking readers. Not 100%, but greater than a literal translation. Certainly funnier.
Puns are subtle humor. Sometimes they will even go past native speakers without any response.
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@legitpancake Or Pussy.
As someone who read the WN previously I can understand that you are miffed that they changed it this way. Arguable if Garfield is a good choice. But as I am fluent in enough languages I can understand the translators in trying their best to preserve the joke AND the original context. Puns are some of the most difficult things to translate in another language. Except maybe a text in prosa form. Man I would never like to localize 'Paradise Lost' from John Milton in my mothertongue. But this is besides the point. Should we name him "Meow upright"? Just to preserve the name (and I don't know the used Kanji, so I don't know if it was meant to symbolice him being male 'eldest son' for example, or upstanding, heroic, etc). I think such translations have a fine line in which you can either stay 100% authentic or take liberties for something equal.
I stated once in another thread that I don't understand some translation choices for other works. I took Game of Thrones as an example. Why do we need to localize the names? But for an obscure name like Nyantaro? I would have also chosen a name in where everyone can see, that he was made from off.
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@paul-nebeling said in Please don't take liberties on names when its not the same as the light novel/web novel....:
Famous fictional (or real world) cats:
- Felix
- Garfield
- Puss in Boots
- Morris (Sold 9 Lives cat food)
Add more if you can think of any.
Regardless, using Garfield (with the lasagne poke) probable was the most recognizable to English speaking readers. Not 100%, but greater than a literal translation. Certainly funnier.
Puns are subtle humor. Sometimes they will even go past native speakers without any response.
Who is Garfield anyways? I know Puss in Boots, but Felix? Garfield? Morris?
Like, seriously. Knowledge of those names aside... How are any of them funny?
Puns can be subtle humor, but if Garfield was supposed to be a pun, then why change the name at all? I can't even see how Garfield would be a pun unless you read it in Japanese.
Mittens and Kitty are two common cat names and definitely more insulting.
Winning isn't really that fun if you want a challenge... Making others win, on the other hand...
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@sinnoaria this is exactly whatI'm talking about. why change the name of a (spoilers here)
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@sinnoaria Garfield is a cartoon/comic cat who was created by Jim Davis in 1978. It's been running daily in newspapers ever since, the most recent figure I could find is 2,600 newspapers in 111 countries with around $1 billion a year in merchandising revenue. A total of 135 million Garfield comic books have been sold. I don't think you can pick a fictional cat that would be more widely recognized. Puss in Boots (a little known historical character before Dreamworks put him in a few films) is practically a footnote in comparison.
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@guspaz And that just means it makes even less sense for Garfield to be picked. That is more like praise. Puss in Boots is a relatively well known cat, although the fame will vary depending on the naming and might not be as popular with modern society.
Again, it doesn't really make sense to go off of a fictional cat name. Like, just for the sake of trying to be funny, you get rid of one aspect of the name?
Like I said elsewhere, you wouldn't name Khan and Alexander and so on "Ruler" because they are names. Because it is a name, a proper noun, you wouldn't give Rasputin another name such as "First Zombie" (Well, that is more like a title), or "Zombo". What happens if the author, for whatever reason, ends up adding a character named "Garfield"? Do we rename the second one into Nyantaro?
Winning isn't really that fun if you want a challenge... Making others win, on the other hand...
