Why do companies that dub anime toss in unfunny jokes that where not in the original?

[I.R Joey]

I've never understood this. I understand why someone would want to edit for questinoble content or time, but why this? They just toss them around, why would they?

[freakboy86]

hmmmm...good point.
The only reason I can think of, and this also explains the repitition, i reiterate, the repeating of lines and phrases, that is to say, they put the character, not the actor, but the character saying the same thing again and again. (Sorry, slipped into my Mojo Jojo phase there.)
When they dub an anime, the writers add in the extra lines to sync with the movement of the animation. So, it would seem that they would do the same thing and add pointless humor into the mix. Or they just could be filling time after they cut all of the good stuff out. Who knows.

"I am not Bubbles. Bubbles is not my name, for the name Bubbles is not the correct name with which to address me by. If you were to address me as Mojo Jojo, that would be correct. For my name is, Mojo Jojo, and not Bubbles, for that is not my name."

[The Mad Hatter]

I imagine they do this many times just to fill in the gaps where the original jokes in Japanese just flat-out wouldn't make sense. Because of the differences in languages, puns are impossible to retain intact. Other times the original jokes involve cultural references that Americans wouldn't catch, or jokes that, due to cultural differences, wouldn't be suitable for kids here (like the Sailor Moon squad refering to the size of their breasts). So I imagine that many times, they have a decent enough reason.

Not that it makes the new jokes any less lame, mind you...

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by The Mad Hatter
I imagine they do this many times just to fill in the gaps where the original jokes in Japanese just flat-out wouldn't make sense. Because of the differences in languages, puns are impossible to retain intact. Other times the original jokes involve cultural references that Americans wouldn't catch, or jokes that, due to cultural differences, wouldn't be suitable for kids here (like the Sailor Moon squad refering to the size of their breasts). So I imagine that many times, they have a decent enough reason.

Not that it makes the new jokes any less lame, mind you...

It's no excuse for complete and total rewrites, and it's definitely no excuse for companies dubbing anime for straight to video release only. If I.R. Joey is interested, there's an article here on a recent dub script that was mangled by cocky rewrites.

Rewrite

[RockItShipper]

Originally posted by The Mad Hatter
I imagine they do this many times just to fill in the gaps where the original jokes in Japanese just flat-out wouldn't make sense. Because of the differences in languages, puns are impossible to retain intact.

Like when "Ash" donned a cow costume and said something about "Cow-terpie". The original was a reference to how similiar cow and bug is in Japanese.

Not that it makes the new jokes any less lame, mind you...

Having done some comparisions from time to time, I've noticed quite a bit of dialogue being inserted in scenes without any. Like when the 2 "Meowths" stare up at the moon in the 1st Pokemon movie... Or on Digimon...it's constant- from being passed off in long shots or that a character is thinking when you can tell everything from the animation.

[DR. BELCH]

It's not just anime. When translating English to Spanish, some of the phrases/colloquialisms are just translatated totally out of whack. Case in point: in one Dexter's Laboratory short--the title escapes me at the moment--Dexter uses a gravity ray to move the moon a bit out of phase, but it malfunctions and slams the moon through his wall--during which Dex loses his clothes. Dee-Dee walks in and notices the moon in Dex's wall and that he's butt-naked, and hollers, "Mom! Dexter''s mooning me!" Now...en espanol, this came out, "Mama! Dexter esta desnudo! (Dexter's naked!)" So there went a good pun all to blazes. Don't even get me started on how ridiculously the voices sound dubbed, either--Wakko Warner sounds like a constipated munchkin, for example.

ROCKITSHIPPER:
Having done some comparisions from time to time, I've noticed quite a bit of dialogue being inserted in scenes without any. Like when the 2 "Meowths" stare up at the moon in the 1st Pokemon movie...

Or that lame little ditty the Scratch-Cat sings in "Meowth Rules!". According to Pokemopolis it sounds a lot better in Japanese...seems the translator hacked it to achieve a good rhyme scheme.
Not to mention what the buggers did to "The Kangaskhan Kid". So he asks Misty to nurse him. Like I haven't seen innumerable puppies demand the same thing from their mother (and unfortunately from male dogs as well, with painfully hilarious results).

For the record, I have two translations of Dante's Inferno--one rhyming, one not. I like the first one better because it feels more faithful to the original Italian, trips off the tongue better, and has more footnotes.
Compare both versions of this selection from the pit of the Sowers of Discord and you'll see my point:
I. "A wine-tun when a stave or cant-bar starts
Does not split opn as wide as one I saw
Split from the chin to the mouth which which man farts.
Between his legs all of his red guts hung
With the heart, the liver, the gall-bladder,
and the shriveled sac that passes [expletive deleted] to the bung."
II. "Indeed, a cask without stave or endboard
Looks less mutilated than one I saw
Split from his chin to where wind is broken.
His entrails hung between his legs,
The vital parts appearered with the foul sack
Which makes excrement of what is swallowed."

[Calhoun07]

Sometimes I notice things in anime when words are supposed to be on a video screen or on a piece of paper that, when you freeze frame the DVD and actually read it, it makes no sense. I guess they have to go in there and put something other than Japanese writing on the screen, and I don't think they take too much care in translating those words exactly. For instance, in Robotech, when they are supposed to be getting some vital information in on their screen, it's just some dumb kids poem. I see irrelevant things like that in these shows from time to time.

[freakboy86]

well, Dr. Belch, speaking of bad tranlations from English to another language or vice versa, my personal favorite was when Coca-Cola was intruduced to Japan. At the time Coke's slogan was 'Coke Adds Life' but when it was translated into Japanese for their advertisements it read 'Coke: It Will Bring Back Your Dead Ancestors' . Now that's what I call a sticky situation!
It's also interesting to note that the Japanese have no 'letter' in their language that makes the 'L' sound. (thus the bad stereotypes of Japanese language.) This is very evident in 'Dragonball Z' whenever someone uses their 'power indicator visor' to check someones power levels. If you watch whenever they check Piccallo's power and then show the POV of the visor, his name is Piccarro. All 'L's are replaced with 'R's. Just a little bit 'o usless info you might like.

"I am the prince of all Sayians once again!"

[I.R Joey]

BTW that thing was interesting Larry? How could they change something around like that?

[freakboy86]

hey folks, a little off the subject question:
How do you get the additional 'titles' under your handles (ie: 'the next stephen king', 'just ask what it means' etc.) Is it something you get depending on number or posts or can you add it in your profile? Just wondering.

[DR. BELCH]

FREAKBOY86:
...my personal favorite [translating error] was when Coca-Cola was intruduced to Japan. At the time Coke's slogan was 'Coke Adds Life' but when it was translated into Japanese for their advertisements it read 'Coke: It Will Bring Back Your Dead Ancestors".

Hmmm...you've got your wires crossed, I'm afraid, F.B. The country was China, and the beverage was Pepsi. Here's a link to the UL: http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/ancestor.htm. One of their commercials features old geezers in a nursing home having drunk Pepsi and cavorting like teenagers, while some youth at a party, due to a shipping mix-up, drank another brand and were hobbling around like they were a hundred years old.
Coke has similar mistranslating woes with the old "bite the wax tadpole" story:http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/tadpole.htm. Need I mention the one about the Chevy Nova's failure in paises hispanohablandos?

It's also interesting to note that the Japanese have no 'letter' in their language that makes the 'L' sound. (thus the bad stereotypes of Japanese language.)

I'll be honest--I've never actually heard a Japanese person frig up the letter L. Then again, I've never heard a valley girl accent outside of TV and bad movies. The mispronounciation may be more subtle than most bad ethnic jokes, though...like hearing the difference between a schwa and a short u. I briefly dated a Japanese girl in college, and what struck me was her inability to enunciate the th sound (as in "thick"). She dropped her aitches. She also tended to pronounce the letter j as a softened "zh" and the name "Robert" as "robot"...rather adorable, actually.

As for the titles Rocky, Hatter, myself and others have below our names...if you have over 10 posts you can write your own at the control panel. I took a while to decide on a good one myself, as well as my sig quotes (two of which I cut-and-pasted from other sites and one I wrote from memory). Do you have any idea what yours will be or do you need an idea or two?